Living Legends is a community conservation project that was established in 2011 to celebrate and leave a legacy of New Zealand’s hosting of Rugby World Cup.  It is a five year project that will eventually see 170,000 native trees planted throughout New Zealand. A staggering 129,140 native trees have been planted so far.

2012 is the second year of planting for Living Legends and 17 public planting events were held around New Zealand in August and September, each dedicated to a Rugby Legend from the region. Buller-West Coast Rugby Legend, John Sturgeon says “It has been a privilege for me to be part of such a worthy community involvement and I was delighted with the turnout of volunteers from the West Coast and Buller areas who gave their time to Living Legends for the local planting days in 2011 and 2012. It was also pleasing to see so many young school children participating and learning about the part they play in conservation.”

Project Manager for Living Legends, Devon McLean says “We’re thrilled with the support from our Rugby Legends who have been actively involved in Living Legends planting days with the local community. Reaching the 120,000 trees mark is a huge milestone. We’re very proud of our commitment to helping to restore New Zealand’s bio-diversity with our Rugby Legends.”

Living Legends planting events will return next year, with dates and locations to be announced in early 2013.

This effort was part of the Living Legends project’s West Coast planting day for 2012. Living Legends has been planting at the Punakaiki Coastal Restoration area and with the help of our volunteers and Rugby Legend John Sturgeon, we have now planted a total of 7500 native trees at the this site. 5000 were planted during Rugby World Cup in 2011 and 2500 in 2012.

John Sturgeon was selected as the West Coast Rugby Legend in 2011 and spent the day at Punakaiki mucking in with local volunteers from the community, including kids from Runanga School, planting native trees.

John with the full Rununga School team

Devon McLean, Project Manager for Living Legends says Mr Sturgeon has been a pleasure to work with.  “John Sturgeon has been a tremendous supporter of Living Legends.  Despite John being on a walking stick because of recent surgery to his knee he got stuck in and the kids loved having him there.”

John will return with Living Legends to continue planting at the Punakaiki Coastal Restoration area in 2013.

Living Legends is a community conservation project that was established in 2011 to celebrate and leave a legacy of New Zealand’s hosting of Rugby World Cup.  It is a five year project that will eventually see 170,000 native trees planted through public planting events held every year. A staggering 110,350 native trees have been planted so far, with a further 18,000 to be planted this year.

There are 17 planting projects around New Zealand and each is dedicated to a Rugby Legend from the region.  These include rugby greats such as Sir Colin Meads, Buck Shelford and Todd Blackadder.

“Reaching the 100,000 trees mark is a huge milestone. We’re very proud of our commitment to helping to restore New Zealand’s bio-diversity with our Rugby Legends.  Living Legends was established as an opportunity for people to get involved in the restoration of native tree populations alongside Rugby Legends in their local community” says Devon McLean, Project Manager for Living Legends.  “We look forward to seeing the next 18,000 trees being planted over the next two weeks”.

Volunteers muck in at the 2012 Living Legends event in Taupo

There is still opportunity for people to get involved with a local planting project this year, with events to be held this weekend in Wellington, Punakaiki, Tauranga and next weekend in Otago, Southland, Manawatu and Waikato.

Living Legends is a joint venture of Project Crimson, an environmental charity with 22 years experience in community-based native restoration projects and The Tindall Foundation.  Major sponsors are the Department of Conservation and Meridian Energy.

Living Legends events are taking place in 17 locations all around New Zealand during August and September 2012. Each region’s planting project is dedicated to a local Rugby Legend. Colin Meads was selected as the King Country Rugby Legend in 2011 and spent Sunday at Whakaipo Bay mucking-in with around 350 volunteers from the community planting this unique site.

Sir Colin Meads mucks in at Whakaipo Bay to help plant 3000 native trees

Gordon Hosking, Operations Manager for Living Legends says the Taupo Living Legends event was a great success. “Colin Meads is behind Living Legends 100% and has gone out of his way to support us. To have him with us on a beautiful sunny Taupo day with such a great turnout from the local community was brilliant. We couldn’t have had a better day for planting.”

Living Legends has now planted a total of 8000 native trees at the reserve with 5000 planted during Rugby World Cup in 2011. Living Legends will return to continue planting in this area in 2013.

Living Legends is a joint venture of Project Crimson, an environmental charity with 22 years experience in community-based native restoration projects and The Tindall Foundation. Major sponsors are the Department of Conservation and Meridian Energy.

Tane Norton and Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson kick off the 2012 Christchurch event

This staggering achievement was part of the Living Legends project.  Living Legends will complete 17 community planting projects throughout New Zealand this year, planting a total of 45,000 native trees and shrubs.  The work follows on from last year when Living Legends was established to leave a legacy of New Zealand’s hosting of Rugby World Cup.  It’s a five year project which aims to plant 170,000 trees throughout New Zealand by 2015.

Each region’s planting project is dedicated to a local Rugby Legend.  Tane Norton was selected as the Canterbury Rugby Legend in 2011 and spent Saturday at Otukaikino mucking-in with around 75 volunteers from the community planting this unique site.

Living Legends has now planted a total of 7100 native trees at Otukaikino Reserve with 5000 planted during Rugby World Cup in 2011.  75 children from St Mark’s School kicked off this year’s planting programme on Friday, with the help of parents and Project Crimson Trustee Ruud Kleinpaste, aka “The Bugman”.  Local volunteers planting the remaining trees on Saturday alongside Tane Norton and Kate Wilkinson.  Living Legends will return to continue planting in this area in 2013.

Ruud Kleinpaste and friends at the St Marks School planting day

Living Legends is a joint venture of Project Crimson, an environmental charity with 22 years experience in community-based native restoration projects and The Tindall Foundation.  Major sponsors are the Department of Conservation and Meridian Energy.

Richie Guy was selected as the Northland Rugby Legend in 2011 and spent Saturday at Uretiti Rest Area mucking-in with about 60 people from the local community planting this unique site. Richie kick-started this year’s planting project with children from Kamo School on Friday, when 200 trees were planted, and then the remaining 1800 trees planted on Saturday.

Richie Guy at Living Legends 2012 event

Gordon Hosking, Operations Manager for Living Legends says Mr Guy has been great to work with. “Richie was a true legend to work with. He spent all of Friday helping the kids from Kamo School plant their trees, and was with volunteers till the end of the day on Saturday. What a great help! ”

Living Legends planted 5,000 trees at Uretiti in 2011 and will return again in 2013 and continue to plant this site.

Living Legends is a joint venture of Project Crimson, an environmental charity with 22 years experience in community-based native restoration projects and The Tindall Foundation. Major sponsors are the Department of Conservation and Meridian Energy.

This staggering achievement was part of the Living Legends project. Living Legends will complete 17 community planting projects throughout New Zealand this year, planting a total of 45,000 native trees and shrubs. The work follows on from last year when Living Legends was established to leave a legacy of New Zealand’s hosting of Rugby World Cup. It’s a five year project which aims to plant 170,000 trees throughout New Zealand by 2015.

Each region’s planting project is dedicated to a local Rugby Legend. Ian MacRae was selected as the Hawke’s Bay Rugby Legend in 2011 and spent Saturday at Ahuriri mucking-in with around 120 volunteers from the community planting this unique site.

Ian MacRae mucking in at the Hawke's Bay planting day

Melanie Seyfort, Communications Manager for Living Legends says Mr MacRae has been great to work with. “Ian MacRae is behind Living Legends 100% and has gone out of his way to support us. To have him there this weekend alongside the local community was brilliant, Ian truly is a Legend.”

A total of 3,000 native trees were planted at Ahuriri this week by Living Legends, with 2000 planted on Saturday and local schools planting close to 1000 on Friday. This year the planting extended from DOC land to include planting on Kiwirail land beside the railway tracks. Living Legends planted 4,200 trees at Ahuriri Estuary in 2011 and will return again in 2013 and continue to plant this site.

Living Legends is a joint venture of Project Crimson, an environmental charity with 22 years experience in community-based native restoration projects and The Tindall Foundation. Major sponsors are the Department of Conservation and Meridian Energy.

Good quality plants from our nurseries and careful planting by our volunteers have ensured we made the best of the wet summer. The only site to show significant losses was Orokonui (Dunedin) where very hot weather immediately after the planting day caused some losses, but even here 80% of what we planted is happily growing.

Competition from weeds and grass can severely limit tree survival and growth in the first year after planting and on sites where acacia and blackberry is present some spraying has been necessary. Most sites have long grass and to the untrained eye they can look a bit neglected, however, as long as the plants are upright and clear above, the weeds and grass provide some shelter and on a number of sites discourage rabbits which can be very damaging. In a year’s time the plants will be above the competition and visitors will be able to clearly see the success of planting.

All in all, we’re rapt with the progress so far!