Room7 and Room4 went Tree planting at Waitahuna on Tuesday morning on the of 16th May. We left at 9.30 am and we went to Nick’s farm at Waitahuna. When we got there we met Rachel and Grant Murray and we also met Craig Simpson from Landcare. Then we met Angus and Keiran who were showing us electric fishing. Matt from the Department of Conservation talked to us about why we there. Glenn from the Sinclair Wetlands was there to help us with the planting, and so were two ladies from the Otago Regional Council.
First of all, we planted flaxes so that the bugs would come back, which the eels like to eat, and the flaxes also give the eels hiding places and shade they don’t get too hot or too cold. The flaxes will help the eels to stay alive. First, we have to get our shovel and we had to make a square and we weren’t allowed to dig too deep to start, you could only take the wee top off the hole. Then we used the spade to dig all of the soil out until it was deep enough for the flax to fit in. We had to take the black bag off the flax. We had to put the black bag into a bag for recycling. We had to wriggle the roots apart to help the flax grow, then put the flax in the hole. Once it was in the hole we got the soil and put it all around the plant and then we stamped on the soil with our feet. If the soil is left loose then the cows and wind can knock the plant out of its hole and the plant would die.
The next thing we got to do was electric fishing. They had left an eel net out overnight and they had caught one. The room 7 group had caught a brown trout. Keiran had a stunner thing that he carried on his back like a sprayer. It was electric so it would stun the fish, which knocks them out so you can catch them more easily. He had caught a lamprey eel, which he had never seen before. We were allowed to touch the eel that he had caught and hold it. When he was electric fishing he nearly caught another brown trout, but it must have just been on the edge of the current because he saw it out the corner of his eye and it swam away.
I liked both things. It was fun helping the eels and planting the eels. I loved both.
