Mt Cook Half Marathon - Te Ara Kakariki Greenway Canterbury

Te Ara Kākāriki Greenway Canterbury Trust (TAK) is an incorporated Charitable Trust with the mission to work with landowners and schools to undertake restoration projects that will one day become stepping stones for a greenway from the mountains to the sea. Work is undertaken mostly in the Selwyn District, focusing first on the Hororata Catchment, Halswell river catchment, with a long term plan to link up greendots across the central plains. https://www.kakariki.org.nz/about/

A key driver for the Trust is attempting to increase the less than 1% of indigenous vegetation remaining on the Canterbury Plains. The ‘green dot’ project is an attempt to identify and establish a corridor of plantings and build community awareness of plains biodiversity. ‘Greendots’ refer to a managed planting on either public or private land supported by Te Ara Kākāriki and done in conjunction with landowners and other organisations.

With less than 1% of vegetation remaining on the Canterbury Plains, we need you help to plant native greendots. Every year Te Ara Kākāriki plants natives at a number of sites.

Te Ara Kākāriki invites those with an interest in the environment or those that love getting outdoors or those that want to contribute. Get involved. Volunteer to become active agents of change. You can volunteer for one of both of the Canterbury Plantout days in spring. https://www.kakariki.org.nz/how-to-help/volunteer/

I'm really passionate about dedicating my Mt Cook Half Marathon run to raising much needed funds for Te Ara Kakariki. I found out about Te Ara Kakariki Green Dot initiative when I did some planting on a property in Tai Tapu, it was such a great feeling to be giving back to the land I've got so much enjoyment from. The green dot project is a fantastic initiative which so far has 46 native planting sites to date - check out there work here or donate or even volunteer! https://www.kakariki.org.nz/greendots/