31/05/2018

The Hurunui Youth Conservation Site was officially opened this past Sunday with an “amazing and fun” day out called Vision and Pines.

Vision and Pines was a music festival held to showcase the recently designated Youth Restoration Site adjacent to the Balmoral Reserve Camp Ground. The event featured a talented line up of live music, workshops, food trucks and an outdoor movie.

The goal was to bring the community together and showcase what our young people have achieved. Our youth, as part of the Hurunui Youth Kaitiakitanga Program, are putting into action a youth led restoration plan on a local site. While we are administering the program, the amount of ideas and enthusiasm that have come from the youth have been nothing short of impressive.

Krystal Jennings, our Hurunui Youth Council facilitator, said the *funding secured for the project aims to remove barriers that may prevent young people from exploring environmental citizenship.

“With mentoring and support, we are aiding our young people in their environmental journey and providing local opportunities for leadership, mentoring and volunteering” she said.

“I am really proud of the ideas, passion and enthusiasm our young people have contributed to make Vision and Pines such a success” she said. “We hope to host it again in 2020, when we will plant the first round of native trees on the site”.

Bradley White, a year 12 student at Hurunui College and Hurunui Youth Kaitiakitanga Project member, said Vision and Pines was well thought out.

“It went incredibly well, giving the youth and their families an amazing, fun day out” he said. “It was awesome to see how many youth showed interest in the environment and the awesome plot of land we have some wicked ideas for. I can't wait to see the end project”.

Matthew Stanford, Enviroschools Canterbury Facilitator and the River Invertebrates Workshop Leader, said it was great to be part of Vision and Pines and “the tiaki rangatahi leading the project should be really proud of themselves”.

“On the day, we contributed to a bit of an ecological baseline by assessing the water quality using the invertebrates that call the Hurunui awa/river home. We found lots of Swimming Mayfly that have a low tolerance to pollution” he said.

“As the young people plan and develop the site I hope they consider any impacts on the river environment. I look forward to seeing the project progress”.

*The Hurunui ‘Youth Restoration Site’ and Vision and Pines are part of a wider conservation project called the ‘Hurunui Youth Kaitiakitanga Project’. This kaitiakitanga project is made possible by Ministry of Youth Development Funding that supports youth leadership, mentoring, volunteering and wellbeing.

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