Strategic Priority 1 - Whakaora i te taiao

Objective

The health and wellbeing of te taiao is thriving, measured and reported on.

Why this is a priority

Our commitment to protecting, restoring and caring for our natural assets underpins everything we do.

Careful and responsible management of our natural resources is critical to the success of our business and the health and welfare of our animals and people.

Sustainable practices and climate change action will nurture our whenua and awa, strengthen biodiversity, and support resilience, production and performance.

Key highlights

Looking after the wellbeing of those under our care – some 90,000 sheep, 13,000 cattle, 3600 beehives and 72 kaimahi – is fundamental to how we operate.

A key task has been to rationalise and revise the taiao plan to fit the reality of the business given today’s economic climate, legislative environment and organisational priorities.

A monitoring framework was developed and implemented as part of that process. The framework aims to provide evidence-based data to identify and understand status, risks, opportunities and issues. We will use these insights to guide our actions, apply best and innovative practice and achieve the outcomes we expect.

The framework brings together the multiple parts of our te taiao responsibilities and we plan to address these in a staged approach. As an example, we started water monitoring this financial year. The year ahead will focus on integrated farm planning and laying the groundwork for climate adaptation initiatives.

We successfully completed the audit for year two of our BNZ sustainability linked loan providing incentives for reducing green house gas emissions and by completing additional waterway protection and biodiversity enhancement beyond compliance and regulatory requirements.

Planting

Two thousand native plants were planted on a tributary of the Mākōtuku at Tohunga Station in an initiative partly funded by Horizons Regional Council.

Horizons Regional Council also supported infill planting of mānuka at Tohunga in a retired area of bush. As part of that project, funding for 15 predator traps was received, resulting in steady progress since summer toward reducing the number of stoats and rats in this area.

Again, with the support of the regional council, approximately 10,890 metres of waterway were retired at Te Pā, Tawanui, Ohorea, Papahaua and Te Paenga. Horizons typically fund 40% of the cost of environmental fencing material and labour for work to keep stock from the waterway.

Excluding stock from streams together with predicted climate change impacts means more work on alternative water sources for stock will be required, especially on some of the steeper stations where the number of water troughs is limited.

Ngā Tāngata Tiaki o Whanganui supported 1800 metres of deer fencing to exclude stock and feral deer from a wetland at Papahaua on the Rākei block.

Ngā Tāngata Tiaki o Whanganui also supported 2000 metres of riparian retirement at Waipuna.

Water Monitoring

Water monitoring has included assessing chemical values and the health of the habitat – for example, the presence of bugs that feed species like kōura and tuna.

The work has included eDNA water testing. This approach to biological monitoring scans and analyses an environment quickly to discover the full range of species living in a waterway and detect any changes. We are continuing to populate a list of aquatic life present in the eDNAtested locations. The programme will continue in the years ahead.

Support for Native Species

Surveys conducted with a consultant ornithologist found several likely breeding pairs of kiwi in Papahaua Forest. The challenge ahead is to provide for these kiwi in future activity in this commercial pine forest.

Surveys on wetlands at Tohunga also found kiwi as well as a number of threatened wetland birds and bats. These finds adjacent to Tongariro National Park underscore the significance of our trapping programme at Tohunga.

Future planning will focus on doing more to support these endangered native populations. In the meantime, we have secured funding from Horizons for the year ahead to start trapping predators in the Tohunga wetland vicinity.

Compliance

In consents compliance, our farms have adhered to winter grazing practices and will target further improvements in the year ahead. Many of the applicable environmental rules and regulations for agriculture and the environment have been repealed through resource management reform changes. This leaves considerable uncertainty about future direction from central government.

Outlook for FY2024/25

Ātihau will continue to advance the taiao plan and framework, working as best it can under the universal economic constraints that limit the pace at which strategy can be implemented. While we are unable to do as much as we would like to, our priority is to maintain trapping, planting and water monitoring and continue to support the native plants that we have already planted.