Kia ora, Friends of the Wairoa River Catchment!
In this newsletter:
- Welcome to all of our new faces!
- Ballance Farm Environment Awards
- Recent Bait and Trap day successes
- Are you the 1 in 4?
- Upcoming events
Welcome to all the new faces reading this newsletter for the first time!
We have a large number of new subscribers and members who have recently attended events. A huge welcome! These days, our newsletter reaches almost a thousand inboxes. Our reach is wide, and we are so grateful for your support. Alongside that of Auckland Council, Franklin Local Board, Te Ara Hīkoi and a number of other entities, we are working hard together in the Wairoa River Catchment to restore the health of the Wairoa River. A healthier river means healthier, more balanced ecosystems both on land, in the river and streams, and out at sea. What we do on the land ultimately has much further reaching effects than we possibly realise.
You’re part of a fantastic team of residents in the catchment, and we’re grateful to you for joining us on this journey.
Ballance Farm Environment Awards
In March, Friends of Te Wairoa attended the Auckland Ballance Farm Environment Awards, alongside a number of outstanding farms from the Franklin Region, and our friends and previous Supreme Award winners from Paparimu, Waytemore Farms.
We were humbled by the acknowledgment, and the opportunity to be profiled as the Catchment Group Showcase. The Wairoa River is a huge asset to Auckland, as the city’s second largest river, providing 2/3rds of the drinking water for the residents. It’s an asset worth protecting, and enhancing.
In receiving this recognition, for the work achieved to date and our ambitions for future projects, we also recognise the invaluable support of Auckland Council advisors over the past six years, as well as the significant role of the Natural Environment Targeted Rate in helping achieve these goals.
We also wish to congratulate the high proportion of entrants from the Franklin region that received awards, including the 2025 Supreme Winners from Karaka’s Healthy and Fresh hydroponic farm.
Here’s to many more successes and continued environmental progress with the community!
Bait and Trap days
Did you come to either of our recent events in Hūnua or Clevedon? If you did, you’re part of our fantastic achievements! Both of these events led to higher engagement than usual, with 30 properties assisted in Clevedon. Hūnua rose to the challenge put forth – to beat Clevedon’s turnout – and on a breezy Friday afternoon we met with 35 properties… Ararimu – you’re up next! Can you beat Hūnua’s 35 properties?
Bait and Trap days are significant events in our annual calendar, where we give out free advice and predator control materials to help you get started. A koha is appreciated to help pay it forward and extend our help to the next property that needs a hand, but not critical if things are tight. Recently we’ve added herbicides to our offerings to help you tackle pest plants, which has been going down a treat! We’re excited to see less woolly nightshade, privet, and other pest plants in the area as a result. Thank you for doing your bit.
Donations can be made to:
Te Ara Hīkoi Trust
12-3023-0111364-00
For donations over $5, email accounts@tearahikoi.nz for a tax invoice.
Are you the 1 in 4?
SUCCESS! We have reached 25% of the residents in the Wairoa River Catchment! This means that 1 in every 4 properties is doing some form of pest animal or plant control. What an incredible milestone after just 6 years!
Are you one of the 1 in 4? Are your neighbours and friends part of the 1 in 4? If not, we encourage you to get involved in this team effort and let us know you’re active on your property. Don’t be the odd one out in the community!
- What are you catching?
- What pest plants are you battling?
Email us at pestcontrol@tewairoa.org.nz with your questions and reports. Catch reports are now due for the 2024/2025 reporting year, and we’d love to be able to add to our catchment-wide totals.
If your neighbours and friends haven’t made it down to see us yet, let them know about our next event in Ararimu, or steer them to www.predatorfreefranklin.nz in order to see where else they may be able to receive help. You can attend any of these events for support, so long as you are living in the Franklin area.
Upcoming Pest Education event and AGM
Saturday 17 May: Ararimu Bait and Trap event, Ararimu Hall, 10am – 12pm
Drop in to see us for predator control advice tailored to your property, and take away some gear to help you get started, or continue your good work. We’d love to see as many of you as possible!
Tuesday 5 August: Save the date! Friends of Te Wairoa AGM, Hūnua Hall, evening (time TBC)
Join us to celebrate our wins from the past year, and ask any questions you may have. We will have a very exciting guest speaker and topic, which we will confirm closer to the date. As usual, we will provide drinks and some light finger food for attendees.
Happy trapping and planting (we’re heading into the wetter months, so it’s time to prepare planting sites!),
Lenny van Heugten
Communications and Predator Control Co-ordinator
Friends of Te Wairoa
info@tewairoa.org.nz