Win trees for your school to plant

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;"><strong>As Matariki draws near&comma; Trees That Count is joining the M&amacr;ori New Year celebrations by offering community groups&comma; schools and non-profit organisations the opportunity to win native trees for local conservation projects&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Matariki is the M&amacr;ori name for the Pleiades star cluster&comma; also known as the Seven Sisters&comma; and this year celebrations are due to begin on June 25&period; Traditionally it is an occasion which signifies remembrance&comma; fertility and celebration&period; How closely aligned and bright these stars shone foretold how favourable the weather and how plentiful the growing season would be in the year ahead&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Trees That Count will be giving 300 native trees to seven groups nationwide&comma; representative of each of the seven stars of Matariki&comma; to help regenerate their local environment&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Matariki is a time when we show respect for the land and learn about the land we live on&period; We’re celebrating it by providing community groups or schools with native trees as a way to give thanks through planting&comma;” says Trees That Count’s project director Tanya Hart&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Trees That Count is an ambitious new conservation movement which aims to unite and inspire New Zealanders to plant more native trees&period; For 2017&comma; the organisation has set a goal of 4&period;7 million equating to one tree for every New Zealander&period;  A live count of the number of native trees being planted across the country is being kept to monitor and measure the effects of national planting efforts every year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We we want to make a positive difference to climate change by helping to reduce our country’s carbon emissions&comma;” says Ms Hart&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Planting native trees goes a long way to helping restore and enhance New Zealand’s environment&period; It creates habitats for native birds and insects&comma; encourages clean air and waterways and enhances our national biodiversity&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">To enter your school&comma; go to <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;treesthatcount&period;co&period;nz&sol;matariki" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">www&period;treesthatcount&period;co&period;nz&sol;matariki<&sol;a>&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;