Honoring Our Waterways

He manaaki whenua, he manaaki tāngata, ka haere whakamua

(This proverb, a well-known Māori whakataukī, highlights the inseparable connection between the health of the environment, the well-being of people, and the ability to progress into a prosperous future)

Koanga sits within Kotare Village, an intentional village, which sits within the Wairoa rohe (area). This is an area of frequent environmental disasters, especially flooding, and is a low socio-economic area with a high indigenous population.

Koanga was at the epicentre of serious floods over the past 3 years and we were affected a lot in various ways We have managed to scrape by over the years with support for saving the seeds (the sexy part of what we do) but there is little support for taking care of our riparian areas and the waterways and ecosystems we sit within, and that hold us.

This project ‘Honoring Our Waterways’ will be a project that creates a potential model for wetland, waterways and riparian restoration for the Wairoa rohe, from the top of the catchment to the bottom, in a way that builds ecosystem health and resilience in every way including things like

Lowering risks and extent of flooding
Reducing runoff of topsoil and slumping of subsoil

Erosion control adjacent to public roads.
Providing ground durable posts for fencing for locals
Providing ramial wood chip (for fertiliser) for local growers both home scale and commercial growers
Increasing bird and insect populations and wildlife corridors
Providing “clean” sources of watercress for locals
And much more

We have strong links in this area and this project will be a partnership of the Koanga team, Kotare Village, and the Wairoa community.

Stage 1 will include

Drawing up a land use plan of our place showing the riparian, wetland, and waterway areas that need restoration from the top of the catchment to the bottom, with detailed planting plans, showing the protection needed for each planting area. Our entire area has wild geese and goats to contend with.
Fencing an area of wetland on the Koanga dairy unit for planting Winter 2026
Beginning stage 1 planting of the Mangapoike River edge Winter 2026 fencing already done.
Document with words, pictures and videos for future reference and modelling, done by interns managed by Koanga