News from the Valley

Thank you for your interest in the Garden Star program. Please fill out the form to calculate your garden biodiversity rating. By completing and submitting this form, you'll be eligible for a FREE VOUCHER to purchase two native plants from Ribbonwood Nursery. You can submit the form by emailing it to openvue@northeastvalley.org or you can print it out and drop it to the Valley Project office at 262 North Road. 

 What is your vision for Lindsay Creek? This is the question on the minds of the Open VUE Steering Group at the moment. While the vision for an open urban unfenced ecosanctuary still proudly stands tall amongst the urban forest, the Creek is a large piece of the Valley ecosystem puzzle. Gaining insight into your vision of Lindsay creek in 5, 10, 20, and 100 years will direct the mahi’s flow. The group is putting out preliminary consultation feelers while we are limited to gather, with plans for wider community consultation early next year.   The journey of the Creek, …

North East Valley and the surrounding suburbs are some of my favourite places to be in Dunedin. One of the reasons being the closeness to nature - I love stopping by the creek on my morning walk and watching the water rush by or seeing some birds feeding in a nearby tree. There’s a few trees in particular that I like to look out for on these walks too! The iNaturalist app has been super handy to help me identify and keep track of them all! Or for the child-friendly version, try Seek. Right next to the road at …

How about taking a ramble for the holidays? With the days becoming longer and warmer, I feel the pull of exploring the outdoors becoming much stronger. With the school holidays and warm spring weather, I find myself with some spare time to spend outside. Chingford Park up North Road offers plenty of opportunity to satisfy my craving for the outdoors. Lindsay Creek, running through the heart of Chingford Park and the Valley itself is particularly alluring as the sight and sound of the water flowing across the river-bed has a calming effect. The creek is also home to many …

If you find yourself walking along the Lindsay awa, see if you can identify the ‘riparian zone – a strip of vegetation that acts as a buffer between the land and water. In healthy systems, riparian zones are made up of a thick undergrowth of small shrubs and grasses and taller, canopy trees. Riparian zones provide unique habitats for wildlife, such as birds, and protection for water systems. The roots of plants growing in riparian zones provide bank stability and act as a sieve, trapping contaminants, like nutrients and sediments from surface water (runoff) before they reach the waterway …

The annual great Valley Spring Clean is coming up on Saturday 21 September from 11am-3pm. If you’re in the mood for a clear out but want to ensure you’re being responsible with what you no longer need, then the Spring Clean is for you. This year, with support from Dunedin City Council, we are going bigger and better, especially in avoiding sending items to landfill. We’ll have a team of dedicated volunteers assessing and diverting as much as possible away from the skip. The Te Rōopū Mānaaki class from North East Valley Normal School will be running a clothes …

What a load of rubbish! The first part of the Creeky Awesomeness Kaitiaki i te awa challenge got off to a filthy start last month when about 40 people helped to clean up Lindsay Creek at Chingford Park. It was depressingly astounding how much we fished out, including three buckets of broken glass shards - yikes! And that is just from a short section of the creek, so better not go barefoot! Six sacks of rubbish were also collected in the one-and-a-half-hour-long effort. Co-organiser, OpenVUE (Open Valley Urban Ecosanctuary) educator Clare Cross says she was surprised at just how …