New Year Honours: Biodiversity enhancer receives honour for improving water quality and biodiversity outcomes in Kaipara Harbour

William Wright. New Year's Honours recipient, is a negotiator for the settlement of Kaipara Harbour and future co-governance of Kaipara Moana. Photo / Tania Whyte

William Richard Wright

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to conservation

William Wright, who believes himself to be a biodiversity enhancer, has put the Treaty of Waitangi principles into action for the conservation of Kaipara Harbour.

Kaipara born Wright came back to his roots to be a Treaty Claim manager for Te Uri o Hau hapu in 1993.

Wright has been the programme manager of IKHMG since 2015, having been the chairman from 1996. He is a Treaty Negotiator for the settlement of Kaipara Harbour and the future co-governance of Kaipara Moana.

While he was appointed to focus on the landmass of the particular hapu, he came across several complaints filed to the Government about mismanaged resources such as Kaipara Harbour, fisheries, lack of participation, and some letters went back to 140 years.

"In 1996, I was hearing this, not only from marae but communities around Kaipara, that they were losing their fish stock number, shellfish bed, and things like that."

A hui was called which resulted in the formation of the Integrated Kaipara Harbour Management Group.

"In 1999, we set the vision statement for the IKHMG – a healthy and productive Kaipara Harbour.

"We started to bring in partnerships, where all the councils and Department of Conservation supported the IKHMG with small amounts of funding to administer what we were doing."

In 2010, the IKHMG, led by Wright, initiated their strategic plan and created their first-ever business plan for the Kaipara Harbour and the catchment.

"The resources and people were already out there. We brought together landowners, farmers, industries like Fonterra, fertiliser companies, local communities. It gave people a sense of safety, they could express their views and collectively we would find solutions to it."

He led IKHMG in improving water quality and biodiversity outcomes through community action and had been a catalyst for the development of Predator Free Kaipara, having led IKHMG analysis in 2019 on scaling up predator and pest control across the catchment.

He was recognised at the 2019 New Zealand Association of Resource Management conference for his contributions to the way climate change and freshwater are managed, in relation to his contributions to Kaipara Harbour and catchment.

He was on the Northland Conservation Board from 2014 to 2020, serving his final year as Chair. He has been a trustee of the Kaipara District Economic Development Trust.

Wright is a member of Kaipara District Council's Pou Tu Te Rangi (Harding Park Joint Management Committee), having previously been chairman in 2017.