Southland Catchment Groups are being supported and enabled as they work towards achieving an environmentally and economically sustainable future, Thriving Southland project lead Richard Kyte says.

Thriving Southland is marking the end of the first year of the three-year project with the release of a video celebrating the progress made and looking ahead to maintaining the momentum Catchment Groups have created.

“The video explains how Catchment Groups and their communities are at the centre of what we do,” Kyte said.

Southland now has 28 Catchment Groups, forming a network covering over 85% of the region, and this network is expanding rapidly.

More than 30 people from around Southland planted about 500 native plants during a Waimatuku Catchment Group planting day in July.

Kyte said Thriving Southland was receiving lots of good feedback from Catchment Groups in Southland and interest from across New Zealand in the project, which is funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries through its Productive and Sustainable Land Use Programme. 

“Looking ahead, we will continue to support groups to keep their momentum going and it will be great to see results coming in from the various projects underway.”

Some of the wide range of projects underway include field days, community surveys, sediment trap design, water sampling, native fish surveys, ecological surveys, community events and farm environment planning.

“We can see there’s a real positive future for Southland,” Kyte said.

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Makarewa Headwaters Catchment Group member Dan Frew said Thriving Southland had given groups the support to do what they wanted to do “and the facts and evidence to back up what we’ve been thinking, to just charge ahead and make some difference to the world”.

Riverton farmer and Aparima Community Environment member John White said it was all about trust between community members and between Catchment Groups.

“Farmers are far more likely to learn from other farmers and trust their neighbours, and see what they’re doing, and innovate from there,” he said.

Thriving Southland has four catchment coordinators who provide free resources, support events, and empower Catchment Groups to take ownership of local issues so they can be addressed and resolved.

“Our dedicated team of coordinators is here to encourage and develop groups, get projects off the ground and inspire community action,” Kyte said.

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Thriving Southland senior catchment coordinator Rachael Halder said using innovations and solutions that come from rural communities was the way to build an exciting and sustainable future.

Thriving Southland is a community-led group with a vision to create a prosperous Southland, healthy people, healthy environment from the mountains to the sea.

To watch the video head to: https://www.thrivingsouthland.co.nz/#video