Meet the Tauranga environmentalists cleaning up the Kaiate Falls

Volunteers taking part in a planting day to clean up the Kaiate Falls catchment area. Photo / Supplied

Environmentalists in the Bay of Plenty are taking up the challenge of cleaning up the Kaiate Falls catchment area - one native tree at a time.

The Let's Make Kaiate Falls Swimmable Again project was founded by Crystal Jones last year.

Jones, who owns the land upstream from the Kaiate Falls, said she was driven to clean up the local streams when she discovered how poor the water quality at the falls was.

"We're looking to make a difference and improve the water quality there so people can swim and use the waterfall again in the future."

Jones said the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and the Waitao Landcare Group, an environmental advocacy group made up of Waitao residents, were supporting the project by providing trees, funding and volunteers.

The group planned to start cleaning up the water by planting native trees alongside 1500m of waterways to help filter runoff from the farmland.

So far the group had planted 900 native plants along 400m of the Kaiate Stream.

Jones said all the trees planted by the group were locally sourced native plants, which would ensure they were suitable for the Kaiate Falls environment.

The group aimed to plant 6700 native trees on 1.3 hectares of farmland. It would cost about $52,500.

Jones' project is also supported by the Million Metres Streams Project, which helps support the cleanup of New Zealand's waterways by hosting a crowdfunding website.

So far the crowdfunding website has raised $175 towards the project for 5m of planting.

Native plant expert Rob McGowan, a member of the Waitao Landcare Group, has been teaching volunteers about the best native trees to plant in the area.

He said despite all the work that had been done on the waterways in the area, the E. coli was still growing.

"The community, over the years, have been working on that. The water we're particularly worried about are those streams that lead into the falls.

"It's something that the regional council has been concerned about for a long, long time," McGowan said.

A permanent warning stands at Kaiate Falls recommending people stay out of the water due to elevated levels of faecal contamination.

"It may be coming from stock, like cows and sheep, or it may be coming from birds - we don't really know.

"But if we get trees and plant them between the stock and the water, we should reduce that a whole lot."

McGowan said the group's goal of planting 6700 trees was definitely achievable.

"A little bit at a time ... a little bit more fencing, a little bit more planting, and over the years, it gradually makes a difference."

Hayden Schick, a land management officer for the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, said a normal environmental programme would take between three to five years to complete.

"The aim is to have all waterways excluded from stock within three years, and riparian planting done within five."

Let's Make Kaiate Falls Swimmable Again project
• Location: Kaiate Falls
• Cost: $52,500
• Trees needed: 6700
• Metres to plant: 1500m
• Cost per metre: $35