WAI Wānaka 2021

2021 has been another year of many challenges for communities around the globe. We would like to take a moment and say THANK YOU to everyone who’s been involved, gifted money or donated valuable time to work with us towards our shared vision of healthy ecosystems and community wellbeing for future generations.

By working together, we empower communities to understand their water, their environment, and their impact

Much has been achieved over the last year at WAI Wānaka in conjunction with the local community and we’d like to share a few highlights with you below.

HEALTHY ECOSYSTEMS

Habitat restoration and pest control

Habitat restoration goes hand in hand with pest control and both have a big part to play in WAI Wānaka’s mahi towards achieving healthy water and thriving ecosystems.

In 2021 WAI Wānaka developed a range of programmes guided by the Community Catchment Plan‘s 60 actions including:

Animal and weed pest control
Freshwater monitoring
Biodiversity monitoring
Planting and plant maintenance

29,931

Native trees planted
(at Dec 2021)

40,754m2

Riparian zones protected
(that’s more than 5 rugby fields!)

3

Biodiversity monitoring programmes started

192

Water tests completed at 32 sites over 18 months

Science and Research

Securing healthy ecosystems requires a plan that is supported by research, monitoring and data to make evidence-based decisions. WAI Wānaka works with leading experts using science, technology and research to understand and protect our catchment. When research in a field of interest doesn’t exist yet, we try to find a way to make it happen. There are some exciting things on the horizon for 2022!

In 2021 WAI Wānaka worked with experts on the following:

Final stormwater report completed
Combined stormwater report between two WAI Wānaka commissioned ones and Oliver Hall’s MSc Thesis (ex University of Otago)
Design of internship programme – ‘Tuna in the Catchment’ (Summer 2021/22)
Proposed Roy’s bay mapping research project – to understand the movement of water within Roy’s Bay
Strategy for managing/researching the deep lakes in this region

COMMUNITY WELLBEING

Education and community collaboration

This year WAI Wānaka kicked off our education programme in earnest, developing strategies and programmes for schools, tertiary institutions, workplaces and in the community. Working in collaboration with other organisations, businesses, landowners, iwi and passionate individuals in the community.