Schools Behind Our River

Schools Behind Our River was launched in 2020 to support teachers and students with hands-on conservation and restoration projects that connect youth with their local ecosystems and environmental heritage.

In 2023, funding support from One Foundation,  Masterton Trust House Foundation, The Gift Trust, Simplicity, Nikau Foundation, Lion Foundation, and several other private donors helped the Ruamahanga Restoration Trust achieve the following deliverables:

• provided 19 schools with 3000 native plants
• sponsored two House of Science Water Analysis Kits for use by local primary schools
• supplied 27 schools with predator traps and tracking equipment
• supplied biodiversity kit materials for use by EnviroSchools Wairarapa
• funded 9 Overnight Experience school trips to Pukaha Wildlife Centre 
• funded one school trip to Wairarapa Moana
• sponsored Ruud Kleinpaste to visit and talk to schools across one week
• Issued 15 Conservation Award certificates for school prizegivings
• produced three educational videos

The Schools Behind Our River project encourages the use of scientific methodology and analytical processes within schools to encourage student curiosity and interest around challenges related to monitoring and recording local flora and fauna, including freshwater quality, soil health, biodiversity, and other farming-related data related to climate change and sustainable farming practices.

We believe that encouraging students to embrace the sciences will help prepare them for future challenges and new opportunities in agriculture and environment-related careers.

Now in its fourth year, Schools Behind Our River has gained significant credibility, which in turn has helped make the Ruamahanga Restoration Trust recognised and respected within the wider Wairarapa community.

The Trust continues to contribute significant volunteer hours supporting schools with resources that their budgets would otherwise not afford. The Trust also engages local environmental consultants and educational experts who advise schools on local flora and fauna, predator trapping tools, and suitable restoration planting sites.

In 2023 the Trust appointed Karin Stillberg as Environmental Education Lead. In this role, Karin provides educational support for schools and local community partners, further strengthening our community engagement and educational reach.

We aim to continue supporting schools with native seedlings and purchasing monitoring equipment and predator traps, biodiversity kits, eDNA kits, and science kits that help engage students with their local waterways and areas of unique biodiversity.

In 2023, the Trust has expanded its reach by supporting 24 schools – up from only 7 schools in 2021 and three schools in 2020.

19 schools have received our new Conservation Award for Environmental Leadership trophies awarded at annual prizegivings along with an award certificate issued by the Trust.

Each trophy features a hand-sculpted kokopu as the centrepiece with the Maori proverb, “Toitū te marae ō Tāne, Toitū te marae o Tangaroa, Toitū te tangata” (If the forest and the ocean are strong, so too are the people), inscribed on the timber base.

Sam Ludden chose the whakatauki with guidance from local iwi and mana whenua to reflect the role rangatahi can play in safeguarding Wairarapa’s waterways, biodiversity, and natural heritage.

Tracking and Trapping Kits

In collaboration with Enviroschools and the Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre.

The Ruamahanga Restoration Trust has been instrumental in supporting a Predator Free education project conducted in collaboration with Enviroschools Wairarapa and the Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre.

Enviroschools works with schools to empower young people to be part of creating sustainable communities. Collaborating with the education team at Pūkaha brought in the expertise and hard experience around tracking and trapping; while teaming up with the Ruamahanga Restoration Trust has further empowered local schools with the much-needed funding of a wider range of traps and tracking technology, with the trust supplying any equipment needed to support their mahi in schools.

27 schools now have tracking and trapping equipment supplied by the Ruamahanga Restoration Trust, with two more schools in the process of getting their projects started.

In addition, the trust has funded resource materials for biodiversity field kits. The ‘Noticing Nature’ kits are loaned to schools as-needed and topped up with fresh supplies as and when necessary.

In 2023, the trust also continued its sponsorship of House of Science Wairarapa contributing funds for two Water Analysis kits for use by local primary schools.

In addition:

• two physical multi-school workshops were held in 2023, with nine schools (total of 36 students and nine adults).
• Two online multi-school workshops, with ten schools registered, eight delivered to, (total of 18 students).
• Countless in-school visits were held to support schools with equipment and advice.

In 2023 we changed our model for delivery from the large self-contained kits to supporting schools with a wider range of equipment as and when they needed it. 

The new ‘Noticing Nature’ kits include a set of professional bird-watching binoculars, magnifying glasses, specimen trays, and boxes, eDNA testing kits from Wilderlab, insect identification books, bird and lizard identification posters, specimen jars, and several scientific field study tools and resources for students and teachers to use when undertaking field trip classes.

The new kits will be trialled by schools in Term 1 2024 and officially launched in Term 2.

2024 Vision

• Strengthen our network and relationship across schools
• Expand our community links with educational talks and resources
• Increase students' connection with nature through outdoor field trips
• Focus on taking action

The Trust continues to actively support the Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre and Enviroschools Wairarapa with materials and resources for Predator Tracking & Trapping Kits and Noticing Nature kits, including workshops.

By creating our own kits for schools, we not only hope to raise awareness around the need for pest control and predator trapping but also to help monitor and measure the presence of native birds and other endangered species, including indigenous lizards and fish species.  Using trail cameras and technology to discover what’s out there ignites students’ enthusiasm.

In this regard, the Trust hopes to supply as many schools as possible with the resources needed to fund and implement these programs, including covering the cost of day trips or overnight trips for students to stay at Pūkaha. These activities are all conducted as part of the school curriculum and offer a holistic approach to study, addressing the need for data analysis, documentation, pest eradication, wildlife protection, and conservation.

Our restoration work in 2024 will continue to support local schools in establishing their own pockets of native bush on school grounds and engage students in the restoration of lowland forest swamps and regrowth on the Rathkeale College Eco-Trail and reserves with special biodiversity value.

These unique and biodiverse pockets of bush and wetland are key to the long-term health of our river system and are natural habitats for a range of indigenous freshwater fish and native birds.

We aim to continue work on the Eco-Trail site at Rathkeale, which is an area of environmental heritage significance that a range of schools can visit to conduct outdoor field research.

In 2022, the Trust led a group of students and community volunteers planting 2,000 flax and carex grasses along the inner rim of two disused sewage ponds to attract aquatic birdlife and provide nesting opportunities and protective shade for birdlife and fish species such as short and long fen eel, bullies and mudfish.  This was the first time that the ponds had been planted in 50 years. This restoration project is a key step in helping establish the ponds as an open wildlife sanctuary for native birds on a biodiversity corridor that will eventually reach from Rathkeale College to Pukaha Mt Bruce. 

We value and respect that all schools have a choice as to where and why they would like to plant native trees. In some cases, the schools may choose to plant public reserves or riparian strips on private farmland.

In 2023, the Trust supported restoration plantings on three QEII covenanted sites and two private sites within the catchment, all of which have significant conservation and heritage value.

Where possible, our fundraising activities will support student-level participation in special event days, such as Restoration Day, Moana Wetlands Discovery Day, World Fish Migration Day, Arbor Day, Conservation Week, etc.  Support will be offered to those activities planned or promoted by community groups, such as WP2K, Sustainable Wairarapa, or the Aorangi Restoration Trust, along with any school activity that requests our support.

The Trust will continue to focus on restoration plantings on Special Event Days in locations that provide opportunities for student-led research in conservation, land management, and clean water protection. This includes a community planting on the banks of the Ruamahanga River at Percy’s Reserve on the outskirts of Masterton.

Te Ao Māori recognizes the need to consider the connectedness of all things including the past, present,reds and future. In considering how our future and our community could be impacted by climate change transitions we must consider where we have come from, as well as the wellbeing of current and future generations. This means we must take an inclusive approach to understanding our place and our heritage over time.

The Trust will continue to look for opportunities to fund field trips that support the concept of tiakitanga – being a good guardian or steward of the land and waterways – for the wellbeing of current and future generations of New Zealanders.

In consultation and with the participation of local iwi, we will support field trip activities that invite teachers and students on field trips to natural heritage or historical sites connected to the Ruamahanga – or its tributaries – to help students understand how and why early Maori chose particular sites and how they worked with the land and its resources.  This also helps address the values of whanaungatanga – being mindful of the relationship between all things, our connections to each other, and how we connect to our land and manaakitanga – having a deep ethic of care towards people and the whenua, acknowledging their role in the ecosystem, and how they could be affected by future outcomes.

In 2024, the Trust will continue to support school visits to sites and places of interest that provide stories about early Maori presence along the Ruamahanga and its tributaries and to engage in conversation and restoration, including Overnight Experience school field trips to the Pukaha National Wildlife Centre.

As such, we hope to make younger people more aware of their environmental heritage; to learn and understand sustainable use of our waterways and lowland forests and to share their own stories in a way that helps others appreciate the need to restore, protect, and sustain our environment, including how to prepare for and mitigate the effects of climate change.

Project Objectives 2024

1. Engage with teachers/principals from all 31 schools in the Ruamahanga catchment (34 in Wairarapa). Offer funding and advice for native tree planting, helping as many schools as possible to take action for te taiao.

2. Ensure schools re-engage with the programme and continue finding ways to plant native trees on school-grounds and/or off-site.

3. Provide students with opportunities to explore outdoors and embrace conservation

4. Develop and deliver sessions to engage and empower students prior to planting days.

5. In collaboration with Pūkaha and Enviroschools host and support student biodiversity workshops, predator trapping workshops, and trapping equipment.

6. Launch Noticing Nature kits in collaboration with Pūkahaand Enviroschools.

7. Sponsor educational experts to visit and address schools on topics related to biodiversity, climate change, and conservation.

8. Work with other volunteer organisations and educational groups, including the Ruamahanga Farm Foundation and the Wairarapa Catchment Collective, to link schools with local catchment groups for plantings and outdoor learning.

9. Promote our Conservation Award for Environmental Leadership.

10. Interview students for our UNDERSTANDING NATURE video series.

Beyond 2024

Besides encouraging students to embrace conservation and science to mitigate the effects of climate change, we also have a long-term vision that will encourage youth to take more interest and pride in their own environment – preparing them for new responsibilities in their future career and community leadership roles.

Another long-term aim is to see a noticeable increase in native fish species and birdlife.  

Most importantly, our long-term vision is to expand the Schools Behind Our River project by engaging and including the wider community and landowners in supporting the restoration and planting of bird-to-bush corridors, from the mountains to the sea, creating the return of clean waterways and healthy soils, which in turn offer more productive benefits to the wider farming community and all those that live within the catchment.