Big tree planting season for Whanganui to support Te Awa Tupua

A Horizons school planting day at Kokohuia. Photo / Supplied

An increase in trees planted during the last planting season is progress towards a bright, clear future for the Whanganui River.

Mouri Tūroa is a four-year project that started in September last year, designed to improve the health and wellbeing of Te Awa Tupua.

Mouri Tūroa programme manager Gordon Cribb said the goal was to support riparian planting throughout the whole catchment of the Whanganui River, from Whanganui to Taumarunui.

The $7.86 million project is led by Ngā Tāngata Tiaki, the post-settlement governance entity for the Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act 2017, and funded through the Government's Mahi mō te Taiao – Jobs for Nature fund.

"This initial year has been more about establishing the processes and putting systems in place so when we do execute the work, we're reflective of that and understand what quality looks like," Cribb said.

"So we haven't been too focused on doing a lot of planting."

Even so, Cribb said roughly 20,000 native trees had already been planted through Mouri Tūroa since its inception.

"We've gone out into the whole community to involve whānau and hapū to be a part of this project."

He said there was a dedicated team responsible for landowner engagements.

Cribb said so far there had been 45 applicants who submitted on improving the waterways through expressions of interest.

"We go across different spectrums of landowner types including Ātihau, and Paitawa, which is a multiple-owned Māori land block.

"But then we're also working with private landowners and community and catchment groups."

He said the next step was the execution.

The goals of Mouri Tūroa are to complete 290km of fencing, plant 630,000 plants, and undertake pest and weed control on 100ha.

It is also expected to create about 66 fulltime jobs.

"This is a four-year project and we will continue engaging with landowners in the catchment area to scope the work that needs to be done with riparian planting, land stabilisation and wetland restoration."

He said two of three planned native nurseries - one each in Whanganui and Taumarunui - were established and starting to locally source seeds for planting.

"So we really are building capacity."

He said Mouri Tūroa was working with Ministry for the Environment, Ministry for Primary Industries, Department of Conservation and Horizons Regional Council.

"We are trying to make this a really collective approach.

"It's about synergy. If we understand the landscape and who's doing what and where, we can better share resources."

One of the community groups Mouri Tūroa was working with was The Learning Environment in Whanganui.

Learning Environment celebrated 5000 trees planted on Tauraroa Stream with a community planting day at Pīwakawaka Farm. Photo / Supplied

The Learning Environment is an organisation based at Pīwakawaka Farm in Papaiti, offering workshops and courses at the farm, kai boxes and services including invasive plant and animal control, ecological regeneration plans, native planting plans and
native planting preparation and delivery.

Over winter The Learning Environment planted 5000 native trees along the Tauraroa Stream as part of Mouri Tūroa and the wider goal to plant 30,000 trees along the stream.

"Each tree was collected from seed locally, grown in a native nursery at Pīwakawaka Farm, and then planted over several weeks throughout August and September," flourishing waterways co-ordinator Cameron Ryan said.

He said six casual staff were employed over the planting season through the initiative.

Horizons Regional Council has also had a busy planting season.

Through the Horizons Sustainable Land Use Initiative (SLUI), the number of trees planted in the Whanganui catchment more than doubled from 147,042 trees planted in 2020-21 to 404,666 in 2021-22.

SLUI aims to stabilise highly erodible land and improve water quality within the Horizons region.

This year, starting July 1, 9670 trees had been recorded as being planted in the Whanganui catchment, but the true number would be much higher, Horizons Regional Council catchment operations group manager Dr Jon Roygard said.

"If you include SLUI numbers, over the last three years there have been over 180.6km of fencing completed and over 602,000 plants put in the ground in the Whanganui catchment.

"And since SLUI began in 2006, 8.17 million trees have been planted in the Whanganui catchment."

He said this was a massive effort by landowners, community groups and Horizons staff.

"We are really pleased with how the programmes are progressing, however, always want to do more.

"In particular, we want to do more fencing to exclude stock from waterways in the Whanganui district."

Roygard said stream fencing was a key intervention to improving water quality by reducing E. coli concentrations through stock exclusion from waterways.

He encouraged landowners who wanted to do fencing and planting to get in touch with the Horizons freshwater and land management teams via freephone 0508 800 800 to talk about what grants were available.

"Landowners, land managers, iwi, hapū and community groups are eligible for up to 50 per cent off riparian planting and 40 per cent off stream fencing."

The Horizons Jobs for Nature stream fencing and riparian planting programme is a four-year project that is now in its third year.

Since July 1, 5975 riparian plants had been planted in the Whanganui catchment as part of this project, Roygard said.

"The focus of the project is to expedite the amount of stream fencing, riparian planting and employment opportunity within the Horizons region."

He said since the project began in 2020, more than 28.8km of fencing had been completed, with 41,000 plants in the ground.

"Thanks to funding from central government, Horizons and landowners we have managed to significantly increase the amount of work that we can do which is important for improving water quality," Roygard said.