Waitaki Valley grassroots initiative secures biodiversity funding boost

Established in 2017, the Hakataramea Sustainability Collective (HSC) is a local initiative focused on environmental management across the remote 890km2 catchment, which is a significant area of native biodiversity. At the heart of this drive is education.

“Our dream for this was to have a place where our tamariki and the wider community could learn about biodiversity specific to our catchment, because it is such a unique environment,” HSC Chairperson Juliet Gray said.

Previous water zone committee support in 2022 enabled the collective to plan and create a community plant nursery at the local school, where students could learn how to propagate local native plant species.

“Through that funding, we’ve been able to create a really great space down there where students can learn about biodiversity and also about the importance of giving back to a community,” Juliet says, referencing the importance of the community being willing to get stuck in and lend a hand when it comes to a rural community like Hakataramea.

“In a community like this, everything is run on volunteer hours.”

The latest support will mean HSC can continue to increase wider understanding of biodiversity and its importance, through workshops, field days and educational resources; continue to maintain and develop the native plant nursery; and support Waitaki Valley School to achieve Enviroschool status.

There are some exciting new projects in the works, including the development of an integrated catchment environmental plan specific to the valley and a biosecurity project to reduce weed and animal pest burden within the catchment.

Alongside these projects is the continual development of the plant nursery, including the trial of a small commercial arm that HSC hopes will eventually fund its maintenance.

“We aim to use local expertise to deliver the education programme where we can and encourage the wider community to help spread the learning,” Juliet said.

“It’s about enabling students and the wider community to take their learnings home where they can teach their family and friends what they have learnt,” Juliet said.