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Applications are now open for the Waterway Protection and Making Space for Rural Water Funds, intended to help improve water quality, reduce erosion and strengthen the health of rural landscapes in rural Auckland.
Just one example of a project funded by these initiatives centres on Pukeoware where Lisa Woodward and her father Marshall have transformed a waterway restoration idea into a long-term environmental project.
“The increase in vegetation has resulted in more birdlife, with tui flying between the areas,” says Woodward. “We also now have our own little bat colony in an area of native bush.”
Since beginning work in 2019, the family has fenced and planted along waterways and wetlands that eventually flow into the Manukau Harbour.
This season’s funding through Auckland Council has been boosted by contributions by the Franklin, Rodney and Aotea / Great Barrier Local Boards.
The funds are intended to ensure money goes where it can have the most impact, as Auckland Council’s Leanna Birch explains.
“Rural landowners know their land better than anyone. They know where water gathers after heavy rain, where erosion is starting to bite and where stock access is creating challenges,” she says.
“This funding helps turn those observations into practical projects, whether that’s fencing a stream, restoring a wetland, planting native species or improving fish passage. The results benefit farms, waterways and the wider community.”
Over the past decade, the Waterway Protection Fund has supported hundreds of projects, helping landowners install more than 127 kilometres of fencing, plant more than 682,000 native plants and protect over 3.5 million square metres of waterways, wetlands and surrounding land, Birch says.
Eligible projects include stream and wetland fencing, native planting, wetland and floodplain restoration, erosion-control works, alternative stock-water systems and fish-passage improvements.
Applications close September 29. Click here for more information.
