Kids flock to Wairarapa wetlands | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

School students and volunteers put on their gumboots and got their hands dirty planting trees on six hectares of the Wairio Wetlands on Thursday, as part of a major research project by Victoria University student Bridget Johnson.

Bridget is completing her Masters in Ecological Restoration, and was given the opportunity to do her thesis on the Wairio Wetlands near Kahutara with the help of Ducks Unlimited.

"I'm doing a big planting experiment to try and find the best way to plant the trees by looking at cost benefit, environmental benefit, by measuring the success and failure of each experiment," she said. "We're trying nine different treatments such as taking off the top soil and using weed mats to see what is the best way to plant the trees."

Ducks Unlimited president Jim Law said the research project added an exciting element to the wetland restoration.

"We're doing a lot of environmental work by doing practical stuff like planting trees, and Bridget is experimenting with the scientific side of things to find the best way to do that, so it's exciting to be able to bring that all together."

Students from Pirinoa, Kahutara and Martinborough primary schools and about 30 adult volunteers mucked in on Thursday to get the trees and some flax planted.

It was the first big project Bridget had been involved in.

"Seeing it all come together is just great, and I've had so much help from the Wairarapa community, especially Ducks Unlimited," she said. "The amount of volunteers we have got is amazing ..."