Community workshop 2: Building the Whangateau Harbour & Catchment Action Plan

Help shape the future of Whangateau Harbour, its waterways and catchment

Whangateau Harbour is a much-loved taonga, but it’s facing growing pressure from land and marine activities, climate change, and population growth.

We're coming together as a community to restore and protect this treasured place, for current and future generations. 

Please join us for the second community workshop to help build a long-term Action Plan for the Whangateau Harbour and Catchment. This is workshop 2 of 3 - we encourage both those who came to workshop 1 and those who haven't joined us before to attend - your voices matter.

🗓 Saturday 5 July
🕚 11:00am – 3:30 pm (arrive from 10:45 am for tea and coffee). Lunch provided.
📍 Whangateau Hall

Contribute your knowledge, values, and ideas into a community-led plan that will guide real, on-the-ground action across the entire harbour and catchment.

Whether you’re a landowner, long-time local, new resident, recreational user, kaitiaki, or simply someone who loves this place - your voice matters. 

In this workshop we’ll:

• Work on goals and measurable objectives for the Catchment Action Plan to restore, protect, and build resilience;

• Duncan Kervell will give an overview of the catchment’s high-risk areas for contaminants, with Whangateau-specific examples. He’ll cover erosion, land use, riparian and wetland management, and outline best-practice mitigation options to guide local action;

• Look at best practice in catchment care — and what’s already working well locally;

• Discuss key remediation priorities on land and in the harbour using maps, science, and community knowledge.

Expert Guidance for the Action Plan

We’re thrilled to welcome the expertise of our Technical Leads for the project:

- Duncan Kervell – specialist in land and catchment management

- Leigh Marine Laboratory, represented by Professor Conrad Pilditch and Professor Simon Thrush – leaders in marine science and ecosystem health.

Together with Katie Owen (Healthy Waters Catchment Coordinator) and Alicia Bullock (Project Lead / Whangateau Catchment Facilitator), the team will work closely with the community to co-develop an effective and meaningful Action Plan.

Bringing science, tech and community together

Saturday 5 July is the second of three workshops to build a long-term Action Plan that treats the harbour and catchment as the connected, living system it is - from hills to harbour and harbour to hills.  We will use the latest drone imagery, GIS data, research, expert input, and local knowledge to create a living, interactive digital plan to guide and activate long-term care and build resilience across the Whangateau Harbour and catchment.

This is a truly community-led process and plan — and we’d love you to be part of the team.

If you have any questions please contact Alicia, Project Lead, at whangateaucatchment@gmail.com