Six community environmental groups benefit from this year’s round of Waikato Regional Council’s Environmental Intiatives Fund.

The council approved $54,298.97 to:

• Habitat Tuateawa for maintaining and coordinating Habitat Tuateawa’s pest control and monitoring programmes ($9300)
• Kaitiakitanga Charitable Trust for wages for a project manager ($10,000)
• Kukutaaruhe Education Trust Board for restoration of the Kukutaaruhe gully ($5000).
• Kūaotunu Dune Care Group Inc. for restoration of the Pungarehu Street and part Kūaotunu Recreational Reserve ($9998.97)
• Hatepe Residents Association for restoration of the lower Hinemaia River bush ($10,000)
• Te Moata Charitable Trust for the Te Moata Sanctuary wilding pines removal project ($10,000).

The council received nine applications requesting $79,863.34.

A reduced funding round, with a budget of about $50,000, was run this year due to the EIF already supporting 27 active projects. Applicants could only apply for a one-off grant of up to $10,000, when usually they could apply for up to $40,000 for multi-year projects of up to three years.

The EIF is funded from a portion of the Natural Heritage targeted rate of $5.80 per property per annum, with about $250,000 allocated to the EIF each year.

The cap on funding this year will mean $200,000 is available from 2023/24 and beyond, while still maintaining a small reserve balance of approximately $44,000 for future years.

About the community groups

Habitat Tuateawa has been operating for nearly 20 years and undertakes animal pest control on 300 hectares of public conservation land, north of Kennedy Bay. Over the next few years, the group wants to focus on outcomes monitoring, controlling weeds and restoring an estuarine wetland, while continuing with predator control. Funding of $9300 will help with the development of an outcomes monitoring plan based on analysis of historical trap catch and bird count data.

Kaitiakitanga Charitable Trust (KCT) was formed in 2018 to nurture underprivileged youth through environmental projects which help them find their mana, enable growth and development towards a fulfilling life and work. KCT has restoration projects underway in northern Pureora, Tauwhare, Raglan, Pirongia and Te Awamutu. Funding of $10,000 will go towards the wages of a project coordinator for one year.

Kukutaaruhe Education Trust Board (KETB) oversees the Fairfield Project, providing educational opportunities alongside the restoration of the Kukutaaruhe Gully, a significant natural area in Fairfield, Hamilton. Funding of $5000 will go towards native plants.

Kūaotunu Dune Care Group was formed in April 2022 to deal with dune erosion along the foreshore of the Kūaotunu beach area. It is a voluntary group of 28 subscribed members and about 40 active volunteers. Funding of $5858.97 will towards plants and $4140 will go towards the cost of a pest plant contractor. The once healthy and active spinifex-tussockland dunes along the coastline from Cuvier Beach Reserve to Blackjack Recreation Reserve are seriously degraded, primarily because of human activities and invasive exotic weeds.

The Hatepe Residents Association (HRA) has undertaken some restoration work along the lower Hinemaia River, which flows from Kaimanawa Forest Park into the Lake Taupō, including clearing pest plants and planting approximately 1300 native seedlings. Funding of $10,000 is for a contractor to clear the pest plants so that planting can take place next year and so that predator trapping is easier to undertake. Volunteers will help to cut tracks and control weed seedlings and with follow-up planting and photopoint monitoring.

Te Moata Charitable Trust runs a retreat on 344 hectares of regenerating native bush, which is protected by a QEII covenant, near Tairua. The trust has a comprehensive pest and weed control plan. Funding of $10,000 is for a contractor to control wilding pines on the property for year one of a three-year project.

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