Not goodbye, but mā te wā

Heli Wade has been Project Manager for Te Hoiere Project since its inception. Although she is leaving the Project to pursue other interests south of Marlborough, Heli says she will always have a connection to Te Hoiere awa, visiting often to celebrate the achievements still to come.

We started as a group, dreaming up plans. The community, alongside other Project partners, went through iterations of planning, planning and then more planning. The past four years for me have been about the journey that everyone has been on, together, as these plans have turned into on-the-ground catchment actions. This is the journey that continues for the Project and community, with positive outcomes continuing for 50-plus years, maybe even longer.

Establishing Te Hoiere Kaitiaki Charitable Trust was a major milestone that cemented the vehicle to keep the Project moving. Although the drivers and passengers might come and go, the Project’s mana will continue the trodden path that we collectively began. This partnership between the community, Marlborough District Council, Ngāti Kuia and Rangitāne, and Department of Conservation will strengthen the Project’s longevity in the face of New Zealand’s shifting goalposts for the environment.

When funding is scarce, Project partners will prioritise the goals and actions to work towards our agreed objectives, whether it’s biodiversity protection, freshwater outcomes or a community-led initiative. This level of commitment is needed to make sure that the Project stays focused and on scope and that it maintains momentum towards the long-term shared vision. The Project trustees and working group members are volunteers and professionals, an amazing and passionate bunch of people that steer the Project through the thick and thin. To our trustees and working group members, your ongoing support and contribution for the greater good has not gone unnoticed and I thank you for this.

When I think back to the achievements that I am proud of, they are so intertwined that’s it’s hard to unravel. Securing the Project’s current funding streams have enabled us to scale up the Project implementation from ‘tinkering’ to ‘doing’. As a part of the process of securing funds, I was deeply involved in the creation of our Integrated Catchment Enhancement Plan. It was the quintessential chicken and egg situation, where we needed a plan to get funding and we needed funding to create the plan. Working closely with our supporters we were able to fast-track this process and managed to pull this off in a record six months, a process that could have taken years. Thank you to everyone who participated, sharing your ideas, passions and priorities. The plan truly reflects a shared voice and that is the foundation for the Project’s success.

At the onset of the Project, we recognised that to achieve catchment-scale improvements, everyone needs to contribute to the work. The Project’s baseline data clearly indicate that all land uses contribute to the environmental challenges in the catchment, so it’s on all of us to fix this. Though a lot of work has already started, there is a need to carry on working together to overcome the challenges. Every action (some can do more and some a little less) is a steer in the right direction that adds up to overall improvement. Everyone should be very proud of your contributions to date. And if you have not yet started, there is still support available to help you along.

Throughout my time with Te Hoiere Project, I have had to remind myself that this is a long-term effort, and we should not lose focus on that. It’s a future where our kids and their kids will benefit. People come and go, but the shared vision and aspirations remain. The environment remains. Tangata whenua remains. The catchment community remains. The 160,000-plus trees planted to date will remain and multiply throughout the catchment and turn into native bush, and restored wetlands and waterways. The 65-plus kilometres of fencing erected to date will protect our waterways and help freshwater habitats and taonga species to thrive. The research that has been undertaken under the Project will enable better understanding of the systems that drive the catchment—and its underlying challenges. The education of schoolchildren and the upskilling of community members will assist in changing how the next 50 years pans out, for the better—to hear more bird song, swim in Te Hoiere Awa and collect mahinga kai, all with a nourishing catchment that’s more resilient to climate change.

It has been a huge privilege to have worked for Te Hoiere Project, to know many of you, to walk the newly trodden path, to build relationships, to foster trust, to respect everyone’s knowledge, and most of all to work together to create a bigger and longer-lasting impact. This isn't goodbye, but rather mā te wā (see you later).