Our Supporters - Project Birdlife and the Taupō Golf Club
Grant Hill from Project Birdlife at the Greening Taupō day/ Arbor Day planting 2024
Taupō Golf Club is located on land leased from the Taupō District Council, on the outskirts of Taupō nestled between Tauhara and Spa Park/ Waikato river . It offers 2 quality 18 hole courses which provide two very different golfing experiences, the Centennial is a classic championship length course and the Tauhara is a shorter course perfect for social, corporate or junior golf. It also provides some of the most extensive practice facilities in New Zealand. The clubrooms are well catered by the Taupō Golf Club Kitchen and Bar and our team of Wicked Weeders have greatly appreciated the feast of yummy scones and baking provided by the Golf Club Kitchen when they have been working at the planting sites located here.
Project Birdlife was originally established in 2006 at the Taupō Golf Club to encourage and grow populations of native and endemic bird species at this location. The project focuses on two main areas, increasing the habitat for birds by planting native trees and shrubs to provide shelter and food and elimination of predators that threaten them. The original planting was completed in 2006 and followed by some smaller plantings. In 2019 then Board Chairman Grant Hill re-established Project Birdlife’s vision of bringing back the native birds. A small dedicated team of volunteers have been responsible for the organisation and have taken a long term view to identifying different locations on the club’s grounds for planting. This project also helps fulfill the wider Greening Taupō community objective of creating and maintaining wildlife corridors between Tauhara and the Waikato river and this site connects with both Centennial Drive and Spa Park plantings. Bringing the birds into town from the surrounding established areas of native bush.
Our first planting with Project Birdlife in 2021
The first Greening Taupō Community Planting day was held at the Taupō Golf Club in 2021, since then this has become an annual community planting day. Trees have been funded by Trees that Count, Contact Energy and the Tūaraopaki Native Plant Nursery. In addition to these community planting days Project Birdlife with the support of Contact Energy has planted many more trees, in total to date 12,000 native trees/ plants have been planted at multiple sites throughout the golf course and 1000 trees have been grown from seed collected on the course. Pest control has also started which is being supported by the golfing community, great work. The photos below are from the 2021-2023 community planting days.
This year the Greening Taupō Day/Arbor Day planting was held at the Taupō Golf Course with 3000 trees being planted and mulched by hundreds of people and next year the planting will be adjacent to this years site. But the planting won’t stop there, and we look forward to continuing to partner with Project Birdlife at the Taupō Golf Club. Partnerships like this are fundamental to our work and enable us to achieve our Mission of improving the Taupō environment for both people and native wildlife.
