Schools Behind Our River

Solway Primary students with banner

Schools Behind Our River was launched in 2020 to support teachers and students with hands-on conservation and restoration projects that connect youth with their local ecosystems and environmental heritage.

In 2022, funding support from One Foundation, Eastern & Central Community Trust, Masterton Trust House, Masterton Lands Trust, The Gift Trust, Lion Foundation, and several private donors helped the Ruamahanga Restoration Trust achieve the following deliverables:

  • provided 18 schools with thousands of native seedlings for restoration plantings
  • sponsored two House of Science Water Analysis Kits for use by local primary schools
  • purchased and assembled six Predator Tracking Kits for distribution to local schools
  • supported predator tracking & trapping workshops for 20 schools
  • designed & delivered 14 Conservation Award trophies for school prizegiving
  • supported restoration plantings on 6 unique conservation sites

School pupils planting a native tree

Now in our third year, Schools Behind Our River has gained significant credibility, which in turn has helped make the Ruamahanga Restoration Trust recognised and respected within the wider Wairarapa community.

The Trust continues to contribute significant volunteer hours supporting schools with resources that their budgets would otherwise not afford. The Trust also engages local environmental consultants and educational experts who advise schools on local flora and fauna, predator trapping tools, and suitable restoration planting sites.

Our aim is to continue supporting schools with native seedlings along with the purchase of monitoring equipment and predator traps, school science kits, and smart technologies that help engage students with their local waterways and areas of unique biodiversity.

In 2022, the Trust has expanded its reach by supporting 18 schools – up from only 7 schools in 2021 and three schools in 2020.

14 schools received our new Conservation Award for Environmental Leadership. An additional six trophies are ready to be distributed to schools in 2023.

Pirinoa School students learning about water quality testing.

Conservation Award for Environmental Leadership

In 2022, the Trust commissioned local ceramic artist Sam Ludden to design an award trophy that would be gifted by the Trust to all participating schools within the Ruamahanga catchment.

Each trophy features a hand-sculpted kokopu as the centrepiece with the Maori proverb, “Toitū te marae ō Tāne, Toitū te marae o Tangaroa, Toitū te tangata” (If the forest and the ocean are strong, so too are the people), inscribed on the timber base.

Sam Ludden helped choose the whakatauki with guidance from local iwi and mana whenua to reflect the role rangatahi can play in safeguarding Wairarapa’s waterways, biodiversity, and natural heritage.

The Conservation Award for Environmental is gifted to the school, which in turn selects a student who best demonstrates principles of kaitiakitanga [guardianship] and leadership skills in environmental conservation, restoration, or innovation within their school and community. Each school gets to keep the award trophy while each winning recipient receives a personalised award certificate signed by one of our Trustees and the school principal.

A total of 20 trophies were completed with 14 awarded to schools in time for the 2022 annual prizegiving. The remaining six trophies will be distributed in 2023.

Sam Ludden With Ruamahanga Restoration Trust Trophy Award Sm 4x3

Tracking and Trapping Kits

In collaboration with Enviroschools and the Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre.

In 2021 the Trust conceived and assembled a comprehensive Predator Tracking & Trapping Kit that would be distributed in collaboration with Enviroschools Wairarapa and the Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre. Valued at over $1000, each kit included a trail camera, traps, monitoring tools, traps, and educational resources. A total of three kits were distributed in 2021 with a further 6 put into use in 2022 along with another additional 6 purchased and prepared for use. Currently, we have nine kits in use at a mix of primary and secondary schools. In addition, Enviroschools Wairarapa in collaboration with Pukaha Wildlife Centre conducted workshops with 11 schools with each school receiving two D-Rat traps and monitoring equipment sponsored by the Ruamahanga Restoration Trust.

Participating schools also record their capture data, with as many as 42 predator kills of one kind or another recorded within the school year.

Enviroschools Wairarapa and Pūkaha ran workshops focusing on tracking, trapping, and increasing biodiversity in school spaces.  The online session was conducted due to COVID, which restricted the ability to get multiple schools together in one space. Each school also received a mini-kit before the session, which then focused on the use of the kit, sharing trapping experiences, and planning any potential trapping action.

Contents of Predator Kits supplied to schools

Biodiversity Kits

In collaboration with EnviroSchools and the Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre

In 2022 we asked our same partners what else we could support, and the answer was “Biodiversity Kits”.  As a result, our plan for 2023 includes funding and assembling an entirely new range of resource-laden Biodiversity Kits for local schools in collaboration with EnviroSchools and Pūkaha.  

Each kit will include one set of binoculars, magnifying glasses, specimen trays and boxes, eDNA testing kits from Wilderlab, insect identification books, bird and lizard identification posters, specimen jars, and several scientific field study tools and resources for students and teachers to use when undertaking field trip classes.

EnviroSchools and Pūkaha will develop a procedure/processes document for the activities in the kit, as well as a ‘how to use’ guide. Valued at $800 per kit, each kit will be maintained by the school but instructions on its function and use will be provided by staff from EnviroSchools and Pūkaha.

Rrt Hos Pirinoa 2021 6

Project Plan 2023

In continuation of our 2022 plan, the Trust will follow the same eight-step plan:

Eight Steps Forward

  1. Support local schools with our annual Conservation Award
  2. Sponsor and support more schools with customised field kits
  3. Purchase native seedlings for student-led restoration plantings
  4. Engage students and community groups on special event days
  5. Support class field trips that connect concepts of tiakitanga and whanaungatanga
  6. Project manage and coordinate with schools and collaborative partners
  7. Help source jobs and environment-related career paths for school leavers
  8. Develop the Ruamahanga River Centre project as a place for discovery and learning

Students At Kahutara School Planting Seedlings Donated By The Ruamahanga Restoration Trust Sm

Summary

Conservation Award for Environmental Leadership

Continue to promote and raise awareness of our Conservation Award Trophy through the local media and via meetings with school principals, teachers, and students.

The aim is to highlight how the award acknowledges a student’s work and service in several areas including media communications, data collection, trapping, planting, product design, or general volunteering work.

The award will inspire primary and secondary students around workable goals and activities, both curricular and non-curricular. The aim is to offer practical solutions that engage students and equip them with the knowledge required for sharing their know-how and enthusiasm with other students, and to help inspire career path opportunities and engagement as volunteers within the local community.

Wai Col Senior Awards 202227

Science-Based Testing Kits

The Trust will continue to support and encourage the use of scientific methodology and analytical processes within schools to help encourage student curiosity and interest around challenges related to monitoring and recording local flora and fauna, including freshwater quality, soil health, biodiversity, and other farming-related data related to climate change and sustainable farming practices.

We believe that encouraging students to embrace the sciences will help prepare them for future challenges and new opportunities in agriculture and environment-related careers.

By sponsoring the House of Science Water Analysis Kits and by purchasing and distributing WilderLab eDNA testing kits, the Trust will gain better access to the teachers and students, making them more aware of our role in helping them develop a passion and reason for working together on conservation and restoration for the greater good of our community and environment.

In addition to providing direct access to students about their own relevant needs and concerns, our sponsorship also aims to encourage schools and users to upload water testing data from streams and rivers across the Wairarapa for sharing across the wider public network, including DOC and the Greater Wellington District Council.

Wilderlab eDNA Kit

EnviroSchools & Pūkaha Collaboration

The Trust will continue to support the Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre and Enviroschools Wairarapa with Predator Tracking & Trapping Kits and Biodiversity kits.

By creating our own kits for schools, we not only hope to raise awareness around the need for pest control and predator trapping but also to help monitor and measure the presence of native birds and other endangered species, including indigenous lizards and fish species.  Using trail cameras and technology to discover what’s out there ignites students’ enthusiasm.

In this regard, the Trust hopes to supply as many schools as possible with the resources needed to fund and implement these programs, including covering the cost of day trips or overnight trips for students to stay at Pūkaha. These activities are all conducted as part of the school curriculum and offer a holistic approach to study, addressing the need for data analysis, documentation, pest eradication, wildlife protection, and conservation.

Solway College Predator Trapping

Restoration Projects

Our restoration work in 2023 will continue to support local schools in establishing their own pockets of native bush on school grounds and engage students in the restoration of lowland forest swamps and regrowth on the Rathkeale College Eco-Trail and the Carterton Reserve.

These unique and biodiverse pockets of bush and wetland are key to the long-term health of our river system and are natural habitats for a range of indigenous freshwater fish and native birds.

Our aim is to continue work on the Eco-Trail site at Rathkeale, which is an area of environmental heritage significance that a range of schools can visit to conduct outdoor field research.

In 2022, the Trust led a group of students and community volunteers planting 2,000 flax and carex grasses along the inner rim of two disused sewage ponds to attract aquatic birdlife and provide nesting opportunities and protective shade for birdlife and fish species such as short and long fen eel, bullies and mudfish.  This was the first time that the ponds had been planted in 50 years and the project is a key step in helping establish the grounds as an open wildlife sanctuary for native birds on a biodiversity corridor that will eventually reach from Rathkeale College to Pukaha Mt Bruce. 

Our long-term plan extends to restoration planting areas of unproductive land between Rathkeale College and Mt Bruce as part of a goal to create pockets of native bush that when linked together form protective native bush corridors for birds from the Tararua Ranges and Pukaha, in the same way that Zealandia has encouraged the return of many bird species to Wellington.      

We value and respect that all schools have a choice as to where and why they would like to plant native trees. In some cases, the schools may choose to plant public reserves or riparian strips on private farmland. Every location helps serve a purpose.

In 2022, the Trust supported five restoration plantings on two QEII covenanted sites and three other private sites within the catchment, all of which have significant conservation and heritage value.

Students from Opaki School planted a fenced-off area of original native bush on Dunvegan Station. The same students planted alongside a stream that runs past the school on Council land. We also provided plants for a QEII block near Morrisons Bush on the banks of the Ruamahanga and another riparian site on the upper reaches of the Mangatarere Stream (with help from several St. Matthews Collegiate school students).

In addition, the Trust also supported Urlah Organic Wines by supplying flaxes and carex secta grasses for planting around the edge of their spring-fed ponds located on the alluvial river terraces of the Ruamahanga River.  Another restoration site included a range of native plants for Ox-Bow Lake, a private property under QEII covenant close to the Ruamahanga River.

Trevor Thompson demonstrating how to plabnt native trees

Special Event Days

Where possible, our fundraising activities will support student-level participation in special event days, such as Restoration Day, Moana Wetlands Discovery Day, World Fish Migration Day, Arbor Day, Conservation Week, etc.  Support will be offered to those activities planned or promoted by community groups, such as WP2K, Sustainable Wairarapa, or the Aorangi Restoration Trust, along with any school activity that requests our support.

The Trust will continue to focus on restoration plantings on Special Event Days in locations that provide opportunities for student-led research in conservation, land management and clean water protection. This will include a large student-led community planting day on the banks of the Ruamahanga River at Percey’s Reserve on Te Ore Ore Road, Masterton scheduled for late June or early July 2023.

Students planting native trees.

Field Trips

Te Ao Māori recognizes the need to consider the connectedness of all things including the past, present,reds and future. In considering how our future and our community could be impacted by climate change transitions we must consider where we have come from, as well as the wellbeing of current and future generations. This means we must take an inclusive approach to understanding our place and our heritage over time.

The Trust will continue to look for opportunities to fund field trips that support the concept of tiakitanga – being a good guardian or steward of the land and waterways – for the wellbeing of current and future generations of New Zealanders.

In consultation and with the participation of local iwi, we will support field trip activities that invite teachers and students on field trips to natural heritage or historical sites connected to the Ruamahanga – or its tributaries – to help students understand how and why early Maori chose particular sites and how they worked with the land and its resources.  This also helps address the values of whanaungatanga – being mindful of the relationship between all things, our connections to each other, and how we connect to our land and manaakitanga – having a deep ethic of care towards people and the whenua, acknowledging their role in the ecosystem, and how they could be affected by future outcomes.

In 2023, the Trust will continue working with community groups like the Kahungunu Mokomoko initiative with the aim to support visits to sites and places of interest that provide stories about early Maori presence along the Ruamahanga and its tributaries and to engage in conversation and restoration.

The Trust is also budgeting to support school field trips to Pukaha Wildlife Centre – as day trips for secondary schools and overnight trips for Primary Schools, especially in connection with the Predator Tracking & Trapping workshops or instruction around the Biodiversity Kits.

As such, we hope to make younger people more aware of their environmental heritage; to learn and understand sustainable use of our waterways and lowland forests and to share their own stories in a way that helps others appreciate the need to restore, protect and sustain our environment, including how to prepare for and mitigate the effects of climate change.

261412983 936005253999761 8876844594301567766 N

Project Management

In addition to our ongoing need to cover Project Management as an Operational Cost, the Trust also needs to appoint an Environmental Education Lead in 2023 to help manage our collaborative program needs with local schools, including liaison with EnviroSchools Wairarapa, and Pukaha.

The Environmental Education Lead will be tasked with managing the distribution of native seedlings for schools, following up on the Conservation Award program, coordinating class visits and workshops with Pukaha and Environschools, managing available resources and materials, and assisting with our PR and social media content creation.

Schools Behind our River takes a holistic approach to encouraging students to actively participate in a number of activities, but someone has to coordinate with schools, students, teachers, parents, and other third parties from Mt Bruce Pūkaha down to Palliser Bay.

The task requires planning and coordination time of approximately 10 hours per week, 50 hours a month.

Careers and Job Creation

The Trust hopes that Schools Behind Our River can ultimately shape and influence young careers and create new jobs by encouraging mentors from the farming, technology, science, and media sectors to help school leavers prepare themselves for careers inspired by nature.

According to the draft report from the New Zealand Climate Change Commission, education, and science and innovation systems are critical for ensuring low emissions economic growth, adding that the education system needs to ensure that New Zealanders are set up with the skills that are needed in the labour market.

“Aotearoa is known as a country of innovators and problem solvers. Being an early mover in researching new technologies and adopting existing technologies will benefit not just the climate, but the economy and wellbeing of New Zealanders. This is particularly true in sectors where Aotearoa is traditionally innovative, such as agriculture.”

Where possible, the Trust will continue to develop projects that help students seek out or create new job opportunities ranging from conservation work to predator control, development of new technologies related to emissions or agricultural practices or work in native forestry, regenerative farming, or documentary filmmaking.

The Climate Change Commission states that as the country transitions to climate-resilient low emissions future “new skills, knowledge and capability will be needed in the workforce. Ensuring the workforce’s skills match what is required in the labour market is key to ensuring that businesses can innovate, adopt new technologies or commercialise new ideas.”

For this reason, the Trust is developing plans for a long-term documentary series project titled, ‘Understanding Nature’, which it hopes to receive funding for and use towards creating new career paths for young videographers and editors with an interest in the environment and topics related to climate change. 

As a documentary series, ‘Understanding Nature’ will not only highlight key environmental issues and local stories as witnessed and told by local youth, but it will also provide skills training and income for school leavers with an interest in storytelling and filmmaking.

Ruamahanga River Centre

The Ruamahanga Restoration Trust is currently preparing preliminary concept designs for the establishment of a unique lecture theatre teaching space focused on the needs of education and the environment.

Kahutara School student planting a native tree

Project Objectives 2023

1. Continue to raise awareness among students and the local farming community of the need to restore and protect wetland areas, including feeder streams through rural farmland and along the riparian margins of the Ruamahanga River.

2. Engage farmers, DOC, GRWC, and local iwi in our activities, to help pass on oral history and traditions regarding the local habitat and to draw attention to the forest wetland and resources within the natural habitat along the Ruamahanga River.

3. Bring together more students from more schools across the Wairarapa as a means to reinforce community spirit and a sense of resolve among our future generations; working together for a common cause to restore fragile ecosystems, regenerate native bush, protect endangered species, create bird corridors and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.

4. Invite student representatives to attend meetings organised by the Trust and attended by experts and local council representatives.

5. Inspire and encourage students and volunteers to create newsworthy stories for social media that are then highlighted by mentors and community leaders who acknowledge the tasks and results with praise and positive reinforcement, and if possible, involve students and new school leavers in the making of our proposed documentary series, ‘Understanding Nature’.

6. Provide meaningful outdoor physical and mental activities for students that can demonstrate measurable results for the health of both students and the local ecosystem.

7. Build on the framework established in the first three years, embracing more schools and areas bordering the Ruamahanga River.

8. Reinforce the Trust’s point of difference, working through schools to bring farmers, conservationists, scientists, iwi, businesses, and local communities together with a common cause that benefits all.

9. Support any measure of activity that helps ensure access to clean water.

10. Encourage innovative thinking to help create and support jobs and new opportunities for local youth.

Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Wairarapa 2022

Beyond 2023

Besides encouraging students to embrace conservation and science to mitigate the effects of climate change, we also have a long-term vision that will encourage youth to take more interest and pride in their own environment – preparing them for new responsibilities in their future career and community leadership roles.

Another long-term aim is to see a noticeable increase in native fish species and birdlife.  

Most importantly, our long-term vision is to expand the Schools Behind Our River project by engaging and including the wider community and landowners in supporting the restoration and planting of bird-to-bush corridors, from the mountains to the sea, creating the return of clean waterways and healthy soils, which in turn offer more productive benefits to the wider farming community and all those that live within the catchment.

Included in our vision is a proposal to design and build the Ruamahanga River Centre as a venue for students and community groups to visit and attend lectures, events, and special presentations by the country’s leading environmental scientists, academics, and entrepreneurs.

January 2023