Steph Gardner, Min Vette and Sarah Williams of Whangārā Community Catchment Group who along with the whole community are working for the betterment of the taiao. Photo / Te Ngariki Kokiri
Steph Gardner, Min Vette and Sarah Williams of Whangārā Community Catchment Group who along with the whole community are working for the betterment of the taiao. Photo / Te Ngariki Kokiri
Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
The Whangārā Community Catchment Group is excited to start predator and pest control in wetland sites to protect populations of rare birds, thanks to a new grant.
The catchment group (WCCG) is made up of mana whenua Ngāti Konohi, farmers and forestry companies in the catchment area which includes the Pakarae, Waiomoko, Pouawa rivers and the Turihau stream.
The group was founded two years ago after Whangārā locals attended a Beef + Lamb NZ workshop that went around Tairāwhiti talking about the importance of catchment groups and what they do.
Sarah Williams was one of those community members who was inspired to begin the mahi. She and Steph Gardner are the co-facilitators of WCCG.
Williams is a hydrologist farming at Turihaua Angus Stud and Gardner is an ecologist who is also the East Coast co-ordinator for Trees that Count.
With the impact of Cyclone’s Hale and Gabrielle on Whangārā and the whole Tairāwhiti, the group has been focused on repairs and building community resilience.
Along with that, WCCG has received $10,000 in funding through NZ Landcare Trust and Westpac NZ’s 2024 water care project grants to undertake predator control in wetland sites to protect rare wetland birds.
Williams says Whangārā has all the usual pests and predators like deer, goats, pigs, rats and cats, as well as peacocks.
Peacocks have been an issue in Whangārā for many years.
The birds they are working to protect are the spotted crake, bittern and dotterels, which are a threatened marine bird species, Williams says.
They have an ultimate goal of having the native weka back in the community.
The Whangārā Community Catchment Group had a working bee to plant natives in the Kotimutu wetland late last year. Photo / Te Ngariki Kokiri
Williams says the group is grateful for the funding because it’s the start of their wider catchment pest management strategy and plan.
Min Vette of Ngāti Konohi says the whole community of Whangārā is committed to working together for the betterment of the taiao.
They have been working to get funding for the catchment group and it is still in the early days, Williams says.
“With this funding it means we will be able to support the admin work.”
Williams says they realised that only planting on their farm wasn’t enough to help the environment, and working together as a catchment was the way to make a difference.
“Individual farms in the catchment have done their own work but it needs to extend beyond the farms for the betterment of the whole environment.
“The catchment-scale of environmental restoration is so vital.”
The money will go towards putting traps within wetlands like Kotimutu, which the community planted with natives late last year.
There was an event last November where the Department of Conservation, Land Care Trust and the Marine Reserve Committee held stalls for the whole Whangārā community to learn about the history and different work each organisation did in the area and wider region.
The catchment group includes multi-generational farmers who are keen to be involved in the work and to create networks with each other.
Along with this there is a focus on making sure that the next generations are involved with the mahi, through Whangārā School.
Soon they will have an in-house hunting competition that focuses on culling the pests and predators in the Whangārā catchment.
