Motu group’s environmental work recognised

CLOSER TO VICTORY: The judges were impressed by the way the Motu Catchment group had identified sedimentation as a risk in their catchment and their remedies for it, such as addressing collapsing banks with riparian planting and fencing. Picture supplied

A Motu group is in the running to win the inaugural Catchment Group category of the 2021-2022 Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

The Motu Catchment group is one of two groups from the Hawke's Bay/East Coast region named as finalists in the awards run by the New Zealand Farm Environment Trust, an independent charity.

“It's pretty exciting to be a finalist because everyone in the group — farmers and landowners — have been working hard on this for a few years now,” Motu Catchment group project manager Lilian Harley said.

“They have put their time, energy and own contributions into the project and to have that recognised in the awards is amazing.”

The group was formed by farmers in the upper catchment of the Motu River with the aim of enhancing the quality of the river, reducing erosion and building community support.

The group secured cumulative funding of $1.4 million in 2018 and 2020 through the Erosion Control Funding Programme (ECFP).

Landowners and farmers, whose 23 properties stretch over 14,000 hectares of the Motu catchment, have identified erosion control plans for their farms, fencing 30 kilometres of the area, and planted more than 100,000 plants with commitment to ongoing project maintenance.

Hamiora Gibson, representing the NZ Landcare Trust, was one of the judges involved in the Catchment Group category.

“We really liked the group's approach, which was about getting the work done on the ground and not being too hung up in administration. They planted a whole lot of their Motu river with riparian planting, and fenced off most of the river as well, which is huge.

“Their approach to biodiversity and having schools involved in the project is commendable,” he said.

The group had to take the judges on a tour of the catchment and were judged based on a given criteria.

Mr Gibson said the group was assessed on parameters such as identification and addressing problems, involvement with community, robustness of monitoring methods and other outcomes, like biodiversity.

Ms Harley said the upper Motu River catchment was a very special catchment — one of the few areas where kiwi and weka co-existed.

At the lower end of the catchment group was Whinray Reserve where kiwi and tuatara were released, and the catchment was also home to whio and longfin eels.

“The aim is to create a biodiversity corridor from the lower end of the catchment (and the Whinray Reserve) to the state forest at the origin of the catchment.

“There is a unique opportunity to enhance the diverse biodiversity there,” she said.

Catchment groups from 11 regions are eligible for the award, and the winners will be announced next month.