WESTPAC WATER CARE PROJECT

Westpac Watercare Project

NZ Landcare Trust and Westpac New Zealand are supporting catchment groups across Aotearoa New Zealand to achieve their locally developed environmental, community and economic goals with the Westpac Watercare Project. 

Each year, six grants of $10,000 each are available to catchment groups across the Upper North Island, Eastern North Island, Central New Zealand, Canterbury, Otago-South Canterbury, and Southland to support sustainable initiatives for rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands.

Criteria for funding

• Small to medium emerging catchment group (not necessarily a legal entity)
• Not already resourced for the support being requested
• Strong local landowner/land manager engagement
• Can demonstrate an intention to engage with tangata whenua
• Potential opportunities for good ecological outcomes
• May need volunteers to achieve outcomes

Applications have now closed for the latest funding round. Register your interest for future grants. 

2023 Westpac Watercare Project Grant Recipients

The six recipients of 2023 Westpac Watercare Project grants are:

• Oratia & Waiatarua Wildlife Project (Upper North Island): Establish fencing of restoration and riparian planting areas; community planting day with iwi; implement staged weed management and restoration planting plan.
• Ahuriri Tributaries Catchment Group Trust (Eastern North Island): Implement a Mini Freshwater Environmental Plan process for small farms and lifestyle blocks and distribute planting starter packs.
• Moutere Catchment Group (Central New Zealand): Create two to three new wetlands.
• Summit Road Society for Avoca Valley Catchment (Canterbury): Restore the bush in the Avoca Valley catchment to create habitat and ecological corridors for native fauna, improve freshwater value, reduce erosion, and sediment run-off, restore mahinga kai and support carbon sequestration.
• Teviot Valley Water Care (Otago): Create vegetation and silt traps and improve animal crossings at critical source points to catch overland flow in heavy ran events and inform best practice for the rest of the sub-catchments.
• Mid-Oreti Catchment Group (Southland): Continue the Mini Forest Movement for the 2023/24 planting season and continue propagating our own plants ready to plant in the future.

2022 Westpac Watercare Project Grant Recipients

The six recipients of 2022 Westpac Watercare Project grants were:

• Piroa Conservation Trust (Upper North Island): Improving biodiversity through riparian planting, weed and pest animal control, fencing and planting to improve inanga populations.
• Eastern Whio Link (Eastern North Island): Maintaining and rebating 400 traps with stoat lures and CO² gas canisters to enable whio (blue duck) population to thrive.
• Flaxbourne-Waima (Central New Zealand): Improving severe lake erosion and encouraging native wildlife to return through native planting and a pest control programme.
• Sefton Saltwater Creek (Canterbury): Increasing existing water quality monitoring programme to sample four times a year.
• Mid Taieri Wai (Otago): Implementing a water quality monitoring programme.
• Makarewa Headwaters (Southland): Implementing a native planting and pest control programme. Additionally, creating a shared space that can be used for others.