Wai Tuwhera o te Taiao e-pānui

Poutū-te-rangi / March 2022

We hope you’ve had a great summer and were able to get out and enjoy some of what Aotearoa has to offer. Whether you were out camping and fishing, or simply enjoyed some time sitting outside with a cup of tea and listened to the cicadas chirping in the sun, our connections with these ecosystems are something to treasure.

We love being able to support these connections, and have some exciting news to share with you.

We are able offer more eDNA discovery opportunities to community groups, schools, iwi, hapū and kura in 2022 - thanks to a funding grant from Unlocking Curious Minds. 

The programme will be run with support from Wilderlab and co-leadership from our statutory Māori advisory committee, Ngā Kaihautū Tikanga Taiao.

This year we will:

• offer eDNA testing kits to those who haven’t used them before
• offer existing participants the chance to deepen their exploration of the benefits of eDNA through case studies
• establish match-funding partnerships with other organisations who support community-led environmental protection
• offer educational webinars including expert guest speakers
• offer 50% of the available kits to Māori participants.

New participants are now invited to register their interest in using an eDNA kit as part of our 2022 autumn sampling round. Registrations will be open until 22 March, and kits will be received in April. There will be an opportunity to register for spring and summer sampling in July, so don’t panic if you’re not quite ready yet.

We also invite our past participants to register interest with us if you would like to develop an eDNA project. You will then be invited to submit a project proposal to tell us about what you would like to do any why.

We will soon be running a webinar to share more about various ways that these projects could be approached. This will provide some examples or inspiration for you to design a study that is useful to you and your group or kaupapa.

We're all ears

We’d love to hear about your experience with us last year to help us improve the programme. Please take the time to complete this quick survey, and be in to win a ‘wheel of life’ poster for your sample!

The survey is voice-enabled. If you have a device with a microphone, you can speak instead of typing if you’d prefer

Does your organisation support community, iwi and hapū-led environmental protection of te taiao?

We are looking at match funding partnerships with other organisations supporting community, iwi and hapū-led environmental protection of our waterways and surrounding ecosystems. That way, together, we can offer more eDNA testing opportunities to flaxroots communities. If you are interested in learning more, please get in touch with us at eDNA@epa.govt.nz 

What's on at the EPA

• We are proudly sponsoring FMG New Zealand Young Farmers' nationwide contest series for 2022 – encouraging farming leaders of the future to continue unearthing smart ideas and innovative practices.
  More on our LinkedIn
   
• ​We've been Toitū Envirocare certified for four years now, with the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2025.
  Check out our latest Toitū Carbon media release
   
• An EPA decision making panel is in the next phase of reassessing hydrogen cyanamide, an active ingredient in sprays commonly used by kiwifruit growers. 
  Find out more on the decision making process
   
• Want to find out more about our work at the EPA?
  Sign up to our Te Pūtara newsletter

Share your story

If you would like to contribute a story, photos, art, or reflections to this e-pānui, please get in touch with us at eDNA@epa.govt.nz.