Two teams of volunteers marked International Volunteers Day yesterday by joining Fonterra’s Catchment Care to help enhance the native plant life in Waikato and Southland.   Members of the public joined Fonterra staff at Lake Serpentine near Te Awamutu in Waikato and Waituna Awarua Wetlands near Invercargill in Southland. The passionate volunteers rolled their sleeves up and got stuck into weeding around recently planted native plants.   Fonterra Group GM Global Sustainability, Bruce Donnison, said volunteers are central to the success of Fonterra’s Catchment Care programme.   “Catchment Care works with thousands of volunteers every year, and it’s important we recognise and thank them for their efforts on International Volunteers Day,” said Bruce.   “Volunteering for a good cause is part of being a New Zealander but, believe it or not, almost two-thirds of the non-Fonterra volunteers for Catchment Care are international tourists wanting to make a difference to the environment. Now there’s a challenge for us Kiwis!”   Fonterra’s Environmental Team Lead, Chris Wright, a volunteer on the day, said the volunteers had made a great addition to over 130,000 square meters of land the Catchment Care programme has restored in the Waikato and Southland region during Fonterra’s 2011 financial year.   “Our Catchment Care volunteers work hard all year round so it was fantastic to recognise their efforts, and those of volunteers worldwide, over a traditional Kiwi barbeque,” says Chris. In the 2011 financial year, volunteers provided 3,150 volunteer-days of support across 60 projects throughout New Zealand, improving over one million square metres of land this year alone.