Comvita donates forests of mānuka trees to Central Hawke’s Bay

BEL Group environmental lead, Charlotte Pederson, with some of the recently planted mānuka.

After seeing firsthand the devastating impact of this year’s weather events, Comvita has donated more than 40,000 mānuka trees to farms and schools in Central Hawke’s Bay.

Planting projects included a gully retirement, erosion control, riparian and slip revegetation as well as plantings in schools across Central Hawke’s Bay.

These mānuka trees will help enrich the soil, enhance fertility, prevent erosion and aid in ecosystem restoration - promoting healthier soil for growth and biodiversity.

Tukituki Land Care (TLC) collaborated with Comvita to help distribute the trees. TLC operates as a collective of farmers in the Tukituki Catchment and provides leadership to help farmers adopt practices that improve water quality and enhance the environment.

Children helped plant seedlings on slips caused by Cyclone Gabrielle.

Comvita, a name that has long been synonymous with mānuka honey, began in New Zealand in 1974 and has been working at the forefront of science ever since to help bees, people and nature.

With the help of TLC, the trees have now been planted across 19 farms and six schools in Central Hawke’s Bay.

BEL Group, one of the recipients of mānuka in the Tukituki catchment, says the trees will go a long way towards helping boost riparian zones and with erosion control and allowing native bush to regenerate over the coming years.

Charlotte Pedersen, BEL Group environmental lead, says the donation is a huge step forward in improving their local environment’s biodiversity and the water quality of nearby streams.

Children helped plant seedlings on slips caused by Cyclone Gabrielle.

“We wanted to help with the natural riparian regeneration that has already occurred on our land, and receiving thousands of mānuka saplings has helped us do exactly that,” said Pedersen.

Pedersen and her team have planted more than 10,500 mānuka seedlings in a gully where pine once thrived. The mānuka will help with soil stabilisation and improve water quality.

Comvita’s donated seedlings have also been used for the same purpose by Conon Kynoch, an Ashley Clinton farmer, who has been able to fast-track the retirement of a gully that feeds into the Tukipo River.

“The gully is extremely steep and erosion-prone”, said Kynoch. “I fenced it off 15 years ago with the idea of retiring it. The fencing created a 6.3-hectare paddock which excluded cattle, but I continued grazing sheep until I had a means of planting it up.”

When Kynoch heard of the Comvita offer via TLC, he decided it was too good to refuse. “Due to the generosity of Comvita, I have been able to fast-track this project,” said Kynoch. “To now see the plants in the ground and stock fully excluded is immensely satisfying”.

Tukituki Land Care contacted Mauri Oho, Jobs for Nature, which came on board to help many of the farmers plant their seedlings. With large numbers across one catchment and a three-day turnover to get the plants in the ground, Mauri Oho pulled in help from two other contractors.

The steep valley on Conan Kynoch’s farm in Ashley Clinton, where some of the mānuka is being planted.

Together they planted 30,000 of the seedlings across eight farms in some very challenging terrain. “What a fantastic project to be involved with”, said Arapera Paewai, project manager at Mauri Oho. “Some of the sites were pretty remote and extremely steep which presented challenges but the teams worked hard and we managed to get all the seedlings planted. It’s an awesome result for this catchment”.

For Comvita, donating the trees is part of their Harmony Plan, which has seen close to seven million native trees planted since 2017.

David Banfield, chief executive of Comvita says, “Every time we’re able to give back to the communities that we’re a part of, we consider it one step closer to a brighter future. To see such wonderful taonga used to heal the whenua in such an impactful way shows what sort of progress can be made when the community comes together.”