The Hakataramea Sustainability Collective, in conjunction with Waitaki Valley School, received $17,500 from Environment Canterbury’s Lower Waitaki Water Zone Committee for the three-year project to be led by year 7-8 pupils.
Collective community hub co-ordinator Laura Johnston said there was a strong desire from the community to protect and improve the surrounding environment and biodiversity.
"We ran two community workshops to better understand how we can encourage and enhance local biodiversity. These were very well attended and provided some great insights and an appreciation for what is right under our noses but often overlooked."
The funding is for pupils to plan and create a community nursery at the school, which will teach them how to collect and propagate Waitaki Valley native plant species.
"The students never fail to impress me with their practical approach and enthusiasm to participate, build, and learn," Ms Johnston said.
"The project is taking shape, with plants already being cared for at the nursery. There is plenty of room for the nursery to grow in the coming years.
"We have some special side projects, too. A recent visit to a QEII National Trust covenant inspired a student project to help grow at-risk plants that are endemic to the area and aren’t growing in the wild anywhere else in Aotearoa."
The project would not be possible without funding from the Lower Waitaki Water Zone Committee, as well as the Ministry for Primary Industries, and generous support and encouragement from the community, she said.
"We are a community based on the banks of a river. It’s important to us all that our children and the generations to come are still able to swim and fish in it as we do today."
Lower Waitaki zone committee chairman Michael McMillian said the project presented an important opportunity for students to reconnect with the land and to learn the whakapapa.
This would help the younger generation to understand where they fitted within the natural environment and to develop a sense of kaitiakitanga while learning more about the processes and practices of caring for their backyard.
"We have a huge amount of whakapapa and history in this area. Being able to share those stories in a practical way is important.
"Many local people do not know the history of the valley. It is vital to connect with mana whenua to hear the stories of kai gathering and what the plants are used for.
"I believe this project has so much potential to help heal the land which has been hugely modified from what it was in the past," Mr McMillian said.
"Getting students involved in making decisions about which plants to choose and why, and then growing locally sourced seedlings, will help create a generation who have the knowledge and energy to restore the environment to when it was a thriving and abundant place for everyone."
His overall vision for the Waitaki Valley was to create a connected corridor of biodiversity that would bring back the indigenous flora and fauna. However, he believed that planting needed to be coupled with knowledge and a willingness to learn.
"Spending time understanding local biodiversity before getting into the planting is important and the idea of harvesting native plants from the valley will give this project a better chance of success.
"If you learn the stories and history of an area from the people who were there before you, and take the learnings of mana whenua on board, then a new connection and sense of belonging can be passed on to future generations."
Each Canterbury water zone committee was given $50,000 to support projects. As well as the biodiversity funding, Lower Waitaki has allocated $12,000 to Waihao Wainono Catchment Community Group co-ordination; $11,886 to Te Puna a Maru (Bortons Pond) ecological restoration; $6000 to Know Your Catchment; and $2562 to Waimate urban stormwater education.
