The Whakatipu Reforestation Trust has won a $10,000 Canon education award, including a $2500 grant, which will be used to
support its Educate for Nature programme.
Last week, Canon New Zealand CEO Kim Conner travelled to Jardine Park in Kelvin Heights to present the trust with the prize,
which includes two high-quality printers, to help support the hands-on learning programme.
Pictured with the printers are, from left, Conner, trust education and outreach officer Jo Smith, trustee Jill Hogson and operations
manager Karen O’Donahoo.
Smith says the programme is all about intertwining the natural world with urban areas and connecting Whakatipu communities
with nature.
‘‘Right now, we’ve lost so much of our vegetation cover that we need to connect people back to place, and I do that through plants
and developing the skills and knowledge and capability of children and school groups and communities that actually empower them to take action, grow plants, put them in and just help restore and really get our immediate Basin area thriving.’’
She says the money is key to growing the programme and nurturing environmental stewardship in the Basin.
