News

Nau mai, haere mai, welcome to the 2025 Coastal Restoration Trust Conference: Taihuanui - A Bountiful Coast.

Join us at Uawanui a Ruamatua Tolaga Bay from 12 -14 March 2025 at the historic Reynolds Hall as our venue.

Also enjoy marae accommodation at Hauiti marae and the hospitality of the local iwi, Te Aitanga a Hauiti.

Click HERE for more information on the conference website.

Click HERE to be taken directly to the conference registration form.

Photo ot Tolaga Bay with mihi overlaid & CRT logo.Haramai ki Taihuanui

Ko Titirangi te maunga

Ko Uawanui a Ruamatua te awa

Ko Te Aitanga a Hauiti te iwi

Welcome to the bountiful coastline

Titirangi is the mountain

Uawanui a Ruamatua is the river

Te Aitanga a Hauiti is the iwi

Calendar the dates for the 2025 Coastal Restoration Trust Conference.

Join us at Uawanui a Ruamatua Tolaga Bay from 12-14 March 2025 where you can enjoy marae accommodation and the significance of the venue, historic Reynolds Hall.

Ūawa Tolaga is blessed with a beautiful beach and is known for its very long wharf which is something of an icon of the local area. Historically, Ūawa Tolaga is a site where Captain Cook made a landing on his circumnavigation of Aotearoa.

There will be a free Dunes 101 pre conference workshop with Jim Dahm at 4pm on Tuesday 11 March at Ūawa Tolaga Bay. As part of conference proceedings, Graeme Atkins will be sharing his knowledge about rare coastal plants and Manu Caddie will be talking about sustainable land management. Dr Murray Cave, chief scientist at Gisborne District Council will also be speaking.

More details to come with future announcements about speakers as well as updates about registration.

The whole community joined in to help with a day’s planting at Hinetamatea Marae north of Ūawa Tolaga Bay where the 2025 CRT conference will be held.

The planting done compromised of sea salt tolerant plants as well as sand binders to aid in stabilizing the dunes in front of the Marae and Urupaa.

Also share in the excellent news that Alison Waru has secured funding to build a nursery to grow plants for the East Coast.

Thanks to Oriana Rojas - Gisborne District Council -for supplying Pingao, Wiwi and Sand Coprosma.

Thanks to Mere Tamanui - Ngutu Kaka Trust - for the Toitoi, Tauhinu, Karo and Mahoe.

And thanks also to the Hinetamatea Marae Committee and whanau for their foresight in wanting to try this method of protection from sea level rise for the precious Marae and Urupaa.

The Pīngao & Toheroa Award is not given out annually. It is to celebrate the exceptional contributions of an individual to coastal restoration only when someone of very high calibre comes to our attention. Recipients of this award automatically become honorary members of the Trust.

This year however, the P&T Award went to a couple for the first time. Graham and Lyn Pearson compliment each other so well, and do such excellent work as a team, that they qualified for this honour together.

Graham and Lyn have been the heartbeat of the Whanganui community for years, and attended CRT conferences since 2011.

It is through their efforts that the Castlecliff Coast Care Group has gone from strength to strength. They work with university students, both local and international, to help with their research. Young school kids get invaluable education through planting days with the group, and each patch has a signboard to honour the class that planted it.

Graham and Lyn continue to take on wattle and replant at their own pace. They arrange community driftwood sculpture competitions and will always be there to present evidence based arguments if they don’t agree with proposals for Castlecliff.

They have always had enlightening and engaging presentations in the regional roundups at conference, which focus on a learning point for the year.

Their immense achievements in their community and coastal area makes Graham and Lyn the perfect double recipients of the Pīngao and Toheroa Award, and the Trust was thrilled to present them with the beautiful trophy that was designed and carved by James te Tuhi.

First image: Previous P&T recipient Jason Roberts, presenting Graham and Lyn Pearson with the trophy.

Second image: CRT Chair Laura Shaft, Lyn Pearson, Jason Roberts, Graham Pearson.

Photo credit to Simon Hoyle, Southlight Studios.

The Coastal Restoration Award recognises on the ground results achieved through team work and tenacity. The award is generously sponsored by Coastlands Plant Nursery.

This year at the Kāwhia conference, the award was presented to the Kūaotunu Dune Care Group.

This group in Kūaotunu, on the eastern coast of Coromandel Peninsula north of Whitianga, originally formed to tackle a growing weed problem in their dunes. With 3 kilometres of dune to restore, they broke up the area into manageable sections and identied weed species and notable plants. They produced a restoration plan, set up a Facebook group and wrote articles for the local paper. This has resulted in large turnouts of volunteers at their regular monthly working bees.

With a grant of almost $10,000 they started work in Zone 1. Under the weeds they found the site had dumped concrete and metal pipes but because of the cultural significance of the site and the presence of native skinks they removed all the rubble by hand. They have complete 7 large restoration plantings and are involved in four sites along the coastline.
The group is supported by Thames-Coromandel District Council and Waikato Regional Council.

We applaud the incredible hardwork of the Kūaotunu Dune Group and look to seeing their progress in the future.

If you are involved in a group that you think deserves this award, or would like to nominate a group, keep an eye out for when nominations open for next year!