As we welcome more people and organisations to Te Hōnonga a Iwi, we have been afforded the opportunity to scale beyond the original 10,000 m2 regeneration and set our sights on supporting animal and plant pest management, native planting and promoting community and environmental health across the Albany Basin. The water catchment is being negatively impacted by pest plants coming from the top of Unsworth Heights downstream and out to the moana at Lucas Creek. A strong focus for 2026 will be upstream, in Exeter Reserve, where we can best support promoting the wellbeing of Alexander Awa.
Moving to landscape scale change is purposeful. The rohe-wide approach will amplify the impacts our stakeholders achieve. Sustainable models have great capacity to scale at pace and we look forward to mobilising the sectors of our community who already invest at Te Hōnonga a Iwi to extend our mahi as we run out of restoration space within the first 10 000 m2 within the park.
Working collaboratively with all of Albany’s socio-ecological restoration groups, we aim to create a halo of positive climate action within the Oteha water catchment and Albany Basin. For this to be possible, with support from UWEN, we are applying for funding for a full-time coordinator to provide operational support to the three incumbent restoration groups, A Rocha, The Landing and Te Hōnonga a Iwi, to coordinate work across the basin. Having full time professional help will create time for the current Te Hōnonga a Iwi volunteer coordinator to focus on youth mentorship, scaling business investment into nature using sustainable development strategies and developing models that will connect ecological corridors using local business investments and social activation.
As we increase our local sustainability and the size of our impacts, we are thinking about how we can encourage our people to use sustainable transport strategies including planning to walk or bike to the restoration or use shared transport, arriving using buses or carpooling. Westminster and Kristin Schools together with local organisations who invest in restoring Rosedale Park lead the way with walking to working bees. Encouraging prioritising using electric vehicles whenever possible will be a priority.
There’s a lot we can do to improve value chains for our local communities and ecosystems. The following actions have been undertaken across July 2024:
- The Kaipatiki Project Travel Lightly team, Andrew Shaw and Robyn Forryan met with us and inspired us to strengthen our sustainable transport journey, offering clarity about the next steps with using bikes. Auckland Council Upper Harbour Local Board Chair, Anna Atkinson and strategy specialist Monica Sharma met with us to consider how we can develop a walking and biking hikoi for health in the park, using the National Hockey Centre grounds to extend opportunities to develop wellbeing and fitness and enjoy being connected to nature with the good lighting and concrete paths that hockey could offer our community by developing an all-weather and well-lit extension to a six-kilometre hikoi loop overlooking Te Hōnonga a Iwi, Rosedale Park, Alexander Stream and Unsworth Heights Reserve.
- 2000 natives from Paremoremo Prison nursery have been gifted to Te Hononga a Iwi to enable us to plant a total of 2900 this year!
- Fulton Hogan has begun to clear the 2024 apex, an extraordinary commitment by local business to improve the park, clearing weed infested land and planting cover crops and natives. Clearing this part of the restoration is not possible by hand. It’s a steep entry to the grounds and can only be achieved by skilled personnel. Fulton Hogan has committed to ensure this 1000m2 is cleared of pest plants, the waste biomass will be mulched and placed into the reactors, and the area will enjoy having over 1000 natives planted with cover crops! Huge kudos to Fulton Hogan for their exemplary leadership on this piece. Thank you!
- This year’s cover crop was once again generously funded by Davenports Law. Davenports ongoing commitment to the cover crops at the restoration has enabled us to sequester more carbon, change the soil health, reduce erosion, offer insects a purpose-built nursery and birds a feast! It’s exciting to see the crops been sown and competing with the resident plant pests.
- The amplification of business investment into the restoration and the integrated value businesses offer Te Hōnonga a Iwi is noteworthy, generating over $400k value to date. New business partners Strategi and Defend used their muscle and achieved clearing a 150m2 vine-and pest tree and plant infested area that hadn’t seen the light of day for 70 years, readying it to plant. We want to share that the vistas as we broke through the vines are special indeed! Please do come and have a look one day!
- The team at Forbes Packaging did the hard yards and released 3000m2 (3000 natives) from being choked by kikuyu in both the 2023 and control sections of the restoration.
- Global Signage Concepts, our newest investors, responded to a request for support from Te Hōnonga a Iwi student leader Liam, from Rangitoto College, one of our amazing youth leaders who focuses on business activation. Global Signage Concepts are kindly printing collateral that we can use at events, conferences, education sessions, and expos as well as being able to use them for on-site signage.
- Sam Weston, Graphic Designer, is creating the content for banners, posters, and teardrop flags so we can sell the sizzle and support our funders, sponsors, volunteers and the national business community to know about what we do and the difference we make.
- Ventia is kindly scoping cutting down 300 Casuarina (She oaks) that are wilding across the park. Again, Ventia and Partners Landsol continue to invest in creating solutions that are manageable for them to measurably improve the park’s value. Thank you Ventia! You are legends!
- The Casuarina that are less than a two meters high have been methodically removed by Student Leader Plant Growth and Survival and Working Bees, Ceinwen, Rangitoto College, and Selma after work on many days to leverage control over the wilding.
- Rangitoto College youth continue to work hard in their own time to clear land, collect biomass and fill the first reactor with a tonne of weeds to compost over the next year. Interestingly, a new student volunteer informed us that because Liam, Youth Leader, Rangitoto, was kind, approachable, hardworking and generous with his support, he would come often. This is great testament to the calibre of Rangitoto students and the culture of inclusion they bring to the restoration. A positive culture is something that Te Hōnonga a Iwi strives for and we do not need to look far for inspiration that is inherent within our youth leadership team.
- New School, AGE, has spent hours deconstructing the reactors, carting them to the new site and reconstructing them for Rangitoto to fill in the working bees. We have capacity now to harvest 12 tonnes of biomass waste and convert it to compost for the 2025 planting season! Bravo!
- Another new school is Wilson School. Gosh, the students who came to share ideas, and work on site are some of the most inspiring students we have partnered with. Their unique insights and infectious energy elevated us all and inspired us to do better. Thank you all for coming and being an important part of the project.
- The Kristin School Prefects returned for their sixth working bee this year! The students come pumped and ready to do anything that will help. We have found that their positive attitude enables us to achieve a huge amount of work, often taxing work like digging stairs to help access, and it’s a joy to work alongside these fine people.
- Te Hōnonga a Iwi was represented by two volunteers at the SBN webinar on connecting business with regenerating nature. Hilton Brown Swimming (HBS) presented their experience as a Te Hononga a Iwi investor outlining how becoming a partner in Te Hōnonga a Iwi resonated with their core business of supporting children to be safe and well swimming. HBS invests time and energy into conserving water as part of their operations. Improving the water quality of the Alexander Stream was an important aim for HBS and that interest guided their decision to become a founding partner. Without Hilton Brown Swimming, we would have not been able to access the restoration site. By giving us access to the restoration, allowing us to store bioreactors on their land to reduce need for resource consent and allowing us to build a temporary platform on their land to house the six IBCs that contain water for the microbes in the reactors has been instrumental to the success of the pilot project. HBS staff also value the land improvements and committed to developing native bush. Their customers often stop to look at what’s happening in the restoration from the carpark. Being a valued part of the restoration is positive for HBS. They have been patient when working through our requests for help. Their communication is always generous and positive. Their can-do attitude and willingness to share their space as a form of value to the restoration has been and remains a crucial outcome for Te Hōnonga a Iwi. Huge thanks Hilton Brown Swimming. You’re amazing!
- Expert journalist Sheryl Blythen, Be Media, volunteers 10 hours a week for the restoration, producing content for the website that inform readers, captures our value chain and educates our community each month since inception. We are looking for a graduate journalist and a student writer to join the communications team and work alongside Sheryl. Please connect with Nicky on hello@restoringrosedalepark.org.nz if you are interested in this valuable role (3-4 hours per month).
- Another member of our communications team, Ashley Han, is supporting new members, the Chinese Gardening Group, to clear land and plant at Te Hōnonga a Iwi. Ashley supports Chinese members to be a valued part of the team, translating for them and helping with emails. Ashley was able to leverage support from new investor, EFPOS, to deliver 10 pallets for the reactor. Thanks a million Ashley!
- New Youth Leaders, Mariko, Kristin, Business Activation, Victoria, Rangitoto College, Plant Pest Management have begun to work for the project now. Welcome to you both and thank you for being a part of the youth leadership team.
- Auckland Council Park Ranger Theo Jaycox regularly connects with us. He is sorting removal of a dumped boat trailer and buried corrugated iron sheets that we have uncovered in the 2024 land clearance. His expertise and support has a strong positive impact for Te Hōnonga a Iwi and its people.
- Te Hōnonga continues to attend regional ecology, pest animal and plant meetings to learn from peers.
- Matt Cummings, Untangled Landscapes, has finished welding the chicken coup frame this month. We have the chicken carer team set to go once the coup and water is installed. True to form, Matt has built a masterpiece that will withstand the test of time, is transportable and able to be positioned on the flat or a steep slope. Huge thanks for your design and build Matt!
- Te Hōnonga a Iwi has secured a garden shed from the local waste stream that will be stored on Hilton Brown Swimming land, enabling us to store our equipment for the first time in 2.5 years on site.
- Cadey Korson, academic at Massey University, has begun the documentary prep on the restoration’s social value chain! It will be exciting to understand how we can improve from a social science lens.
- The newsletter partners contact list is up to date in July.
- Youth leader Strategy, Elouise, is finishing analysing the youth survey. Results will be shared in the August Newsletter.
- Louis Foot, UWEN Pest management coordinator, secured 14 traps to replace the ones that were stolen from our trapline two months ago. The Animal Pest Management youth leaders have installed the new traps with Louis’s guidance and expertise. Huge thanks for sourcing funding for replacing our traps, Louis. The new set will be more firmly anchored and have an explanation of what the team is achieving alongside the Te Hōnonga a Iwi logo in the hope that they will remain in situ for a long time now.
- We do need pipes to pump water across the restoration to the bioreactors and plumbing expertise. If you can help please let us know!
- SToMP moth plant expert Tony Cunningham has been active removing moth plants that are propagating in the park. Huge thanks for your wisdom and ongoing support with working bees, educating us and removing plant pests with us.
Thank you all for another great winter month of positive climate action!
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