KMR and Fonterra support 149 Northland and Auckland farms
Kaipara Moana Remediation (KMR) covers half the cost of fencing and planting under the collaboration. Fonterra has helped farmers submit almost 250 applications, supporting 149 individual farms in the Northland and Auckland catchments of the Kaipara Moana.
KMR is a ten-year collaboration focused on protecting and restoring the mauri of the Kaipara Moana. Its projects include wetland restoration, fencing along rivers and streams, and tree planting or forest regeneration on land vulnerable to erosion. The organisation’s long-term target is to reduce sediment entering local waterways and the Kaipara Moana by half.
Fonterra’s support has so far covered about 248 KMR funding applications. The work has placed roughly 202,000 plants in the ground and installed more than 350 kilometres of fencing around waterways and wetlands. Helen Moodie, Fonterra’s sustainable-dairy specialist for Northland, said the co-operative had long treated environmental stewardship as important and that the partnership could extend protection to smaller streams and additional parts of farms.
At Titoki, John and Jenny Waterhouse added 5,750 native plants within fenced areas covering 1.2 hectares. The areas include 1.4 kilometres of waterways, wetlands and drains on their 211-hectare dairy farm. The couple began planting in 2000 and have now protected about 30 hectares with 18.5 kilometres of fencing. They have identified six further blocks for protection, with support from their sharemilker, Johan Guitry.
The Waterhouses’ property lies on a peninsula between the Wairua and Mangakāhia rivers. The rivers meet at the end of the farm before forming the Wairoa River, which flows into the Kaipara. The couple said their family, including their grandchildren, had taken part in planting activities and that the trees had become a visible part of the farm’s history.
At Donnellys Crossing, Greg and Claire Collins have used the programme on their 80-hectare property. They have fenced 1.8 kilometres to protect 1.16 hectares of less productive land, where 4,450 native plants have been established. Separate work over the years has added three kilometres of fencing around 17 hectares, including existing native bush. The couple also monitor water quality on the Mangatū River and in an inland gully. They said retiring less productive pasture had left them farming the most productive areas, while their profitability had risen each year. They described the work as both land stewardship and a way to manage livestock and farm operations.
