Waikato river care group aims to ramp up growth to 1.5 million native trees a year

Thursday, 16 July 2020

A video made by the Ministry for the Environment which supports the Pūniu River Care project through its Freshwater Improvement Fund.

A project which started out with a small plan to improve the care of a Waikato river is now heading towards becoming a major supplier of native trees in the region.

Shannon Te Huia heads the Pūniu River Care group in Te Awamutu which formed about five years ago to improve the water quality and biodiversity of the 60km river.

“I went to a river symposium and I heard that Wintec was offering satellite courses for rural areas.

“So we set one up at the marae, here at Mangatoatoa, and we had about 15 people that graduated with NZQA level 2 horticulture qualifications.”

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Shannon Te Huia trained as a civil engineer but is now chief executive of the Pūniu River Care group in the Waikato.

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Kellie Nicholson and Bob Te Huia working in the river care group’s nursery which is based at Mangatoatoa Marae, south of Te Awamutu.

It kick-started interest from the community and a grant from Te Puni Kokiri enabled the group to set up its first shade house at Mangatoatoa Marae to begin growing native trees.

“We grew 8000 manuka in the first year (2015) and now we grow about 500,000 trees, of 23 species, each year,” Te Huia said.

Kaumātua Hone Hughes cleaning some of the houhere kakano, or lacebark seed, which was eco-sourced from a nearby forest. The nursery grows all of its own native trees.

“We’re looking at expanding that to grow 1.6 million trees a year.”

The river care group now supplies native trees to businesses, the public, private land owners and farmers as well as for its own projects.

It has planted 137,000 trees, completed 23kms of fencing over 21 properties with 16.1 hectare now retired into native plantings around the river.

The Pūniu River Care group is aiming to produce 1.5 million native trees a year.

The group employs 30 people and tikanga Māori is at the heart of group’s philosophy.

It has a number of projects in play including initiatives to encourage rangatahi into horticulture.

But Te Huia said improving the river’s connecting wetlands is a priority over the coming years.

Shannon Te Huia says the river care group is often called upon to present to schools and other groups, to share what it has learnt during the past five years.

“To improve the water quality in the river, we really need to focus on those remaining wetlands, to make sure the water is clean, before it goes into the Pūniu River.

“Working on the catchment areas is a much bigger programme, but the work needs to be done to make any significant impact.”

The marae-based project recently released a free bi-lingual restoration guide to assist marae and hapū across the country to start their own restoration projects.

Te Huia said the key was to start with a small plan and build from there. Don’t become overwhelmed by the enormity of the task ahead, he suggested.

Networking is also important at the river care group has found support through the Waikato River Authority and the Waikato regional and Waipā district councils.

Other supporters included Ministry of the Environment, Department of Conservations, Maniapoto Maori Trust Board and Waikato-Tainui.

All four marae along the Pūniu River, including Mangatoatoa, Rawhitiroa, Aotearoa and Whakamaramara also support the restoration of the awa.

Relationships with neighbouring land owners are also critical, Te Huia said.

“We are always working with land owners and farmers … a lot of them are keen to retire some of these areas which have caused problems to the river.”

The Pūniu River starts from Pukeora Forest Park and connects to the Waipā River south of Pirongia.

The Waipā flows into the Waikato River at Ngāruawāhia.

The Pūniu gets its name from the Patupaiarehe, Māori mythical beings that travelled down the river from the Pureora Forest seeking knowledge.

The river is one of the longest secondary tributaries in the country but is not of a swimmable standard.

The tuna stocks have depleted in some areas, the banks are eroding, according to information on the river care group’s website.

Te Huia originally worked as a civil engineer but wanted to understand more about the issues around the river which runs through the community she grew up in.

“When we were young, we used to swim in the river but now you can see it’s not something we can do with our own kids.

“It’s probably just over the past 20-25 years the water quality has become poor.”

There were now many financial incentives and grants for river care groups, farmers and land owners to retire land for riparian planting.

Te Huia said he didn’t have any “strong views” over who should be responsible, financially, for reviving the country’s waterways.

“Who is going to finance improving the environment, will it just be farmers, that’s the question everyone wants to know.

“When it comes to water quality, there has got to be some resource available, for allowing the commercialisation of a critical resource to become degraded.”