current projects – DBETrust

The Socio-Ecological Learning Environment Project

The Socio-Ecological Learning Environment Project comprises an emerging education centre based on a regenerating farm. It is located on the banks of the Whanganui River. It is focused on teaching land-based regenerative practice skills mixed with social skills that support personal wellbeing through the development of a market garden located on a regenerative agriculture farm. Everyone involved in the enterprise is a trained permaculture practitioner. One is the chair of Permaculture New Zealand.

The project intends to use permaculture and regenerative agriculture techniques in all aspects of its growing including crop rotation, conservation, un-tillage, cover crops, mulching and composting, beginning with soil restoration to strengthen the entire ecosystem.

The market garden will be used as a model of sustainable business, and will offer instruction for schools as well as running workshops on permaculture and regenerative agriculture practices.

Makahuri

In August 2019 Trustees and supporters joined the owner of Makahuri to plant 200 trees in the rain. This makes a total of nearly 500 new trees planted over the past year. Weed and pest eradication is continuing in accordance with the project's restoration plan funded by the Trust.

In August 2020 the Trustees and supporters visited Makahuri to inspect the 200 trees planted a year before. They are growing well and will provide a barrier to the new SH1 under construction below the site.

Makahuri bush remnant restoration project

The Makahuri remnant is 2 hectares of original coastal podocarp forest between Waikanae and Te Horo on the Kapiti Coast. The property recently changed hands and the new owners are keen to restore this important forest fragment. After first asking the DBE Trust for advice they then applied for funding to pay for a restoration plan. The Trust approved their application and the owners engaged a local ecological restoration specialist who completed the plan in March 2019. Work is already underway on some of the plan’s recommendations.

The remnant was once part of an extensive coastal plains forest. A mid-1880s survey map shows it as a finger extending from a large stand of forest which extended back towards the Tararua range. The site includes two small wetlands. A large wetland, owned by the NZTA, abuts the remnant and is to be restored to native swamp forest as part of mitigation works for the Pekapeka – Otaki Expressway.

Initial effort will focus on getting the weeds on the forest edges and in canopy gaps under control. Once that has been achieved the owners hope to extend the forest edge outwards with re-vegetation planting. They are also committed to controlling animal pests to boost the prospects for native wildlife. Central to the Trust’s approval of the application was the owners’ intention to involve local volunteers, including children from local schools, in implementing the project.

Common Property Farm Native Forest Restoration Project:

Te Horo, Kapiti Coast

This project aims to provide a refuge site and habitat for native birds and wildlife, and indigenous plant species linking to other refuge sites in the area to present an additional stepping-stone for birds traveling from Kapiti Island to the Tararua Range.

The project also aims to provide a local restoration demonstration site for the community (especially Te Horo School) and provide a site for community education on native forest ecology, restoration practices, and local history.

The planting project will grow into a closed-canopy forest that will become its own seed source as well as a seed source for other sites in the area and become self-sustaining through the action of an on-going pest control program.

The completed project will include access paths and information plaques showing plant identification, significant project dates and historical information.

Manuka Trees for Rivers project

The aim of this model project is to enhance understanding of how Manuka can be used to aid restoration of marginal lands and protect waterways primarily from sedimentation. The DB Environmental Trust has provided funding to support the extension of this group’s planting programme in riparian zones and erosion-prone areas with eco-sourced Manuka trees. The project is engaged in sharing expertise and knowledge with a wide range of participants including Massey University students, Ngati Kahungunu, local farmers, schools and environmental NGOs

Some of the DB Environmental Trust members spent a day planting Manuka on a flood-prone paddock in the Wairarapa. The Manuka will help hold the land thus reducing the amount of silt going into the river while also providing a food source for the local bee industry and a field of eco-sourced seeds for local farmers to use for the same purpose.

Water Action Initiative (WAI)

River Watch has developed a cost-effective and robust water sensor to test freshwater quality. The senor is WI-Fi enabled for extracting data on pH levels, turbidity, dissolved oxygen and temperature and sending this information to an application on a mobile phone or computer. Planned developments are to further refine the sensor to measure nitrates and E. coli pathogens and to expand the use of the app across the country to create a pool of knowledge that will help land users, students and citizen scientists to protect and enhance water quality. The project is currently testing and evaluating the equipment with Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils, Mauaupoko Tribal Authority and several environmental groups.

The DB Environment Trust has provided funding to extend the reach of the phone app to enable students, researchers and landowners to use it as part of their daily environmental practice in conjunction with the River Watch water sensor.

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Stream Restoration Project: Te Kura-iwi a Whatupuranga Rua Mano, Otaki

The kura has a fresh water spring creek on its boundary which it wished to restore to good health as an environmental education project for the students and to create a habitat for the propagation of eels. The DB Environmental Trust provided a grant of $1,500 in 2015/16 to assist with this work.

To date the gorse, poplars and blackberry on the banks have been cleared, animals have been fenced out of the stream and a riparian planting plan has been prepared by a local expert.

DB Environment Trustees and supporters have volunteered to help the students and their whanau with the planting of the riparian areas during the coming season.