One year of catchment work marked

Waiora Manuherekia, a group dedicated to the restoration and enhancement of the Manuherekia River, celebrated one year of action, collaboration and environmental action in a tree planting ceremony in Lauder on Tuesday.

The ceremony was attended by Associate Minister for the Environment Andrew Hoggard, Central Otago District Mayor Tamah Alley and representatives of the Otago Regional Council and the Waiora Manuherekia Project.

Mr Hoggard said it was really great to see the work that was happening in the area.

"You know, keep up the good work. It’s great to see these catchment care groups really doing fantastic work across the country."

This was the minister’s first visit to the Manuherikia catchment, after visiting the Thomsons catchment earlier in the year.

The government was working to create a more sensible funding arrangement for catchment groups, so the "higgledy-piggledy" process could be more streamlined.

Mr Hoggard said he hoped the streamlined process would mean catchment groups spent more time on their projects and less time on form-filling.

Another speaker at the event was Manuherekia Catchment Group co-chair Anna Gillespie, who said she was proud of what the community had achieved.

"This project has been a pretty fantastic project to be part of, to be fair. I’m pretty proud of how the community has come together and what we’ve achieved."

It was satisfying standing on the banks of the Lauder Creek, just over the rail trail, six years after the conversation about the catchment began, Mrs Gillespie said.

"We’ve got to the fun, the really fun bit."

The project had brought together many different groups, who had helped build a sense of community working together.

"It is truly amazing what can happen when people put their differences aside and work towards a common goal."

After a massive amount of community and stakeholder engagement, it was time to start getting to work.

"This is where we get to do the fun stuff, the real action — a whole lot of willow removal, native plantings and farm-scale wetland restorations, building trails, it’s the cool stuff."

Mrs Gillespie hoped in years to come, where a cyclist had once stood under a willow tree for shade, there would stand a kowhai, with a tui singing, and the Manuherekia River would have become a thriving sanctuary.

After speeches, Mr Hoggard dug a hole and planted a native tree with the help of Mrs Gillespie, as guests looked on.