Reforestation plan part of holistic vision for Waituna

A multi-year native planting plan is set to get underway as part of a 100-year reforestation vision at Waituna.

The 48.3 hectare block is one of three farm blocks purchased in 2020 as part of the Whakamana te Waituna Freshwater Improvement Project, and is adjacent to the Awarua Wetland Ramsar site.

The first 6.5ha/8500 plants is scheduled for planting in 2026 and forms part of the Whakamana te Waituna Charitable Trust’s Nature Credits Pilot, which looks to develop alternative and sustainable funding sources for biodiversity and freshwater projects in the Waituna catchment and the wider Southland region.

Trust co-chairs Riki Nicholas and Jon Pemberton said the reforestation forms part of the Trust’s vision, including strong partnerships supporting mana whenua aspirations around mahinga kai, reconnecting with the whenua, and exercising kaitiaki responsibilities.

“Key to this are focus areas around restoring wetlands and lowland forest, redesigning drains and waterways to reduce sediment and weed growth, reducing nutrient losses through on-farm mitigations, and realising the benefits of biodiversity and carbon for sustainable financing,” Riki Nicholas said.

The block was being reforested through different planting techniques, adapted from work undertaken as part of the National Sciences Challenge, including wider plant spacings, using nursery species such as manuka, and trialling the use of new plant guards (Garto Guards) developed in Southland.

“The aim is to enable large scale reforestation of land at a much lower cost than what has traditionally been the case,” Jon Pemberton said.

The land was strategically purchased by the Whakamana te Waituna Partnership (Awarua Rūnanga, Ngāi Tahu, Southland District Council, Environment Southland, Department of Conservation, Fonterra and The Ministry for the Environment) and placed under the ownership of Environment Southland to increase the native land buffer around Waituna Lagoon and to repurpose farmland that could become inundated if the lagoon was opened to the sea at a higher level.

The site would have once been part of the wider Awarua Waituna wetland complex prior to drainage and farming activity.

The block’s ownership has recently been transferred back to the Whakamana te Waituna Charitable Trust for $1 to carry out the restoration. A high-level planting plan has been developed and visualisations produced to show progress at 1, 5, 25 and 100 years.

Ongoing plant maintenance and the establishment of public walking tracks are other aspects of the plan, the Co-chairs said.

The programme will give effect to the freshwater covenant placed over the block in 2019 by the Ministry for the Environment.

It also forms an important pilot for Environment Southland’s wider ‘Learning from the Land’ project.