About the project

In 2018, Living Water's approach to meet the objective of improving freshwater ecosystems in the 6000ha Pūkorokoro-Miranda catchment shifted to working with the local community and motivated landowners across the catchment (both Fonterra and non-Fonterra farmers). An integrated catchment management approach from the ‘Mountains to Sea’ was developed with Living Water providing tools, solutions, and funding to help landowners achieve water quality and biodiversity improvements that would collectively make a difference.

A small group of motivated landowners established the Western Firth Catchment Group Trust (WFCGT) in 2016/2017. Living Water supported the Trust and co-designed a project to create a freshwater biodiversity corridor through farmland from hilltop to the coast.

Project objectives include:

• enhance the Pūkorokoro-Miranda estuarine environment including part of the 8500ha Firth of Thames RAMSAR wetland
• increase ecological resilience across the whole catchment
• dramatically reduce sediment run-off

To achieve these objectives, Living Water supported the project with the following:

1. Undertaking a Catchment Condition Survey (CCS) to provide baseline data on the current state of the catchment, recording erosion-prone land, barriers to fish passage and stream fencing
2. Developing and refining a geospatial catchment prioritisation tool (CAPTure). CAPTure uses spatial layers of scientific information from a variety of sources, including the CCS, to create maps showing priority areas for locating interventions to achieve freshwater improvement targets
3. Funding Farm Environment Plans (FEPs) for large land blocks and creating hybrid FEPs for smaller blocks (under 20ha) removing some of the complexity and costs associated with FEPs and providing more options/flexibility
4. Developing a Predator Free Strategy (not normally part of a standard integrated catchment management approach). This was the outcome of a survey of landowners and a community workshop, and was critical in getting owners of smaller landholdings involved in catchment management
5. Monitoring the effectiveness of the mitigations. Unfortunately, drought conditions in 2019/20 have prevented water quality sampling.  Drone footage of the catchment provides a photographic record of mitigation actions e.g. silt detention dams and poplar planting on erosion-prone slopes. The Catchment Condition Survey will be repeated in 2022 to measure progress. Standard monitoring techniques e.g. residual trap catch will be applied to Predator Control activities

Benefits 

• Builds trust which is critical to engaging with community groups
• Working with engaged landowners and focusing on a manageable catchment area makes it easier to use an integrated approach that could be scaled across a wider area
• Science-based decision making gives assurance to landowners and potential funders that projects are worth it
• Using the Catchment Condition Survey, Catchment Prioritisation Tool (CAPture), development of Farm Environment Plans, and Predator Free Strategy, is an engaging, credible, practical, and rational catchment management approach that can be adapted to achieve a variety of environmental outcomes in any size landscape making it ‘shovel ready’ to apply at scale
• Legal structures e.g. charitable trust status, deed of grant, provides assurance to funders and partners that the projects and funds are well managed
• Both parties (DOC and Fonterra) have shown great leadership by agreeing to use Living Water funds to support all projects in the catchment meaning on farms that are not Fonterra and outside of public conservation land

Progress

• Purchase of coastal farmland in a joint venture between DOC and adjoining landowner to establish a wetland reserve (2018)
• Support to establish a community-led Trust (Tiaki Repo Ki Pūkorokoro Trust) to carry out ecological restoration of the reserve 
• Financial support to Western Firth Catchment Group to establish and begin water quality improvement actions
• Development and promotion of an integrated catchment management approach incorporating a Catchment Condition Survey, a catchment prioritisation tool (CAPTure), and development of Farm Environment Plans (FEPs)
• Completion of hybrid Farm Environment Plans and partial funding of priority mitigations on farms  
• Catchment landowner survey and community pest control information workshop
• Development and implementation of a Predator Free Strategy
• Support for existing biodiversity enhancement projects