Monday 16 June 2025 was a great day for beating the weeds on Roy Clements Treeway.
Sel Arbuckle had spotted a new pest intruder – he thought Schefflera – hiding in the fork of a big totara tree. Today Dan Blanchon the Auckland Museum Conservator collected a sample and confirmed it as: Heptapleurum arboricola (formerly Schefflera), from China. While it needs to be removed, the museum was pleased to have a more recent record than their existing two (from Ellerslie Racecourse (1998) and Auckland Airport (2000)). Well done Sel for tracking the pest plant’s journey from garden to forest. Thanks Dan for following up and confirming species.
Dan Blanchon is holding a specimen of the new pest Schefflera, while talking with Sel of STEPS.
This Heptapleurum (Schefflera) has a long grey stalk to the ground.
Nearby, we were overjoyed to discover that after more than 15 years of requests – Auckland Council had removed a large Acer Negundo (Box Elder), at the Gribblehirst overflow tunnel. Thank you Parks Team. This pest plant can be found on the DOC 2024 weed list. We still have one other male tree opposite a MAGS’ female tree, and causing dozens of new seedlings to grow each year.
Pest Acer negundo trunk part way through its removal.
The New Zealand Institute of Plant and Food in Mt Albert hosted their annual STEPS moth plant hunt in March and we really think we’re making progress. We moved outside the fence this year to Te Kouka Lane and found a bonanza of pods and plants. That’s not great, but boy, is it satisfying. We definitely got 99.9% of the pods. Plant and Food then rewarded the hunters with a lavish feed. Please have us back next year…
STEPS and AELB contributed to the making of a short film of the Mt Albert Grammar school students’ musical performances on the Roy Clements Treeway 28th October 2024. The film by Carolyn Sylvester can be seen by clicking here for 13 min version music 2024.
(Please note: While this link can be shared individually, this long version of the film cannot be put on Facebook or social media, for reasons of musical copyright.)
A shorter 3 minute version of Carolyn Sylvester’s MAGS musical film is available for you to play, download, share on social media and send at: https://vimeo.com/1026695051
In 2022 “Waitītiko- From Source to Sea” – a film by Carolyn Sylvester and Andy Farrant was made for local people. The film focusses on communities along the awa/ creek – creatives, whanau, kura, aspects of te taiao/ environment & those who care for the wildlife on the creek.
