With more and more people stepping forward to volunteer their time to plant and maintain reserves along the river and within its catchment, there has a developed a need for tools for the willing but tool-less.  The OHRN has stepped forward to help with tools for volunteers.

The notice of a working bee by a community group working in one of the reserves along the river often says something to the effect of “Just turn up!”.  After all, the fewer barriers there are to anyone volunteering, the better.

But a volunteer without a tool to work with has a pretty limited role to play when the major activity involves weeds and plants.  It is not so bad when it is a planting exercise: inevitably, the Christchurch City Council Urban Park Ranger will be there not only with the plants but also armed with a large number of suitable spades.

When it comes to maintaining those plantings, however, the need to provide suitable tools for volunteers falls back on the individuals themselves or the volunteer organisers who usually turn up with a supply of tools from their own garden tool shed.

This year, however, the Ōpāwaho Heathcote River Network has decided that providing some tools and ancillary equipment is one way that they can assist community groups in achieving their goals.  As a consequence, these groups have received a selection of the following with more to follow in subsequent years, subject to funding:

It has been a mutually beneficial exercise making this equipment available to community groups and we look forward to future distributions of gear to make the task easier.  We wish to thank the following for their willing assistance in this exercise: Hato Hone St John, Hurrell | Uniform Solutions & Merchandise and Mitre 10 MEGA Ferrymead.

• First Aid kits – from St John Ambulance Assoc.
• Flouro vests – for use by the leaders of each community group so that they stand out as the person-in-charge and the go-to-person for any issues<
• Beanies, bucket hats and/or caps – working out in the environment means a head-covering is vital whether its is hot or cold weather
• Hand grubbers – clearing weeds is always a big part of the post-planting care.  Not everyone can swing a heavy grubber so we have sourced and supplied light-weight grubbers, both short and long handled
• Rakes – solid, commercial ones that are reinforced to help with longevity given the hard life they must be put to raking out areas of weed and spreading mulch
• Forks – a border fork is a surprisingly handy tool for loosing solid earth beneath weeds, especially clumps of grass, so that they can bee pulled out, roots and all.
• Hand-forks – useful for that close work around plants
• Claw cultivators – many groups are facing the task of removing areas of tradescantia, convolulus and similar weeds.  These tools make task a little easier on the fingers.
• Gloves – essential when working in reserves, and not everyone has a pair.