Project Kōtare
Pūharakekenui Freshwater Improvement Fund
Project Kōtare is possible through the Ministry of Environment's Jobs for Nature funding that provides $4.142 million NZD from 2021-2026. This significant amount of funding allows the Trust to hire staff, preform willow control, plant more natives along the Pūharakekenui and its tributaries, work with landowners and businesses, and so much more!
The Project is ending June 2026, and a tremendous amount has been achieved over the last 5 yrs due to the hard work of our field staff and volunteers.
In the past 5 years we have planted 230,000 plants over 47 ha, controled weeds on 43 ha, conducted mammalian predator control on 130 ha, fenced 4 km of river, emplyed staff for 68,000 hrs, and supported over 13,000 volunteer hours.
A major objective of the Trust is to support an ecologically healthy river and one way towards that is to develop extensive riparian planting along the Pūharakekenui River.
Planting provides many benefits both to the freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. Here are a few:
