By Diya Kansara
Year 9 Westlake Kaitiaki student

Like humans need encouragement and care, the Earth needs trees. By planting a tree, we hope to encourage you to care for the Earth.

On Monday 15 August a group of enthusiastic learners from Westlake Kaitiaki set off to Onewa Domain ready to plant some native trees. As luck would have it, it began to drizzle as we left, but the team kept in sunny spirits as we made our way to Smith’s Bush, led by Enviro Prefect Anja, Ms. See and Ms. Bhavsar. Once there, we met our park ranger, Anna, who guided us through the bush to our planting site. To refresh our memory, we were briefed on how to plant a tree and a little more about the bush’s biodiversity, as well as the significance of native plants.

It was all go, as we began planting. The sound of the occasional clink of the spade as it hit a rock and rapport immediately filled the air whilst we dug and carefully planted our trees into place. As we dug, we managed to find old bits of crockery, cutlery, and even a whole glass bottle buried in the mud. This was likely due to the area once being used as a farm. It really was a historical experience! In around fifteen minutes, the muddy-legged group managed to plant a total of sixty plants, a great contribution to protecting our local environment. 

Walking back through the bush, proud of what we’d achieved, we were able to admire the beautiful plants in the reserve, humbled by how small we were under the tall vine-adorned trees and how quiet we were compared to the serene sounds of nature.