Last year when Aotearoa went into lockdown John Treanor could not have predicted that he would sit down and write an environmental plan…
He says he knew nothing about conservation. What he did know was that he wasn’t going to sit around and do nothing while in lockdown for 6 weeks.
Fast forward to today, having gathered the resources he needed to write the plan and get subsequent funding from the Jobs for Nature programme, the whenua/land belonging to Ngāti Hinerangi and Ngāti Hinekiri at Taheke near Okere in the Bay of Plenty has been transformed.
John says, “We were one of the first recipients of the fund and have been able to complete actions that were planned for three years down the track. It’s brought the community together and created confidence in the project that has had a knock-on effect with more plans evolving for the surrounding areas and people”.
The project is redeploying workers from local tourism business Kaitiaki Adventures, based in Rotorua, to remove noxious weeds including a blackberry infestation, construct a communal garden, eliminate predator species, build a boundary fence around the sites and plant 21,000 native plants.
Approximately 3000 plants (mainly mānuka) have been planted to re-establish the manuka plantation that was historically on the land.
Communal garden construction is underway with planter boxes installed
The soil to fill the boxes is coming soon with the vegetable gardens scheduled to be planted early August.
“We are bringing the land back to what it used to be before Europeans came. We have been blessed with this project, and we have COVID-19 to thank for it.” says John.
Jobs for Nature – Mahi mō te Taiao
The Jobs for Nature programme helps revitalise communities through nature-based employment and stimulate the economy post COVID-19.
