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A carpet of trees
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A carpet of trees
Flooring Xtra staff from 54 stores around New Zealand are joining Forest & Bird volunteers in planting 15,000 trees a year. Nick Foster from Van Dyks Flooring Xtra in Putaruru has plunged into the partnership boots and all, and he talks about what it means to him.
“Since I first went out planting with South Waikato Forest & Bird members, I was hooked. It was a perfect winter’s morning in June and we all got stuck in planting hundreds of seedlings at Jim Barnett Reserve near Putaruru.
The Forest & Bird people took our Flooring Xtra staff on a walk to see the reserve’s giant totara while I fired up the barbecue. Many Flooring Xtra people had never been to the reserve – even though it’s not far out of town – and they were really impressed to see all the planting and upgrades going on. It’s a beautiful spot and it’s great to see and hear so many birds.
Since then, our storeman, Klaus, has signed up to shoot rabbits and possums in the reserve, and I’ve joined the pest control gang. I’m going out every second week to top up the bait stations. It gives you a better appreciation of the need for pest control and the work the volunteers do.
It’s good for me because I love the outdoors. I take my four-year-old son and my little daughter out sometimes, too – it gives them a much better appreciation of the bush.
I hope the work Flooring Xtra and Forest & Bird are doing will give all our children a better chance of seeing magnificent native forests and lots of wonderful birds in them. ”
