July 2025 project update

We received an incredible message from Theo Jaycox, Auckland Council Park Ranger, this month! He informed us that Upper Harbour had the highest total local parks volunteer hours in the Auckland region with a year-end total for Upper Harbour parks volunteers of 16,907 hours from July 24-July 25, with all volunteers across 21 Auckland regions contributing a total of 114,119. Meaning Upper Harbour contributed almost 15% of the total volunteer hours! 

“My endless thanks and congratulations to you all for all the hard work you do throughout the year. There has been such a boom in the organisation with so many fresh faces and new projects, and it has been a privilege to be your Ranger and support all the awesome mahi going on across the region this past year. Hopefully this statistic gives some validation to all the rain soaked, wooly-dust covered, and dead rat smelling days you spend out in the field (and all the lovely ones as well!), and you can take a moment to reflect on how far we have come and the amazing outcomes we have achieved.’

Congratulations one and all for the part you play in this result!

We are halfway through our third planting season, with 1,700 natives already in their new home thanks to local iwi, schools, hockey people and businesses! Young people undertake the lion's share of the onsite mahi and we thank the students and their teachers, in particular, for the legacy they are creating. We continue to plant using bioorganic compost from our onsite bioreactors to support growth of a more favourable soil biome that suits the native environment and sinks more carbon below ground.

We have an additional 2,300 natives to plant this season and welcome you to join us if you can. Our tree investors - Trees that Count, BUPA, NZ Landcare Trust and Paremoremo Prison nursery - supplement the harakeke we grow each year using our seed whakapapa model. If we value 4000 new natives at $10 each, the tree investors have generated $40,000 value on our behalf. Whilst we are building capacity for growing natives with locally sourced seeds with support from youth leaders, Kristin School and Settlers Lifestyle Village, we are reliant on the generosity of tree investors to enable us to scale at pace to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

What happens under the ground remains our primary focus. From inception, Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara, Auckland Council Park Rangers Dan Marrow and Theo Jaycox, the Upper Harbour Local Board and ecological experts supported our desire to trial using techniques developed by Matt Cummings, Untangled Landscapes, to regenerate the whenua and increase freshwater quality and biodiversity.

Increasing soil health to promote survival and sustainable growth rates using regenerative agricultural principles and sustainability practices is our kaupapa. We are delighted to share that we have just attained canopy cover across approximately half our 2022 site! To achieve canopy cover in three years is fantastic. Thank you all for the part you have played with this positive outcome. Thank you Matt and Svea from Untangled Landscapes for your expertise and loyalty to the project and for your willingness to teach us.

The difference between the control site and the canopy site is becoming more stark. The growth rate of the control area is less than half that of the regenerative natives. We are bioorganic and do not spray or use commercial composting, and because we are on public land, we are unable to use machines to clear weeds. The times we have hand cleared weeds in the control section compared with the 2022 regenerative site sits at a ratio of 14:5. This is an interesting outcome. The use of regenerative agricultural techniques and processes is widely believed to be more labour intensive. The annual hand clearance results show the regenerative site requires almost one third the number of weed clearances than the control site to date.

Thanks to annual funding from Davenports Law, our ability to use cover crops in the 2022 site has successfully held our 26 invasive plant species at bay, enabling natives the opportunity to grow unimpeded, with minimal disturbance, for their first two growing seasons. We have learned that our best growth and survival outcomes occurred when the land was cleared to the soil and the use of regenerative techniques such as sowing cover crops and planting with bioorganic compost were deployed.

Beyond our enthusiastic focus on planting natives, the following outcomes or actions took place across July at Te Hōnonga a Iwi:

-       BIOSECURITY ALERT: We have been asked to look out for yellow-legged hornets and encourage community members/vhttp://www.report.mpi.govt.nzolunteers to let MPI know if there are any sightings. Only single males have been sighted around the Albany/Grafton area to date. If you suspect you have seen the species of hornet please contact MPI direct on the hotline number 0800809966 or report online at www.report.mpi.govt.nz.

-        We managed a near-miss lewd incident along the stream trapline. Our actions were swift to ensure the safety and wellbeing of Te Hōnonga a Iwi trappers. All stakeholders, including families and the police, have been notified. This risk is in our safety plans and we feel confident with our preparation and responses. We would like to acknowledge Elouise, Working Bee Coordinator, for her outstanding management of the issue. The outcome of this incident has been to set up a new trapline for our youth to enable them to continue their mahi (in groups with an adult) in a safe, open area on the opposite side of the stream. We aim to find a new group of fully informed adult trappers who will continue trapping along the stream to maintain a strong presence to reduce future risk. If you feel you could help us to form the new trapping group, please reach out. We’d appreciate help to keep the trapline going and the chance to deliver a clear message that the stream path is actively used by the community. Park Ranger Theo Jaycox has been swift with his support and the development of signage to reduce the risk of another incident of this nature. North Harbour Hockey is also investing in video surveillance of the Hockey Turf area within Rosedale Park. The police are increasing their uniformed patrols in the park and by the stream. Please reach out to Nicky on hello@restoringrosedalepark.org.nz if you have any concerns or questions on this matter.

-        Youth Water Quality Leaders will relocate their stream testing sites to ensure safety as well.

-        Across July we had working bees with Rangitoto College, Kristin School Prefects, Kristin Girls Hockey, community members, Wilson School, Stormwater 360, Grow My Greens, plant pest youth leaders, youth chicken carers, youth trappers, youth water quality testers, youth business activations, and Harcourts - huge thanks team for your time and positive energy!

-        Our social media reach continues to elevate off the back on a viral post that exceeds 425k Insta views and 1530 likes, with 359.6k views across July, 59 new Insta followers with 2.4k reactions across 36 Insta posts. Facebook has 3800 views and 182 engagements, so does poorly compared with Insta outputs.

-        We are privileged to have our people and their organisations giving us 3497 volunteer hours this quarter, with 4700 volunteer hours year to date. Expressing that value in terms of living wage = $136,065 worth of volunteer time this year. We have one paid contractor, Elouise, who delivers irreplaceable value for Te Hōnonga a Iwi. Elouise is funded by Auckland Council for 15 - 20 hours per week to deliver working bees, communications and activation. The level of engagement at Te Hōnonga a Iwi is high and delivered by people from all five sectors we work with: iwi, the commercial, education, sports, NGO and community sectors.

-        Founding IT business, Command IT are phasing out their website and communications support following a year's notice. Please contact us if you feel you could invest in the restoration this way. We are looking for $1700 pa in kind IT/Website support to enable us to share our learnings, celebrate our people and place and offer evidence of our practice for our current and future funders, sponsors and volunteers. We thank Command IT for being with us from the start and for their three-year investment term - they have been instrumental in enabling us to connect.

-        We continue to actively support the regional ecology network's (UWEN) vision and development by investing time into thinking strategically, collaborating operationally and creating opportunities to strengthen the ecological corridors with our peers. The benefits of being a part of a regional group are numerous, more so with our project as we are dependent on guidance and expert ecological advice which is readily shared to enable growth.

-        We note the SBN survey on system-wide impacts for sustainability professionals highlights the need to ensure we support future and current sustainability leads to achieve and develop professionally. We encourage anyone who is interested in working in the sustainable development field to reach out to community-based organisations to connect, and collaborate. Te Hōnonga a Iwi model is designed to deliver highly integrated sustainable outputs and we have a sophisticated value chain that offers immediate ability for organisations wishing to invest in becoming more sustainable to deliver unique results through working in partnership with us.

-        We completed the installation of the shadehouse and the foundation trenches for the glasshouse due for installation in August with the indefatigable, talented team from Stormwater 360 this month. The difference they make each year is notable. We save the hard stuff for them, knowing their thought leadership will come up with solutions we have yet to figure out. This year, completing the shade house installation to ensure wheelchair accessibility afforded us all a happy moment knowing we had achieved what we set out to in terms of ensuring inclusivity and accessibility and have met our funders expectations. Stormwater 360’s engineers and leaders are a great team and deliver results year on year for us. This is another fine example of the value local SME networks create when their organisations and employees are prepared to invest in creating a community legacy. Huge thanks to you all for your leadership and huge effort for local people and the environment.

-        Ongoing education is a priority for Te Hōnonga a Iwi. Regional ecology and Auckland Council (AC) learning opportunities flow through our inboxes consistently and we endeavour to attend as many as we can to upskill, understand contemporary trends and develop socio-ecological, health, governance, community development, regenerative, sustainability and fiscal expertise. We attended a workshop on conservation and envico technologies. The Auckland Council conservation website has lots of resources open to anyone - check it out at Tiaki Tāmaki Makaurau | Conservation Auckland.

-        Youth Business Activator leaders Liam and Chris are consistently working hard to leverage SME-integrated investment into Te Hōnonga a Iwi. Liam succeeded in connecting with Visioni to request partnership that would offer us security cameras at the new mara kai, an action we have been advised to achieve as part of our landowner approval with Auckland Council. Once the activation is made, we support the conversion of interest into SME investment and look forward to the opportunity to partner with Visioni. Chris spent time in his school break designing a business plan to leverage internal leadership within Rangitoto College, who are foundation partners, to generate micro funding streams for Te Hōnonga a Iwi. We meet monthly to discuss business strategy and work through prioritising business actions to develop sustainable business partnerships. We thank Chris and Liam for their skills, mahi and time.

-        We had a ball working with Sam Weston, Te Hōnonga a Iwi Graphic Designer and Rangitoto College students with service leader Emily Kennedy painting 29 new signs for Te Hōnonga a Iwi! Sam’s sense of fun and clever use of colour is a perfect match to showcase special elements of the restoration. We have a working bee with Kristin art students to finish the signage preparation ahead of the team uniting to install the new signs! Can’t wait! We plan to integrate more art and music at Te Hōnonga a Iwi to build culture and amplify the regeneration messaging. If you have ideas you would like to share to help us showcase the role of art and music in conservation, please get in touch! The signs are constructed with recycled warratahs, recycled real estate signage offering durability, affordability, reusability and the chance to increase circulation through repurposing products ahead of the end of their lifecycle.

-        Driving down our carbon footprint is front of mind in all that we do to mitigate climate impacts. Rachael Pates, UWEN Manager, and Theo, AC Park Ranger both work hard to share tools and equipment and source products from the waste stream to enable us to decarbonise. This year, we have produced approximately seven kgs inorganic waste that cannot be easily circulated. We are proud of that feat and commit to continue to work hard to become climate positive, carbon negative.

-        The Te Hōnonga a Iwi water catchment group met with funders and restoration plan developers this month to align the funding objectives and plan to ensure we do not duplicate service outputs with two funders investing in increasing the wellbeing of the Oteha water catchment. The meeting was positive, informative and enabled clarity to ensure collaborative excellence going forward. It is an exciting time for regeneration projects bordering Alexander Awa!

-        We have been notified of a number of funding opportunities and plan to apply for three across the month. We will advise you on outcomes.

-        Working in partnership with school teachers and service leaders is paramount to our success. School partners work extremely hard to offer meaningful, safe learning and service experiences. Their service ethic, flexibility and the size of the volunteer cohorts are the backbone of Te Hōnonga a Iwi success. We wish to take a moment to celebrate teachers and their important role within society and students' lives and achievements as well as our own. Thank you all for all you do for the community. We could not achieve what we do without you all.

-        We are fortunate to be given the opportunity to work in partnership with Tabitha Becroft, Community Programme Ranger, Auckland Council to run an onsite workshop enabling volunteers and participants to deepen their connection with the whenua (land). Tabitha, with support from Kaumatua Richard Nahi, will explore the impacts of invasive species, the role of kaitiakitanga (guardianship), and the importance of restoring balance to our native ecosystems. She hopes that by listening to the stories of the land and its people, the workshop will inspire collective action and a renewed sense of responsibility for the wellbeing of our natural taonga (treasures). Huge thanks for considering us to host this workshop Auckland Council!

-        We are close to finalising the new entity to send the paperwork to the registrar. Huge thanks to Matt and Amelia from Mayne Wetherell for your expertise and guidance in this piece.

-        We held our first officers meeting for Te Hōnonga a Iwi at North Harbour Hockey, who have kindly agreed to allow us to continue to meet at the National Hockey Centre. Hockey people, Sheryl Blythen is our new Chairperson, Jody Gilfillan our new Financial Officer, Matt Wardle, Secretary and Nicky Shave, Officer.

-        We are developing our policy suite, skills matrix, interests register, risk register and strategic roadmap in readiness to transition from under North Harbour Hockey Association and UWEN’s umbrella. We thank both organisations for their extraordinary support in enabling us to offer service continuity throughout the transition period and look forward to our first AGM and committee meeting.

-        The number of volunteers seeking an opportunity to offer service to the environment are increasing through website contacts. This is amazing news for us and we welcome support across all areas of the restoration. We are looking for a journalist who could support Sheryl as she steps into the Chair role. Please connect with us if you are interested in this role.

-        We experienced the loss of one of our chickens this month, which felt sad. Our chicken carer team acted with kindness and care.

-        We celebrated the return of one of our star students on holiday from studying in Sydney. It was great timing for us to have Felix home and he covered our student chicken carers as they were away on holiday. Thank you so much Felix, enjoy semester two in Oz and we look forward to welcoming you back soon.

-        We are building knowledge on how we can leverage future funding streams with the native forestry ETS and the biodiversity credits. We will keep you informed about changes in this space.

-        Cadey Korson has completed the final draft for the documentary script and plans to spend the next few months creating the documentary!

-        Finally, Ben Zhang, local resident and permaculture specialist has generously developed a seed library model for us. We are in the process of reviewing the model and look forward to learning from Ben and working hard to ensure the seed library is realised in the best way possible for the environment and our local people! Untold thanks Ben for being an important part of our journey and for your leadership in permaculture.