TAIEA TE TAIAO, ECOLOGICAL CORRIDOR

NZ Landcare Trust is excited to be involved in the funded five-year Maungatautari to Pirongia Ecological Corridor Project (June 2021 to June 2026). The aim of this project is to link two of the region’s most spectacular maunga, Maungatautari and Pirongia via an ecological corridor between the waterways which flow from the two maunga – the Mangapiko and Ngāparierua streams.

The funding for this project comes from the Ministry for the Environment’s Freshwater Improvement Fund, which is part of the Government’s $1.245 billion ‘Jobs for Nature’ programme.

NZLT’s Waikato Regional Coordinator, Nardene Berry will oversee part of the project with support from Project Coordinator Bexie Towle and a Mātauranga Māori Facilitator Te Ao te o Rangi Apaapa.

Extensive restoration work is already underway in this area with the Maungatautari to Pirongia Ecological Corridor Incorporated Society (formerly known as the Lower Mangapiko Streamcare Group) having undertaken work in the lower Mangapiko for the past eight years. In late 2020, the group changed their name to incorporate the whole of the Mangapiko, as a reflection of the wider work they feel needs to be done. Individual landowners, other care groups, iwi, councils, industry (such as Fonterra, and other agencies, (such as QEII and the Department of Conservation) are also working to improve and enhance riparian margins, create wetland habitat, reduce predators, and increase biodiversity in the area.