Projects
Past / Current
Past Projects
KTAB early focus was on tidying up littered areas and removing or covering over unwanted graffiti, the lighting of buildings in the Domain and the Mural opposite I-site.
- Railway clean up 2019
- Covid Commemorative Planting
- Cementery ext Planting
Current Projects
In 2020 one of our members collaborated with some locals to set up a community native plant nursery at the TA college, which now produces native plants .
Planting Projects
August Street Reserve Continued
Until last year KTAB’s earliest plantings (2015) at August Street Reserve had come along really well with minimal maintenance required. Kaimai Valley Services (KVS) had included the adjacent grass in their mowing schedule and the area.
Past Projects
Winner Paint Your Town Beautiful
In 2015 Keep Te Aroha Beautiful won the inaugural “Paint Your Town Beautiful” competition which resulted in the Edwardian mural painted by artist Stuart Sheppard on the Countdown building in Whitaker Street.
23 Dec 2015
We are pleased to announce the winning branch for 2016 Paint Your Town Beautiful is Keep Te Aroha Beautiful. Submitted by Mr Bryan Turner Chair of our newest branch. We are very excited to work with Bryan on this project and to announce that this will be the site to Launch Paint New Zealand Beautiful Month in March 2016.
Keep Te Aroha Beautiful will work in conjunction with Te Aroha Arts community to complete this mural and the KNZB national office to make arrangements for the unveiling and launch party. The mural will go in a high foot traffic area on the side wall of Countdown Supermarket Te Aroha which is across the road from the Domain which looks up to the old Spa building – now the district museum.. The history of the Te Aroha Domain is that it was an Edwardian Spa town where people would come to take to the waters. In its hay day it was bigger than Rotorua and attracted visitors from all over the North Island. Te Aroha is still the only place in the southern hemisphere that has a hot water soda geyser and people still come to Te Aroha today to soak in the hot soda water spas.
The mural will be an artist’s impression of a fine Edwardian Lady with her head dress, who would have been seem promenading around the Domain in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s.
Mural designed to promote arts and deter graffiti in Te Aroha
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Artist Stuart Sheppard said the mural was painted on a wall in a neglected part of the Te Aroha township. L-R: Bryan Turner, Stuart Sheppard, Jan Barnes and Claire Ashton.
A rural Waikato town has won a nationwide campaign aimed at ridding communities of graffiti.
Environmental group Keep Te Aroha Beautiful won the competition, which was a mural painted on a wall of Countdown facing the Te Aroha Historical Edwardian Domain.
The mural is an impression of an Edwardian Lady with her head dress who would have been seen around the Te Aroha Domain in the late 1800 to early 1900s.
Artist Stuart Sheppard said the mural will have exposure to a lot of foot traffic.
He said the art celebrates the beauty and history of Te Aroha that has attracted visitors to enjoy its hot water soda geyser and soak in the spas for many years. "This was a dirty grey wall in a neglected part of town," he said. "But now, what a sight, the best view in town is right here.
"People are dying for signs of life in their towns. Everybody wants to see signs of life." Sheppard said he wanted to replicate how people dressed in the Edwardian period. "Country women, young women, would come into town but they would dress up and show off, it was really social. "We've lost that special feeling around town."
Keep New Zealand Beautiful project manager Joanne Powell said the awareness month is not only to combat graffiti but to celebrate communities efforts in being graffiti-free. "The main aim is to have positive imagery in the community," she said. "And the murals tell a story and creates a sense of pride to protect it rather than damage it through graffiti."
Chief executive of Keep New Zealand Beautiful, Heather Sanderson, said people also need to differentiate between murals and graffiti. And that the difference is having the permission to do so. Matamata-Piako Mayor Jan Barnes said she hoped the mural will put Te Aroha on the map as a town known for its art. "We hope this will be the [start of something].
There is even talk of a working studio where artists can come and paint and pot and weave," she said. "People will interact, buy art. But it will bring our domain alive. We will become known as the quirky art village." Keep Te Aroha Beautiful branch manager Bryan Turner had worked to get the project off the ground for six months. He said the Te Aroha branch was fairly new and he hoped to collaborate with the artist and the mayor for similar projects.
August Street Reserve Planting
For long years, this area was used for grazing stock.
There used to be fences on both sides of the drain to keep the water clean, but over time, and after various floods, the fences were destroyed and the water polluted.
In 2015 change came with the erection of stock-proof fences and a tree plan.
On the First of August 2015, a group of volunteers, including staff from both councils (Regional and District) and the Lions Club, planted native trees to begin the transition from untidy paddock to a manicured park.
Shortly after children from Te Aroha Scouts arrived with adult helpers to install weed mats around every newly planted small tree.
More community plantings were done in 2016 (with weed mats) and more again in 2018. Now the reserve is regularly mowed and is a showpiece for beautification.
The area has been flooded many times, but most trees have survived.
Numerous birds visit and several nests have appeared.
Keep Te Aroha Beautiful NZ's Best Volunteer
December 2017
Above Lindsay Best a member of Keep Te Aroha Beautiful recently received the Volunteer of the month award from Keep New Zealand Beautiful.
Nominated by Keep Te Aroha Beautiful Te Aroha’s Lindsay Best has received the Volunteer on the Month Award from New Zealand Beautiful.
For the past three years Lindsay has taken a personal interest in several areas adjacent to the Waihou River which have been planted with Native species. Working alone he has devoted his time keeping down weeds in the area of the plantings, watering them, working at ensuring the survival of the native plantings wherever possible, keeping the areas free from little, and removing graffiti.
The sites Lindsay patrols are in the areas between Rewi Street and the river representing a plot that could be described as Herries Park South and another opposite August Street Single-handed he has created pedestrian pathways to the individual areas to enable public access to the plantings.
His enthusiasm for the development of the native plantings has spurred the authorities to follow up on the planting programme and plans are afoot to plan an area east of the Coulter bridge with Khaikatea trees.
Lindsay said there had been suggestions of increasing plantings of natives to the extent of one for each head of population.
Fired by his enthusiasm for the project and determination to ensure the sites receive his regulas personal attention Lindsay still manages to fit in three days a week as an orderly at Waikato Hospital.
High Tea Fundraiser. 3rd of march 2019
On 3 March 2019 a ‘high tea” fundraising event was organised by Keep Te Aroha Beautiful on March 3rd 2019 to revive interest in the Domain house which hadn’t been used for some time.
Old Railway Station- Garden Clean Up 2019
Owing to an issue with maintenance of garden and surrounds of the old railway station, several KTAB members began to do regular rubbish collections and graffiti removal, refreshes and watered planter boxes, and tackled the forgotten and overgrow garden of native plantings in the vicinity.
Invasive climbers, weed and long grass were removed on mats to be taken off site.
Weed mats were refreshed reformed and mulch spread and contained by horizontal logs.
In time new enthusiasts under guidance of local residents Dianne & Sheryl took over the maintenance and further landscaping of the area. Today cycle visitors are welcomed by a pleasant area with more trees, flower beds and a giant metal sculpture in the shape of an oversize tricycle crafted by local artist Adrian Worsley.
KTAB continues to support the local group with plants from their nursery.
The Covid Memorial Planting Event in Te Aroha 2020
A recollection of the before, during and after of the big event.
So, there were the volunteers of Keep Te Aroha Beautiful, working out plans for a Grand Public Event in Te Aroha, where 500+ locals could come along to plant their own native tree. Not just any tree mind – NZ’s Forest Giants – kahikatea and matai – capable of growing up to 60 metres! Would it rain? Would the site be underwater?
The site is near the Waihou River and alongside the busy Western entrance to town. Once a soggy cow pasture, over several weeks it was transformed into a forest of 1200+ plants with fences to exclude stock, newly dug drain channels, and steps and a bridge to allow safe access. The site for each tall tree was marked by a bamboo stake with a yellow ribbon – and from the nearby road, the sight of 500 such stakes was unusual and raised the question: “What’s all that about?”
Come the big day, a group of volunteers (with a wary eye on the weather) gathered early and awaited the arrival of the Mayor who would open the event and a Māori representative who would intone a karakia/prayer.
120 planters arrived on the day, including kids. Some people were keen to plant a tree in their name, and others wanted to commemorate friends and family who had passed away.
Everyone lined up to register, printed their name on a numbered tag and headed out to select a tree and begin planting. They then tied the numbered tag to ‘their’ tree. In future each tall tree can be located by its specific GPS co-ordinates. Thus, family generations far into the future could visit their 200+ year old ‘family tree’.
During the following week, word spread, and more planters arrived and were greeted by KTAB volunteers who helped them locate a tree, assist in the planting, and even took photos. Staff from essential businesses and services were hosted & the planting done on behalf of the medical centre staff, and workers at aged-care residential facilities.
Cemetery Extension Planting
iOn Saturday 14 August 2021 some 30+ people of the community came together to plant 1 hectare of native trees and shrubs at the southern end of Te Aroha cemetery. This was part of the Te Aroha cemetery extension. On Friday a group of students from St Josephs School had kicked off the planting as part of their school activities while on Sunday we had another session to finish off the planting which totalled approximately 2500 trees and shrubs with the majority pioneer species which will provide quick cover and shelter for larger trees to be planted at a later stage.
The Te Aroha Lions, our trusted partner, as with other planting events, sizzled sausages when we had a break on Saturday which gave people also an opportunity to mix and mingle.
Current Projects
Graffiti Management
Graffiti clean-up – Te Aroha!! Here in Te Aroha, we are a pretty close-knit community and as quickly as graffiti appears, members of the public are quick to report it so it can be cleaned up. There are sometimes a number of people involved, such as last year during the filming of The Gone in town, a whole fence was repainted as well as tags on various power boxes. In the past, tagging under the road bridge walkway was quite frequent and it was a difficult area to tackle. However, the guardians of the cycle trail have tidied up this well. Most is reported, some is observed and then it is just a matter of time to get it covered up or removed. For the most part, townsfolk demonstrate a very healthy pride in our little town and together, we work to keep it Beautiful!!
Keep Te aroha Beautiful has been active in removing and painting over objetionable graffiti.
The Edwardian mural in the wall at the local Countdown store painted by artist Sheppard was designed to deter graffiti and promote arts.
KTAB support community members who are willing to help removing or covering up graffiti by providing resources like paint.
KNZB facilitates an anti-graffiti week annually.
Rubbish/ Litter/Recycling
Our Keep Te Aroha Beautiful (KTAB) member Lindsay Best is our advocate on litter reduction and himself has adopted areas in town he keeps tidy. He writes as follows:
Trash our Town?
People who are proud of their town can be rightfully upset when they see debris thrown carelessly and feel negative emotions, but it’s quite easy to feel more positive by deciding to make a difference.
Some people ‘adopt’ certain areas – be it stream or park or pathway – and return every so often to pick up litter and keep it looking its best. Taking pride in the look of a place makes us feel better, and if litter can be diverted to recycling, that’s a bonus.
If more citizens adopted areas to care for, our town and region would look and feel so much better and be more welcoming to visitors.
[ We advise the use of gloves and take care with sharp objects.]
In 2019 Keep New Zealand Beautiful carried out a so-called baseline audit against which they can observe trends when doing further audits. The baseline audit identified cigarette butts as the most identified item nationally, disposable nappies the highest in volume, while beer bottles the highest in weight contributing to the national litter pile. llegal dumping contributed the largest proportion to the total estimated litter volume at highway and railway sites nationally. Check out the overview and report of the 2022 audit on the Keep New Zealand (KNZB) website.
Count: Plastic was the most prevalent main material type found nationally with a 72.4% increase since 2019. Cigarette butts remained the most frequently identified material subcategory, despite a drop in the number of butts recorded in 2019.
Weight: Glass beer bottles, less than 750 ml, all colours, continued to be the leading material subcategory in any single material type (i.e. Glass) for national litter weight. However, construction waste (a subcategory across multiple material types), when totalled nationally, was the largest
contributor to litter weight overall.
Volume: There was over a sevenfold increase in the estimated litter volume of the material type Paper/Cardboard nationally in 2022 compared with 2019. Cardboard boxes (a new material subcategory in 2022) contributed most significantly to the increase in estimated Paper/Cardboard litter volumes
nationally. A large increase in estimated volume nationally was also seen with illegal dumping.
Branded litter: Snack Wrappers and Packets overtook Alcoholic Beverage Containers and Packaging as the top industry category of branded litter in 2022, with a leading fast-food brand accounting for 5.03% of all branded litter items recorded.
Sites: Nationally, most litter in 2022 was found at Retail Sites, overtaking Industrial Sites which had the
highest levels of litter in 2019.
KNZB CEO Heather Saunderson said of the 2022 audit:
The 2019 National Litter Audit provided a baseline for litter intelligence in New Zealand, painting a picture of how litter impacts our communities. The 2022 results serve to highlight that the need for educational and behaviour-change programmes, when it comes to litter in New Zealand, is more important and urgent than ever
Predator Control
Keep Te Aroha Beautiful is not actively involved in predator control (pest animal control) but is supportive of people who wish to start control in their own environment. KTAB provides rat traps at a discounted price, which are available from the I-site office. Eventually if there is enough support, predator
control can be coordinated and expanded onto Mount Te Aroha to bring back the “Dawn Chorus”. Read
on…
New Zealand’s “Dawn Chorus”
The sheer volume of bird song heard by the early arrivals is still mourned by many as a lost taonga/treasure. Tragically the reduction of songbirds, and many other native species is due, the effects of human impact.
Introductions of predators was a huge blow.
There are more hunting predators than we may realise:
Rats Pigs
Mice Possums
Mustelids Mynas
-Stoats Cats
-Ferrets Dogs
-Weasels Humans
Hedgehogs
Most native animals evolved without defence against new predators.
* Ground nests: kea, kakapo, falcon, kiwi, dotterel, etc. = Easy pickings!
* Stay motionless: kakapo = Not with predators with keen smell and sight.
* Tree nests & roosting: bats, kaka, tui, etc. = Not safe with climbing
predators.
What can I do to Help?
Research on the net – DOC, Forest & Bird, Predator Free NZ, etc
Buy/make traps and begin your own trapping programme: Rats, mice, possums.
Organise a group of like-minded people for a wider programme.
DOC have advice and sell a range of traps – see website.
Discounted rat traps available at Te Aroha i-site information centre.
Planting Projects
August Street Reserve Continued
Until last year KTAB’s earliest plantings (2015) at August Street Reserve had come along really well with minimal maintenance required. Kaimai Valley Services (KVS) had included the adjacent grass in their mowing schedule and the area looked a picture.
Unfortunately, in the last year the plantings have been subject to excessive flooding and some species couldn’t cope with this and perished. So a replacement planting was planned for the 2023 planting season and after KVS had removed the dead trees and debris, year 10 students from Te Aroha College, as part of their Taku Wairua programme (personal development programme), helped replace the dead trees and also further enhanced the area with new native tree species from our nursery. Some 150 native trees were planted on 25 October 2023.
HERRIES SOUTH Recreation Reserve (1 Rewi Street)
Rewi Street Kahikatea remnants
For many years this riverside area was solely used to graze stock. Sadly, this led to damage and death of some native trees.
The stock were withdrawn several years ago and grass is now mowed for hay.
Within the 6ha reserve are remnants of the original forest with 17 Kahikatea trees remaining, as well as a few totara and cabbage trees. Some native swamp coprosmas (Coprosma propinqua) have also survived the grazing.
In 2019 Keep Te Aroha Beautiful organised a public planting where volunteers planted native species within the cluster of kahikatea trees. The idea was to begin the partial revegetation of the area. A number of further plantings have been held but it is a tough site, subject to drought and floods, so at this stage, only a portion of hardy plants survived. The site has taken a bit of a backseat due to the extreme condition but we have been planting some tree species on the adjacent hummock, away from the flooding and exposure to wind and will continue to progress this as time and conditions allow.
A somewhat isolated but otherwise healthy Kahikatea tree in this area is standing on slightly higher ground and is less subject to flooding. We have christened it the “Mother Tree” and has been given special treatment with a number of understory native plant species planted providing it company
but also give the Mother Tree’s surface roots protection. The area is marked out so the mower can avoid it as it could damage the Mother Trees’ surface roots. The tree also is a source of kahikatea seed to raise new kahikatea seedlings in our native plant nursery.
Skidmore Reserve Revisited
The 2020 commemorative planting at Skidmore reserve suffered from excessive flooding in the 12 months ending 30 June 2023, the worst in 40 years!!
We lost about 40% of our 500 Kahikatea trees. It s a misconception that kahikateas thrive in water. It is true they tolerate water better than most other native trees, hence the Hauraki plains were once covered in kahikatea forests but that process took place over thousands of years with periods where conditions were favorable.
We are now replacing the ones we lost due to the excessive flooding with trees raised from our nursery.
Mary's Fernery
Mary Hansen is passionate about her fernery she has been developing with help of other volunteers (including KTAB members) over the last 5 years or so. The fernery is located in the Domain behind the swimming pool, just above the concrete base of the former aviary. Her recent acquisitions are various species of tree ferns donated by KTAB while Matamata Piako District Council has been supporting her with mulch and other plants to enhance the pond below the fernery. See also the TA News article
Cemetery extension planting continued
Upper Domain Restoration
The Domain has its spa and other facilities (swimming pool, museum, croquet, art gallery, i-site); Mnt Te
Aroha has its native forest and network of walking tracks. The area is steeped in history, natural and
cultural values etc. These are some of Te Aroha’s most important and assets and provide for exercise,
leisure activities and education for residents and tourists etc see submission. Take some recent shots to
get a before and after.
KTAB submitted to the LTP with regard to the need to restore some of the indigenous biodiversity in the
upper Domain which currently is compromised by weed invasion. KTAB has collaborated with MPDC,
Ngati Tumutumu and started planting the area between the Spa building and the café.
Working with Schools
Tatuanui School: KTAB nursery is partnering with Tatuanui School to raise small
seedlings for the students to grow them on in their school’s nursery. The students will
then plant them on Farms of Tatua Dairy Company suppliers. This is a fundraising project
for the school.
• Te Aroha college: Year10 Taku wairua (personal development programme of 10 sessions)
helped with planting seedling trees at the August St road reserve. KTAB member Rien
van de Weteringh had earlier spoken to the group at school about what KTAB is doing
and what it is to be a volunteer serving your community.
See also TA News issue