Kia ora koutou,

We've been seeing many projects funded last year as part of our Kanorau Koiora Taketake – Indigenous Biodiversity Community Grant coming to completion for the year, and we have been busy reviewing applications for the coming year. It is great to see some familiar names, as well as some new ones, seeking funding.

We know planting season is coming up and will be a busy time for many groups. As always, if you need help with anything, please reach out to us.

In our newsletters you will find:

🧭 Inspiring stories from the field

🛠️ Practical resources to support your mahi

📅 Upcoming events to get involved in

💰 Funding opportunities currently open for applications

Most importantly, this newsletter is about you. If you have a story, a tip, or a trick to share, we’d love to hear from you. Your contributions help strengthen connections and spark inspiration for others committed to conservation across the region.

Sian, Tyler, Martin & Christina

P.S Our next edition will be sent out August 2026. If you have something you want to share, send an email no later than Monday 5 August 2026.

FEATURE STORIES

Kaitiakitanga in Action - A Community‑Led Vision for a Healthy Creek at Weber School

We started our journey at the beginning of 2025 when we received funding through the Kanorau Koiora Taketake – Indigenous Biodiversity Community Fund from Horizons. Each week staff, students and our caretaker along with our Enviroschool facilitator, removed pest elms that had taken over our creek beds and willows that were blocking our waterway. 

We repaired fences and the floodgate to keep out neighbouring stock. We learnt about nutrient runoff driving algal bloom and eutrophication in rivers. Our tamariki learnt how to measure water clarity, water flow and PH levels along with sampling invertebrates in our waterway with a borrowed Shmak Kit.

Late last year we were lucky enough to be given funding from the Regional Freshwater Community Grant by Horizon’s Regional Council. Using this funding we were able to continue on our creek restoration journey by purchasing a Shmak Kit. We felt this was a valuable opportunity for our students to build on experiences from last year, after we experienced a significant diesel spill that impacted our creek.

We collaborated with our iwi, Rangitane, over term one and two, learning about planting tikanga, riparian planting and special features to consider when planting a rongoa garden. We spend an hour and half every week working in and learning about our whenua using collective kiatiakitanga. 

Our creek is now something we are proud to share with our whanau and community. Students have been deepening their understanding of freshwater health through Enviroscapes and Waiora Stream Study sessions with Horizons educators and now using our very own Shmak kit. We have changed it from a stagnant, weed and rubbish infested area to a genuine scientific environment for learning. 

We have held two celebrations of learning, where our whanau and community have joined together to plant natives, share our learning and build a sense of guardianship over our local waterway. Our students also presented a play about protecting our wai. 

This project has become so much more than a restoration effort. It has strengthened our connections to our whenua, to our iwi partners, and to one another. Our creek now reflects the collective care, curiosity and kaitiakitanga of everyone involved. We are grateful to our funders, our whānau, and especially our tamariki, together, we have transformed our waterway into a thriving place of learning, belonging and pride.

Guardians of Kirikau Valley

Over the last decade, farms within the Kirikau Valley have been sold off one by one, each being converted into pine forestry, leaving only one farm within the valley, The Poplars Farm, owned by the Carter Family Trust (Robert and Suzanne Carter). As a result of these pine conversions, six small pockets of land were subdivided off with houses, that have been purchased by families who love living in a rural community. These pockets of land are distributed over the full valley length of 7.5 km.

With so much land being converted into forestry, there were concerns among the community that the pine blocks would become highways for mammalian pests to be able to move around the landscape, and there would be a decline in the local kiwi and bat populations. Ken and Gill McCann, who had been running a trapping programme on The Poplars Farm for five years and had recently retired, took it upon themselves to expand the trapping programme, getting the six other families within the valley, and an additional two families living on the outskirts, to undertake predator control on the remaining land. Thus, the Kirikau Valley Community Trapping Group was created.

They received funding from our Kanorau Koiora Taketake Indigenous Biodiversity Community Grant to set up each family with a trapping kit of live capture cage traps, possum trapinator traps, DOC 200 trap boxes, Victor rat trap box traps, and a variety of baits and lures (pictured). Over the last 9 months, through donations from the Carter Family Trust and Forest managers of Dryland Carbon, with 5 x At220’s donated to the trapping programme, and additional funding from Horizons Regional Councils to get an a further 2 x At220’s added to the arsenal of the community group to target pests. Some Individual households have also brought additional traps to be able to expand their trapping efforts.

Total catches for the 9 months since traps hit the field are as follows.

🪤12 Feral Cats

🪤29 Hedgehogs

🪤298 Rats

🪤294 Mice

🪤15 Possums

🪤6 Weasels

The success of this trapping programme has been complemented by two of the forestry companies operating in the Valley to set up their own pest animal management trapping programmes.

The Kirikau project is creating safe stepping stones and corridors to link with other projects that are trapping in the Tawata , Paparoa road north, Otunui and Temaire.

The benefits of using trail Cameras for your trapping projects 

Trail cameras are one of the simplest ways to understand what’s really happening around your traps.

If you aren’t catching anything, it can be tempting to think that it’s because there’s nothing to trap, but installing a camera can often tell a different story.

Often, they can help solve the mystery and reveal issues like unappealing lure, poor access, or false triggers on self‑resetting traps. Instead of guessing, you get clear evidence of who’s visiting, who’s avoiding, and what needs adjusting.

Recently, one auto‑resetting trap showed lots of “kills” but very few carcasses. A trail camera uncovered the truth: feral cats, ferrets, and even possums were scavenging the freshly caught animals. With that knowledge, extra traps were added to target the new culprits.

It’s also fascinating to see what happens in nature when we’re not around! Like the image below showing a welcome visitor, a  kāhu (swamp harrier), who was only too happy to take care of the mice and rats dropped under a trap at a wetland.

Trail cameras don’t just confirm what’s happening. They help us adapt, improve, and protect our local ecosystems more effectively.

Two‑Day Īnanga Spawning Wānanga: Protecting a Taonga Species

The National Īnanga Spawning Programme is a collaborative effort uniting community groups, councils, researchers, and tangata whenua to protect and restore īnanga spawning habitat across Aotearoa. The programme is led by the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust, and combines nationally consistent surveys, modern tools, and mātauranga Māori to rebuild a comprehensive understanding of where īnanga spawn and how best to safeguard these sites.

Īnanga are a taonga species central to mahinga kai and make up around 90% of the whitebait fishery. Their life cycle includes adults who migrate to the upper estuarine reaches during spring tides, gathering in the “Love Zone” where fresh and salt water meet. Here, they lay thousands of eggs in dense riparian vegetation, relying on precise tidal rhythms and healthy habitat. Because most īnanga live only 1–2 years, the success of each spawning season directly shapes future populations.

Īnanga are classified as Threatened – Nationally Vulnerable, with spawning sites under pressure from habitat loss, vegetation modification, poor water quality, and climate‑driven changes to tidal patterns. Standardised monitoring helps identify these pressures and guides restoration priorities at local and national levels.

Communities play a vital role as kaitiaki. Through training, survey tools, and shared knowledge, the programme empowers iwi, hapū, kura, landowners, and volunteers to identify spawning sites, protect critical habitat, and strengthen mahinga kai for future generations.

In conjunction with The Department of Conservation and Horowhenua District Council we are offering a free two-day Īnanga Wānanga in Foxton Beach. Day one is a theory day and is available to anyone with a keen interest to learn more about this programme. To attend day two, you must have completed day one and this is a practical day for those who are committed to a longer-term project, where you will learn techniques required (spaces for day two are limited).

To find out more or to register and secure your spot send us an email.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

This is a selection of funding that is currently open for applications. You will need to read through each one to understand the application process & criteria and make sure to answer the questions with the specific information they request.

NZ Landcare Trust:  Restoring Wetlands Fund

Fonterra has partnered with NZ Landcare Trust (NZLT) to support wetland restoration across rural Aotearoa, committing $250,000 per year to fund community restoration projects. 

Applications open May 1st and close 30 June 2026 with grants up to $60,000 available.

ALL YEAR FUNDERS

This is a selection of funding that is available to apply for all year round, you will need to to read through each one to understand the application process & criteria and make sure to answer the questions with the specific information they request.

Mātauranga Kura Taiao Fund - For whānau, hapū and iwi to preserve traditional Māori knowledge and its practical use in the management of indigenous biodiversity.

Ngā Whenua Rāhui - For protection of the natural integrity of Māori land and preserve mātauranga Māori.

ENM Environmental Initiatives Fund - For small grants less than $1000 For Palmerston North city only for biodiversity protection and enhancement

Whanganui Community Foundation

Four Regions Trust - For Whanganui, Rangitieki and Ruapehu only no specific fund categories

Pub Charity - For providing some enduring or demonstrable community benefit

The Lion Foundation 

RESOURCES 

This section is where you can share some great web links to information, consumables or equipment that may be useful for others to read about or ask a question. Send us an email with any of this information and we can share it here.

Environment Network Manawatū Calendar 

Predator Free New Zealand 

Manawatū Estuary Trust  and the Manawatū Estuary Dune Garden is an easily accessed ephemeral dune wetland area within the Ramsar site, with rare and endangered plant and invertebrate species.

Arnim Littek is a regular visitor with many observations of activity at this site.  If you would like to know more or receive his regular updates email him here.

Wildlife Foxton Trust is open Monday through Thursdays 9am to noon for environmental education and supports the work protecting the Papangaio Te Wharangi Manawatū Estuary work through a number of programmes, including newsletter production, native plant nursery and plantings as well as a growing predator trapping programme. Volunteers always welcome. They also act as a point of contact for weekly pest plant removal on Wednesday mornings. 207 Seabury Avenue Foxton Beach (in the Senior Citizens Hall).

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED 

JOIN THE TRIBE | Tōtara Reserve Indigenous Biodiversity Enhancement

The second Tuesday of every month between 10am -2pm at the reserve.

We will meet you at the Kererū Campground office block for a 10am start for the health and safety briefing, and then you can participate for as long as you can up to 2pm

We will be doing a variety of different tasks during the year so keep an eye on our events tab for full details and any updates to meeting locations.

All essential equipment required will be supplied, including gloves and Hi-vis vests, so you just need to dress appropriately to keep warm, dry and protected from the sun and bring some sunscreen, water and lunch.

If you have any questions please about volunteering at Tōtara Reserve please email us on here

Need help with something??

email us on BiodiversityCommunityTeam@horizons.govt.nz