Projects — Leading from the land

Waimatā Catchment Group water monitoring Tairāwhiti along with Leading from the Land Tairawhiti. A group of six people hiking along a trail on a grassy hillside with trees and a blue sky in the background.

Waimatā korero

Our aim is to support landowners to better manage the quality of the environment and restore the health of the Waimatā Catchment.  This includes reducing loss of soils, controlling riverbank erosion, improving biodiversity on the farms and in the riparian environment of the river and its tributaries, restore wetlands and support the expansion of threatened species in their habitats in the catchment.  We do this through implementing stock exclusion fencing, planting native species along the Waimatā River, its tributaries and in and around wetlands, planting poplar and willow in areas where stock exclusion is not practical or whether it will support erosion management and a transition to native species in the longer term.  We aim to partner with local hapū on this work and to better understand the relationship between hapū cultural values and the catchment area.  We support research into better understanding the values of the catchment and how land management decisions can support those values.  We also aim to support the community and its spirit within the catchment so that we are well placed to face the environmental challenges of the future.

Historical Milestones and Events

Farm Environment Plan Workshop June 2020
Became an Incorporated Society July 2020
Predator Control Workshop July 2020
Predator Trapping Workshop Nov 2020
Waikereru Workshop March 2021
Biodiversity Workshop with David Norton March 2021
Public Meeting – Let the River Speak May 2021
Native Planting and Biodiversity Day with Makauri school – Sept 2022
Waimatā River Native Planting Day – Aug 2022
Established 3,500ha intensive predator control network targeting mustelids – 2022
Cyclone Gabrielle fundraising and support to landowners - 2023
Water Quality Field Day – Feb 2024
Lamprey surveying, electrofishing, salt water wedge monitoring and inunga spawning research supported by DoC and Mountains to Sea – 2024-2026
Waimatā Catchment Hunting Competition – June 2025
Roots so Deep Documentary Screening – Jan 2025
Jan 2026
Ongoing water monitoring programme established 2024
Bird surveying with Malcolm Rutherford 2024/25
Established erosion control pole nursery 2025/26
Ecological reports completed across 6000ha of farmland and forestry.
 Expanding intensive predator control network to 6000ha – 2026
135,000 native trees planted across the catchment
2860 erosion control poles planted
20+km of riparian, wetland and native bush fenced