DOC aids waterway restoration project

The Department of Conservation will add $180,000 in funding to the Million Metres Streams Project to restore New Zealand's waterways. Photo / Getty Images

The push to restore New Zealand's waterways will be boosted over the next three years by $180,000 in funding to the Million Metres Streams Project from the Department of Conservation. The Community Conversation Partnership Fund, a DOC fund that supports community-led conservation, will partner with Million Metres to help to speed up the planting of native species along New Zealand's waterways.

The Million Metres Streams Project is a non-profit organization launched in October 2014 by the Sustainable Business Network that aims to restore the waterways of New Zealand. Million Metres is New Zealand's first conservation crowdfunding website. The website allows individuals an community and corporate groups to raise money and donate to the restoration initiative.

Million Metres raised more than $125,000 in its first year, enough to pay for 6000 metres of stream planting around New Zealand. Three projects were planted this winter, bringing the total to 4300 trees planted.

Rachel Brown, CEO of the Sustainable Business Network, says "The support from DOC is a game changer for Million Metres. It means we can focus on scale and really speed up the restoration effort." Brown also says Million Metres hopes this project will further cultivate a partnership with the Department of Conservation.

Due to intensive farming and forestry, New Zealand's waterways have become very polluted. Million Metres focuses on riparian planting as a solution, the replanting on the banks of streams, rivers, and lakes. Planting around waterways helps filter contamination and prevents erosion while also providing habitat for native species.

"Water quality is a national issue, with 62% of our lowland rivers so polluted we can't safely swim in them. It affects biodiversity, as well as farming and food systems, so it's fantastic to see Government backing the restoration of our waterways."

Department of Conservation Freshwater Manager Rosemary Miller says, "The Million Metres Streams Project is an outstandingly innovative and creative project that most certainly addresses the purpose of the Community Conservation Partnerships Fund of inspiring and enabling community-led conservation growth."

Newly-appointed Project Manager of Million Metres, Georgina Hart, says "We aim to more than double the metres we fund over the next year by working with 20 projects, and to double again the year following."

"At Million Metres we believe that to get the scale of stream restoration that New Zealand needs, we're all going to have to get behind stream groups and support them. If we all give just a little bit each, we can raise the funds needed to restore waterways all around the country."

For more information visit millionmetres.org.nz.

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