Environmental monitoring funded

Tāngata whenua entities are invited to apply for a share of a new $20,000 fund from Northland Regional Council (NRC) designed to help them carry out environmental monitoring in Te Tai Tokerau. NRC chair Tui Shortland says the fund will give tangata whenua resources to complement existing monitoring activities in partnership projects or programmes with Council.

“This fund can help tāngata whenua to undertake cultural monitoring activities, to increase their skills and knowledge of scientific environmental monitoring, and to develop methods for monitoring the cultural and physical health of fresh and coastal water bodies and their associated ecosystems, as well as the impact of climate

Local Board office opening

change,” she says.

Applicants need to be an established legal or operational tāngata whenua entity, such as a marae committee, hapū trust, iwi authority or a consultant contracted to act on the entity’s behalf.

Applications are open until Friday, March 24 and are expected to be decided by midApril.

Data gathered as a result of the funding will be made available to the Council, though Shortland says there may be exceptions if there are “particular sensitivities associated with some or all of the information, for instance wāhi tapu areas or mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) that is held close by hapu”.

Info: Go to www.nrc.govt.nz/TWEMF

Rodney Local Board’s new Warkworth base is due to open next week with a karakia, followed by a workshop for members. The new premises at 3 Elizabeth Street will be blessed by Ngati Manuhiri, whose settlement trust offices are directly opposite the RLB building, on Wednesday, March 1. The building will be used for Board business meetings, workshops and public engagements, as well as providing office space for elected members and staff. It will not duplicate or replace existing facilities and services at the Auckland Council service centre in Baxter Street.