As a Jobs for Nature programme, Kaipara Moana Remediation (KMR) invests in people as well as environmental outcomes. We believe it is important to train and mentor our field advisors, the people who engage with our landowners and community groups to develop sediment reduction projects on the land.

On 24th July 2024, KMR hosted another of its regular training workshops in Kaiwaka. This workshop was designed to support our field advisors to provide consistent, high-quality advice to the landowners and groups they work with, and ensure they are up to date with the latest KMR policies and practice.

Ensuring long-term success of planting projects

The training covered a range of topics, including how KMR monitors the many planting projects that we support. The work to establish vegetation in order to provide long-term protection against erosion doesn’t end when the plants go in the ground. Monitoring the longer-term success of planting projects is therefore critical.

KMR’s approach to monitoring helps ensure successful establishment of high-quality plants by working with the landowner or group to identify and manage any risks to plant survival, such as pest browsing. While the sun was shining, KMR led some practical exercises outside that focused on methods field advisors can use out on farm or on the whenua.

Mātai Onekura – KMR’s digital sediment reduction planning tool

KMR’s digital tools enable a single source of truth. With numerous field advisors and delivery partners working with more than 700 landowners across a 600,000 hectare catchment, our digital systems enable us to have a shared view of landowner engagement and sediment remediation projects.  The digital tools also provide up-to-date and accurate scientific data and other geospatial information that field advisors can draw on when designing potential projects and discussing these with landowners and groups.

During the recent training day, KMR staff spent time training our field advisors on how to use KMR’s digital systems and data to best effect. This will help us to improve the quality and consistency of our advice, as well as enhance the efficiency of project design and processing of projects right from a landowner’s initial expression of interest through to completion of the sediment remediation project and payment of the associated grant.

Open floor discussion and further training opportunities

The training day closed with an open floor discussion during which KMR Field Advisors could ask questions, share insights and make suggestions about future training and development opportunities that KMR is supporting in partnership with NZARM.

Overall, Field Advisors assessed the training day to be a great success – everyone went home with new learnings and an eagerness to get more sediment reduction projects underway!

Further training is in development, with an NZARM workshop scheduled in Whangārei in September. This will focus on farm systems and how KMR field advisors can work with landowners in their particular context to deliver great benefits for KMR and landowners.

This training is a key part of KMR’s relationship with NZARM and helps to build on our track record in getting local people and rangatahi into nature-facing work and growing their skills.  KMR Pou Tātaki Justine Daw says an ongoing focus for KMR is to invest in people alongside investments in nature. “To date, KMR has supported 228 local people to receive relevant training, many from local iwi/hapū, including directly training 57 people as KMR Field Advisors”.  Through its projects, KMR has also created over 285,000 hours of new work to date – a year’s worth of work for over 180 people, often in rural and remote areas. “Close to 50 local businesses are also providing support to KMR projects right around the catchment.  Our investment supports a lot of local, rural employment”.