A newsletter from the
The Authority’s third funding round
will see $5,950,993 allocated from
a possible grants pool of $7 million.
The grants announcement follows the
Waikato River Authority’s latest board
meeting and AGM.
The largest of the projects is a major
riverbank clearance of exotic and pest
plants between Huntly and Rangiriri
Bridge on the lower Waikato River.
The project will be carried out by the
Tainui Development Authority and
Kanae Kakariki Trust and will initially
see up to eight kilometres of riverbank
cleared and replanted. The project is
being funded a million dollars over a
two-year period.
Another large-scale proposal from
Waikato-Tainui College, NIWA and the
Waikato Raupatu River Trust has been
funded to undertake a major tuna (eel)
restoration programme in the lower
Waikato River catchment.
The project will take place over three
years and receive a total of $851,000
of funding. As well as developing a
Waikato River Authority
funds
another $5.9m of projects
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comprehensive and integrated plan
for the restoration of tuna, the project
will restore habitat and transfer eels
to establish larger populations. Work
will also be carried out to improve fish
passageways.
The Authority’s Co-Chairs Tukoroirangi
Morgan and Hon John Luxton say, while
there was $7 million available in this
funding round, the robust assessment
process to evaluate projects meant
that only the very best projects
were successful. “While we would
have liked to have seen this year’s
funding pool fully allocated it is more
important to know there is maximum
value being obtained from the projects
we do fund. It is possible some of the
project proposals that missed out this
year could be reworked to gain funding
in future years,” says Mr Luxton.
A total of 63 proposals were received
by the Authority which were seeking
funding of around $18 million. The
Waikato River Authority strongly
advocates for an integrated and
The Waikato River Authority has decided to fund another
38 river clean-up projects in its latest funding round.
The Authority is approaching its
third anniversary this month.
Looking back there is much
that has been achieved in our
short journey so far. We have
committed $16m to fund over
100 river restoration projects,
and the vision and strategy for
the Waikato River is increasingly
exerting its influence in the
region’s planning framework. We
have also made strides in forming
a group of key organisations
to provide leadership in river
restoration - ensuring better
coordination and integration of
effort – more on that in the next
newsletter. In the New Year we will
review our funding approach, and
expect to introduce these
changes in next year’s
funding round. In the
meantime, best
wishes for a safe
summer ahead.
CE Message
cohesive approach for clean-up
activities across the river catchment.
The Authority believes a coordinated
effort will see a much more optimistic
outcome for the river.
More information
is available on
New spawning
ground identified
during whitebait
project
The recent spring tides in the
lower Waikato provided one of
the most exciting moments so far
for scientists and tangata whenua
working to restore whitebait
populations in the river.
Artificial substrates placed in the Tauranganui stream, they are a
monitoring tool that attract fish to spawn on them.
Continues overleaf...
