Strategy group update: Bush and business future focus

Te Hōnonga a Iwi Chair Sheryl Blythen reports back from the latest meeting of the Strategy Committee

Following the Te Hōnonga a Iwi’s Strategy Committee meeting at the end of September, there are a couple of key decisions to share with our stakeholders, volunteer group and the wider community.

The committee made a strategic call that the organisation will have a dual focus going forward on ecological improvements within Rosedale Park and the surrounding catchment and working with the local business community to increase investment in sustainability measures.

The ngāhere (native bush) restoration work will be guided by our new intergenerational restoration plan that has been crafted by the immensely gifted and wise ecologist Charmaine Baillie and her talented nephew Ariki Wyatt, from Uru Whakaaro.

To encourage the local business community to contribute to the mahi we are doing and begin or advance their own sustainability journeys, we will look at ways to educate organisations about the opportunities to travel lightly, bring their organic waste to Te Hōnonga a Iwi for vermicomposting and to increase soil health, canopy cover and food security in the region by greening their sites.

Another area of focus is improving the ecological knowledge within our volunteer pool. Led by committee member and Activator and Working Bee Co-ordinator Elouise Shuker, we will develop a volunteer strategy to address this ahead of the next planting season.

For further information or feedback on these decisions, please contact us at hello@restoringrosedalepark.org.nz