The Launch of the Ōkārito Plant Project and how it all began...

Late last year, we officially launched our Ōkārito Plant Project!

We are so happy to be Kaitiaki (guardians) of this important restoration project here in Glacier Country New Zealand.

This project has been quite a few years in the making - Paula and I (Paula Sheridan - Okarito Boat EcoTours) discussing ideas for a long time - how would it work? How can we plant the trees we have grown in the Ōkārito Nursery on the farms and areas that want and need it to restore water quality in waterways, creeks & rivers. Who would pay for the trees? How can we connect with farmers?

We looked at many funding options - some disappeared into thin air before we had time to send the applications in! We came to many dead ends.

And then, we thought - can we accept donations from our clients for this? Do our tourists care enough about the areas they are visiting and do they want to help make a difference?

I set up a donate now option on our website and starting collecting donations to find out. But it wasn't going to work with just Paula and our business collecting donations, as well as all the work involved organising, transporting & planting the trees - we needed more business's on board with this project!

Enter Zak from Development West Coast and the Nature Economy program - who believed in our weird and wonderful ideas and who has brought them to reality!

We approached other businesses to see who would be interested in joining us - Julie and Jo at Ribbonwood Retreat had been donating money to Trees that Count who plant trees in Canterbury (NZ still and a great organisation!) but wanted something more hands on and local, something they could connect with and be a part of on the ground, planting trees and looking after them.

Janelle Shaw, manager at Franz Josef Glacier Guides looked at developing their own planting project, and realised how hard it was on their own.

Sam Speight at Landcare Trust was the missing piece in the puzzle connecting our nursery and farms, and has been a valuable source of knowledge & technical information about riparian and restoration planting.

Chris at Matheson Cafe is also a project main partner & has supplied our planting days with the beautiful food he makes at his cafe, situated at the beginning of the walk at the iconic Lake Matheson.

We also had help from Jase at West Coast Print to design an awesome logo & print media for us, to which he donated some of his time towards the project.

We also needed a new website which incorporated the Okarito Nursery and the Okarito Plant Project together - this was designed & created by the amazing Jody at Direen Creative, with funding from DWC.

Check out our new website here:

www.okaritonursery.co.nz

More to come on how our amazing new project is progressing...

Paula Sheridan from Okarito Boat EcoTours at the lauch of the Okarito Plant Project

Tash Goodwin from Glacier Valley Eco Tours with a pupil from Fox Glacier School, West Coast NZ. NZ's highest mountains in the Southern Alps, Aoraki Mt Cook and Horokoau Mt Tasman, in the background.

Okarito Plant Project from left Tash Goodwin, Tom Templeton, Sam Speight, Janelle Shaw, Cliff Goodwin, Jonathan Robert, Swade Finch, Julie Wolbers, Paula Sheridan, Jo Crofton, Jack Kyle, Zak Shaw.