Ōtari’s many, hard-working volunteers (along with many others from around Wellington) were celebrated in a recent press release by WCC’s Wellington Parks and Reserves team. Read it here:
celebrating_voluntee…pdf (PDF, 2.48 MB)
Posted: 14 December 2024
After a long, tense Council meeting nature - and Ōtari - got the n
Redeveloping Ōtari’s old, crammed nursery facilities is now on the cards.od, when the 2024 Long-term Plan Amendment was passed in late November. Councillors were reminded by Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush Trustees of the Council’s own vision for Wellington: a place where people and nature thrive. Thus, the $3.7 million set aside to redevelop the area encompassing Ōtari’s old, cramped nursery, propagation, laboratory and library spaces was reinstated into the Long-term Plan. (See previous story for the details.)
The Long-term Plan will go out for public consultation early next year before final ratification.
Posted: 12 December 2024
Stories of native orchid conservation research at Ōtari impressed an international audience of orchid specialists, in Perth in September. Scientists from the Lions Ōtari Plant Conservation Laboratory made
Jennifer Alderton-Moss and her winning poster presentations to the 8th International Orchid Conservation Congress on their groundbreaking research undertaken around the germination of rare native orchids. A poster summarising progress on the genus Corybas (helmet orchids), designed and presented by plant conservation researcher, Jennifer Alderton-Moss, was awarded Best Poster at the Congress. Conservation and Science Advisor, Karin van der Walt, gave a talk about Gastrodia (potato orchids, and especially the team’s work on G. cooperae) and Carlos Lehnebach (Botany Curator, Te Papa who is also part of the Otari research project) gave a talk about Corybas carsei (swamp helmet orchid). There were about 90 attendees, who came from far flung places like Czechia and Taiwan, and the week was packed with 50 talks and two workshops, says Jennifer, whose conference attendance was sponsored by the Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush Trust.
Posted: 1 October 2024