Around 4000 seedlings culled in challenging weather conditions. By Frances Hancock

The final tally for our May 2015 community-led, Council-supported working bee was a whopping 70 bags! An estimated 4000 mangrove seedlings were culled from the Manukau Harbour along Kiwi Esplanade foreshore in Mangere Bridge.

Around 50 residents braved the driving rain and cold temperatures to make the working bee a huge success. In a few hours this bunch of hardy locals did the equivalent of around three weeks voluntary labour (including prior planning, onsite coordination, and follow-up the next day).

A huge proliferation of seedlings this year has caused concern among residents and prompted collaborative community action. As a result, a strong team decided to work together to ensure a well-coordinated effort. Members of MB Residents and Ratepayers, Friends of the Farm, Mangere Bridge Community Network, Ambury Farm Park, and Auckland Council shared responsibilities before, during and after the event.

People helped in different ways, including checking tides, coordinating Council support and local volunteers, delivering notices to mailboxes, monitoring activity on the day so everyone was safe and followed Council requirements, culling the seedlings, washing down tired volunteers, picking up bags along the Esplanade, baking muffins and documenting the efforts of all - in numbers and through stories.

“What a great community we have,” said Carol-Anne Armitage, a local resident known to many and one of the coordinators of the working bee. “All ages lent a hand, from young to old, including youngsters from Brownies, Guides, Scouts and Soccer Clubs to mention a few. Everyone worked very hard for two hours, knee deep in the mud, some having to go out quite a distance and come back with their heavy buckets and basins full of seedlings to tip into bags and place ready for Janine and Darren to pick up.”


This year Friends of the Farm has been promoting a “my patch/our patch’ approach to encourage residents to help take care of some place in Mangere Bridge that means a lot to them.

Patch leaders are local residents willing to join us in showing leadership. In the case of mangrove working bees, they help either by getting in the mud or monitoring work from the shore, and by encouraging their neighbours and others to join in.

After two successful working bees, we’ve now identified patch leaders along a good stretch of Kiwi Esplanade. And more are coming forward. “I love this "adopt an area" idea,” replied one Neighbourly writer who lives locally. “We have a special spot where we love to swim during the summer. So it would be cool to adopt that [area].”

This effort builds on a long history of collaborative community action in Mangere Bridge and seeks to encourage the next generation of community volunteers.


Friends of the Farm is now creating a database for community working bees, so we can more quickly and easily coordinate volunteer efforts across the community, not only for mangrove seedling removal but also for foreshore and stream clean-ups, and other activities.