Successful applications
Find out more about the recipients of the Waitaha Action to Impact funding rounds over the past three years and what the successful applicants have done with the funding.
The Waitaha Action to Impact fund was created in 2021 in response to the many requests from community organisations for better access to funding for community-led projects.
2023/24 funding round
For year three, 2023/24, we had $350,000 available for community groups to take action for the environment. Around half of that was already pre-allocated via multi-year funding, but there was $182,000 available for new applications. We are proud to announce the following projects received funding from the Waitaha Action to Impact Fund this year.
Supported projects by zone
Waimakariri zone
Te Kōhaka o Tūhaitara Trust
(Received multi-year funding allocation.)
Awarded $5,000
Tūhaitara Coastal Park rehabilitation – enhancing the native biodiversity in this corridor linking the Waimakariri to the Ashley Rakahuri.
Christchurch West Melton zone
Avon-Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust
(Received multi-year funding allocation.)
Awarded $30,000
Estuary restoration, protection and enhancement – building a better understanding of the values of the estuary, and what action we can take as individuals to enhance the quality of the Estuary, including opportunities to volunteer.
Christchurch Envirohub
(Received multi-year funding allocation.)
Awarded $24,000
Community-led mapping and directory – a digital geological mapping application to enable users to visually see any environmentally-focused projects or activities occurring within the wider Canterbury region, e.g. planting events, recycling drop points, pest management organisations, river care groups, restoration sites and energy organisations.
Port Hills Trust Board
(Received multi-year funding allocation.)
Awarded $10,000
Mt Vernon Park Enhancement project – the planting of eco-sourced natives on erosion-prone hillsides and flats reducing sediment into the Ōpāwaho Heathcote, removal of woody weeds, and volunteer opportunities.
Styx Living Laboratory Trust
(Project submitted via the WAI Fund but financed from alternate budgets.)
Awarded $10,000
Pūharakekenui Awa Freshwater Education & Awareness Project – raising the profile of the Pūharakekenui awa and communicating freshwater values/advocating for the protection in innovative ways.
Summit Road Society Project
(Received multi-year funding allocation.)
Awarded $20,000
Predator Free Port Hills – a backyard and community trapping programme which aims to eliminate rats, possums and mustelids from the Port Hills and Lyttelton Harbour by 2050.
Sustainable Ōtautahi Christchurch
Awarded $10,000
Speak for the Planet – a speech, art, drama, poetry, video/music competition for young people from Year 7 to age 24, based on the World Environment Day theme.
Banks Peninsula zone
Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust
Awarded $25,000
Feral Pig Control (Te Waihora Catchments) – a well-managed community-led initiative to continue with feral pig surveillance and control in Prices, Kaituna, Western and McQueen’s Valleys and upper zones immediately to the north of Mt Bradley and Mt Herbert.
Hidden Valley Conservation Trust
(Received multi-year funding allocation.)
Awarded $8,768
Hidden Valley Conservation Quick Start – seventy-two hectares at Purau, long-recognised for its high natural, cultural and landscape values, with work to accelerate the change from farming to conservation for an immediate benefit to the biodiversity and public recreation, including weed and pest control and monitoring.
Helps Pohatu Conservation Trust
(Received multi-year funding allocation.)
Awarded $10,000
Kororā (little blue penguin) monitoring at sea – kororā are a key indicator species of the health of the marine environment. Their activities at sea will be monitored using GPS sensors, with the aim of protecting them from population decline
Wairewa Rūnanga Incorporated
Awarded $20,000
Whenua Ora – Improving water quality and fisheries in Wairewa – providing opportunities and projects in collaboration with our community, local school and Treaty Partners to rehabilitate the bio-diversity values of traditionally significant areas in our takiwā.
Selwyn Waihora zone
Arthur’s Pass Wildlife Trust
(Received multi-year funding allocation.)
Awarded $12,000
Feral cat eradication – Eradicating all feral cats in the vicinity of Arthur’s Pass Village to help protect native wildlife for future generations to enjoy.
Implementation of the Upper Waimakariri River Weed Control Strategy
Awarded $24,000
Waimakariri Ecological and Landscape Restoration Alliance – Implementation of the Upper Waimakariri River Weed Control Strategy – a partnership approach to assist in delivering a catchment-wide collaborative approach to the management of weed species in the upper Waimakariri catchment. (NB, wilding pines are not the main focus of this project).
The Fantail Trust
Awarded $5,000
Trapping and planting in the Rakaia Gorge – To create a native plant and bird sanctuary in the Rakaia Gorge.
Ashburton zone
Bike Methven
(Received multi-year funding allocation.)
Awarded $10,000
Mt Hutt Forest Bike Park XC Rejuvenation Project – To eradicate 40.4 hectares of wilding Sycamores and re-plant with natives endemic to the Mt Hutt/Ōpuke Region.
Staveley Campsite Committee
Awarded $30,000
Staveley Camp Forest Regeneration Project – Providing opportunities for learning and connection with nature and a safe and rich habitat for birdlife.
Orari Temuka Opihi Pareora zone
Mackenzie Community Enhancement Board
Awarded $16,560
Opihi River Revegetation Project – Native vegetation planting alongside the Opihi River, partnering with the Fairlie Lions Club to create a community project that will involve all the schools in the Fairlie District and any interested groups and individuals.
Ngāi Tahu Māori Rock Art Trust
Awarded $ 10,000
Opihi Ecological Restoration Project – The planting of 6,000 native plants will add a biodiversity corridor connecting the existing plants with the Ōpihi Awa. It will allow greater ongoing protection for long-tailed bats, skinks, moths and butterflies and invertebrates in the area. It will assist with the ongoing protection of the Māori rock art sites and encourage more participation by community groups and iwi.
Orari River Protection Group Inc Soc.
(Received multi-year funding allocation.)
Awarded $6,500
Trapping predators and weed eradication – Working in partnership to sustain and improve weed eradication to help provide a safe environment for rare reptiles and other flora and fauna.
Project Peel Society Inc.
Awarded $21,867
Peel Forest Reserve Exclosure Plots – Construct ungulate (deer, pig, goat and wallaby) exclusion areas in the Peel Forest Reserve alongside public walking tracks at two locations to demonstrate to community and authorities (both regulatory and funding) the biodiversity regeneration benefits following ungulate control.
Sustainable South Canterbury Trust
(Received multi-year funding allocation.)
Awarded $10,000
Eco Centre Launch and Progression – Eco Centre Launch and Progression – a launch festival, sustainable and healthy food/living displays, and workshops to educate adults and children about actions on waste, energy, climate, land use and water.
Regional
BRaid
Awarded $20,000
Braided Rivers biodiversity restoration – To enhance community awareness of protecting and regenerating the biodiversity of braided river ecosystems through a central networking hub, and through outreach to stakeholders.
Sea Cleaners Trust
Awarded $30,000
Sea Cleaners Canterbury crew – Sea Cleaners remove rubbish from the marine environment, whilst engaging coastal community and supporting education though schools and volunteer networks across the regional.
2022/23 funding round
Councillors agreed to a one-off increase in funding available for year two, 2022/23, meaning that we had $600,000 available. We received funding requests totalling in excess of $1.3 million.
Supported projects by zone
Hurunui Waiau zone
Hurunui Biodiversity Trust
Awarded: $20,000
Linking Community and Biodiversity Outcomes – providing education, resources, and networking services to encourage and empower people to value and look after native biodiversity on their properties and in their communities.
Waimakariri zone
Te Kōhaka o Tūhaitara Trust*
Awarded $5,000
Tūhaitara Coastal Park rehabilitation – enhancing the native biodiversity in this corridor linking the Waimakariri to the Ashley Rakahuri.
Christchurch West Melton zone
Avon-Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust*
Awarded $30,000
Estuary restoration, protection and enhancement – building a better understanding of the values of the estuary, and what action we can take as individuals to enhance the quality of the Estuary, including opportunities to volunteer.
Christchurch Envirohub Project one*
Awarded $24,000.
Community-led mapping and directory – a digital geological mapping application to enable users to visually see any environmentally-focused projects or activities occurring within the wider Canterbury region, e.g. planting events, recycling drop points, pest management organisations, river care groups, restoration sites and energy organisations.
Christchurch Envirohub Project two*
Awarded $20,000
Te Tuna Taone / Urban Eel – action learning programme for tamariki to learn about the special nature of Aotearoa's unique endangered eel species (longfin tuna), and determine what actions they could deliver to improve the aquatic and terrestrial habitat for urban longfin tuna.
Port Hills Trust Board*
Awarded $10,000
Mt Vernon Park Enhancement project – the planting of eco-sourced natives on erosion-prone hillsides and flats reducing sediment into the Ōpāwaho Heathcote, removal of woody weeds, and volunteer opportunities.
Richmond Community Garden Trust
Awarded $11,100
Riverlution Evo Park Rain Gardens – stormwater capture and grey water capture to help reduce the runoff from urban environments into our rivers and save mains water usage by using the tanks to water gardens.
Styx Living Laboratory Trust**
Awarded $20,000
Pūharakekenui Awa Freshwater Education & Awareness Project – raising the profile of the Pūharakekenui awa and communicating freshwater values/advocating for the protection in innovative ways.
Summit Road Society Project one**
Awarded $6,000
Avoca Valley community engagement programme – providing trees and mats for a volunteer planting programme and equipment for a citizen science monitoring programme, and a summer scholarship for a University of Canterbury student.
Summit Road Society Project two
Awarded $20,000
Predator Free Port Hills – a backyard and community trapping programme which aims to eliminate rats, possums and mustelids from the Port Hills and Lyttelton Harbour by 2050.
Sustainable Ōtautahi Christchurch**
Awarded $5,000
Speak for the Planet – a speech, art, drama, poetry, video/music competition for young people from Year 7 to age 24, based on the World Environment Day theme.
Banks Peninsula zone
Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust
Awarded $30,000
Feral Pig Control (Te Waihora Catchments) – a well-managed community-led initiative to continue with feral pig surveillance and control in Prices, Kaituna, Western and McQueen’s Valleys and upper zones immediately to the north of Mt Bradley and Mt Herbert.
Helps Pōhatu Conservation Trust**
Awarded $30,000
Kororā (little blue penguin) monitoring at sea – kororā are a key indicator species of the health of the marine environment. Their activities at sea will be monitored using GPS sensors, with the aim of protecting them from population decline.
Hidden Valley Conservation Trust*
Awarded $9,695
Hidden Valley Conservation Quick Start – seventy-two hectares at Purau, long-recognised for its high natural, cultural and landscape values, with work to accelerate the change from farming to conservation for an immediate benefit to the biodiversity and public recreation, including weed and pest control and monitoring.
Le Bons Bay Environmental Education Trust
Awarded $6,000
Le Bons Bay Inanga Restoration Project – fence and replant a tributary of the Le Bons Bay stream, known to be a inanga/whitebait habitat.
Living Springs Trustst
Awarded $14,850
A living firebreak design for the Port Hills – a functional alternative that increases carbon sequestration, allows native fauna to move in response to climate change and aids habitat restoration in the landscape.
Ōtamahua /Quail Island Ecological Restoration Charitable Trust
Awarded $5,000
Ōtamahua/Quail Island 2023 Planting – planting a 0.34ha basin to link with areas previously planted in 2001 and 2015.
Wainui Residents Association
Awarded $14,496
reWild Wainui – a community initiative, lending a hand to mother nature by helping reduce weeds, removing pests, and replanting natives, to enhance Wainui as a haven in which nature and people thrive.
Wairewa Rūnanga
Awarded $30,000
Improving water quality and fisheries in Wairewa – providing opportunities and projects in collaboration with our community, local school and Treaty Partners to rehabilitate the bio-diversity values of traditionally significant areas in our takiwā.
Selwyn Waihora zone
Arthur’s Pass Wildlife Trust*
Awarded $12,000
Feral cat eradication – eradicating all feral cats in the vicinity of Arthur’s Pass Village to help protect native wildlife for future generations to enjoy.
Craigieburn Trapping Alliance
Awarded $2,586
Monitoring Project – to enhance the current trapping activities in the Craigieburn Forest Park and environs, by providing formal funded training opportunities to its volunteer members and the equipment to help facilitate evidence based best practice monitoring of predator populations (mustelids, rats and possums), and outcome monitoring (birds).
The Fantail Trust
Awarded $5,250
Trapping and planting in the Rakaia Gorge – to create a native plant and bird sanctuary in the Rakaia Gorge.
Waimakariri Ecological and Landscape Restoration Alliance (WELRA)
Awarded $24,000
Implementation of the Upper Waimakariri River Weed Control Strategy – a partnership approach to assist in delivering a catchment-wide collaborative approach to the management of weed species in the upper Waimakariri catchment. (NB, wilding pines are not the main focus of this project).
Ashburton zone
Bike Methven*
Awarded $20,000
Mt Hutt Forest Bike Park XC Rejuvenation Project – to eradicate 40.4 hectares of wilding Sycamores and re-plant with natives endemic to the Mt Hutt/Ōpuke Region.
Staveley Campsite Committee
Awarded $30,000
Staveley Camp Forest Regeneration Project – providing opportunities for learning and connection with nature and a safe and rich habitat for birdlife.
Orari Temuka Opihi Pareora zone
Mackenzie Community Enhancement Board
Awarded $16,560
Opihi River Revegetation Project – native vegetation planting alongside the Opihi River, partnering with the Fairlie Lions Club to create a community project that will involve all the schools in the Fairlie District and any interested groups and individuals.
Orari River Protection Group Inc Soc.*
Awarded $6,500
Trapping predators and weed eradication – working in partnership to sustain and improve weed eradication to help provide a safe environment for rare reptiles and other flora and fauna.
Peel Forest Outdoor Pursuits Charitable Trust*
Awarded $6,500
Peel Forest river corridor trapping project – pest animal control, utilising technical expertise from biosecurity specialists, and engaging community in restoration activities to provide riparian habitat protection to promote local flora and fauna recovery in the wider landscape.
Upper Waitaki zone
Mackenzie Basin Wilding Trees Trust**
Awarded $10,000
To raise awareness of the wilding conifer risk to community values in the Mackenzie Basin and to facilitate the community’s active engagement in the fight against wilding conifer spread.
Lower Waitaki South Coastal Canterbury zone
Hakataramea Sustainability Collective
Awarded $30,000
Community Native Nursery, Biodiversity Education and River Protection Projects – an action-based education programme to increase biodiversity, and co-ordinate weed and pest control along the lower reaches of the Hakataramea River, delivered at the Waitaki Valley School and our newly established Community Native Nursery.
Sustainable South Canterbury Trust*
Awarded $10,000 (also covers the Orari Temuka Ōpihi Pareora Zone)
Eco Centre Launch and Progression – a launch festival, sustainable and healthy food/living displays, and workshops to educate adults and children about actions on waste, energy, climate, land use and water.
Regional
BRaid
Awarded $24,000
Braided Rivers biodiversity restoration – to enhance community awareness of protecting and regenerating the biodiversity of braided river ecosystems through a central networking hub, and through outreach to stakeholders.
Sea Cleaners Trust
Awarded $30,000
Sea Cleaners Lyttleton Activation for all of Canterbury focused shoreline and waterway clean-up in advance of the Sail GP event in Lyttleton in March 2023.
*Received multi-year funding allocation.
**Three projects were also allocated funding from other Environment Canterbury budgets in addition to the funding from the Waitaha Action to Impact Fund.
2021/22 funding round
In year one, 2021/2022, we received over $800,000 in funding requests and we allocated $200,000 which was the amount budgeted for that year. Activities from this round include:
- Over 90 events and volunteer days
- Weekly activities groups for children
- Over 8,300 trees planted
- 4 tonnes of litter collected
- Over 140 new pest traps deployed, with 351 new households joining Predator Free Port Hills
- Traplines checked
- Seedlings grown for future plantings
- Educational resources created and sourced
- Online directory and map launched connecting 311 community groups
- Trail cameras installed to monitor traps
- Land surveys and research undertaken
- Planning work to underpin future projects and community engagement
Supported projects by zone
Kaikōura zone
Hutton's Shearwater Charitable Trust
Awarded $2,000
The Kaikōura Community Conservation Kete (KCCK) is a “go anywhere” kit of diverse, multi-functional, educational and promotional resources for conservation groups of Kaikōura to enable recruitment and succession of volunteers, and to promote Kaikōura conservation.
The trust successfully produced print resources highlighting local species, including their namesake the Kaikōura tītī/Hutton’s shearwater, and have also purchased a gazebo which has been put to good use at public events. The kete even includes a set of taxidermized predators used to educate the public about local pests. Sourcing good specimens turned out to be a challenge, but the trust has achieved the full set: feral cat, possum, ferret, stoat, weasel, hedgehog, black rat, and Norway rat.
Waimakariri zone
Te Kōhaka o Tūhaitara Trust
Awarded $5,000
A project to enhance the native biodiversity of Tūhaitara Coastal Park, which spans from the Waimakariri River to Waikuku Beach.
Over 2,700 native plants including tauhinu, toe toe, tī kōuka, and harakeke have been planted in the area, through the hard work of community volunteers, Corrections teams, and people from Ngāi Tūāhuriri Rūnanga Group and St Joseph’s School in Rangiora.
Christchurch West Melton zone
Avon-Heathcote Estuary Ihutai Trust
Awarded $25,000
The trust is focused on the restoration, protection and enhancement of Te Ihutai/Avon-Heathcote Estuary. They aim to promote a better understanding of the values of the estuary and provide opportunities to volunteer across five wetland restoration projects.
The trust has worked to raise the profile of the estuary and educate the local community through public meetings and their AGM. They were also co-organisers of the Mother of All Clean Ups, with 650 volunteers representing 43 community groups coming together to collect 1.9 tonnes of litter. At the Charlesworth Reserve annual planting day, 75 people planted 1400 tree seedlings. This trust has also encouraged local businesses to commit to clearing litter regularly and provided opportunities for high school students to volunteer.
Avon Ōtākaro Network Inc
Awarded $5,000
On World Rivers Day in September 2022 this group launched a massive river clean-up project, which aimed to bring together multiple groups to undertake river clean-ups and riparian planting in their respective locations.
Over the course of many clean-up sessions, this group collected nearly 2 tonnes of rubbish. Tamariki from local schools learnt how to weigh rubbish and collect rubbish data, and a corporate clean up saw the Avon Loop get a spring clean.
3000 native plants have been planted along Dudley Stream with help from the local community, Pareawa School, Hohepa homes and corporate groups – more than 500 participants helped out. The Avon Ōtākaro Network has also developed a rongoā (Māori natural medicine) map and series of rongoā workshops to bring the Ōtākaro community together.
Christchurch Envirohub
Awarded $24,000.
This community-led mapping and directory project was funded to create a digital mapping application that displays environmentally focused projects or activities occurring within the wider Canterbury region, including planting events, recycling drop points, pest management organisations, river care groups, restoration sites and energy organisations.
Both the community directory and the map are now available online. The directory holds over 300 listings that include key contact information, images and links. The interactive map is searchable by projects type and location.
Port Hills Trust Board
Awarded $10,000
The Mt Vernon Park Enhancement project aims to plant eco-sourced native plants on erosion prone hillsides and flats reducing sediment into the Ōpāwaho Heathcote, removing woody weeds, and providing volunteer opportunities.
In 2021/22, this project saw around 1,500 native plants planted by more than 80 local volunteers. The new plantings are providing a significant increase to the biodiversity of the catchment and helping to reducing sediment flow into the river, which flows into the Heathcote. A tuna/eel was found for the first time since the 2011 earthquake and inanga/whitebait were also present upstream. Some of the trees planted in previous years, including mahoe, are now fruiting, providing additional benefit to native lizards and birds.
Styx Living Laboratory Trust
Awarded $10,050
The Pūharakekenui Work Programme supports community-led mahi to help create a ‘living laboratory’ for research and learning. A working group was formed by the trust in collaboration with Environment Canterbury, Christchurch City Council and local experts to investigate how to best manage sediment in the Pūharakekenui/Styx River catchment. This project has also run a citizen science event introducing forest monitoring to participants, and two well-attended tours of the catchment.
Summit Road Society
Awarded $20,000
Predator Free Port Hills (PFPH) is a backyard and community trapping programme which aims to eliminate rats, possums and mustelids from the Port Hills and Whakaraupō/Lyttelton Harbour by 2050. PFPH volunteers have distributed traps to local communities and spread the word about the benefits of the area becoming free of predators. In 2022, 351 households joined the programme, receiving a trap and advice on how to operate it.
PFPH has also worked with several schools and pre-schools and held a predator free kids’ workshop in partnership with Envirokids. Students from Christ College and Hornby High and volunteers from Conservation Volunteers NZ and Laura Fergusson Brain Injury Trust have all worked with PFPH to prepare materials for their eight trap building days. Along with these, the group has run four workshops.
Sustainable Ōtautahi Christchurch
Awarded $6,000
Speak for the Planet is a creative arts competition for young people from year 7 to age 24. This event was held in the TSB Space at Tūranga Library, with the theme of ‘ecosystem restoration’, on Friday 1 July 2022, supported by Christchurch City Libraries staff, with the art exhibition touring a library network after competition day. 65 students participated, across speech and spoken word, impromptu drama, short video and visual art categories.
Banks Peninsula zone
Helps Pōhatu Conservation Trust
Awarded $10,000
This project aims to protect kororā (little blue penguins) from ongoing population decline by monitoring their breeding success and tracking their activities at sea using GPS sensors.
During the 2022/23 breeding season, the trust marked 102 adults and 78 chicks with passive integrated transponders (PIT tags). Population data was collected, including the number of chicks hatched and fledged. Using GPS, the group successfully obtained 22 daily foraging trip paths of 13 adult kororā with chicks.
Pōhatu Penguins also runs outreach and education programs, such as Pōhatu Conservation Club, and have welcomed schools and groups to Pōhatu wanting to learn about wildlife, marine reserves, forest restoration and penguin conservation.
Hidden Valley Conservation Trust
Awarded $8,000
The Hidden Valley Conservation Quick Start protects and restores seventy-two hectares at Purau, recognised for its high natural, cultural and landscape values. The goal is to accelerate the transition from farming to conservation, with an immediate benefit to biodiversity and public recreation.
The trust is in regular communication with mana whenua Ngāti Wheke and Koukourārata rūnanga (and other rūnanga on Banks Peninsula) with a focus on the Hidden Valley link in the Whakaraupō catchment.
The trust has made a lot of progress to control predators in the area, with work including fence maintenance, trapping, and the use of trail cameras to monitor pest animals. Volunteer effort has also gone into finding and removing weeds including gorse, elderberry, hawthorn, European broom, spur valerian, pigs’ ear and heather.
Rod Donald Banks Peninsula Trust
Awarded $10,000
Te Ahu Patiki Park Ecological Survey and Stocktake to determine what indigenous biodiversity is onsite in this highly modified environment and how to best convert the land from farming back into a more natural state by integrating matauranga Māori into their approach. Their vision is to secure enduring public access, uphold Ngāi Tahu cultural values and protect and restore native biodiversity.
In this funding period, the total land area was divided into eco-zones and the trust’s ecologists identified key indicator species and weeds. Their research was complemented by existing information sources, including previous surveys in the 1990s by Hugh Wilson et al. The research generated has contributed to a long-term management plan for the park.
Selwyn Waihora zone
Arthur’s Pass Wildlife Trust
Awarded $8,000
Arthur’s Pass Wildlife Trust aims to eradicate all feral cats in the vicinity of Arthur’s Pass Village to help protect native wildlife for future generations to enjoy.
This project has successfully installed 35 remotely monitored cat traps in the field, which automatically update a telemetered tracking system every time they are triggered. Contractors then travel to the trap to deal with what has been caught.
Waimakariri Ecological and Landscape Restoration Alliance (WELRA)
Awarded $20,000
Upper Waimakariri Community Wilding Conifer Control is a project aimed at galvanising the local community in the fight against wilding conifer spread in the upper Waimakariri catchment.
All WELRA activities are coordinated with the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme and landowner approval is obtained prior to all operations. In 2021/22, nine volunteer days were held for pine removal, with more than 500 volunteer hours donated. WELRA successfully delivered its plot monitoring programme and annual monitoring report. The group has also diversified from wilding conifer operations to address other plant pest species.
Ashburton zone
Bike Methven
Awarded $10,000
The Mt Hutt Forest Bike Park XC Rejuvenation Project was launched with the goal of eradicating wilding sycamores on a family-friendly bike track and replanting with natives endemic to the Mt Hutt/Ōpuke Region.
During the funding period, the areas of sycamores that had the most potential to spread have been killed, and over a thousand locally sourced native plant seedlings have been grown in preparation for replanting. Volunteers and local businesses work to maintain the bike track and native vegetation in the surrounding area.
Orari Temuka Opihi Pareora zone
Mackenzie Community Enhancement Board
Awarded $4,560
The Ōpihi River Revegetation Project team partnered with the Fairlie Lions Club to create a community programme for schools in the Fairlie District (along with any interested groups and individuals), to plant native vegetation along the Ōpihi River.
The project has seen 900 seedlings planted with guards added, with help from 34 people over four planting days. The group has reported, "There has been a swell of interest as many locals walk along the Ōpihi River for exercise and relaxation have noted the changes and commented positively."
Peel Forest Outdoor Pursuits Charitable Trust
Awarded $11,080
The Peel Forest river corridor trapping project is focused on pest animal control, utilising technical expertise from biosecurity specialists. They also engage the local community in restoration activities to provide riparian habitat protection to promote local flora and fauna recovery in the wider landscape. Their trapping program aims to control predators on the trust’s ecolodge site of 22ha and educate the school groups that utilise the Peel Forest Outdoor Education Centre about the importance of trapping and protection of our native birds.
This group works in collaboration with Boffa Miskell, who provide technical and hands on resources, and the Geraldine Department of Conservation office, who manages the scenic reserve bordering the trust land.
Orari River Protection Group Inc Soc.
Awarded $6,500
The focus of this project is predator trapping and weed eradication in the upper and lower catchments of the Orari River. By controlling mustelids, rats, possums, cats, hedgehogs, and mice, this project is improving the prospects of rare and endangered taonga birds including nesting tarāpuka/black billed gulls and tarapiroe/black fronted terns, as well as rare reptiles that live in the close margins of the river and adjoining berm/vegetation. The Orari River Protection Group is also helping farmers and the community by decreasing the number of pests and therefore the probability of spread of tuberculosis by pest species.
With this funding, the group purchased 9 AT220 automatic possum and rat traps which have proven to perform spectacularly. The traps are set, moved and cleared by an active team of 11 volunteers.
Lower Waitaki South Coastal Canterbury zone
Sustainable South Canterbury Trust
Awarded $10,000 (also covers the Orari Temuka Ōpihi Pareora Zone)
The trust was funded to launch an eco-centre to enable workshops to educate adults and children on environmental practices, covering waste, energy, climate, land use and water.
Te Pokapū taiao o Aoraki/South Canterbury Eco Centre was officially opened on Saturday 19 November 2022, somewhat delayed due to covid interruptions. The trust has employed a coordinator who runs the schools’ programme. Alongside this the centre has hosted an open day, run events with the Raptor Trust and INaturalist, and held waste-free and climate change workshops, along with business community workdays and a community gardening day.
*Received multi-year funding allocation.
**Three projects were also allocated funding from other Environment Canterbury budgets in addition to the funding from the Waitaha Action to Impact Fund.