Catchment enhancement fund

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This fund provides financial assistance and advice to landowners and catchment groups who are undertaking projects that will improve the freshwater heath and Te Mana o te Wai of water and wetlands in Tasman.

For example, projects may be looking to improve freshwater health by:

Improving water quality;
Improving riparian, wetland and stream habitats;
Enhancing īnanga spawning sites;
Improving fish passage; or
Creating biodiversity corridors.

Priority will be given to projects that aim to improve freshwater health at the catchment scale or connect with other projects within a catchment. The fund is available year-round and is allocated on the basis of the potential for improvements in the health of freshwater and freshwater ecosystems, biodiversity, and human health values.

This fund can provide materials, project support, technical advice and design, consultants, and contractors.

Applications

If you would like to apply for assistance, please fill out the application form below. If successful, we will be in touch regarding your application.

We have limited funds and we will only be able to fund projects that are highly likely to produce a highly beneficial outcome. In many cases, we will only be able to part-fund the project.

Please note: For planting projects, applicants may need to contact suppliers ahead of time to secure plants and ensure availability. Planting projects should occur over or near winter to improve plant root establishment in case of summer droughts.

Fields with an asterisk (*) are required.

We can provide financial support to landowners and catchment groups for ecological enhancement projects. Some examples of this include:

Plants and materials for revegetation projects
Developing farm environmental plans and catchment management plans
Material, including contributions to culvert upsizing to improve fish passage
Construction (e.g. a new meandering channel or wetland)
Projects in either rural or urban environments.

Financial assistance can be made available under the following criteria:

Approved projects have significant ecological, human health, cultural or social benefits.
Projects contribute to the stability or health of the catchment system as a whole.
The landowner or occupier accepts responsibility for maintaining the works to a required standard.

Funding is not available for work required by legislation or other agreement (including resource consent, Tasman Resource Management Plan or other regulations). It is not available for major infrastructure works, forest system restorations that are well away from waterways, erosion control work and fencing (as these are better suited to the River and Stream Management Fund), or projects involving the planting of non-eco-sourced natives or species that have potential to be invasive or create a wilding issue. Other exclusions may apply.

Application form

Your details

Your name*

Your address*

Your phone number*

Your email address*

Address of project site*

Assessment number of project site*

Assessment numbers are also known as valuation numbers.

You can find your assessment number on the Top of the South maps.

About the project

Nature of the work to be funded*

Include if relevant: length of stream, width of riparian buffers, wetland area.

Brief description of the plan*

You can upload the file if you already have a plan, otherwise include if relevant: timing, staging, site preparation including control of particularly difficult weeds, what plants will be planted where - including any special treatment of areas that get flooded or potentially eroded.

Describe the benefits from the project, including for stream 'critters' or people

If you know particular existing values at the site, please describe

Eg. quality and quantity of native riparian vegetation or wetlands currently exists on the site; any particular special bird, fish or plant life.

Are you able to commit to on-going management and maintenance of the project?

If applicable, describe how you will ensure any plantings will be maintained over the next 5 years

Eg. weeding, protection from grazing. This should include information about your skills and experience managing similar projects.

If required, will you have a suitably qualified consultant put together a planting plan and/or provide on-going support?

This may be a requirement for applicants who have limited experience in the type of work the project demands.

If a consultant is proposed, how will their skills and experience will be relevant to the work (describe exactly who will do what)

Describe any voluntary time and any other co-funding contributions offered for this project

Breakdown of costs applied for (eg. native trees/shrubs, wetland rushes, plant guards/stakes, fencing)

What is the ecological zone of your project?*

You can find your ecological zone using the mapping tool.

Note: group projects in priority areas that support each other may be more likely to receive funding.

Note: a successful project in a priority area may get multiple years of funding.

Note: pools within the channel that never dry up, even when the stream stops flowing, can be a refuge and often contribute to higher stream biodiversity.

When do you want to start?

Please use the format dd/mm/yy

Upload a file to support your application (e.g. site map, planting plan)

Last modified: 8 Mar 2024, 09:42