Avon Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust: The Voice of the Estuary
‘Love Christchurch just a little bit more’ and ‘Pick up 5’ are the slogans on colourful posters inviting every resident to pick up five pieces of litter when they are out and about. The bi-
lingual posters will be in all libraries and service centres, and in various community venues, during a campaign co-led by Avon Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust to minimise rubbish
entering our waterways and estuary.
“When someone buys lunch at the dairy and throws litter out the [vehicle] window, it can end up in the rivers through the gutters,” says Tanya Jenkins, manager and founding member of
the trust.
Tanya hopes this awareness campaign and other trust activities will alert more people to the fact that our streets and stormwater system connect to our waterways, and that rubbish from
gutters and elsewhere flows directly into the city’s rivers.
“And guess what, the estuary gets the lot!” says Tanya, as she points to an aerial photo of the city’s waterways flowing into the estuary, the ‘lungs’ of the city, where 30,000 birds visit
Annually.
She reckons that even if only 5000 people respond to the ‘pick up 5’ message and participate in the campaign once a week, a whopping 25,000 bits of rubbish will be diverted
weekly from the tidal estuary area.
With more than two decades of commitment to its work, the Estuary Trust has gained the trust of the city and regional councils. “We are the voice for the estuary ecology; we’re not
here to moan about issues, we’re here to help solve them”, says Tanya.
The trust has many strategies, both practical and ‘political’, for enhancing the estuary. A significant part of their work is research and making submissions to councils. The trust’s
latest research identified the presence of more than 200 insects/invertebrates in Charlesworth Reserve, a one-time paddock that will soon see totara and rimu thriving.
Practical, on-the-ground contributions are varied, involving the skills and enthusiasm of school and tertiary students as well as adults. The trust hosts working sessions (where
volunteers can be involved) in seven wetland restoration areas that fringe the estuary.
