The project aimed at restoring Lake Waiporohita, on the Karikari Peninsula, was recognised last week with a Ministry for the Environment Green Ribbon Award.
Te Runanga-a-Iwi o Ngati Kahu, the Northland Regional Council, the Department of Conservation (as current manager of the lake-bed and marginal strip) and Landcorp (which farms the Rangiputa Station surrounding it) have joined forces to protect and restore the 6.9ha dune lake, via fencing, removing exotic trees and riparian replanting, which will allow the lake to recover the ability to filter nutrients from the surrounding land.
![Northland Regional Council lakes catchment adviser Will Trusewich with the Green Ribbon Award, recognising work by Ngati Kahu and its partners to restore Lake Waiporohita. Photo / NRC](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/IZFRMRHJFFEGBLXSXIXVETAZZU.jpg?auth=0e84ad7b3a88f3f42290a468113e3880df984452c09bf5d9f01d4aa6d258f958&width=16&height=23&quality=70&smart=true)
A management plan is also being written to protect and restore it.
The project won the Kaitiaki Leadership category at the Green Ribbon Awards in Wellington on Thursday night, but Ngati Kahu could not be there, the function clashing with riparian planting around the lake, that saw volunteers plant an estimated 3000-plus natives at the lake over the past two days, but runanga chief executive Anahera Herbert-Graves said the iwi was pleased and humbled.