2025 Environment Networking Forum a great success

The latest environmental news, funding sources and a chance to share progress on projects drew more than 70 people to the Waimakariri Biodiversity Trust forum held on March 19th.

We had an absolutely excellent turnout to hear our speakers with community and catchment groups, consultants, farmers, irrigation and forestry companies all attending.

Speakers covered the council’s newly adopted Waimakariri Natural Environment Strategy, protections for special and revegetated areas and outlined the early stages of the blue-green network proposed for Canterbury.

The trust also gave everyone a copy of its new funding guide which lists all the sources available for environmental projects locally, regionally and across New Zealand. You can download a copy of our funding guide here.

Speakers from the trust outlined what funders are looking for in a good funding application.

This is the first time a guide collating all the information people need to help fund

identification, protection, planting, maintenance, pest control and enhancement of native vegetation has been available to Waimakariri residents.

The forum, held at Rangiora’s Mainpower Stadium, was a first for the trust and it’s an event we’d like to repeat. The Waimakariri Biodiversity Trust helps anyone in the community who wants to make a positive difference for native biodiversity, that includes landowners of small blocks or large farms, town dwellers who want to encourage native wildlife into their garden or business owners with landscaped areas around their properties. We can provide advice, support, education and guidance and this forum is just part of that work.

We aimed to provide practical and useful information plus an opportunity for groups, organisations and key individuals to meet each other and share what they were doing in protecting and restoring Waimakariri’s natural environment.

We invited over 50 different groups from around the district including companies providing services and advice.

The trust also carried out a project stocktake at the forum asking those attending to map the projects they were involved with and list the challenges they were facing and opportunities they saw.

We are hoping our analysis shows the connections and collaborations that may be possible to make maintenance, pest and weed control easier.

It’s through working together and forging connections we can achieve more.

The state of Waimakariri’s natural environment is dire. Apart from the foothills there is less than one per cent of native vegetation cover still standing.

The trust wants to see that sad statistic turned around and the trust’s vision of healthy, thriving, connected and expanded ecosystems achieved.