It’s been a really tough couple of weeks, with the wild weather and state of emergency in Southland. If there is ever a time to feel proud of where we live, it’s now. Seeing the community come together, neighbours helping neighbours, and everyone jumping in to support – it's humbling.
As this newsletter goes out, it’ll have been just over a week since the big winds, and in that week huge progress has been made to get power back on, clean up the roads and support farmers whose farms have been damaged. There is more work to do and I encourage anyone who hasn’t already connected with the agencies, like Environment Southland or Rural Support Trust, to do so for support.
Earlier in the month, and before the weather got extra gnarly, we had kids from Woodlands Primary battling the southern spring elements to get native plants in the ground as part of a Waihōpai stream health study.
The Thriving Southland team marked International Rural Women’s Day in October – a day where we really get to celebrate the incredible work that women do in and around their local communities. Check out the flyer for ConnectHER below, who provide some amazing services for rural women, and they are happy to come along to a Catchment Group meeting or event too.
You’ll notice some exciting events coming up, including our ever-popular Christmas Competition we can’t wait to see who and what pops up around the region as we gear up for the festive season!
We’d love to see you at our AGM on 13 November, where you’ll hear about some of the inspiring Catchment Group happenings during the past year, and an insight into some exciting plans for 2025-26.
In early October the 2025 Environment Southland Community Awards were held in Invercargill and it was amazing to see so many of our Catchment Groups and members recognised for their outstanding mahi, leadership, and care for our environment.
A huge congratulations to all the finalists and award recipients — your commitment, innovation, and teamwork continue to show what’s possible when communities come together to look after our land and water. You can read all about the winners and those highly commended below.
And finally, on that note, get 17 March 2026 into your diary – as Thriving Southland presents 'Everything to Gain – What Really Matters: Paddock to Markets'.This event is about keeping things in perspective. With 95% of our product going overseas, it’s easy to forget just how global our story really is. This event brings us back to that – celebrating the quality we’re known for, and the opportunities that come when we stay focused on our international markets. It’s a free day of insights, real stories and straight talk about the opportunities ahead for Southern farmers – more on that in the upcoming events section below.
Richard Kyte,
Thriving Southland Project Lead
News
2025 Environment Southland Community Awards, celebrating Southland’s environmental champions
The Waikawa Catchment Group has been leading the way since 2009, working together to improve water quality and environmental health across the Waikawa River catchment. Their ‘Slow the Flow / Erosion Mitigation Project’ includes seven on-farm sub-projects that address erosion and sediment loss, restore riparian areas, and provide practical solutions that balance farming needs with ecological restoration.
Environmental Action in the Community (sponsored by Real NZ).
Highly Commended: Waikawa Catchment Group
The Bulleids focus on protecting waterways, fostering native plant species, and improving biodiversity. Their work includes extensive fencing of waterways, wetland reinstatement and development, large-scale riparian planting, weed and pest control, and propagating native plants for areas retired from grazing.
Environmental Leadership in Farming (sponsored by Wynn Williams). Winner: Chris & Andrea Bulleid – Glengordon Farm (members of the Balfour Catchment Group)
Duncan Jennings has transformed Flaxhill Farm through long-term stewardship, retiring gullies and wetlands from grazing to allow native forests and wetlands to regenerate. His careful land and waterway management has improved water quality and created habitats for native plants, birds, and macroinvertebrates, protecting the headwaters of Lake Brunton and Tokanui River tributaries. Judges praised Duncan’s hands-on approach and the impressive scale of biodiversity gains on the property.
Environmental Action in Waterways & Wetlands (sponsored by Fish & Game Southland). Winner: Duncan Jennings from Flaxhill Farm (South Coast)
Murray Wards and the Gore Catchment Group have created sustainable wetlands that improve water quality and support biodiversity. The site also serves as a living classroom, with local schools and community groups planting native species and learning about wetland ecosystems. Judges praised the group’s collaborative approach and their efforts to share knowledge and ensure the project’s success.
Environmental Action in Waterway & Wetlands.
Highly Commended: Wards Wetland (Gore Catchment Group)
2025 Rural Champions announced
Rural Champions was established to celebrate the South Island’s food and fibre producing champions: folk who make their own communities a better place to live and contribute to New Zealand’s biggest export industry. Mark and Elspeth Thompson from Lora Gorge have been honoured as one of the Rural Champions for 2025. They are described as ‘‘backbone members’’ of their Southland community and are both very active in the Makarewa Headwaters Catchment Group. The couple share a desire to leave their 360ha farm, of which 90ha is native bush, in a better condition than when they bought it.
Thriving Southland Introduces a new Eco Extension Programme
Thriving Southland has received a grant from Environment Southland (thanks ES!) to increase local knowledge, identify restoration opportunities, and create stronger community ownership of waterways. This will look different throughout the region, but could include supporting Catchment Groups with stream walks, water quality, community engagement, biodiversity corridors, whitebait education, farm systems, landscape integration, and more…
The Thriving Southland Eco Extension Programme will help us deliver exciting regional initiatives – lead by your ideas as Catchment Group members. We’re in the planning stage right now and can’t wait to share details soon. This is really exciting and if you’d like to know more, please reach out to your local Catchment Coordinator.
Richard Kyte speaks to Chamber Leadership Academy
Thriving Southland Project Lead Richard Kyte was a guest speaker at the Southland Business Chamber’s Leadership Academy. He spoke on the theme “Know Yourself, Understand Your Team,” sharing insights on what it takes to build strong, connected teams. A huge thanks to the Chamber for the invitation, and a well-deserved shoutout to Richard for an inspiring and thought-provoking session.
Southland/Otago Agritourism.NZ Network Launch
The Thriving Southland team were proud to support the official launch of the Southland/Otago Agritourism.NZ Network on 20 October.
This event marked the beginning of Agritourism NZ’s first regional network pilot — right here in Southland and Otago! Thriving Southland's Board Chair, Jeff Grant, shared his tourism journey before officially declaring the network open with a ceremonial cut of baling twine.
MP Joseph Mooney spoke about the vital role agritourism plays in strengthening rural communities, while Tom O’Brian offered an inspiring look into how successful agritourism ventures come to life – sharing his experience with Welcome Rock. The launch was a fantastic opportunity to connect with passionate operators from across the region — from experienced hosts to those just starting their agritourism journey.
A huge thanks to Marijke and the regional committee for their dedication and effort in bringing this initiative to life.
Recent Events
Wonderful Woodlands’ School Stream Session
Thriving Southland, Environment Southland and Waihōpai Catchment Group, came together to run a great session for 20 Year 4 to 6 Woodland School Youth Ambassadors. Their local stream, running through their Outdoor Learning Area, is actually the Waihōpai River, and on the day of our session water was high with more rain coming. So, we had a quick switch to the school hall and ran an Aquavan-style session.
We started with a chat on what a catchment is and had a quick quiz on their catchment. Then we split into four groups and moved around four sessions – identifying macroinvertebrates (little animals that live in your stream), microplastics, being river detectives and using scientific gear to find out the water temperature, pH and clarity; and finally, using your senses – sight, smell, touch – and your thinking to see how healthy your stream is.
After a yummy lunch break, we donned our wet weather gear and headed down to their Outdoor Learning Area and planted 25 native plants and had great chats on ideas for their area, looking after their stream and ideas for future projects. It was great teamwork and we can’t wait to see what they do next.
For those interested in why Sarah was wearing a bright pink wig….it was Wig Wednesday and Sarah decided to be a crazy scientist for fun! Thanks to all the amazing people who came together to make this happen – it really was great.
Mid Oreti Mini Forest Movement
A lovely crew turned up for our October drop-in. Brad and Gabby ran a great session, and we did lots of repotting with 181 manuka, 6 ribbonwood, 26 pittosporums and 3 kōwhai being rehomed from root trainers into pots. We also had a great chat about upcoming events and activities for the group.
Makarewa Headwaters Community Nursery is looking fab!
Makarewa Headwaters Catchment Group has finished their community nursery shade house and it looks brilliant! This has been a two-year effort by the team, finding funds, having working bees and figuring out how to make it all work. It has been totally worth it and is now full of plants for the catchment, run by a lovely local (Amber Mckenzie) and just had an amazing potting bench put in.
The group have also made a good start with choosing a site for their ten deer and pig (ungulate) exclusion plots and ten control plots as part of their next phase of their Makarewa Headwaters Revival Project. These native bush plots will help monitor the recovery of their native bush as they work on reducing deer and pig numbers to a level that is healthy for their bush, farms and community, and still provides recreational hunting opportunities.
Upcoming Events
Mid Oreti Catchment Group – Mini Forest Movement Native Plant Nursery drop-in session (first Tuesday of every month)
Tuesday 4 November, 4pm to 6pm
All welcome to come to our monthly native plant growing working-bee evenings at the AB Lime Nursery. Your help will go toward growing plants for the Mid Oreti Mini Forest Movement Project, which provides native plants to the local community and landowners for their planting projects. Training is provided and all ages welcome! Stay for as little or as long as you like.
Thriving Southland AGM
13 November, from 1.30pm to 3.30pm
Kelvin Hotel – 6th Floor Conference Room
Join us for a bite to eat, a catch up with other Southland farmers and friends, find out about what Thriving Southland have done in 2024-25 and plans for 2025-26, and hear about some of the amazing projects Catchment Groups are working on in Southland. All welcome. Please RSVP to office@thrivingsouthland.co.nz by Thursday 6 November, noting any dietary requirements.
SERN November field trip!
15-16 November – join for one or both days
The Southland Ecological Restoration Network’s Spring field trip offers a rare opportunity to visit a series of mostly riparian restoration sites across the Te Anau area. Hear from experts in the field, and witness firsthand the efforts being made to protect and restore several threatened native ecosystems. The field trip is an opportunity for landowners and community volunteers keen to connect with like-minded people involved in biodiversity restoration projects to share knowledge and experience.
Please email Gay Munro to express your interest, especially if you’d like to stay overnight at Te Kōawa Tūroa o Takitimu Lodge (there is room for campervans too). Spaces are limited, so get in quick! Also, this year’s trip is self-drive (acknowledging that some people can only join us for one of the days), and we will try and help with carpooling (just let us know).
2025 Christmas Competition
24 November – 14 December
Happening since 2021, the annual Thriving Southland Christmas Competition is back this festive season. We are excited to see what farmers put at the edge of the farm, on the paddock, or in the driveway, to spread a bit of Christmas Cheer. Previous years, we've had some incredibly unique displays – combining adult competitiveness with child-like creativity – the sky really is the limit! We have seen 200L drums transform into Nutcracker sculptures, bales stacked high into Christmas Trees, Pine Trees turned into gnomes... to name a few! Southlanders are so clever with their ideas, and it’s a great way to spread the holiday spirit and Christmas Cheer without leaving the farm gate.
Make sure to get your Santa Hats on and get those creative ideas flowing for this year's competition. The prizes are loaded into Santa's Sleigh, and we can't wait to see the festive cheer popping up across Southland.
Entries open 24 November. You can enter as a Catchment Group, business, individual, family or farm! Send us a high-resolution photo of your Christmas display to office@thrivingsouthland.co.nz, winners will be announced 16 December.
Gore Catchment Group Wetland Project – Open Day
4 December, from 12pm to 3pm
200 Paterson Road, Gore
The Gore Catchment Group invites you to see the amazing work happening in our local wetland. Join us for a BBQ, a walk around the wetland, and a chance to hear from experts about how we’re caring for the river, the land, and the wildlife in our catchment. It’s a great chance to connect with the community, learn about practical ways we’re protecting our catchment, and celebrate what’s been achieved. Please RSVP to katie@thrivingsouthland.co.nz so we can plan catering. Don’t worry — we’ve got a wet-day back-up plan. Everyone’s welcome — come along and see the difference local action makes.
SAVE THE DATE: Everything to Gain – What Really Matters: Paddock to Markets
17 March 2026, from 9.30am to 3pm
If there’s one farming event you need to attend next year, this is it! Thriving Southland presents 'Everything to Gain – What Really Matters: Paddock to Markets'. A free day of insights, real stories and straight talk about the opportunities ahead for Southern farmers. Join Kate Scott and a line-up of leading agri, trade and policy experts for conversations that matter, connecting what’s happening in the world to what’s happening on your farm. The opportunity is in the South, let’s take it. Lunch provided.
Have a great November
Ngā mihi, Richard Kyte
(Thriving Southland Project Lead) and the Thriving Southland Team
