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Trees are not immortal

Depending on the species, trees have a natural lifespan from a few decades to several millennia. Some palms live only 50 years; birches, willows and fruit trees for not much longer. Beeches can live for 300 years, while oaks and pines may last as long as 500 years. The giant sequoia of California can make it to 3000 years, but the longest-lived species of all is the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine which can reach 5000 years.Of course like us humans, not all trees reach the span of their natural lif...

The Loop Track

The idea came from two Cambridge women who made a casual comment to our Chairman, Don Willoughby, that it would be nice to have a loop track around the end of the hill where bluegums had been felled, and leading up to the level ground at the top.This was a lot harder to do than it looked. The higher ground is very steep and needed stairs. Waipa District Council attended to that. Staircases in public areas have to be built to a high standard. Water run-off is a problem too. There is a depression ...

The rain it raineth...

every day, upon the just and unjust fella,and that is why I like to bringmy motorised umbrella. (aka my car)Thursday, June 12th 2025 was wet. It had rained overnight, and rain continued, but some of us turned up at the nursery anyway. After all, socialising is one reson for joining the Tree Trust.After about 15 minutes, the rain stopped, so we started weeding in the nursery. About 20 minutes later, the rain resumed. We gave up, had early morning tea, or perhaps a late breakfast, chatted for a wh...

The Swale and the Truck

Occasionally, things do not go according to plan. It was easy enough to get the truck into the work area, but a bit harder to get it out. The driver veered to avoid a bush, with disastrous consequences on the wet, slippery bank of the swale. Luckily, the Waipa District Council's parks department had a big tractor available. They've bulldozed flatter access now....

Some things we get up to...

It's not all work at the Tree Trust. Here we are, socialising at a mid-winter lunch at Karapiro.We had been treating ourselves twice a year; mid-winter and pre-Christmas, but as the later time has become busier, with more grand-children, many living in different towns and even countries, we have decided to have only the mid-winter event. It provides a welcome break at a time when there's not much on. Once King's Birthday and Matariki are over, there's a long stretch to Labour Day at the end of O...

Planting in the swale

After a very long wait, while the weather decided what it was going to be, we finally got on to planting the Swale in the Brian Mayo Reserve. Previously, the weather had been too dry, then too wet. We've had vehicles stuck in the mud before, and don't want to do it again. The erratic weather held up our work and proved very frustrating. We wanted to get on and finish this job and move to others, but the weather held us up for weeks....

Gabrielle

Cyclone Gabrielle didn't cause much damage in Cambridge compared to the havoc it wreaked elsewhere. Nevertheless, the Council needed help to tidy up windblown branches and trees. We were happy to help out.Some of our work practices don't pass modern rules or attitudes, but we belong to a generation where health and safety were matters for personal control, not legislation. Basically, we use the old sailingship mantra: one hand for the ship and one for yourself....