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The Coastal Restoration Trust was a fellow finalist, but this group won the Green Ribbon Award in the Coasts and Oceans category and it is well-deserved! Here a little bit about their group:

This regionally and nationally recognised project aims to discover and document the subtidal rocky reef communities found in the South Taranaki Bight. Initially focusing on one target reef (approx. 11km offshore and depth of approx. 23metres), a number of surveys will be conducted throughout the year allowing us to capture the ecological variance across seasons.

Four survey methods employed are: A camera (situated for many weeks at a time on the reef, until retrieved for maintenance) taking short video bursts over night and day, benthic (reef floor) surveys involving a diver transect method with the diver capturing images of 0.5m2 quadrats randomly situated around the reef, fishing surveys (conducted by Hawera High School and Patea Area School), and acoustic surveys through a loaned hydrophone. 

Partners in the Project are: South Taranaki Underwater Club, Hawera High School, Patea Area School, Te Kaahui o Rauru and Te Runanga o Ngati Ruanui Trust.

Check out their Facebook page.

Our 2013 Student Award winner Renee Johansen has now published her research in Soil Biology and Biochemistry Journal. It is titled: Scattered far and wide: A broadly distributed temperate dune grass finds familiar fungal root associates in its invasive range.

Here are some highlights:

• Rich fungal communities occupy the roots of Ammophila arenaria (marram grass) in its invasive range (Australia and New Zealand).
• Dominant fungi occupying the roots of Ammophila arenaria are widely dispersed.
• Plant species impacts the community composition of root associated fungi in dunes.
• The community composition of root fungi in the same dune grass differs among dunes.
• Temperature, nitrogen and pH change correlate with fungal community differences in dunes.

For more or to purchase the full story follow this link.

Northland Regional Council ran a beach clean-up initiative for NZAEE (New Zealand Association for Environmental Education) Seaweek 2017. This year was bigger than ever with 55 groups registering their beach clean-up and an estimated 3000 people taking part. Groups included CoastCare groups, sports clubs, marae and schools (Photo: Whananaki clean up group). Beach clean-ups took place all around the region, including Baylys Beach, Mitimiti, Taipā, Whangarei Harbour and Ruakaka. Groups who registered were provide with a ‘Beach Clean-up Kit’ which included rubbish bags, gloves, sunscreen, beach clean collection information, beach id guides, and more. Northland’s three district councils all provided free rubbish disposal for participating groups.

As well as taking the time to clean up their beach, 16 groups made the extra effort to audit their rubbish. These groups collected 4670 litres of rubbish from an estimated area of 1430m2. A very high proportion of the rubbish collected was plastic, with this group making up almost three quarters of the waste audited by some of the groups. NRC’s coastal monitoring team have analysed this data and will be using it to work on waste reduction initiatives.

Dr Amber Dunn, surfer and coastal scientist, who did an enormous amount of work for our conference in Gisborne last year and who is also a councillor on the Gisborne district council has written an article for the Gisborne Herald.

She talks about the movement of sand and how this creates temporary sandbanks. These sandbanks cause waves to break out at sea, rather than on shore, protecting the dunes and infrastructure on land. These sandbanks also cause the best waves for surfing. For the full story, go here.

A Hutt volunteer group has been recognised for its efforts to restore the sand dunes at Petone Beach.

The Friends of Petone Beach won the award for Best Coastal Community group at the recent National Conference on Coastal Restoration, held in Christchurch.

Convener Graeme Lyon said the award was well deserved recognition for the group’s members who had planted thousands of native plants to rebuild the sand dunes in the last few years.

It was confirmation of a job well done and he hoped it would inspire members to keep up the good work.

‘‘It cheers them on and helps motivate people to keep doing what they’re doing.’’

The Friends of Petone Beach was formed in 2004 as part of the Petone Dune restoration project.

The aim of the project was to restore the natural features of the dunes along Petone Beach.

The group has been planting coastal species such as pingao, golden sand sedge and spinifex to help form the dunes which have been absent from parts of the beach for a long time.

‘‘It used to be just bare sand in front of the [sea] wall. There were hardly any [dunes] here 20 years ago.’’

Lyon said the dunes played an important role in trapping sand on the beach and minimised the effect of it blowing on to the Esplanade, into houses and further into Petone.

The dunes also serve to protect against potential rising sea levels, storm surge and tsunami damage, and contribute to the restoration of native biodiversity.

Aside from planting efforts, the group have also been working to eradicate foreign weeds such as gorse, broom and marram which are common European dune species that compete with local plants.

Lyon said the group’s aim this winter was to continue weeding and to concentrate on planting down the western end of the beach.