Environmental efforts recognised

Taranaki environmental champions ranging from primary school pupils to a large corporate were honoured at an awards ceremony in Stratford today.

Farmers, businesses and a district council also feature among winners of this year’s Taranaki Regional Council Environmental Awards.

“It’s great to be able to highlight some of the good environmental work going on in the community,” says the Council Chairman, David MacLeod.

“The fact that Taranaki enjoys a generally excellent environment is not an accident – it is the result of hard work in the community. The awards are an opportunity for us to express our appreciation and support.”

The Council has made nine awards for 2011, with four presented at today’s ceremony. Awards to three schools and two farming couples will be presented later in the year.

This year’s awards bring the total to 177 since they were inaugurated in 1993.

The Council’s annual awards recognise Taranaki projects or activities that contribute to or raise awareness of sustainable resource management, that are economically viable, and that are current or nearing completion.

The 2011 winners in the three award categories are:

Business/Local Authority

South Taranaki District Council
– for enhanced stream habitat at the Kapuni Water Supply Intake

As part of a $3 million project to install a new intake structure and associated pipelines to supply water to Hawera, the Vector Gas Treatment Plant and surrounding rural areas, the South Taranaki District Council included:

Construction of a side channel for the water intake, leaving the main channel clear for fish passage.
Removal of an old weir and other structures that impeded fish passage, and remediation of the river banks.
Purchase of adjoining land so that riparian planting and weed control could be undertaken.
The Council also ensured that there was minimal environmental impact during the construction phase of the project.

The Council’s Water Supply Manager, Peter Cook, welcomed the award, saying it vindicates the considerable environmental effort that went into the project, and the decision to buy the adjoining land and provide riparian protection. “There used to be quite a lot of stock getting to the river there.”

He says there was excellent collaboration between the Councils, Vector, consultants and contractors during the project. “Vector, who made a capital contribution to the project, is providing valuable ongoing assistance, and Taranaki Regional Council staff provided important advice and help with both design and installation during the project.

Winstone Aggregates Wiremu Road Quarry
– for sustainable management and sound environmental performance

Winstone Aggregates has adopted an ISO 14001 Environmental Management System at the Wiremu Road site.

The company works with the landowner to progressively rehabilitate extraction and overburden areas as they are completed. Refilled areas are returned to pasture and one extraction area will form a lake. There are plans for further riparian management and wetland restoration. The entrance to the site has been enhanced with native planting.

The ‘best practice’ operation and design of the site controls and mitigates any off-site effects of noise and dust. And a high standard of water quality is maintained through sediment and erosion control procedures.

The quarry is managed by Tony Dowd, with four staff – Sam Heemi, Gary Ratahi, Fred Ratahi and John James. They say the award is “awesome”, especially as the site is a small one. Winstone Aggregates General Manager Bernie Chote says the company is proud to be able supply its Taranaki customers in a sustainable manner, and to have this effort recognised.

Return 2 Earth
– for composting of organic waste

Return 2 Earth is based at the New Plymouth Colson Road landfill and each year processes large volumes of green waste, wood shavings and animal shed bedding into high-quality compost for a range of markets.

This operation provides a sustainable use for material that, in most cases, would otherwise have been landfilled. All of the green waste from the New Plymouth and Waitara transfer stations is processed by Return 2 earth.

Outdoor windrows are used with mechanical agitation to optimize the compost process, based on the temperature and moisture content of the windrows.

Use of the company’s products by farmers and gardeners benefits the environment as it is likely to be associated with reduced use of chemical fertilizers, reduced leaching of nutrients, improved soil structure and increased soil carbon sequestration.

Company founder Russell How says he and his wife Nerida are honoured to receive the award and hope it encourages others to put hard work and effort into sustainability. Describing himself as an entrepreneur, Mr How got the idea for Return 2 Earth at a sustainability field day at Ruakura in 2008. “I met Gerry Gillespie, of Zero Waste Australia, who talked about what had been achieved in Australia, and I could see an opportunity to make something happen here.”

Mr How says the Taranaki Regional Council, New Plymouth District Council and Envirowaste Ltd have provided valuable encouragement and assistance, and the company’s product is now used by farmers, local gardeners and the NPDC Parks Department.

Agricultural

Neil and Jackie Whitehead
– for biodiversity and native bush enhancement

The Whiteheads, whose 128 ha Tikorangi dairy farm’s bush blocks are recognised by the Taranaki Regional Council as a Key Native Ecosystem, plunged into an intensive environmental programme after two kiwi were sighted on the property in 2008.

The Whiteheads and their helpers have:

Laid more than 100 traps and bait stations, most of them sponsored by community groups, businesses and friends and family, and eliminated more than 1330 predators.
Targeted pest plants and undertaken riparian and bush-enhancement planting.
Formed tracks through two of the three larger bush blocks, including bridges and hundreds of steps.
Started installing discreet interpretative signage at significant points in the bush.
Extended the area under QEII covenant (the first covenants were made in 2005).
Established a website (www.kererukeep.org.nz) to keep supporters up-to-date.
“It’s such a great release from farming’s day-to-day stresses and pressures, to be able to go up to one of the bush blocks to do some different sort of work, or to just soak up the atmosphere,” says Mrs Whitehead. “That’s a reward in itself. And you can see the native trees are now flowering and fruiting much more heavily, and the birds are fantastic.”

Robert and Verna Bourke
– for riparian management and sustainable farming

Robert and Verna Bourke have enjoyed a multitude of rewards from planting out their 75 ha Patea dairy farm, which has been in their family for more than 100 years. Starting off in the 1990s by planting pines in a rough gully at the back of the farm, they then turned their attention to the farm’s other riparian strips, which are now fully fenced and planted.

They have also planted poplars for shelter, and native trees. In total, more than 15 ha of farmland has been retired for planting.

Robert says it’s been a lot of work over the years, but worth it, and he and Verna are proud to receive the award. It’s been a family effort, with their children Vickilee, Andrew, Conna and Bruno and their future daughter-in-law Terri helping with the planting.

Robert says in the early days they drew a lot of inspiration from farm forestry field days, where they saw what others property owners were planting. “Fencing off the gullies keeps animals out and makes life easier. While the pines will bring us revenue, we’re also really enjoying the attractiveness of the riparian planting, and the birdlife it’s bringing.”

John and Elaine Sanderson
– for riparian management and sustainable farming

John and Elaine Sanderson have fenced the entire 7.5 kilometres of streambank on their 200-hectare dairy farm near Manaia and planted 10,000 native plants to protect the Kaupokonui and Otakeho Rivers and other waterways within the property. They began the work before joining the Taranaki Regional Council’s riparian management programme in 2001.

More recently, they have become part-owners of two hillcountry blocks at Huiroa, where they are working to implement farm plans with support from the Taranaki Regional Council

They have already planted more than 150 hectares of forestry on erosion-prone areas for timber harvest and/or carbon credit. A further 20 hectares of forestry will be planted this year, with further planting planned for subsequent years. They have placed a QEII covenant on a 3.2 hectare wetland and 62 hectares of surrounding bush and scrub.

Mrs Sanderson says the couple believed from the start that riparian margins should be protected, and the planting has also provided shelter for stock, which is important near the coast. “It’s been a lot of work but once you get started, it snowballs.”

She says the couple’s more recent hillcountry projects have deepened their appreciation of the need to take a sustainable approach to hillcountry farming.

Individual/School/Community Group

Welbourn Primary School
– for environmental education and action

Environmental initiatives at Welbourn School since 2009 have included:

Becoming a partner with Forest and Bird in a project to plant and enhance the Te Henui Walkway. Pupils are involved in planning as well as physical work, and also monitor water quality in the Te Henui Stream.
Establishing a waste minimisation programme and running contests and other promotions to support it.
Establishing a gardening club.
Promoting walking school buses, “walk to school Wednesdays” and other alternatives to the use of cars to get to and from school
Oakura Primary School
– for environmental education and action

Oakura Primary School’s environmental activities include:

An Oakura Beach clean-up, held annually since 1972 and involving the whole school.
Growing native plants for planting within the school and reserve areas in the Oakura area. The school also assists New Plymouth District Council and Trees for Survival in coastal and reserve plantings several times a year.
Involving senior students in making penguin boxes for the little blue penguins that live along the local beach.
Running a well-established and sustainable waste minimisation programme.
Using local natural resources – rock pools and the river – in regular study cycles.
Hawera Intermediate School
– for environmental education and action

Pupils from Hawera Intermediate have taken part in planting at Nowells Lakes near Hawera and in 2010 ran a swan plant propagation programme to grow thousands of seedlings for the Nowells Lakes Walkway. In conjunction with this programme, herb patches, mini worm farms and vegetable gardens have been developed, with produce sold to raise funds for the school.

An “enviro garden group” has proved popular at the school, with more than 80 pupils applying to join this year.

The school also has a well-established waste minimisation and recycling programme.

The school’s Education Outside the Classroom programme includes a study of the Kaupokonui River.