Motueka Valley Hosts Post-Flood Thank You Event
Another wonderful community event took place at Lisa & Mark Quins farm in the Motueka Valley on Friday 7th November, a joint effort by the Motueka Catchment Collective, the Student Volunteer Army, Landcare NZ & Gallaghers Fencing. The aim was to get together those affected by the floods & those who helped with the clean up, to share kai & stories, to say a big THANK YOU, to check out the flood resilient fencing that is being trialled at the Quins place & to build on the sense of community cohesion & collaboration, felt so strongly in the aftermath of the floods. 65 locals turned up which was fantastic!
Mark & Lisa provided the perfect BBQ location & organised some warm, sunny weather and community members & local businesses provided a wonderful spread. Special thanks to Farmlands and Gallaghers for the meat, Motueka Creamery for the ice creams, Golden Bay Fruit for the juice plus all the attendees for a fab selection of salads, cheeses & desserts! Lastly, huge thanks to Annette Litherland from Landcare for excellent organisation, to Pip from the SVA for her endless energy & positivity & to Motueka Portaloo Hire for the wharepaku!
What was the flood resilience fencing?
The fencing is designed to break in floods so the posts are conserved and the wire doesn’t attract rubbish and can be easily reinstated. The types of fencing is Kiwitech which has polyrods that are designed to bend and let flood debris pass. The Gallagher posts are also flexible and the Waratah fencings has waratahs that can be straightened again without breaking. All three types of fence had minimal number of wires needed to control the cattle. These fences can be viewed from the roadside at the property just upstream from the Alexandra bridge. They are one of 4 sites where the fences have been trialled in the Motueka catchment and there is 1 site in the Wai Iti catchment. All have been placed in locations where repeat floods are expected.
To learn more about the flood resilient fencing see this workshop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTmMfVss17I
