Winter Solstice Planting at Wātea Reserve

August 13th, 2026

On 21 June 2026, volunteers from STEPS and Forest & Bird Youth came together for a planting and weeding day Wātea Reserve. A total of 175 plants were planted and these included harakeke, putaputaweta, tī kōuka, mānuka, swamp astelia and Carex secta. Wātea Reserve contains a spring surrounded by seepage wetlands which are the source of a tributary of Meola Creek and therefore water quality in the waterway from this point downstream is strongly affected by the ecological condition of the site. Over the next few years, STEPS aims to restore areas of this reserve, not just to enhance the biodiversity of the area and the wider Waitītiko-Meola Creek Catchment, but also to increase the community’s resilience against flooding. The next upcoming working bee will be at 10am, 22 August 2026, where we’ll be mulching our new plants (in prep of a scorcher El Niño summer), followed by a Flood Resilience planting day at 10am, 5 September 2026. We hope to see you there!