Archive for the 'news' Category

Meola weeders spread their wings

August 27th, 2020

This cheery story tells how Aucklanders have helped expand kokako numbers in Pureora from 7 pairs in 1995 to over 1000 today. Jean and Keith are well known for working at Maungawhau, Meola catchment and across Auckland as “moth plant weeders”. Thanks to the dedicated members of Auckland Tramping Club whose fight against pest plants and animals is an inspiring example to us, and also to all the people who will benefit from seeing and interacting with rare kokako in the future. See more about North Island kokako here.

STEPS has a vision for a mountain to sea pathway along Waitītiko Meola Creek, free of pests and populated by local wildlife. Our volunteers carry out weeding and trapping to make this possible. Members and new volunteers are welcome.

North Island Kokako Picture NZ Geographic

Auckland Mayor’s announcement on water

December 1st, 2017

On 30 November Auckland’s Mayor announced a proposed targeted levy to clean up harbour pollution.  STEPS supports stormwater treatment and expects benefits for Meola Creek and other streams as well as the harbours. Hear Mayor Goff’s interview   

This levy is transparent and we believe that stormwater treatment and separation from sewage are essential for a healthy future Auckland.  STEPS recently outlined the case for this work here. We ask all Aucklanders to think of future generations and vote to start the cleanup now. The project will be considered in February when the Auckland Council Long Term Plan consultation takes place.

MtAlbertInc contains more info.

 

Washing greens in the creek…

September 24th, 2017

This lady is washing large bunches of newly collected greens in Meola Creek. She did not speak English and did not understand messages of danger. We hope she and her family stay well.
Meola Creek receives approximately 1 million cubic meters of untreated sewage and road runoff every year. That is more than 1 Olympic Swimming pool of polluted water every day on average. We wrote to Skykiwi (a Chinese language web site) to seek their help in explaining this to some immigrants. The site she chose has several pieces of plastic and other rubbish visible in the water, though the water seemed clear on that day. 
With intensification and immigration gathering pace in Auckland, we believe Council needs to find better ways of informing non-English speakers that Auckland parks are not pristine places where resources are there for the taking.
Auckland Council is aware that Aucklanders strongly disagree with their waste disposal approach. We have asked that they put money into the Auckland Plan refresh and long term plan to remedy it, and we hope this will happen at some future date.
This is a case where the image of ‘clean green NZ’ comes up against the reality of Auckland’s heritage sewerage system. We do not believe this should be left to future generations to solve.

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