Funding boost for Nelson's Maitai/Mahitahi river

Sunday, 5 July 2020

The restoration of Maitai/Mahitahi River catchment has been given a major boost with the granting of $1.7million towards the project announced today.

Nelson City Council was successful in its bid to the Jobs for Nature projects fund to implement an ecological restoration plan for the river’s ecosystem.

Jobs for Nature is a programme of work administered by the Ministry for the Environment, which seeks to address major environmental needs and create employment to stimulate New Zealand’s post-Covid economy.

The Maitai River Ecological Restoration Plan is one of 23 council projects announced today by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern that will create more than 2000 jobs.

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Siblings Jett and Nova Williams observe some of the creatures that live in the Maitai River. Planting new trees will greatly improve their habitat.

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Riley Selwood and Easton Soltan dive into one of Maitai River's swimming holes, to cool themselves down two summers ago. The ecological restoration plan should help enhance the water quality.

* Friends of the Maitai encourage council-led forestry regulation

The Ecological Restoration Plan will see 125,000 plants go in the ground, 24 hectares of land managed for weed control and eight kilometres of riparian planting, as well as the development of wetlands and further improvement to habitats.

Mayor Rachel Reese says the funding will support the continued restoration of the river, at the same time as creating 30 jobs in the conservation/restoration sector over five years. “The Maitai/Mahitahi River flows through the lives of Nelsonians – it is entwined with who we are and how we live in this city.

“I know these jobs will be highly valued and those working will also have the satisfaction of mahi that will make a real difference to the environment.”

Mayor Reese says this funding injection will provide a huge opportunity to accelerate work that the council already had planned and progresses the objectives of National Policy Statements for Freshwater Management and Indigenous Biodiversity. The intended outcomes of the Restoration Plan include:

enhanced water quality
a reduction in weeds that will help to reduce the spread of invasive plant species across a wider area
habitat improvement
the preservation of indigenous tree and plant species, some of which are found only in the Maitai/Mahitahi Valley
the development of a food corridor that will support movement of native bird species across the Nelson region, from the mountains to the sea.