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Tawharanui Regional Park has won the coveted international Green Flag Award for the fifth year in a row.
The Green Flag Award is given to parks exhibiting the highest standards of horticulture, cleanliness, sustainability and community involvement.
In addition to New Zealand, the award operates in the UK, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, the United Arab Emirates and Australia.
Judge Kate Krawczyk, a parks manager from Nelson, says Tawharanui scored highly across all the judging criteria.
In particular, she drew attention to the parks’s excellent record of environmental management, its promotion of biodiversity and its protection of natural features such as the dunes at the beach.
She says another point in Tawharanui’s favour was the high level of volunteer community involvement in maintaining the park, notably through the Tawharanui Open Sanctuary Society (TOSSI).
TOSSI projects include forest and wetland restoration, re-introduction of threatened species, monitoring of animals and plants, pest control, maintaining a nursery and development of walking tracks.
Kate says another key part of the judging involved assessing the park’s management plan.
“The management plan is a big part of the assessment. We want to know what kind of plans are in place for looking after the park over time,” she says.
The Green Flag programme is administered in New Zealand by the New Zealand Recreation Association.
Association programme manager for open spaces Karl Nesbitt says public parks make a significant contribution to healthy lifestyles.
“If we want livable cities and thriving communities, then we need to invest in these public spaces and ensure that everyone, no matter where they live, has access to quality parks and green spaces,” he says.
