The biggest wetland restoration project in the Southern Hemisphere is under funding pressure because of the Tauranga City Council's plan to halve its contribution to $100,000 this year.
Pressure to increase rather than reduce the contribution has come from the area's hapu Ngai Tamarawaho which said much remained to be done in the toll road valley that runs from The Lakes to the Judea industrial area.
Nearly 12 years have passed since work started on the mammoth 20-year project to transform 300 hectares of Kopurererua Valley from rough farmland into a natural landscape.
But with only eight years left in the $8.3 million project that included planting more than a million wetland shrubs and trees, hapu spokesman Buddy Mikaere has asked the council to boost its funding to $300,000. He said the most pressing work that remained to be done was to realign the remaining section of the Kopurererua Stream back to its meandering course.
The stream was straightened into a farming drainage channel at least 50 years ago, causing much distress to Maori because it was central to the hapu's life and legend.