And this article (for those with a serious interest) about natural forests, carbon and climate change:
]]>The idea is to attract the birds, who eat the berries and fruit, wrap the seeds up in packets of nitrogen, fly around the hills, poop everywhere and plant the trees for us. We don’t have to pay them, so this is a cheap and easy way to speed up the regeneration of bio-diverse native forest in highly erodible hill country - for carbon, erosion control, cleansing waterways, biodiversity gains and other wonders.
And it’s working! Here are the reports to prove it.
]]>How much carbon is stored in Kew’s trees?
Based on data gathered from UK Forest Research (Waring et al. 2020), in temperate forests in the UK approximately
- 17% of the total carbon is stored in tree above-ground tissues,
- 6% is stored in roots
- 5% is stored in surface litter and dead wood, and
- a vast 72% stays in the soil where it can remain for long periods helping to mitigate climate change.
Some related research:
Around the motu: Matthew Rosenberg in Gisborne (RNZ)
We’ve had to suspend the programme because of the state of Riverside Road, but the teachers are desperate to get it going again, because the kids really need it at the moment. Kids, parents and teachers all love the Wild Lab - the immersion in the bush, streams and hills at Waikereru, the brilliant costumes designed by Brighde Penn (who grew up next door and has designed costumes for Dr. Who in the UK), and the marvellous, exciting and uplifting activities led by the Wild Lab team.
]]>Although most of Waikereru is almost untouched, safeguarded by its native forests, the riverside plantings and part of the riverside fence have been buried in silt, the road has been wrecked, Waikereru is inaccessible and the Wild Lab / Tiaki Taiao is suspended.
The Waimatā catchment has been devastated, from the headwaters to the heart of Gisborne city. Its heartbreaking for the Waikereru whānau and whole Waimatā Catchment team.
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