FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE WORK BEING DONE BY SOUTHLAND'S CATCHMENT GROUPS HERE

Waihopai Catchment Group

We cover a large rural area in eastern central Southland (Oreti Freshwater Management Unit) which includes the rural communities of Myross Bush, Kennington, Woodlands, Rimu, Dacre, Spurhead and Morton Mains, down to the Invercargill City boundary.

Number of members in the CG

Core Group of 4 key members, with wider farming and community members that attend events and keep in the loop with what the group is up too. 

The focus of the group is currently around Woodlands, and we hope to expand this across our area over the next few years. Currently we have 35 people as part of our Catchment Group community.

Date the Catchment Group started

October 2019

Types of people in the group

Farmers, rural professionals, community, students, industry members and the local school. Everyone is welcome!

The group is all about everyone doing their bit to look after and improve our water quality. We are always looking for new people, ideas and information to try out to meet community, government and scientific recommendations to improve our waterways

How we work

We meet two or three times a year as needed.  Members also represent the group at the twice yearly Southland Catchment Group Forum meetings, Catchment Group training opportunities, Oreti Catchment Group Leaders Get Togethers, and support other Southland Catchment Group initiatives. 

We use the Woodlands Community Facebook Group to advertise our events & share information on opportunities and projects: https://www.facebook.com/groups/258534480891795

Projects completed

We are a catchment group with a huge passion for our local community, especially our younger generations.  We want to educate and work as a community to come up with practical solutions to improve our waterways for our future generations.  Our events and projects often have a strong water quality, education and community focus to them. 

Water Quality Project

Our first step was to understand our water quality.  So in February 2020 we asked Roger Hodson, Senior Scientist - Surface Water Quality at Environment Southland, to come and talk to us about the health of our local waterways.  The Waihopai Catchment was the site of a special study by Environment Southland from 2005 to 2015 called Living Streams. Through this work, its water quality and what could be done to look after it - was studied across our whole catchment for 10 years.  This started lots of good initiatives that are now used by Environment Southland across Southland.

Mid Winter Get-Together

We then followed this up with a Mid-Winter Calving & Lambing get-together in September, where the community could leave their gumboots at the door and be with friends and neighbours at a very busy time of year.  They also had a chance to meet their local Catchment Group members, and chatted about ideas for projects and events in the Waihopai catchment over a bite to eat and a drink.

Woodlands Outdoor Learning Area

Looking after our waterways for our future generations is really important to us, and we are very lucky to have Woodlands School and their Outdoor Learning Area at the heart of our community.  In December we visited Woodlands School Year 4 to 8 students, and they showed and talked to us about all the work they have been doing at their amazing Outdoor Learning Area, along with their future ideas and plans.

Rapid Habitat Assessments

We then headed to Eoin McKenzie’s farm in March 2021 to learn some new skills and different ways to monitor the health of our streams.  We used a one page visual assessment sheet called a Rapid Habitat Assessment, and then got in the stream and looked at the macroinvertebrates (stream bugs) that live there using kitchen sieves, plastic spoons and white ice cream tubs.  People went home armed with some new information and skills to look at their streams and see what they can find. Many thanks to the McKenzie Family for hosting us on their farm. 

Woodlands School - What is a Catchment Group?

We headed back to Woodlands School in March, and Sarah and Bob ran sessions with the top two classes on what a catchment is, what Catchment Groups do, and what is special about their catchment local Catchment Group.  The kids built a catchment on the floor using fabric, plants and toys, and also learnt about how riparian planting works, and identified some common native plants. 

Aquavan Project

We worked alongside the Gore-Waimumu Catchment Group to bring the University of Otago New Zealand Marine Studies Centre Aquavan back to Southland in March 2021, to run the Discovering our Catchment and Coastal Connections Education programme.  The Aquavan is specially designed to transport live marine critters and touch pools to schools and communities, to create awareness and understanding of the connectivity between river health and the coastal environment.  700 Year 5 to Year 8 students from Gore and Invercargill attended the fun 2 hour education sessions, with two successful community events being run as well.

Farm Recycling Field Day

In July we ran a great on farm recycling field day covering baleage wrap, dairy shed, household and community recycling options.  All things recycling were discussed, and many ideas were shared.  We got to see the Plasback recycling system in action in the paddock, and hear from local reps about recycling options and systems we could become involved with.  A special part of the event was having Charlotte Burns (10 years old from Woodlands Full Primary School) open and close the field day in Te Reo supported by her Principal. Many thanks to Joel and Linnet Burns for hosting us on their farm, and sharing their ideas and experiences.

eDNA Sampling

The group (along with the other Southland Catchment Groups) took part in a nationwide eDNA (environmental DNA) water quality monitoring programme, and chose Woodlands School Outdoor Learning Area as their site.  This will provide valuable information on the plants and animals found in and around New Zealand’s waterways.

Xmas BBQ

We finished off the year with a Christmas BBQ at a local farm’s mai mai. Very Southland!

Waste Reduction

Our focus for 2022 was to do some events for the wider catchment community.  So we hosted a fun interactive talk by Trish Rankin on reducing waste on your farm, in your household and in your community, and have been one of three Catchment Groups who have lead a scoping study on how to support the adoption of good wintering practice in Southland when English is a second language.  We will continue to work with our international farming communities and local stakeholders and agencies to find ways to help develop and support the continued uptake of Good Management Practices on farms across Southland, and build stronger, more diverse Farm Teams and Community Catchment Groups. Information on the project can be found here.

Mid & Lower Oreti Bus Trip

2023 saw the Catchment Group join with the other 6 Oreti Catchment Groups to host a Mid & Lower Oreti bus trip to help understand their catchment better and all the great work that is being done to look after it.  This idea came about after the 2022 annual get together of the Oreti Catchment Groups, and included stops looking at New River Estuary, a constructed wetland, native biodiversity and good farming practices.  We hope it is the start of many Oreti bus trips, and a copy of the booklet created for the bus trip can be found here.

Waihopai Wetlands & Sediment Trap Field Day

To help people get some ideas for their farm, we ran an informative and useful field day looking at a wetland and sediment trap at two local farms.  There were lots of questions asked and answered, and we came up with some great ideas on what might be next for our Catchment Group.  Many thanks to the O'Reilly and the Schmidt Families for welcoming us on to their farms and talking to us about what they have done.  Also to Brooke and her team for hosting our afternoon tea in their woolshed at the Woodlands Research Farm, and to Rob and Jessie from Environment Southland, Karina from Plasbacknz, James from Pukerau Nursery, and co-organiser Nicole from Fonterra.

Please contact us if you have any great ideas or would like to be involved. 

Good Wintering Practice for English as a Second Language Speakers

Waihopai have been one of three Catchment Groups who have lead a scoping study on how to support the adoption of good wintering practice in Southland when English is a second language. We will continue to work with our international farming communities and local stakeholders and agencies to find ways to help develop and support the continued uptake of Good Management Practices on farms across Southland, and build stronger, more diverse Farm Teams and Community Catchment Groups.

Please contact us if you have any great ideas or would like to be involved. Information on the project can be found here: Waihopai Project Page

Projects underway

  1. The group are very keen to understand how their community and actions are impacting their local water quality and stream health.

  2. They will continue to support Woodlands Primary School and their Outdoor Learning Area & other Southland Catchment Group events and projects

Projects planned

Our next steps are to talk to our community and members and figure out on what we want to do next. 

Ideas for possible future project areas include:

  • Organise farm visits and field days on useful topics, including planting days, sediment traps, options for animal breeding & feeding, and how this impacts the environment. 

  • Run local workshops on what farming in Waihopai will look like in 10 years’ time and how does this change our decisions now. 

  • Have events which reinforce what we know – buffer zones, Critical Source Areas and wintering Good Management Practice

  • Learn from our Southland Catchment Group Projects like Carbon Neutral Dipton – invite to come and talk to us.

  • Continue learning about our stream health & building up our stream health monitoring skills - Rapid Habitat Assessment, macroinvertebrates (stream bugs) or  using the Stream Health Monitoring Assessment Kit – SHMAK.

  • Continue to look into local recycling options: farm, household and community

  • Keep working with local schools and students.

  • Start a fish on drains project around Woodlands to increase understanding of what happens when water (and whatever else is with it) goes into our drain systems and into our freshwater and coastal environment.

  • Look at ways to let people know about our Catchment Group, what we do, and how they can become involved 😊

    We like our events to be practical and useful, with a good social element.

Hosted events / meetings

  • Learnt about the health of our local waterways from Environment Southland’s Senior Scientist - Surface Water Quality Roger Hodson – February 2020

  • Learn how to do a stream health assessment – 17 March 2020

  • Mid-Winter Calving & Lambing Get-together – 17 September 2020

  • Woodlands Outdoor Learning Centre Visit with Woodlands School – 5 November 2020

  • Waihopai Stream Health & Water Quality Monitoring Skills Session – 10 March 2021

  • Supported Invercargill based Aquavan school and community events – 20 March 2021

  • Woodlands School classroom session on their catchment and local Catchment Group – 31 March 2021

  • On Farm Recycling Field Day – 13 July 2021

  • Waihopai Catchment Group Christmas BBQ – 9 December 2021

  • Trish Rankin Reducing Waste Talk/Workshop – 28 June 2022

  • Mid & Lower Oreti Bus Trip (co-organised by all the Oreti Catchment Groups) – 22 March 2023

  • Waihopai Wetlands & Sediment Trap Field Day – 4 July 2023

Our stories

More about us

We are a Catchment Group with a huge passion for our local community, especially our younger generations.

We want to educate and work as a community to come up with practical solutions to improve our waterways for our future generations.

 

This product has been added to your cart

CHECKOUT