The following actions and outputs have been achieved across April at Te Hōnonga a Iwi:
· Land owner consent has been granted by Auckland Council for three iterative restoration extensions over three years to enable us to plant another 6 000 native trees across another 6000 m2. The consent also enables us to place a new restoration sign with QR codes linking to our website funded by Albany Rotary and designed by graphic designer Samantha Weston.
· A group of four to five wild cats living in the bush behind ICB and the project site has been identified during the pandemic and has been suspected to be responsible for the reduction of the park’s bird population, In a joint effort from Greg and Phillip from ICB, Les Wootton, Lonely Meow and Albany Vet, supported with information from Park Ranger Dan Marrow, we are now setting a live, baited trap Monday – Friday in an effort to safely remove the cats from the area, get them to Albany Vets for free microchipping and health assessment before taking them to the nearest cat rescue available or to the SPCA. We thank this team for their efforts to address this biodiversity challenge. And the business stakeholders for their time and investing their resources free of charge.
· Stephen Cammell has kindly cleared all the tracks post cyclone to enable safe access for the animal pest management and water quality teams to do their mahi.
· Te Hōnonga has a new Water Quality Lead, Kirstin student Alicia Stowers. Alicia, with support from her sisters Eva and Marine and parents James Stowers and Sandy Paton, will halve Lavender Feng’s workload. We thank the Stowers/Paton whanau for their amazing investment in the project and Lavender for her teaching on how to undertake water quality assessment safely and with rigor. Over the next two months we will be working as a team to test at the three sites and from July split the workload going forward. Wai Care have been approached for help to source two sets of equipment to enable two testing teams to operate independently of each other which will enable greater retention of our talented youth leads in the project.
· Volunteer hours completed, including the annual total for 2022 which is sitting at 2069 volunteer hours. If all human capital was charged at living wage, this would equal $53,794 pa in-kind service. If the hours were split 50 per cent living wage ($26,897) and 50 per cent senior consultant fee ($132,114), it would equal $159,011 in-kind service for 2022.
· NHHA CFO Amanda Green, Kim Green and Nicky Shave continue to draft the NHHA Integrated Report for release in June 2023
· Te Hōnonga has requested to present at the upcoming EDS Business Sustainability Conference and the Urban Design NZ conference.
· Te Hōnonga needs to secure $575 from existing contributors or a new stakeholder to purchase an eDNA test for Westminster Christian School to assess the genetic biodiversity of the Alexander Stream. This knowledge will be useful to understand, contrast and compare the genetic material we know exists in the Oteha Stream and as an annual marker for change in the health of the stream going forward. If you wish to support our schools in undertaking valuable water quality assessment work, please connect with Nicky on hello@rosedaleparkrestoration.org.nz
· Our new water quality youth lead attended the Wai Care workshop to learn about increasing water quality over time in our streams.
· We have run a business and a community weed-release working bee in April. Representatives from NHHA, Massey University, UWEN, and Brightstar supported our first Business Bee for 2023! We thank all these organisations for their investment in the project. Please take a look at our Insta and Facebook posts to get a sense of the fantastic organisations and people we have involved in the project to increase local sustainability.
· New stakeholder, Trees that Count, has generously supplied us with 2,000 natives for the 2023 planting programme. Importantly, these natives are raised by prisoners at Paremoremo Prison. We thank the people who have contributed significant natural capital value to the project for 2023 and wish them to know that the trees that TTC have supplied will cover the new extension, subject to Council approval.
· Project team members attended the EDS Environmental Law and Brightstar Environmental Law and Policy conferences this month. If any stakeholder is interested in understanding the upcoming legislative changes for the NZ environment and for decarbonising please take a look at the EDS Pivot Point presentations on the link https://vimeo.com/showcase/10296998
· The Lancet has an interesting link for those interested in climate change and health https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60854-6/fulltext
· Te Hōnonga a Iwi Restoring Rosedale Park’s education programme has been confirmed for the next few months. There will be a Year 6-8 Microscopy session on 28 June, Year 9-13 Microscopy Session on 19 July year and an all schools study day on 26 July. Please contact hello@restoringrosedalepark.org.nz if you wish your students to be involved in the education sessions or working bees this year.
· Project team members attended the UWEN-organised Len Gillman presentation on whether trees can mitigate climate change. For readers interested in his work the following links are useful;
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