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Writer's pictureTe Hōnonga a Iwi

July 2022 project update

Updated: May 29, 2023

It’s been a busy few weeks at the Te Hōnonga a Iwi Restoring Rosedale Park project. Here is what’s been happening and what’s coming up.




- Matariki event was a success, skilfully led by Kaumatua, Richard and wife, Pearl Nahi with 160 stakeholder attendees celebrating and reflecting on the meaning of Matariki and planting Totara. The Charter has been signed by a number of stakeholders and a copy is stored on Teams Important Communications channel, Charter Folder if you wish to view. A special thanks to Richard and Pearl, NHHA, Nicholas Mayne and our guest speakers for their outstanding input on the day. A special mention for Tyrone Campbell, owner of Pioneer Pies, for coming on board as a stakeholder in the Restoration and supplying all the amazing hot food for the Matariki event.


- Paulette Reilly-Davis, Tracy Davis, Richard Nahi and David Hayes have continued to generously invest in strategy and operational pieces in the project, enabling Te Hōnonga a Iwi to remain connected with and well supported by Iwi/Mana Whenua. We are thankful for this level of engagement and ongoing encouragement. Next steps include consultation regarding improving the sustainability model, feedback regarding the Integrated value report and development of the Charter as well as support from David on the ground with connecting people to contribute to the working bees.


- NEDF have continued to fully develop 15 individual student mentorship opportunities with youth leadership in strategy, pest management, water quality analysis, water management and bird management. We need to develop positions for bat and plant survival/growth monitoring next. At this point we are prioritising seeking Māori and Pasifika students interested in contributing value in these spaces.


- Council approved the Landowner Application process and we have adapted the plan to prevent the need for seeking resource consent. The LOA is available to view on Teams under the important communications channel.


- Peter Felstead has been working with Teresina, Wai Care to upload the water quality analysis of two stream sites (North and South) to the Wai Care water quality database. Water quality analysis is done monthly. We welcome Lavender Feng on board the water quality analysis team to share the load with Peter. We have completed the Wai Care H&S planning and MOU – on Teams.


- Acacia, Chloe, Ricky and Cathal from the local Ventia team have committed to support the restoration in several ways: Mana whenua support and guidance, recycled water transportation and guidance regarding using indigenous research methodologies to enable social value to be captured in a holistic, culturally appropriate way.


- Local organisations, Watercare and Ventia have teamed up to guarantee delivery of an initial load of 15 000 litres of recycled Watercare water to soak 10 Tonnes of mulched biomass prior to loading into the bioreactors and an ongoing monthly delivery of 7 000 lpm of recycled water to water the bioreactors. We are indebted to these companies for their significant investment in Te Hōnonga a Iwi.


- Untangled Landscapes Matt Cummings, Svea and team began a two-week site tidy and mulch campaign. Photos are on FB and loaded onto Teams under General Channel- photos. They have worked tirelessly in harsh, wet conditions to master using a new mulching machine and work efficiently to get the job done. Heartfelt thanks to this incredible team.


- Hilton Brown Swimming continues to invest heavily in the project granting continued access to the site through their carpark and the temporary use of their land to house the IBC water containers and 22 Bioreactors. We are indebted to this company for their understanding and commitment through a very wet and disruptive Winter.


- Cadey Korson, Massey University secured ethics approval for the documentary. A significant body of work that will explore the projects social value chain and will be available for stakeholders to view in due course. Ongoing applications to film and securing consent to film require hours of work on Cadey’s part. Natalie Matthews has been working hard to film and photograph the restoration processes in Cadey’s absence. Cadey also secured free filming rights from Screen Auckland- another significant milestone Massey University has been instrumental in achieving that has enabled Te Hōnonga to film on council land for free.


- Les Wootten and Richard Chambers, UWEN members, have been instrumental in kindly supporting Te Hōnonga a Iwi to install and utilise Trap NZ apps for Pest Management and Bird Counts.


- Pest management leader, Sophie Haine and Matthew Li have been hard at work. A decision has been made to trap only. The Trap NZ app has been installed and data collection is underway using the app. This standardises our approach across the Upper Waitemata and enables our data to contribute to a wider understanding of work that is underway across the North Shore. We have been notified there are 7 ? feral cats negatively affecting the bird population near the restoration site. Council is informed and cat trapping is likely to get underway shortly with support from Steve Cammell. Standardisation of monitoring with chew cards is underway and will fall into line with UWEN guidelines. Sophie’s June report is available to view under Data Collection Channel, Pest Management and Monitoring. We need little reminder that without their regular work to set and monitor traps we will not get the outcomes the restoration stakeholders and nature deserves. Grateful thanks to this team, they are our unsung heroes.


- The Bird Count team, James Gow, Sarah Hoessler and Selwyn Liu have been patient as we ready ourselves to begin monthly bird counts. Timing when we can achieve the counts has been challenging and we thank team members for their patience as we begin learning how to identify birds. We do need support in this space, so please let me know if you are interested in becoming a bird counter or have skills with bird identification that you could share to help our youth leader. We need a proficient bird counter that can teach at a time that suits school students. Meanwhile James and Sarah will continue their work to generate bird count data during school hours. Huge thanks to them both for their investment in this space.


- Gillian Rapson, Massey University Ecology Specialist has reviewed our Project plan and provided feedback for us to consider. Overall, she felt positive about what we are proposing to achieve in the pilot.


- A MOU between Watercare and NHHA has been signed and loaded onto Teams under Important Communications channel.


- Toni Shaw, ASHS school and Matt Cummings delivered the first students soil microscopy session. The session was brilliant, and the students were highly engaged as Matt bought soil to life using his microscope and expertise to educate the students on the importance of biologically healthy soil. Photos under general channel on Teams. Matt has kindly offered to do more microscopy sessions in the future. Huge thanks to Toni for hosting this education session.


- NHHA delivered a bioreactor study day for local schools, welcoming 80 Long Bay College, ASHS and Kristin students and teachers. The study day consisted of an introduction to the project, what a bioreactor is and forms of composting to increase soil health. The afternoon was spent constructing 11 out of 22 bioreactors and enjoying a walk to have lunch at the site. Students excelled, despite some heavy rain. Kristin teacher and service coordinator, Sarah Wakeford, has continued on to organise two more student bioreactor construction sessions in weekends enabling us to complete construction of 20 bioreactors! Westminster Christian School will construct and load the final two in readiness for the containing the mulch.


- The Communications team has been continuing to work hard week on week, striving to develop business and community one-pagers, advertise with BNH and NHHA, generate invites for Matariki, produce social media and website content, build the website and SM platforms, design the Charter and develop a one-page pilot model graphic that align the UN SDG’s with project outcomes. NHHA IT solutions company, Command IT have generously supported our capacity to fully developed and complete. Command IT moved quickly to support the Communication Teams need and has supplied ongoing IT support free of charge. Our new email is hello@restoringrosedalepark.org.nz More recently, we are privileged to welcome the talented Ashley Han as a new Restoration member skilled in web and mobile design and a local Rosedale resident. Ashley is bilingual and is across supporting the Chinese community’s online engagement as well as having overall expertise in the communications space. Huge thanks to Ashley for her work to date with supporting Sheryl, Sam and Command IT’s website and SM platform development.


- In addition to being a welcome member of the Bird Count team, new member and Montessori parent, Sarah Hoessler, has also joined forces with Warwick Stent to support our Integrated Value Report developments with her expertise as a data scientist and statistician. Sarah is French and speaks Mandarin fluently. We are blessed to have her expertise invested in the project and she has kindly offered to support Warwick Stents’ vision that the data the Restoration produces can be displayed using a Power B1 format that is highly visual and engaging. It is a data design that enables delivery of metrics to stakeholders in real time and enlivens the user experience with reading and understanding data.


- Life Cycle Analysis, the tree. In addition to other project metrics, we have been working on figuring out how to measure the LCA of a Te Hōnonga tree to enable us to establish another quantitive measurement of performance over time. We have consulted with Robyn Simcoch, Landcare Research and have applied for a course that teaches LCA analysis – we are on the waitlist for this opportunity. We plan to write to the Chair, LCA NZ for guidance.


- NEDF confirmed securing funding for the restoration carbon emissions analysis with EKOS. They are now seeking funding to enable us to compare our carbon footprint with a like-for-like traditional restoration project. Huge thanks to Jade Li and Molly Chen for securing funding to enable this measure to take place in 2022.


- David Hayes, Mana Whenua and Tāmaki Māori Hockey Committee member has been welcomed to the Restoration team. David is extremely well connected and has offered to use his strong network to help Te Hōnonga a Iwi develop volunteer capacity for the working bees. Huge thanks for his work to date with the upcoming bees on the 24 and 30 July.


- The Chinese Committee (NEDF, Great Families and Chinese teachers) met to discuss ongoing youth and community development opportunities and identify ways in which we could continue to support educating the Chinese community about regenerative restorations. This committee has been meeting monthly and continues to work hard to connect the project with our local Chinese whanau. The Blue Sky funding application for Matariki wasn’t successful this time, however we very much appreciated Great Families Chinese Charity’s offer of financial support for refreshments for Matariki.


- Water Quality Analysis across the Albany basin. We were asked to meet with local Landing Restoration team members Brian Hedley and Tony Trent. Brian’s career has taken him to work in Nepal with Sir Ed Hillary to develop potable water access in Nepalese villages. Fortunately for us, he has retired in Albany and interested in understanding if we can join forces to create a systems wide approach to increasing water quality in Alexander Stream, Oteha Stream, Lucas Creek and the basin’s smaller tributaries. Te Hōnonga a Iwi stakeholders are measuring water quality at the source of Alexander Stream, North and South of the Restoration, Pinehurst sometimes measures at the juncture of Oteha and Alexander Stream, ASHS at the entrance to Lucas Creek and Kristin nearby. We understand Massey are measuring water quality in the escarpment and Council is already undertaking their own analysis. We know that whitebait have been detected in Lucas Creek. Te Hōnonga have agreed to be an umbrella water quality connector with the Landing and have reached out to all water quality stakeholders to understand if we can progress increasing water quality as a group going forward if Auckland Council feel there is merit in doing so.


- The Restoration welcomes Westminster Christian School as restoration stakeholders and looks forward to working with Gail Goodwin, to realise her vision for bringing ecology, social science and conservation to life. Gail is working towards securing funding to run eDNA water quality analysis. We thank Anna Harrison for her work within Enviro School, AC for connecting us with Westminster.


- Kevin O’Leary, CEO Business North Harbour continues to offer support for the project. He has ensured we have had access to source 26 pallets from the local waste stream (all sourced within 1 km or less from the restoration site) and has advertised the project and working bees on the BNH platform. We hope to spend the next quarter developing partnerships with 10 more local businesses. Currently we have 33 local stakeholders contributing value to the restoration. An up-to-date list is available on Teams under Resources Channel, RPRP folder. An up-to-date stakeholder contact list is also available in the same folder. Huge thanks to Kevin for his vision and willingness to connect local businesses with the opportunity to increase their sustainability.


- Dan Marrow has worked wonders again and connected Stormwater 360, a local stormwater and green infrastructure specialist with the restoration. Their organisation has committed to spend an afternoon this week clearing inorganic rubbish from the stream. Huge kudos for 360 Stormwater’s commitment to improving the very local environment as well as their innovative work nationally and internationally.


- Integrated Value Report Hui. Warwick Stent, Sarah Hoessler and Nicky Shave met with Clement Chia, ex COO, Samford Fisheries to discuss how Sanford prioritised focus areas to capture value and the process by which they produced their award-winning integrated report in 2021. Warwick helped formulate an approach to generate information from 10 Te Hōnonga a Iwi stakeholders regarding their views as to what metrics needed to be prioritised and captured in Te Hōnonga a Iwi’s first Integrated Value Report at the end of 2022. The information harvested in the hui will be collated, and Iwi will be consulted to ascertain if the Māori worldview has been adequately represented in the proposed metrics by which we will report our social, ecological and financial values. The metrics Te Hōnonga a Iwi are using to date are available to view on Teams under Finance Channel, word doc Te Hōnonga a Iwi metrics.


- Warwick Stent has kindly connected the Restoration in with Ralph Bathurst, Associate Professor School of Management, Massey University. We’ll enjoy learning what Ralph envisions with developing a meaningful partnership with management faculty and students, an especially important outcome given the Restoration is SME-led.


- Sarah Wakeford has connected the Restoration in with Phil Jones, SBN. We look forward to listening to his guidance with how to improve our model specifically in the field of reducing carbon outputs, measuring carbon emissions and other metrics that we could improve on to enhance our sustainability.


- NZ Machine Hire, a local company have gifted Te Hōnonga a Iwi the use of a conveyor belt to help us shift the 10T of organic mulch into the bioreactors in the upcoming working bee. We are thankful to have this equipment to help get the mulch into the reactors as quickly as possible to enable the cover crop to be sowed.


- Submission for the Sustainable Business Network annual awards – Collaboration completed


- We have just received notification that the Forest and Bird Jim Lewis Funding application for bioreactor material costs was unsuccessful on this occasion. We thank Forest and Bird for the opportunity to apply for funding support.


On the horizon


Development of Māori and Pasifika youth leaders

Ensure Partner Logos on website

SM graduate volunteers

School Term 3 and 4 timetable

Submission for the Mayoralty Environmental award

Mulch collect- serial working bees

Compost and seed spread

Planting

Bats and plant monitoring

Securing 10 more local business contributors

Development of volunteer base for working bees

Connecting with Rotary

Follow up LCA NZ lead to ask for support

Graphic of Restoration model linked with UN SDG’s

Development of an Integrated Value report

Indigenous research output opportunities

Albany Basin water quality testing coordination

BNH September magazine piece

BNH Business Sustainability piece

Donations capability on Te Hōnonga a Iwi website

Conversations with the School of Management, MU and SBN

Capturing the learning of the Integrated Value Report hui to consult with Iwi.


Stakeholder requests


  1. Please send your logos so we can thank you on the website

  2. Please prioritise coming and bringing a group of people to help get the mulch into the bioreactors as quickly as possible. We would love to see you along on Saturday, 30 July from 10am to 1 pm. Gumboots and warm wet weather gear, water and snacks a must.

  3. Please consider having a role in Bird count or water quality testing team

  4. Please like our Facebook and Instagram pages!


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