The HealthPost Nature Trust thrives through partnership, community engagement and collaboration, and we had plenty to celebrate on that front in May.
Manawhenua ki Mohua, representing three local iwi - Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Rārua and Te Ātiawa – and the HealthPost Nature Trust formalised their relationship with a pōwhiri and agreement signing at Onetahua Marae. The formal partnership agreement builds on 5 years of working together to regenerate Onetahua Farewell Spit – an area of great cultural and environmental significance.
The agreement is underpinned by the pinciples of Whanaungatanga, Manaakitanga and Wairuatanga, as the partnership mahi aims to strengthen the life force, resilence and integrity of ecosystems, with people as a vital part of those ecosystems. Working together, MKM and HPNT will continue to raise awareness of importance of the area; restore climate-change resilient ecosystems, including protecting and reintroducing taonga species; eradicate invasive predators, and ehance community involvement in regenerating the area.
The HealthPost Nature Trust is thrilled to be working with Manawhenua ki Mohua and we know we can achieve these and other goals through the power of collaboration.
We’re continually blown away by the levels of commitment and energy for change in our communities right now! In spite of the remote location, HealthPost Nature Trust volunteers reguarly travel from Nelson or further afield to contribute their expertise and get hands-on to regenerate nature.
We’re also lucky to have many education and conservation groups involved across Te Tau Ihu. In May, Whenua iti Outdoors brought a super-engaged group of senior high school students to check out the Wharariki Ecosanctuary at Cape Farewell and to learn more about HealthPost’s sustainabiltiy efforts. This inspiring group of students visited the seabird translocation colony area in the Ecosanctuary and the surrounding revegetation work. They helped out with servicing traplines and clearing rats and hedgehogs, as well as releasing plantings. The group was rewarded with a sighting of a pod of pygmy blue whales flipping and blowing off the Cape at lunchtime – amazing!
As well as sharing our own project to help inspire others, we’re always learning from the abundance of conservation knowledge and experience around Aotearoa. In May, the HealthPost Nature Trust made a valuable visit to the Hutton's Shearwater Charitable Trust in Kaikoura.
Our team spent time at the peninsula project site, where a successful colony has been established by translocation to protect these endangered seabrids endemic to Kaikoura. Hutton’s Shearwater is a close relative to the Pakahā fluttering shearwater at the Wharariki Ecosanctuary, and we’re grateful to the Hutton’s crew for generously sharing their learnings.
The HealthPost team is looking forward to working alongside our community volunteers and whānau later in June for our annual HealthPost tree planting day. It’s always a highlight of our calendar.
For regular updates from Marian and the folk on the frontline, including upcoming volunteering opportunities, please visit the HealthPost Nature Trust Facebook page, and sign up for the monthly HPNT newsletter here.
Lucy Butler, HealthPost Nature Trust Trustee