News article

Community groups don’t need to restrict themselves to registering and being affiliated to only one NGO or environmental organisation. Friends of Rarawa Beach, a Coastcare group that is registered with the Coastal Restoration Trust, recently benefited from being registered as a Weedbusters group as well.

After visiting Rarawa Beach at the 2012 Coastal Restoration Trust Conference, Graeme La Cock (DOC technical advisor and Coastal Restoration Trust Trustee) suggested the local group – Friends of Rarawa Beach - take on the control of the sand wattle Acacia longifolia subsp. longifolia. As a group, one of their objectives is to replace weed cover with natives in the backdune area, this clear objective made Graeme’s work supporting them with technical advice & planning much easier.

The best control method of Acacia longifolia is mechanical, because it doesn’t coppice if you cut it below the lowest leaves or branches. Core members Vicky Rawnsley, Betsy Young and Ada Wedding made a dent in the first patch with their standard gardening equipment, but it took them a long time. Wayne Petera helped finish it off with his chainsaw, but they’re working on public conservation land, so there were health and safety issues. DOC had undertaken to spray other weeds at the site, and do any major chainsaw work - but there was still a lot for the group to do - so they investigated Weedbusters.

Weedbusters, with support from DOC and most regional councils, administers a small scale initiatives fund to help groups purchase equipment required to do a decent weed control job.

Friends of Rarawa joined Weedbusters, and applied to the fund to buy pruning equipment to assist their core members and volunteer groups (mainly schools and corrections). There is no doubt that having clear objectives and a decent work plan helped their application.

Russell Evans, Levin Sawmakers, came to the party with a really good deal - taking the time to pick out top quality loppers and saws for the core members, and some end of line, cheaper gear, suited to use by an army of volunteers. His efforts meant Friends of Rarawa got a heap of quality tools that will make their job a lot easier and more palatable.

Another benefit of being a Weedbusters group is that they hold the occasional competition with vouchers or equipment from appropriate companies as prizes.

So the moral of the story is, don’t be shy. Sign up wherever you might get some help or advice, or be able to learn from other groups doing similar work. These NGOs and environmental organisations were established to help groups meet their goals, so use them.

Graeme La Cock, DOC & Coastal Restoration Trust Trustee