Jo Campbell North Shore, Auckland Jan 11, 2007 6:15 am

Hi there!

My name is Jo Harrison, I am the Environmental Programmes Coordinator at North Shore City Council, Auckland, New Zealand. This year, we want to run a community engagement project to help protect and enhance our large network of urban streams. The focus is to change the behaviour of targeted groups of residents whose properties border a stream or whose properties have a stream running through them, so that they restore the riparian environment on their land. The specific behaviours we wish to target are the removal and sustained control of weeds, along with the planting and maintenance of suitable native species. We are looking for information about any other programmes out there that have been designed to encourage private, residential land owners to restore their land to a natural state (preferably stream restoration initiatives, but restoration of bush remnants, forests, wetland, etc., also welcome). We would like to know if any research has been carried out into the barriers to weed removal, sustained weed control and native planting and maintenance. Also, if any research has been carried out on the benefits of a 'natural' garden (removing & controlling weeds and planting & maintaining natives). Finally, we would be keen to hear about any tools that have been used (successfully or otherwise!) to encourage/persuade residents to undertake stream restoration on their properties. So, if you have any information you would like to share, please could you post it to the listserv by the end of January or early February sothat it may help to guide us in preparation for our focus groups and telephone surveys and then in the design of our pilot. We have found lots of projects aimed at changing behaviours in terms of water conservation, but very little in terms of riparian restoration. If you have any ideas about who else we could approach for useful information, we'd love to hear your suggestions. Obviously, we will be more than happy to share what we learn from conducting this project.

Thanks,
Jo

Jo Harrison
Environmental Programmes Coordinator
Sustainable Environment Team
North Shore City Council
521 Lake Road
Private Bag 93500
Takapuna North Shore City
Ph. 486 8600 ext 7299
Mobile. 027 448 8933
Fax. 486 8511
email. [email protected]
www.northshorecity.govt.nz
www.waicare.org.nz