Fonterra–3 May 2019

Fonterra is one of the world’s largest dairy companies.  It is a cooperative of over 10,000 New Zealand farmers who provide milk which is used to manufacture a variety of dairy products for domestic and international sale.  When CUE Haven was a dairy farm, it was part of the Fonterra co-op.

The company has long recognized the impact of dairy farming on the environment and has made significant commitments to minimizing the impact of dairying on the environment on its farms.   These initiatives include fencing of wetlands, riparian planting and farm environmental planning and practices.

Fonterra staff at all levels are also involved in helping out in the community and with environmental projects and in the past we have had teams from Fonterra out to help with our riparian planting.

All farming activities at CUE Haven ended in early 2009 and CUE Haven  has been restored from a farm to a community native forest.  So we are really delighted to have Fonterra continue their relationship with the property and support our planting efforts.  Today we had seven enthusiastic staff from their tactical logistics planning group out to CUE Haven to assist with planting canopy trees.

The group arrived at about 8:30 and included Ann-Marie, Cameron, Daniel, Hiren, Julie, Reena and Tendai.

Also joining us for the day was our good friend Alan.

We spent some time getting acquainted over morning tea and then Mahrukh gave a short talk about the history of CUE Haven and plans for the future.

Thomas then talked about the work planned for the day and gave a safety briefing.

Today’s planting was special in that it was our first planting day of the 2019 planting season and it was also the first time we have planted kotukutuku, New Zealand tree fuchsia.  Kotukutuku is the world’s largest fuchsia, growing up to 15 meters (50 feet). The plan for the day was to do infill planting of tree fuchsia and other forest giants amongst the pioneer trees which have now grown up enough to provide a canopy to protect the bigger trees from sun, wind and weeds.

We took a short walk up to the planting site where Thomas gave a planting demo and then the team went to work.

The plants had been delivered to the end of the walking track, but because we were planting along a walking track, the first task was to carry the plants and equipment to the planting site.

The team then went to work.  Sometimes it was a challenge to find a good spot to plant amongst the thick pioneer plantings, but it was a perfect autumn day and the group kept smiling as they worked.

And Alan ensured that the team had enough plants to keep them busy.

After a few hours of hard work, the team managed to plant all of the trees we had allocated for them!  Well done.  They brought back all the empty crates and pots and loaded them in the ute.

We then had a relaxing late lunch and then Thomas drove the group up to the top of the property so they could see more of CUE Haven and the spot where we will be building the viewing platforms.

It was a leisurely walk back to the cottage down the main walking track.

When we got back from the walk, we had some additional unexpected work for the team!  Lisa was delivering a load of plants for future planting teams and the Fonterra group volunteered to help us unload the plants and organize them in crates for the next team.  We really appreciated it!

It was a very enjoyable and productive day and the hard working and enthusiastic team managed to get done with all the planting we hoped they would do.

We want to thank our dear friend Alan for joining us yet again and providing invaluable assistance in keeping things moving along. Thanks Alan – we so appreciate your continued support.

A special thanks to Reena for organizing her team visit today and for handling all the logistics.

And a HUGE thank you to everyone on the team.  We really enjoyed meeting you all and working with you and getting to know you.  And loved the laughs and the interesting conversations we had both in the field and over lunch.  We hope that you enjoyed the day as much as we did.

You have all made a significant contribution to CUE Haven, the community and our planet.  The long living canopy trees you planted today will be home to native birds and animals, and will also be enjoyed by many generations of visitors to CUE Haven. What a lasting legacy!

Thank YouII