Liz May 30th, 2021
Thanks to everyone who turned out on Sunday 30 May to help STEPS plant 120 plants in the ephemeral wetland and on the grassy knoll. We had a great turnout on a sunny morning. Special thanks to Sel for planning and layouts. It was wonderful to meet so many supporters old and new from around Waitītiko Meola catchment.
Liz May 29th, 2021
Join STEPS in improving part of the Roy Clements Treeway!
This year we will plant the remaining area of ephemeral wetland at the Treeway’s southern end.
Please bring a sunhat and sunblock, a raincoat, water bottle and gardening gloves. Bring a spade if you have one – we have some spares.
The planting site is about 20 meters along the boardwalk – you will see us in front of the red brick apartments.
If the weather looks poor, check www.meolacreek.org.nz after 8am.
Liz May 19th, 2021
STEPS has now joined hundreds of other groups around NZ in using an eDNA test to sample the water reveals all the species present in our awa – from microbes to mammals.
A filter is used to collect the DNA samples from less than 1 litre of water. More information about the method and the EPA’s nation wide water survey is available here and here. We thank Freddie for putting her lab experience to the task!
Sadly Waitītiko Meola Creek receives approximately 1 million cubic meters of stormwater and raw sewage overflows every year from Auckland’s combined sewers.
We expect to hear results over the next few months. It will be interesting to see how much or how little life there is in the upper creek at Roy Clements Treeway, compared with the lower creek around 5 km away. It will also be interesting to see how badly the frequent overflows affect life in this creek compared with other creeks in Central Auckland and elsewhere.
