Children at seven Mt Maunganui and Papamoa schools and Te Wharekura O Mauao in Bethlehem are learning how to do their bit to protect us all from invasive pests by monitoring ‘sentinel' gardens they have planted.

Sentinel Gardens comprise of plants attractive to invasive pests and act as an early warning system.

'Our Garden Facilitators will help the tamariki monitor these plants for insects and report anything that could be a threat to New Zealand,” says Clare Rodgers of People and Plants in Schools (PiPS)

PiPS runs the gardening programmes in the seven schools and are the 2023 winners of the Western Bay Community Awards, Sustainable Future Award.

PiPs worked with the Tauranga Moana Biosecurity Capital, known as TMBC, a Tauranga-based collaborative organisation working to strengthen New Zealanders' awareness of biosecurity, to deliver the gardens.

'Having the sentinel gardens as part of the wider gardening programme helps our tamariki to understand we need to protect the environment and the way of life for our orchardists and farmers in the Bay of Plenty from biosecurity threats," says Clare.

Kiwifruit Vine Health chief executive, Leanne Stewart, says as a member of TMBC the organisation is proud to be helping support the gardens.

'The gardens consist of a variety of plants, including some that might provide early warning of invasive insect species and pathogens that could affect Bay of Plenty kiwifruit orchards.

'Our kiwifruit growers across the region do everything they can to look out for unwanted threats that could have serious impacts on orchards, and these gardens are a great way to help build biosecurity awareness and surveillance skills amongst younger members of the region.”

TMBC works to build collaboration across iwi, hapū, community organisations, industry, business, science and mātauranga Māori experts, central and local government to achieve biosecurity excellence.