Ōtokia Creek and Marsh Habitat Trust

17/06/2026

❗️ No planting day on 21 June. New date TBC 🌳
It’s National Volunteer Appreciation Week and we want to give a huge shout out to our volunteers who come and restore our beautiful Ōtokia Creek alongside us!

Special thanks to our amazing school crews and their teachers. You guys have planted SO many trees this season that we have run out of trees in the nursery!!! What a great problem to have 😎💪🤣

So that’s why we won’t be having our community tree planting day on 21 June. We are planning on a tree planting day in September. Will let you know the date asap. Thank you again to our amazing supporters and friends of the creek 🌳

16/06/2026

A lovely article about our wonderful afternoon at St Peter Chanel School 🌳 in this month’s Informer 😊 Greater Green Island Community

🌱 Growing the next generation of environmental champions! 🌱

Twenty-five enthusiastic tamariki from Years 4–6 at St Peter Chanel School recently took part in a hands-on planting and education day with Loveday from the Ōtokia Creek Trust.

The students learned about native trees, seed growth, and the importance of restoring local waterways before getting stuck into practical activities including sowing seeds, identifying native plants, and re-potting seedlings destined for the Ōtokia Creek reforestation project.

One of the biggest highlights came when the children discovered the project has already planted 22,000 trees – and that the seeds they planted could help add another 200 in the future. 🌳

With plenty of curiosity, enthusiasm, and muddy hands, the tamariki embraced the opportunity to contribute to an important local conservation project and learn more about caring for the environment.

📖 Read more in the June Informer newsletter:https://asset.turboweb.co.nz/186/file/n325how0c4h3xlgk74mx/June%202026%20Informer.pdf

Ōtokia Creek and Marsh Habitat Trust

14/06/2026

Lovely morning at the nursery potting up natives

26/05/2026

Fairfield Primary School - Dunedin rolled their sleeves up for some tree planting on the creek yesterday. They were working on the narrow strips between the shallow pools on the wetlands, building on the work Taieri College did last week. We are loving the collaborations coming together as we all steward our local waterway.

Thank you, Fairfield! You did a fantastic job 🌳

22/05/2026

Students from the Department of Botany, University of Otago visited the Otokia marsh today to plant, tag and measure natives. We are excited to get their results over the coming years. It was an awesome day, thank you!!

21/05/2026

What an amazing day with Green Island School on the creek yesterday! We planted 130 native trees, sowed kahikatea and kowhai and repotted seedlings for planting out next season, going through every stage of the reforestation process.

We also monitored water quality with Jennie from Ōtākou Enviroschools, did a scavenger hunt and even wrote nature poetry. Some of the lines were so powerful and showed what being in nature can do for children.

We were so impressed with the enthusiasm, team work and action-taking throughout the day. Looking forward to having you back, GI!

Thank you to the teachers for bringing the kids out and to Forest & Bird for helping make this creek activity day possible.

20/05/2026

Green Island School you were amazing! We were so impressed with the engagement and enthusiasm. Thank you for your lasting contribution to your local wetlands 🌳

18/05/2026

A great day with Taieri College Ecowarriors! They planted 400 trees on the wetlands and repotted almost the same number of seedlings for planting out next year. 🌳
We had an amazing day - lots of mahi and lots of laughter. Can’t wait to see you again Taeri 🌊
Thank you to Otago Regional Council EcoFund and Forest & Bird for helping to make these youth eco days possible 🐦

13/05/2026

Botany student, Thomas Chapple and assistant, Lauren are on the creek today taking samples for their research on how reforestation projects affect invertebrate populations. Looking forward to hearing their findings! 🐛

06/05/2026

St Peter Chanel School did amazing work today! We sowed swamp ribbonwood seeds and repotted saplings ready to grow on and plant by the creek. We learned about the life cycle of a seed and how to plant for the climate 🌳 We had so much fun! Thanks for being tree heroes SPC! 👏