Living Heritage Homepage Home Our Project History of our Forest Mrs George's interview The people who helped in our Forest Forest Poems Worm Farm Cartoons Worm Farms Birds in our Forest Mr McGowan's Interview Mrs Hunter's interview Mrs. Anne Tyas Mrs Wilcox's interview Bugs Trees in our Forest Zero Waste at Campbell's Bay Sarah Sheeran Dr Richard Hursthouse Our Forest now Our Trip to KERP Glossary Our Team Curriculum Links Credits	Campbell's Bay Primary School Campbell's Bay Community Forest Our Trip to KERP We first had our lunch at Centennial Park before we headed off to Kaipatiki Ecological Restoration Project (KERP) which is in Birkenhead on the North Shore. It is a group that help the environment by growing and planting native trees and teaching school pupils about being green. Rachael talked to us about forests, weeds, pests and planting.  She told us that wetas can live for 12 years and they have ears on their knees. Male cicadas make a noise with drum plates on their bellies. Ecology is the study of relationships of everything in the environment - how things affect each other.  We are learning how having a forest is such a good thing for the world. Then we went and saw the native plants and other things too. Even WETAS!  When we are planning our planting, we should try and plant things that fruit at different times, so that from January to December there is always something for the birds to eat.  New Zealand has 26,000 species of plants and 92 percent of these are exotic (brought in from other countries).  We need to look after our special native plants because they are nowhere else in the world. We got to plant some seedlings and we saw all the other plants in the greenhouse.  We hope to have our own greenhouse next year at Campbell's Bay School. KERP was heaps of fun.  We got to plant heaps of little berries that are like seeds.  KERP trap possums to stop them eating their plants and berries and lately they haven't been getting many at all, around one a month. They have a little tunnel thing called a tracker tunnel with an ink pad and some paper, and they place them round the bush and track little animals foot prints, so they know what is in the forest.  If you rub a kowahi seedshell with sand paper befor planting it, it will grow nicely. Pine trees have a chemical in their needles that stop anything else growing near them, so they are not good for native forests.  We need trees to make us oxygen, for food, for materials like wood, and to absorb carbon dioxide to help the planet.  Trees stop erosion to keep soil stable, or else it can be washed away in the rain and clog up the streams. Click here to go back to Our Project