16 000 native trees have been release sprayed yesterday to stop the autumn grass growth around the trees. Over all, all the trees look very good with some good growth hapening after cyclone Pam’s rain events. Part of the trees are already above grass hight and won’t need releasing. The smallest trees will need caring in October 2015.
On the 24th of March 2015, the Whangawehi Leaders were invited to the International Iwi Fishing Conference in Auckland and asked to explain how Iwi can engage positively with agencies in resource management.
The Wai Maori Trust, whose role is to support and promote iwi management of waterways, is supportive of this collaborative approach and uses it as a template to showcase how collaboration between iwi/hapu and agencies can lead to positive outcomes.
Well done Kathleen and Rae for doing us proud.
Pat and Sue O’Brien were happy to receive the first native trees early this morning, that will be established this winter on their property.
Last year’s trees are doing well especially after the rain brought by cyclone Pam.
The temperature loggers, lent by HBRC for a combined water monitoring programme, have been removed from 6 different sites in the Whangawehi catchment. These loggers have been recording since December 2014. Once analysed, the data should allow the community to better understand temperature variations during the warmer months of the year. The data recorded is part of the bench mark monitoring undertaken to measure the impact of the restoration programme on the water. High temperatures are a limiting factor for the development of a wide range of micro and macro organisms.It will be intersting to review the data in 5 years time when the trees planted last year have grown and started shading the stream.
Thanks to the support of M. Fay, Shane Mildenhall and sponsors, the Whangawehi river is now completely fenced off on Pongaroa Station. In 2013, Pongaroa Station fenced off the true right side of the stream at their own cost. The WCMG funded this year the fence on the true left side and is glad to see this part of the project completed. The next step will be the establishment this winter of 30000 native plants.
Well done to you all.
The recent trap checks along the Whangawehi river was quite encouraging with 4 hedgehogs and one rat caught on Grandy Lake Forest and two hedgehogs caught on Pat and Sue O’Brien.
Traps are monitored every second week and rebaited with deshydrated rabbit meat. The data is logged into a custom made booklet and kills are entered by the landowners into a data base (cloud application : trap.org.nz). Monthly reports are presented to the Whangawehi Catchment Management Group Committee and Hawkes Bay Regional Council.
Our water monitoring team was out again last week for the March sampling and the Cultural indexing. Water quality is monitored every second month with samples sent to a lab for analysis. The streams are low at this time of the year with high water temperatures and algae growth. Suprisingly enough, the team observed large numbers of white baits obviously thriving in the big pools.
Whangawehi Catchment Management Group 