The future of conservation in the city
An hour ago a man walking in the Eskdale Reserve with four children saw me working at the kikuyu margin, stopped, pointed out to the children what I was doing, and asked me if I was a volunteer. He seemed already to understand that I was weeding there to save the trees dying from the weed vines. He explained this quickly and simply to the children, who then asked the most wonderful spot-on questions, as children usually do:
"Is this [cordon] showing the bit that belongs to you?"
I told her the land belongs to our City Council, which means the cordon shows the bit I get to look after and choose how to do it, as long as the Council agrees its a good way.
"How long have you been doing it?"
A year and a half here, and thirty years in other places.
"I hope there will be enough water for the trees?"
We discussed the absence of taps and hoses in wild areas, and the importance of leaf litter, dead wood and decaying weeds as mulch, for moisture retention and as habitat.
One told me she'd seen a lizard at school, and I asked if it was wild (it was) and what colour it was (green). I said, that's great, because its hard for lizards to live in the city, with all the roads and things. I hoped it had somewhere to hide, "like this" (lifting a pile of drying honeysuckle).
Children, unfettered by ideas of public duty, of personal capital gain, or of gardening as a chore, instinctively understand the interest and enjoyment of nature, gardening and restoration. (I have always recoiled from the usual comment by passing adults - "Oh you are so good! Such a lot of hard work!")
I could see these children, with continued interest from the adults around them, taking it up themselves in the future. In my experience, children have always responded like this, but have traditionally received no further education, training or substantive encouragement to pursue their natural interest.
This intereaction really lifted my spirits.
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