Porirua Harbour Trust
New Trustee Appointed
15 Aug 2016
At its August meeting the Trust was pleased to confirm Peter Gilberd as a new trustee representing the southern part of the catchment.
Peter has a background in the physical sciences, and a passion for the living world. For the last twelve years, Peter has been restoring the natural environment, and has founded a native tree planting group in his home suburb of Newlands, and a 6,000 plants/year community nursery. During this time, Peter has led the community in the planting of more than 20,000 native trees, and has involved more than 2,000 individuals from a large number of organisations and groups, including the corporate sector, the local marae, youth groups and schoolchildren, churches, and hospital-level residential homes.
Peter has extensive contacts with New Zealand’s scientific community, and a broad knowledge of research across many fields, including ecology.
Peter has supported planting at local schools including Mana College, Glenview School, and Russell School. The stream that was the starting point for his restoration activities, a Woodridge tributary to the Belmont Stream, is in the south-eastern corner of the Porirua catchment. Peter is currently leading the community restoration of the Belmont Stream in Seton Nossiter Park, which is a Million Metres Streams Project.