The Ruamahanga Restoration Trust

The Ruamahanga Restoration Trust supports local schools, landowners, and rural community groups across the catchment by creating restoration projects and educational activities that encourages conservation and supports our environmental heritage.

Our goal is to help restore and regenerate streams, wetlands, and pockets of native bush along the length and breadth of Ruamahanga River and its many tributaries, which in turn will help protect native fish species and create bird corridors from Pūkaha to Kawakawa Palliser Bay.

For us, this means starting with our Schools Behind Our River project to deliver hands-on learning opportunities for school students to embrace environmental conservation projects that connect local communities with the health of their river catchment, Māori heritage, and sustainable biodiversity goals.

The Ruamahanga Restoration Trust embraces traditional values, mātauranga Māori, sustainable farming practices, and the use of new technologies as a means to mitigate the effects of climate change and protect our natural environment for future generations.

Funding support from the Trust House Foundation specifically helps us support local schools by providing eco-sourced native plants that students can plant onsite at school or on nearby reserves.

More generally, Trust House is supporting our wider vision to bring the community together to protect our waterways and our unique biodiversity.