Kaiwaka couple Tania Dropulich and Innes Anderson are encouraging fellow sheep, beef and dairy farmers to partner with Kaipara Moana Remediation and give the environment a boost.

Together, they run a 211-hectare dairy farm milking 500 cows, alongside a 250-hectare sheep and beef unit where they finish 200 dairy-beef cross annually, along with 500 lambs.

Despite their land containing 80-hectares of pristine native bush, they have wanted to do more to develop pockets of native and enhance wetlands.

When they decided to retire their cut-over pine block and restore it back into permanent indigenous forest, they recognised they needed help.

So, they teamed up with Kaipara Moana Remediation and The Forest Bridge Trust and now the journey on their Fonterra dairy farm is now well underway.

Much of the farm is highly erodible and steep. As a result, any sediment generated from this site during high rainfall events can impact the adjacent Cook Creek that flows down to the Hakaru River, which then flows into the Topuni River, the Ōruawharo River and then into the Kaipara Moana.

Tania and Innes also plan to restore two wetlands on their property and are grateful for the support from KMR, TFBT and Fonterra to bring their restoration project to life, simply because they weren’t sure where to start or what projects to prioritise.

“I would definitely encourage farmers to get on board with KMR and make the time and effort,” says Innes.

The pair are clearly passionate in their leaning towards nature.

“Doing this work fits with our values and we were struggling to do it on our own. It is really hard to get it up and running on your own. But there is so much expertise and so many groups and funding options our there – and everybody is talking to each other and collaborating.

“We have always been interested in conservation, so this has always been a desire of ours and it fits with the Fonterra environmental plans. We hope that if people can see us putting this kind of energy into the farm, then it might inspire others to do the same,” the pair say.

The current project is a collaboration with Fonterra Sustainable Dairy Advisor Ben Herbert who has supported Tania and Innes to secure a KMR fencing grant. TFBT Field Advisor Angela Parkin, with additional expertise from KMR’s planting specialist Dave McDermott, has helped create the Sediment Reduction Plan outlining the actions needed to assist the natural native regeneration of the cut-over pine block, along with the wetland restoration.

Competing daily priorities on-farm has certainly made challenging for farmers like Tania and Innes to take action as they would ultimately like to. However, with access to expertise and grants, the farmers feel supported and empowered to play their part to ‘do the right thing’ to reduce sediment entering those water ways which ultimately impact the Kaipara Moana.

Of the 365.5 hectares of land they own (the couple also lease land), 3.87ha has been retired and is being restored – 3.04 ha of eroding cutover pine block and 0.83ha wetland and riparian margin.

Now that 1.1km of fencing has been put in, almost 5000 native plants will be put in the ground in the winter of 2024 in partnership with KMR and TFFT and with ongoing support from Fonterra. They hope more planting will be undertaken in 2025.

For Innes and Tania, this is just the start of their journey and they are adamant that much more is possible.

“This area of land is incredibly special to us and the Brynderwyn Range is a highly significant area, so we want to play our part in protecting that and helping preserve the Kaipara Harbour along the way.”