In 2012
Porirua City Council received a Highly Commended Award for Excellence in
Compliance for Te Ara Piko. This award recognised Greater Wellington consent
holders who exceeded their compliance requirements to reduce or avoid adverse
effects on the environment.
On Monday
19 August 2013, Plimmerton Rotary won the Heritage and Environment Category of
the Wellington Airport Regional Community Awards for Te Ara Piko Pathway at a
prestigious awards ceremony held at Pataka in Porirua.
The idea of
having a pathway around the Pauatahanui Inlet was first mooted in 2000. It was not until 2005 that any visible work
was evident and the vision became a project known as the Te Ara Piko Pathway.
The project
has been developed jointly between Plimmerton Rotary and the Porirua City
Council with both partners being enthusiastic supporters from the start.
Ron Lucas,
President of Plimmerton Rotary noted how special it was to have been nominated
for this award by Porirua City and that, by receiving it, the work of both
project partners was recognised.
There is a
long way to go on this project as it works its way around the Pauatahanui Inlet
but already the completed sections are proving to be well used and as the
Pathway mellows, the attention paid to heritage and environmental values as
recognised by the Wellington Airport Regional Community Award 2013 is becoming
increasingly evident.
To
celebrate, several Rotarians, Inner Wheelers and even a small person, gathered
at the project’s Ration Creek nursery for the final planting of the year. Several
were deployed to Ration Point to plant more Oi-Oi grasses and release those
already planted.
While
others busied themselves at the nursery itself, weeding around the young plants
that will be ready for planting out next autumn.
Hard work
like this deserves its reward so a morning tea break was very welcome.
And
although it was tea and coffee and not champagne, there was a moment of
celebration when mugs were raised to the extraordinary vision of having the Te
Ara Piko Pathway completed around the Pauatahanui Inlet.
Written by Phillip
Reidy
