EW's council approves funding for environmental initiatives

Environment Waikato’s council has approved $20,000 from the environmental initiatives fund (EIF) for Raglan Area School’s coastal restoration and education projects.

The funding, signed off yesterday, will be used at the school’s site on Whaingaroa Harbour.

A report to the council said students use the land to study plant, insect, animal, and water species, and also to access the harbour’s inner estuary, which provides safe swimming for small children and is a safe area for the school to launch kayaks and sailing dinghies.

In September, the school hosted a community and agency meeting to discuss further enhancement of the site and this led to the application to EW for funds.

The money will be used to restore the coastal fringe and wetlands with additional plantings and to link with other projects to provide a continuous walkway around the coastal fringe. Access to the harbour is to be improved, the report said.

Meanwhile, the council approved $5,000 for the Coromandel’s Te Aputa Trust for weed control and replanting at a historic pa site at Te Puru. 

Ongoing restoration work at the site, which is highly significant to local Maori, includes protection of burial sites.

The council also agreed to the EIF funding the printing of a series of 10 posters identifying birds in the Kaimai-Mamaku area. The Kaimai-Mamaku Campaign Committee has been granted $2,000 for printing the bird identification fact sheets to help walkers and school groups participate in the ongoing “Everybirdy” survey of bird populations.