Community Relations

Multiple nominations in the Waihi Beach / Katikati Small Business Awards 2024, two for Project Parore (finalist for “Excellence in Innovation” and nominated for “Local Employer of the Year”); and one each for Renaturing Katikati (“Excellence in Innovation”) and for Brodie (for “Local of the Year”) shows that we are valued members of our community.

The community planting days, training events, mangrove extraction, school education (and planting) days and so on are too numerous to enumerate here.

Sharon Strong and the Renaturing team have contributed more than 80 volunteer sessions, and made some fantastic improvements around our parks, reserves, walkways and beaches. What makes Katikati such a good place to plant trees also makes it very welcoming to weeds, so there’s always more work for everybody!

One activity which we hope to increase is animal pest control and helping local groups to establish animal pest free zones. Ultimately, we want the whole district to be predator free.

We have partnered with Bay Conservation Alliance, Trees that Count, the museum, and others, on school and volunteer education programs, with input from our volunteers and some of our REP Crew.

Our logo is now worn on the backs of the Katikati F.C. Fantails (girls aged 5 – 10 years), a free promotion which the girls decided to give to Project Parore in recognition of the improvements we are making to their world.

In August, Project Parore hosted Landcare NZ’s Bay of Plenty and Waikato “community of practice”, bringing catchment groups from far and wide to Katikati to see how we get things done.

In March next year we will host all the North Island participants of the Landcare NZ Aotearoa Catchment Excellence (“ACE”) program here, about 70 people.

In 2024, Project Parore became a member of the Aotearoa NZ Catchment Collective, a new national body representing the interests of catchment groups right across the nation. Rick Burke, one of our Board members, is also a member of the ANZCC Board, and can answer any of your questions about it.  

Operations

The Operations team has delivered another round of outstanding results. Brodie works the team hard – but to be fair, that’s what I told him to do! He’s driven us to invest in more capital equipment, so I think its fair to demand greater output. Two more utes, a side by side unit and professional spraying kits (even our back pack sprayers are electric now) have all helped to get the team as productive as they are – that and excellent management.

Funding and Contracts

Freshwater Improvement Fund / Jobs for Nature

We are presently in year 4 of the MfE FIF 2062 contract (total value $M1.78). We have comfortably met all agreed targets (i.e. those committed to over the 5 year term of the grant) and in fact have already significantly exceeded almost all of them. Brodie and the REP Crew are delivering really exemplary results and deserve our thanks. Brodie will give you the numbers, but I’d just like to say these results are hard earned and represent tremendous commitment to our kaupapa by the whole team.

Baytrust and TECT 

In June 2023, Baytrust granted us $420,000 and in September 2023 TECT granted us $450,000. Both these grants are being delivered between 2023 and 2026. Together, they help us to unlock the full value of the MfE 2062 contract, which required us to find third party funds to support a 5 year project worth $4.9m total. Brodie, Karen and I presented an overview of our performance to Baytrust and TECT in October and they were very happy with our results to date. Thanks to both TECT and Baytrust for their ongoing support of our work.

Council Support 

Our strong relationships with the BOPRC and WBOPDC continue to develop. Their support is vital to our long term interests. This year, the Western Bay of Plenty District Council made provisions in their long term plan to provide financial support for our Katikati Environment Activator (KEA) role and associated activities, for the next 3 years.

Other Supporters

Brodie’s engagement with our community has encouraged other local supporters to step up. Of special note are Henry’s Rod Shop and Kiwicoast Apiaries, and, rather unexpectedly, the Katikati Football Club, whose Under 11 girls jerseys are now adorned with our logo. Many others attended our first charity auction and contributed generously. 

Marketing and Communications

A 10 month campaign in the Katikati Advertiser gave our community the exposure they needed to get familiar with Project Parore and what we were doing, in a more traditional media format. Editorial content in a small local paper can be hard to come by, so advertising spend is the only way to guarantee eyeballs. 

Investing in a mix of small adverts and full page ‘advertorial’ meant we could showcase the variety of both REP Crew and volunteer restoration efforts as well as promote retirement and fencing opportunities, educational events and workshops, and freshwater science. Some stories we paid to place were picked up and run (free of charge) in other papers, including online with national reach, and landowner leads were generated for our operations team.

Brodie masterminded what the Board thought was a slightly crazy idea to have an fundraising auction in October ’23. With a short run-up, he produced a remarkably fun and successful event that netted our charitable society $6000 for investment into volunteer and water monitoring kit.

Conclusion

Whew, we’re busy! And not planning on stopping anytime soon. I won’t tell you what Brodie has on his wish list now but if he gets half of it, then productivity will skyrocket again. Or else!

Seriously, I’m very grateful to Brodie and the REP team for their hard work this past year, and the professionalism they’re developing as a team. It’s great to see good management working and I’m proud of the progress they’ll all making. The support of our volunteers at Renaturing Katikati and on our board and advisory team, makes us special.  So a big thank you to all of them for the time and energy (and cakes) they donate to our cause.

It’s not all rosy however and there are challenges on the horizon. Our strategic planning sessions will address some of these issues:

• Consenting (via Fast Track Approvals Bill) for large expansion of the J Swap Katikati Quarry
• Need to generate more direct income to maintain employment levels as Jobs for Nature winds down
• Central government abandoning science and nature, or funding any of it, anyway
• Demand for our services OUTSIDE our current self imposed boundaries – filling this demand would help to develop our commercial base but might dilute our community alignment
• Local community print media closing down – communications options reducing.

I’ll wrap up this report by thanking Karen Smillie, my deputy, who as our marketing manager helps to keep the channels open and Clive Lock who as treasurer does a fantastic job of making sense of what is a very complicated operation!