If ever you wanted to see how New Zealand is ‘sold’ to its stakeholders take a look at this article in today’s NZ Herald.

Along with a shot of a remarkably mature landscape, New Zealanders are given the feel good gospel that

“Americans will soon be able to experience New Zealand’s natural wilderness in their own backyard as a forest filled with kiwi plants opens over the weekend.

Seattle’s Washington Park Arboretum will house 10,000 plants grown from wild seeds, collected from around the country, covering nearly a hectare of hilly land.

“You will come and, when it’s just a little bit more mature, feel like you are walking in a New Zealand landscape,” Arboretum Foundation executive director Paige Miller said…”

Lucky old Americans, not only will they have the privilege of experiencing a taste of the great NZ outdoors but they also get gardens planted from other Pacific Rim countries too –

The New Zealand exhibition was one of five from countries around the Pacific Rim, including Chile, China and Australia.

New Zealand’s fauna was chosen because of the similar climate and also because Christchurch was Seattle’s sister city… read the rest here

Now take a look at this and see how the same news was presented in Seattle.

First, here’s a shot of the garden from the Seattle Times

It’s very different to the picture published by the Herald isn’t it.

But that’s not the only difference. The Seattle Times writes,

It’ll be years before the garden will grow into anything resembling a forest. But the vast scale of the project, and the scattering of semi-mature silver beech trees (Nothofagus menziesii) give an idea of how dramatic the garden will be as it fills in and grows up. “This will be an experience like no other . . . Now there’s no need to get on a plane to New Zealand,” says horticultural manager David Zuckerman…

Why? because you can view the “New Zealand dead look” from your own backyard.

The first of the Pacific Connections gardens to be fully planted, the New Zealand Forest is a 2½-acre hillside featuring nearly 10,000 odd, twiggy, twisted plants from Down Under. “We call it the ‘New Zealand dead look,’ ” says Zuckerman of the contorted corokia and brown-toned carexes. “Trust us, all these plants are alive.”…

Ray Larson, curator of Living (sic) Collections told the reporter

“We’re creating a forest from a different area of the world that we know will grow well here,” explains Zuckerman, who emphasizes the conservation aspects of the garden. Like a zoo, the Arboretum is protecting the germ plasm of the future. “We’re keeping genetic diversity alive here,” he says… read the full article here

Geez genetic diversity! probably because there’s not a green 1080 pellet to be seen, amazing how they do that isn’t it. Maybe New Zealand could learn a thing or two from Seattle?

You may also be interested in

Kea Deaths are Simply Collateral Damage in DOC’s 1080 Drops (August 2013)

1080 Use In NZ May Be Stopped By The USA Congress (July 2010)

External sites

Farmers Against 1080: FATE

Bureaucrat Gang-Up on “Farmers Against 1080″

Doc and the 1080 Fraud – by the KAKA group

Stop 1080! –  A NZ based Facebook group.

New Pro-1080 Alliance Lacks Sustainability Vision: – Press release from The Soil and Health Association of NZ

1080 Documentary wins out against NZ propaganda machine

Enuf is Enuf. Poison free New Zealand

Another nail in the coffin for 1080

Posts tagged 1080