Background
Te Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour, covering 17,721 hectares, has experienced significant environmental degradation since the 1950s due to urban development, land use intensification, and increased contaminants. To restore the harbour and protect its social, cultural, and ecological values, it is essential to reduce fine sediment and nitrogen by improving riparian management.
The Riparian Management Strategy identified priority areas in the Te Awarua-o-Porirua Harbour catchment for riparian management, based mainly on erosion risks.
Key catchments for management include Kākaho, Horokiri, Tākapu, and Cannons Creek, largely due to steep terrain and grazing. Key strategies include stock fencing, revegetation, weed control, and collaboration between councils, Ngāti Toa, and landowners, focusing on protecting waterways.
The Riparian Management programme is a 5-year project, started in 2021, jointly funded by PCC and Ministry for the Environment, to plant 630,000 riparian plants along waterways in the harbour catchment.
A live dashboard has been developed that records the live numbers of this programme regarding, trees planted, fences built and pest animal and weed control. ArcGIS spatial mapping provides an interactive aerial image showing riparian planting progress in the sub catchments of Te Awarua-o-Porirua.
