Pedestrian access through Gahnia Grove
Many Reserve users have stopped and asked if they can, and/or may, walk through the site, presumably because the shade and variety of vegetation on both sides is more appealing, especially in summer heat, than the walk along the roadside.
They and other passersby have expressed enthusiasm and appreciation of the restoration effort, and willingly agree not to come through.
However, it is inevitable that some of the public will enter Gahnia Grove and use it as access to the "Glade" or large mown area and the older forest beyond.
A defined non-slip surface was necessary to access several connected areas without trampling revegetation, so a single-footsteps "path" about 30cm wide was loosely formed in June/July 2018, from available dead manuka brush and pampas stumps, with a smooth surface of pampas foliage to be added after fire watch season is finished. T
All the dry pampas on the site has proved very resistant to rotting, much of it becoming loose and quickly wind-dried soon after heavy rain in December. For this reason, most of the site's loose dead pampas has been collected in the Annexe and covered with a weighted tarpaulin, for later use as mulch and/or path surface where it will be compacted by trampling and the lower layers will rot progressively.
Our current observations of pampas' resistance to water absorption and rotting explain its earlier success as a path surface in our 1999 trial over several metres of the Kaipatiki Creek Native Plant Trail, heavily used by joggers and also cyclists: unlike wood-chip mulch, pampas sheds water and is slow to rot.
In Gahnia Grove, interpretive signage along this narrow, natural "weeders' path" could be by little long-life or recyclable plastic signs at ankle-height on rounded fencing pins 10-20cm high, close enough together to discourage stepping off the path. Interpretive images and text would create awareness not only of the need to keep off the revegetation,but of features of interest, site restoration history, the native seedlings now starting to appear, and the function of the retained benign exotics, and other issues the passersby and Reserve users ask about or otherwise show interest in.
Interpretive signage on the cordon surrounding the site is already being planned in collaboration with Kaipatiki Project (KP), to include Invitations to participate in restoration in Reserves through Council and the KP.
An unanticipated benefit of the retained benign exotics is that they are providing a colourful and varied floral mass, buzzing with bees and other pollinators, with blackbirds and tui foraging in the lightly disturbed earth of hand-weeding in the remaining gaps among them. This presents a very welcome example of biodiversity to the public, and hopefully will inspire plant interactions and initiatives of their own.
Comentarios
Agregar un comentario