Ashley Forest holiday programme starting

Press, 10 January 1987, Page 2

Ashley Forest holiday programme starting

Rangiora reporter

The Forest Service holiday programme at Ashley — to give people the chance to learn about many aspects of forestry and explore the native bush — will start on Monday. Bus trips to Ashley and guided tours around the forest will run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for the next three weeks. Rangers will cover as many aspects of the forests as time allows on each day. One of the focal points of the tour will be the old fire lookout, which has not been used since 1973. Display boards around the lookout base show work in a production forest. The new fire lookout is on the top of Mount Grey and is manned over the summer. The Woodsman Track

starts opposite the Old Lookout and gives groups a good introduction to the plantation and native forest. The track was designed and constructed by the last intake of woodsmen to leave the Training School at Ashley. People taking the trip will be able to put on their walking shoes for a short trek around Lake Janet, which is on the mid-slopes of Mount Grey, and from the picnic spot there they will get a good view of the Canterbury Plains and coastline. There will be a lunch break at the Grey River. Visitors must take their own food, and there- will be the chance for a dip in the river. Picnic tables and toilets are there. After lunch, those interested will be able to take a guided walk along the Grey River nature

trail, which shows the diversity of the native bush on the Canterbury Plains.

Highlights of the walk are oyster shells embedded in the bank 700 metres above sea level, and a cave which has been created by water erosion.

Ashley Forest is 11km north of Rangiora, on the foothills and downlands of the Canterbury Plains, and has 9096 ha of planted forest. Buses will leave for the forest at 9 a.m. from outside the Rangiora Public Library, in Percival Street, and return about 3.30 p.m. The charge is $4 for adults and $3 for children. Further inquiries and bookings can be made with the Ashley Forest headquarters, telephone Rangiora 8015.