New environmental iwi-led charity receives $2.1m Government funding

Thursday, 16 September 2021

A new iwi-led environmental charity will receive Government funding to establish native plant nurseries and undertake restoration projects across Southland.

On Thursday, Conservation Minister Kiri Allen announced that Te Tapu o Tāne will receive $2.125 million in Jobs for Nature funding over three years to undertake the projects.

The projects will be overseen by the Papatipu Rūnanga o Murihiku, representing Hokonui, Waihōpai, Awarua, and Ōraka-Aparima rūnangas.

Te Tapu o Tāne chief executive Jana Davis said the Jobs for Nature funding would allow the charity to fast track the launch of its first nursery, off McIvor Rd in Invercargill.

The $2.125m will build on $1.98m of funding already received from the Ministry of Primary Industries through the One Billion Trees program, Davis said.

**READ MORE:

* Taranaki conservation groups receive $9.98m in Government funding

* $16m for Rangitata River restoration

* The West Coaster fighting for a low-carbon future

**

It would be working alongside Ngāi Tahu, local government, central government and private partners to commercially provide plant sales, as well as planting and habitat restoration services during the project.

“It’s a native tree nursery operation, and we’re going to be using it as a home base for catchment rehabilitation services. So we’ll be sourcing the seed, growing and planting natives, [doing] pest control, water monitoring,” Davis said.

“So rain, hail or shine we’ve got somewhere to work, and when projects come up we can go out and do plantings and then come back, and the projects we’re doing are more than just planting – we want to understand the significance of the areas.”

It is expected the new nurseries will produce more than 700,000 new native plants and trees each year, he said.

“It’s all endemic, native species, focusing on waterway planting and reforestation.

“So a lot of flaxes, beech, tōtara, anything that we can use to help prevent run-off, basically getting rid of exotic species and replanting it native.”

Seeds for the nurseries to grow these plants would be eco-sourced, meaning that if seeds are taken from a specific area then the plants would go back to that area, Davis said.

“Depending on where the projects are, depends on where the seeds sourced from,” he said.

About 25 kaimahi (workers) would be employed during the three years of funding, with the first beginning on Monday, he said.

“We’ll be starting nursery operations first thing Monday, hopefully sowing seed on Tuesday.

“I’m super excited, I’m going to close the laptop for a few weeks and get to know the new team. We’ve got some really cool, young rangatahi coming on board that are new to the industry.”

Te Tapu o Tāne had also been engaging with Southern Institute of Technology to create tailor-made courses for nature-based work which would include training in Mātauranga, he said.

“This project is more than just establishing a native tree nursery; this is full scale catchment rehabilitation from a te ao Māori perspective,” Davis said.

Te Tapu o Tāne translates to The Sacredness of Tāne and his tamariki.

Other Southland recipients of Jobs for Nature funding announced included Big Bay Awarua Conservation Trust, which received $383,000, Fiordland Trails Trust, which received $973,000, Pure Salt Cruises, which received $700,000 and Routeburn Dart Wildlife Trust, which received $416,000.