Reserve work earns award for Wairarapa members

Forest and Bird, Issue 282, 1 November 1996, Page 11

Reserve work earns award for Wairarapa members

FOR MASTERTON’S Eddie Bannister, raising seedlings at home to help revegetate a local reserve has been a labour of love. Eddie is one of four members of the Wairarapa branch to receive the Senior Achievers Certificate of Excellence from the Retired Persons Association for their restoration work at Forest and Bird’s Fensham Reserve. The 38-hectare reserve, outside Carterton, was given to the society by dairy farmer John Fensham in 1962 and is one of the few remnants of the great tract of native forest and wetland that once covered most of the Wairarapa Plains. Initially the aim of the restoration was to eradicate a heavy infestation of old man’s

beard to help restore the reserve’s ecological integrity. This work grew into construction of a walking track around the reserve that now provides a one-and-a-half hour excursion full of variety and magic. Eddie Bannister explained the division of labour between himself and the other three award recipients — David

Gawith, Percy Braggins and Frank Cody. "David is in charge of the weed control programme, Percy the track programme, I do the planting and Frank does bits of everything." Forest and Bird’s policy analyst, Duane Burtt, is working with the local group to develop a management plan for this important forest and wetland remnant.

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