Prize-winning Display Attracts More Members

Forest and Bird, Issue 291, 1 February 1999, Page 47

Prize-winning Display Attracts More Members

orest and Bird signed up ies 137 new members at the Ellerslie Flower Show in Manukau, and also won a prize for its display. More members have joined subsequently, using forms distributed at the show. The show exhibit was prepared by a committee of the northern regional branches with the theme, ‘Join Forest and Bird for Green Cities. The display won the silver award in the Horticulture Tomorrow category. The centrepiece was a thoughtprovoking mural by an Auckland artist, Nikki Butler. Three panels depicted the same view of Auckland with different options. In the middle was a scene in Auckland today, looking over Basque Road reserve in Newton, which incorporated parkland, trees, buildings, cars and motorway. To either side were alternatives for the future: the good and the bad. One featured more buildings and cars, including a carpark in place of the present reserve. The other was more environmentally friendly, with underground power supply, more trees, fewer cars, cycle lanes, solar heating, recycling, and even eco-housing to allow for population expansion. The panels were fun to look at, as every time you did, you could

pick out different features previously missed — for example, the increased birdlife in the good future panel, or the improving quality of the immediate surrounds to the stormwater drains. Visitors to our stand were encouraged to observe these differences and choose the future they wanted. They were also given fact sheets on propagating native plants from seed, and what to plant in their gardens to attract widlife. If people signed up and paid for membership during the show they were offered a kiwi poster, free native seedling and a Forest ¢& Bird journal, as incentives. Thanks are due to Oratia Native Plant Nurseries for supplying trees to decorate the display and to all the willing helpers from various Auckland branches. — Chris Barber.