Waitakere Walks: Re-Connecting With Nature
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It is a rewarding experience to share knowledge about trees and the ecosystem that surrounds us, and provide people an opportunity to reconnect with our amazing natural world.
Fredrik Hjelm, from The Living Tree Company is looking at furthering the company’s contribution to educational work regarding trees and our environment, especially with children, as a positive way to learn about nature. But in our view it remains just as important to raise awareness and connect with nature for adults as well!
For the second year The Living Tree Company has been taking part in the EcoWest festival. After a successful kids nature walk in the 2015 festival, they returned to take part in the 2016 festival.
At our first event we focused on offering a positive way for children to learn about nature and to appreciate how trees are just as different from each other as animal species or humans. With an interactive pamphlet (see attached pdf below) we were able to walk through the Waitakere Ranges “Ark in the Park” and identify species by matching leaves to their trees and completing the work book. It was a fun way to explore the bush and talk about trees, ecosystems and biodiversity.
This year we ran a “Hidden Gems of Waitakere” walk from Arataki to Huia. This was aimed at taking teenagers and adults out through some of the lesser-seen tracks of Waitakere and learn about trees. It turned out to be a fun day of botanical identification including talks about Kauri Dieback, restoration and emerging environmental issues.
We’re going to be offering another walk in the Waitakeres in our next season of workshops and events at EcoMatters. If you’d like to join us you can email [email protected] to express your interest or simply sign up for ongoing workshop details by filling in the mailing list request below:
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Kids’ Walk booklet
