Silverstream Reserve – A welcoming place with a reputation for morale-boosting morning teas
Lip-smacking and energy replenishing morning teas await volunteer groups who help out at the Silverstream Reserve, 52 hectares of council-designated natural reserve that span two sites along the Upper Kaiapoi River.
“When we have groups coming out to volunteer, we like to put on a special treat and keep up our reputation of having a great morning tea,” explains Kate O’Brien, a former Jobs For Nature ranger who is employed part-time by Waimakariri District Council to manage the reserve.
To illustrate the group’s dedication to hospitality, Kate shares a story of baking prowess. When about 90 members of the Student Volunteer Army were helping out at the reserve for a day, one of the regular Silverstream volunteers spent the morning making sausage rolls for everyone.
“She biked down with them, still piping hot,” laughs Kate.
Continuing with the homebaking motif, it could also be said that the reserve’s volunteer base mirrors the variety of cakes and slices on offer for morning teas: helpers come from a range of backgrounds and with diverse abilities. Regulars include people from Hōhepa Canterbury disability services.
“Silverstream also has a bit of a reputation for being welcoming, an easy springboard for people to come and volunteer outside, where the location is accessible and the work is accessible,” explains Kate.
“It’s really – and always has been – an all ages, all abilities, ‘everyone is welcome’ kind of space. People have said this is a place where they really do feel that.”
Yet it’s not just great kai and conversation that motivates the volunteers. During the past 15-plus years, volunteers have incrementally restored the biodiversity of the reserve, enhancing both the recreational and environmental features of the Silverstream area. At the Waimakariri District Council’s annual community awards night in October 2023, mainstay volunteer Noelene Francis was recognised for her decade of “tireless” work and coordination of the Silverstream Reserve Volunteers Group. The group forms the core of regular workers on the reserve.
Other rewards that reserve visitors and the whole community can enjoy are glimpses of a range of wildlife, such as the boulder copper, one of New Zealand’s smallest native butterflies. The reserve is also home to the kōura /freshwater crayfish, tuna/eel, a variety of native birds, and rare wetland and dryland plants. More than 50,000 natives have been planted in the reserve, with restoration plans ongoing.
(Nov 2023)
