Power tools and pool noodles have come together to solve the world\u2019s problems and build nesting sites for endangered birds at the W\u0101naka Community Workshop.<\/p>\n
Every Tuesday and Thursday morning the workshop opens its doors to volunteers looking to offer their skills and services to projects in the community.<\/p>\n
Workshop spokesman Ian Maxwell said the sessions provided a service for the community and a space for people to socialise.<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s present project was aimed at helping the southern crested grebe.<\/p>\n
By bringing the largely older, male group together, the workshop provided an informal space for people to develop relationships \u2014 and perhaps share problems \u2014 without the stigma or clinical settings of other health services.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I don\u2019t think … too many older New Zealand blokes [are] going to pop up and go \u2018man, I\u2019m really struggling here\u2019,\u2019\u2019 Mr Maxwell said.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018But you can pick that up and you make friends and you get closer to people.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Trust is built and then those sorts of stories are shared.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The group served a social purpose, but it also took extreme pride in its work, as demonstrated by the refurbished nesting platforms for grebes.<\/p>\n
The platforms, built to give grebes safe nesting sites visible from the boardwalk between town and the marina, required maintenance after months in the water.<\/p>\n
But Mr Maxwell and his community workshop colleagues were going a step further by improving the design while testing ways to make the platforms less environmentally damaging.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018We\u2019ve noticed that some of the nests that are built by the grebes essentially slip off the platform so we\u2019re tying some sticks into the top of the platform so that when they build their nests they\u2019re better able to withstand the movement instead of just slipping off.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
In addition to adding grip to the platform, the group had changed their anchoring point and lengthened the chain securing it to the lake bed, improving the protection they offered in strong winds.<\/p>\n
Traditionally, the platforms\u2019 buoyancy had come from pool noodles, but Mr Maxwell said with the noodles disintegrating, the group was trialling several new buoyancy methods.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018We\u2019re trying to provide two or three different varieties that won\u2019t corrode as much as the pool noodles.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018The difficulty is that they will float higher, which presents a problem of the platforms blowing over, so we\u2019ll need to provide an anchoring system or a keel, like a yacht.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018The intention is we\u2019ll find one that works really well, and then we\u2019ll move away from pool noodles altogether.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Lake W\u0101naka grebe project platform operations manager Markus Hermanns said the platforms \u2014 originally designed by W\u0101naka local John Darby \u2014 played a \u2018\u2018critical\u2019\u2019 role in boosting the grebe population in both W\u0101naka and H\u0101wea.<\/p>\n
Project members were grateful for the \u2018\u2018excellent work and immense help of the community workshop\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018This keeps the platforms seaworthy and ready for the next breeding season at no extra cost to the grebe project,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Without their skilled, reliable input the platforms would quickly degrade and the whole programme could stall.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n