In September the UCWG was awarded a $385,000 grant from the Ministry for the Environment Freshwater Improvement Fund to develop a district-wide plan for managing the future long-term health of the Upper Clutha waterways but it had to be matched dollar for dollar with private funding.
Te Kakano Aotearoa Trust community liaison and development officer Megan Williams said the the group had a ``soft launch'' of the ``Love Lake Wanaka'' project on the millionmetres.org.nz crowdfunding website just before Christmas.
``We would like to raise $50,000 per annum for the project, and that will be crowdfunded nationwide, so it is not really a burden on the people of Upper Clutha, and we also hope that international tourists visiting this region will want to contribute to the health of our waterways.''
Ms Williams said eight to nine years ago Te Kakano planted trees on the banks of Wanaka's Waterfall Creek and it aided in bank stabilisation and provided a habitat for native birds, lizards and invertebrates.
``This is the kind of work we want to continue under the fresh-water improvement project where over the next five years we hope to plant 24,000 plants around the Upper Clutha, around waterways, riparian planting and wetland restoration.''
Te Kakano prepared the funding bid and was actively involved in the project together with a wide variety of community groups and agencies associated with Lake Wanaka, she said.
Other collaborative partners included the Otago Regional Council, Queenstown Lakes District Council and Catchments Otago.
Ms Williams said if every resident and visitor gave five or ten dollars a year the project would have enough funding.
