A baby totara tree at the east end of Clarkville’s Silverstream Reserve in New Zealand has been entered in the Waimakariri Tree of the Year competition. Source: Star News
The tree was nominated by Noelene Francis, of Clarkville, who in 2023 won the individual award at the Waimakariri District Council Community Service Awards for her volunteer work at the reserve.
Ms Francis said the totara was planted in 2016, three years after volunteers began a concerted effort to plant and look after the reserve.
It was planted among established pittosporums to provide the early protection totaras need and is now thriving.
“It is very happy growing among its sheltering companions,” she said.
She believes the totara is a worthy Waimakariri Tree of the Year candidate because it is a “true icon” in the making.
“I know it is just a baby, and you can’t see it very well, but it will be magnificent and given the stony, dry area it is planted in it is doing well.”
All entries for the 2025 Waimakariri Tree of the Year will go in a draw to win a copy of Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees the Illustrated Edition.
The competition has been organised by the Waimakariri District Council’s greenspace team.
Nominations can be sent to Mike Kwant at [email protected] until Friday, 28 February 2025.
The competition aims to identify trees to nominate for the New Zealand Tree of the Year.
Entries for the New Zealand Tree of the Year competition can be made from mid-March to mid-April and an expert panel will select six finalists.
Then from May 1, the public will be invited to vote for the tree they want to become New Zealand Tree of the Year from those finalists. The winner will be announced on 5 June 2025 – Arbor Day.
The objective of the national competition is to celebrate New Zealand’s most interesting trees and acknowledge the stories that connect communities to them.
Last year’s winner was named the ‘Walking Tree’. It is a northern rata on the South Island’s West Coast, near the Karamea Cemetery, with twin trunks stretched apart as if it was in mid-stride and wearing high heels.
For more information about the New Zealand Tree of the Year competition and the Walking Tree, visit www.treeoftheyear.co.nz
