Albemarle Stream Care Group

6a. FAQs

Where is Albemarle Stream?

It runs in the bush gully along Albemarle Road, from below the Northland Kindergarten, to Cardinal Mc Keefry School

How big is the stream?

The stream is a small 'first order' stream, as it is only 250 metres long, and 1 metre wide along much of its length.

Where does the stream come from and go to?

The stream originates from springs up on Tinakori Hill. These are carried underground via the stormwater network, which eventually discharge into an open channel immediately below the Albemarle Road kindergarten. This is where our stream begins. As the stream also acts as a stormwater drain, its flow increases dramatically when it rains.

The stream goes into a stormwater culvert just above Cardinal  McKeefry  School, and runs under the closed landfill site, eventually joining the leachate drainage system. This finally discharges into the Kaiwharawhara Stream below the landfill, and eventually reaches the sea at the bottom of Ngauranga Gorge.

Why is the stream in bad condition?

When Wellington was settled, the area around our project site was stripped of native vegetation and turned into pasture.

The land immediately below our site was subsequently used as a large landfill site, and much rubbish was dumped into the gully occupied by our stream. As well as historic dumping, roads and 200 houses built above our site contributes stormwater and other contaminants to our stream, either when it rains, when wastewater and litter gets into stormwater drains, and when sewage leaks reach the stream.

During heavy rainfall, high flows erode the banks, carrying sediment downstream. Our project aims to reduce the amount of contamination getting into the stormwater system, and the amount of erosion.

Although the water quality is not good and there is little evidence of stream life, our ecological survey revealed that it has good habitat values, which means that if we can control pollution, there is a good chance that there will be some fish life in the stream in the future.

The surrounding land is regenerating naturally, and there are some native species that are attracting birds. However, there are also several bad weed infestations that threaten native species regeneration (including German ivy, hawthorn, tradescantia, blackberry, gorse among others).

There are also some 'garden escapes', where plant and weed species are coming onto the site from surrounding gardens.

Who owns the stream and surrounding land?

Much of the stream bed and surrounding land is listed as Wellington City Council reserve, although there is some privately owned neighbouring land, belonging to houses along Pembroke Road (their land extends approximately half way down the hill).

It is our aim for Wellington City Council to make this site gazetted reserve, which means that it is highly unlikely that it will be developed in the future.

Who is paying for all this?

All our members are volunteers, and provide their time for free. However, we do need money to provide trees, weed control and materials for tracks, signs and benches etc. We also need technical support on occasions.

Our financial and technical support currently comes from the following sources:

Greater Wellington Regional Council:       $19,000 grant (over 5 years) toward weed control and planting.

Wellington  City Council:                            They have provided extensive advice and support. We have applied for a $10,000 grant to cover 50% of track construction costs.

Lotteries Commission:                              We have applied for a $10,000 grant to cover 50% of track construction costs.

How big is the Albemarle Stream Care Group?

We have around 50 members, plus school children from Cardinal McKeefry and Northland schools. We are also supported by the Otari-Wilton's Bush Trust.

What is the group doing?

Over the next 5 years, we will be doing a range of things to improve the stream and its surrounding catchment, with the aim of improving the environment and producing a recreational resource for the community. Specific tasks include removing weeds, removing rubbish, controlling erosion, creating a track and picnic areas, planting native species (trees, shrubs and grasses), installing interpretational signs, and educating the local community about what they can do at home to reduce pollution and weed infestation.

What are your priorities?

From now until mid 2008, we will be focusing upon controlling weeds, removing rubbish, and improving access to the site (by installing a track), in addition to surveying problems at the site and planning our future activities more thoroughly. Then we should be in a position to begin planting toward the end of 2008. The remaining four years (2009 to 2012) will be a combination of propagating native species, weed control, planting and plant maintenance, plus community education programmes.

Why are you not planting lots more trees now?

There are several parts of the site where we want to plant trees, but they are infested with weeds. If the weeds are not removed first, they will simply kill the trees we plant, or use-up lots of our effort trying to control them. In some areas, we will need to spray chemical herbicide to control weeds. This would also harm any trees if we planted them.

How often are your working bees?

We plan to have working bees every 6 weeks. In addition to working bees, we will need to do some more hazardous activities (such as weed spraying, bank stabilisation and removal of heavy debris) which are not appropriate for children and the elderly.

What can I do to help?

Join us (send an email to albermarlestreamcare@hotmail.com, or call 475 7121).

Keep an eye out for our upcoming working bees. They are advertised in the local paper (City Life West), and we will put up posters on lamp posts in surrounding streets. Our web site has a list of upcoming working bees.