My first community project began in coastal erosion in 2002. I was trying to stabilise the surf lifeguard tower located on the fore dune of Muriwai Beach. I quickly learnt that any solid object such as logs and wind-cloth fences collected sand and built sand dunes. This was nothing new and I found out through research that historic work by the New Zealand Forest Service had used similar methods of fences in the 1950s to 1970s. I next translated the fence method to plants that might hold the sand in place. Again nothing new. A botanist by the name of Dr Leonard Cockayne had gone to France in 1909 to look at such methods and introduced the marram grass (Ammophila arenaria) to New Zealand to do just that. The short comings of Marram grass is that it builds bigger, taller sand dunes, Cockayne’s method which in conjunction with Muriwai’s coastal location at right angles to the prevailing westerly winds combined with the spherical 0.05mm sand particles of the Muriwai sands results in highly mobile sands equalling large volumes of shifting sand. In the end, the environmental conditions of this nonlinear system won – we moved the surf lifeguard tower; in fact we moved the tower three times in three years. This introduction of working in the community for the community spurred me onto forming a sand dune restoration group and this coincided with the commercial reproduction of Spinifex sericeus an indigenous sand binding plant. At this point I was introduced to Jim Darm from the Bay of Plenty who was achieving great results in sand dune restoration work in the Bay of Plenty. I have lead many working bee days in the late autumn on the sand dunes of Muriwai. However it is not as simple as planting existing eroding sand dunes along this West Coast. The Muriwai coast is part of a high energy coastal system best described as a high energy dissipative beach and all these system are connected. The first part of the restoration process is an assessment on the eroding sand dune. These sand dunes were highly modified in the 1930s when Woodhill Forest was planted by the NZFS dune modification was carried out until the late 1990s. We then bring in machines and reduce the height of the sand dunes, flatten the top, widen the base and where possible create an incipient fore dune. When planting we used twice the number of Spinfex sericeus plants to address the mortality rate creating plant colonies which improves survival rates. As a temporary measure against the equinox winds we often place rectangular hay bales on the seaward side of late plantings. What I have learnt over the years is nothing is permanent when working with non-linear systems.
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My latest community project started with a phone call which went like this: “we need a landscape resource consent for the new surf club at Muriwai but we have no funds to pay you with yet.” As a surf club member I was honoured to be asked. When designing this community landscape it was essential to connect the landscape on many levels into the existing broader community spaces. This was achieved by avoiding visual barriers to enable people to be drawn in and safely enter into these spaces. This promotes activity and social interaction between the various spaces and community events. This landscape has enabled a strengthening of community relationships with all the local community user groups who occupy the new centre. The design called for many activities to occur simultaneously. This has resulted in seven different landscape spaces which can all be used at once. The project has been driven by Tim Jago who is visionary in his thinking. We needed a new surf club due to erosion and the community has never had a hall. Tim’s solution was to combine the two and build a Community centre which also houses the Muriwai Surf Club and other community groups such as the Muriwai Sports Fishing Club. Four and half years later we now have a state of the art complex, which has seven permanent tenants. I worked with an amazing team of people all of those key people have succeeded beyond belief with a “can do” attitude for the community. Probono work can be a humbling experience from the architect Jasmax to the contractor of West Auckland. I project managed the landscape installation over a six week period with a zero budget yet we pulled off a $150,000 landscape. We are indebted to Porter Hire for machines, AC Diggers for machines, operators and materials, Treescape for materials and cartage - those are the big companies involved in the project and the 100’s of hours of volunteer community labour through working bees. The site is 300 metres from mean high tide springs in a very exposed location and within the Muriwai Regional Park. This has resulted in many restrictions on both design and materials. These restrictions were not seen as hurdles but rather as challenges which required the landscape architect to think outside of the square. I would not have achieved the results that I did if it weren’t for the community supporting our project and backing the project with man power, machines and materials. The landscape is by no means completed that will take another two autumns and many more hours of volunteers. As a landscape architect it has been my most rewarding job to date and I have thrived on the curve balls it threw at me.