Ross Hawthorne hopes to complete his vision of establishing a native forest alongside Ashburton River thanks to a grant from the Ashburton Water Zone Committee.
Local biodiversity and pest management projects received a boost when the committee approved the $50,000 of funding to the six applicants last week.
Hawthorne received $11,343 for the Hakatere Rākau Group to clear weeds and plant natives alongside the Ashburton/Hakatere River.
For the last three years, the meatworker has been transforming a roughly 750m stretch of the river side between Chalmers Avenue and Trevors Road.
Hawthorne, now with a small group of volunteers helping out, has already planted 4,900 native seedlings to establish a flourishing native forest area.
With the funding he hopes to complete planting the area, aiming to plant a further 1690 natives in the next planting season.
Some of the money will be used for planting and the balance of the funds will be used for a local contractor to kill the ivy and weed trees, such as silver poplars and sycamores.
“We have cleared the last 100 metres from Chalmers Ave heading downstream, much of it was just a massive tangle of Old Man’s Beard and Asian Willow.
“We are putting a walking track through so walkers will be able to have their walk without fear of being hit by a speeding biker. Half of that has been completed.”
From starting by himself for the first year, he now has the support of seven volunteers along with help from Longbeach School, Ashburton College’s environmental committee, and Boys Brigade, while Anzco paid seven workers for a day’s planting.
Once the planting is completed it will be a matter of maintaining the area with ongoing weed control he said.
“I hope that the day will come and as the trees get bigger, that other native birds will make themselves at home here.”
Then there are the other 18km of Ashburton River Trail on the northern banks of the river, from State Highway 1 to coast, needing similar treatment, which Hawthorne hopes his group’s efforts inspire others to take on a section of the river and develop it.
“There is funding available but it is a commitment.”
Over the last three years, the project received previous funding from the Ashburton Water Zone Committee ($5,000) last year and Ashburton District Council ($2500), while spending at least $1,600 of his own money.
Weeding out pests
The Ashburton water zone is bordered by the Rakaia and Rangitata rivers. The committee’s role is to work with the community to develop actions to deliver on the Canterbury Water Management Strategy.
The other projects to receive funding from the zone committee were for planting and pest control across the district.
MHV Water Ltd and Cloud8 Dairy Ltd have a $249,855 project to retire and plant out a known wet area of around 5.5 hectares on the Cloud8 dairy farm at Coldstream.
The area will be fenced off and planted with perennial plants to act as a biological filter to remove nitrates.
The Zone Committee granted $11,216 towards the project, on the provision the money goes towards the planting aspect of the project – quoted at around $22,000 for stage one.
Ashburton Forks Catchment Group received $8,480 for pest and predator control.
There are 32 farms in the catchment, with 20 being members of the group.
Over the past nine months, the group has removed 1473 hares, 856 possums, and 27 feral cats, trialling five AT220 traps coupled with the shooting and other pest and predator management that is already happening in the area.
The funding will go towards purchasing additional AT220 traps.
Awa Awa Rata Reserve and Pudding Hill Reserve predator management received $5,589.
The project, led by Mike Prince, has trapped 250 predators in the last 12 months and aims to add more traps to expand and maintain the coverage.
The Hekeao Hinds Water Enhancement Trust (HHWET) had asked for $8000 for its native plant maintenance but only received $6000.
That’s because members of the committee had concerns about HHWET being a regional council rate-funded group that was applying for community grants for work that could be considered within the scope of is rate-funded activities.
The Ashburton District Biodiversity Advisory Group received $7,370 for the second phase of weed control at Pudding Hill Stream.
District councillor Richard Wilson didn’t fully support the application as he felt DOC or ECan should be doing the work.
By Jonathan Leask
