COMMUNITIES INVITED TO CARE FOR THE INLET
Guardians of Pauatahanui Inlet look to their members' support, and support from the wider community, for two major projects in the next two months, the Annual Inlet Clean Up next Sunday on October 7, and the triennial Cockle Count, next month on Sunday November 11.
For the Inlet Clean Up the volunteers are asked to meet at the Brown's Bay car park at 11am. There they will be assigned in teams to their sectors for another clean up of the Inlet foreshore.
'All ages are welcome,' says John Wells, Chair of the Guardians. 'We are pleased that Keep Porirua Beautiful is once again helping with the logistics - bags for the rubbish, trucks to gather the bags, and in co-operation with Mana New World a barbecue at Browns Bay at 1.00pm to reward all the volunteers for their efforts.
'Of special interest this year, we will be helped by a team from the Social Club at the Australian High Commission. So we hope this year that for a change that the weather will be favourable. Last year's northerly was a real test of character for the brave souls who ventured forth.'
Residents of the communities around the Inlet, and from further afield across Porirua City, wanting further information can phone Guardians' Committee members Tony Shaw, 2339391 or Janet Ryan 2341336.
The other major community event, the Triennial Cockle Count, is scheduled for Sunday Novermber 11 with volunteers meeting at Stout Cottage in the Pauatahanui Nature Reserve at 3pm
They will be assigned to a team, and a vector, around the Inlet. Team leaders recruited beforehand will explain the simple jobs to be done. All should be back at the Cottage by 6pm for a barbecue, thanks for a vital task well done.
'The Inlet is significant as the only estuary on the North Island West Coast south of Kawhia,' says John Wells. 'The cockle count gives an ongoing and valuable record of the health of the Inlet, as a vital nursery for marine life. For this reason it is funded by Greater Wellington and by NIWA.
'Its success will depend on 100+ volunteers joining in on 11 November. Once again all ages are welcome. There will be a letter box drop closer to the time across the communities. But those wanting further information can phone committee members Janet Ryan 2341336, Priscilla Isaacs 2346833 or Alastair Harray 2336488.'
