Gary Bramley, Reconnecting Northland; Kim Collins, Foundation North; Nick Edgar, NZ Landcare Trust; Trevor Grey, TTF; Cyril Howard, Foundation North; Eamon Nathan, & David Mules, Reconnecting Northland; Michele Frank, WWF-NZ and Genevieve Northey, TTF.
Recently The Tindall Foundation hosted Reconnecting Northland and our partners, NZ Landcare Trust, Foundation North, WWF-New Zealand and HSBC to reflect on the significant achievements of this important programme over the past 12 months.
Reconnecting Northland is a large-scale ecological restoration programme and is the first of its kind in Aotearoa. Its focus is the well-being of people and the land.
Trevor Gray, Special Projects Consultant for The Tindall Foundation said that even though this large landscape project is envisaged to be rolled out over the next 50 to 75 years, there are many success stories to date.
“Reconnecting Northland has already had much impact in its first three years. In particular, taking a ‘connectivity’ approach has both captured the imagination of Northlanders and has greatly enhanced the individual projects that are now being knitted together.”
He gave the example the Warawara Whakaora Ake Forest Co-Management transition, which created an opportunity for Iwi and agencies to strengthen relationships and ways of improving the health of their forests.
“Similarly, Kiwi Coast has brought together 60 community groups who were all working on Northland’s East Coast to increase the numbers of kiwi. The group has been the catalyst for the dramatic increase of pest free habitats for kiwi and has helped to educate communities through events and workshops that engage people in kiwi protection and better dog control,” he said.
Reconnecting Northland is a fantastic example of funders and community groups working together to trial a new, unique approach to environmental restoration and sustainable land use in Northland.
This is a collaboration between WWF-New Zealand and NZ Landcare Trust, funded by The Tindall Foundation, Foundation North and HSBC Water Programme.