Maitai funding of $1.7m to connect 'mosaic' of riparian plantings

Tuesday, 7 July 2020

Friends of the Maitai members with Councillor Kate Fulton, Mayor Rachel Reece and council Business Unit Manager of science and environment Jo Martin near the Black Hole swimming spot in the Maitai River.

Funding for the Maitai River will be used to connect a “mosaic” of riparian plantings from reservoir to river-mouth.

Nelson City Council applied for funding under the Government’s $162 million Jobs for Nature programme, and was granted $1.7 million for the Maitai River Ecological Restoration Plan.

Council manager for science and environment Jo Martin said the council was “delighted” with the funding, which was augmenting existing council funding of $500,000.

“There are lots of plantings along the river, but it's a mosaic. This will allow us to connect those pieces together.”

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The planting and weeding work would follow the banks of the Maitai from the reservoir through to the river mouth at the sea.

Martin said a major bonus with the funding was that it was not purely planting-based.

Friends of Maitai member and spokesman Steven Gray said the group was pleased with the council’s work on the Maitai river and the recent funding, but commercial pine forests further upstream were still an issue.

“It’s kind of sexy to fund planting, but funding for that often doesn’t allow for other work. This [Jobs for Nature] allows for the removal of willows and invasive weed species.”

Martin said the removal of invasive species would be “done carefully”.

Willows which currently help maintain bank stability would be underplanted with native plants to prevent erosion before the willows were removed. Exotic trees which were not weeds would not necessarily be removed.

Friends of Maitai member Jacquetta Bell said the group was “really pleased” to see the riparian planting in particular.

“We think it's really fitting that post-Covid funding comes to the Maitai, because this river valley was used so much during the lockdown for everybody’s state-approved walks.”

Group-member Steven Gray said he and the Maitai advocacy group were happy with the work the council had been doing to restore the river’s health, but commercial forestry further upstream needed to be addressed if river health was to be truly restored.

“We’re so happy with how the council has started to focus on restoring the valley’s health, all the council has done in the past few years, removing fords, the plantings … [but] the major problem for our area is the industrialisation and pine forestry around it. We’re still working on that.”

Mayor Rachel Reese said she was “really delighted” with the nature-based jobs funding, which she said provided an opportunity to “do something quite transformational”.

“This adds an absolute boost and acceleration of what we’re doing [at the Maitai].”

She said the investment in the Maitai catchment was “an investment in the environment, and an investment in people as well”.

Reese said the jobs-creating side of the funding was crucial for Nelson’s hard-hit 30-and-under demographic. The funding would create 30 jobs over the next five years, Reese said.

“We know we've got a lot of under-30s who have been impacted disproportionately. This is an opportunity to think differently about work and get more work in the environmental sector.”