Project Parore is a catchment care group based in Katikati in the Western Bay of Plenty. It was formed in 2004 by local people who could see that the health of the Uretara River and its estuary mattered, not just for nature, but for the future of the productive land and community that surrounds it.
Since then, Project Parore has grown well beyond the Uretara. Today, its work is aimed at the eleven rivers that flow into the northern Tauranga Harbour. The goal is simple and deeply practical, to restore the health of the moana so that the parore, a fish once common in the harbour, can return in numbers. If the parore thrive, we will know we have restored the balance between land and water.
Working upstream
The main pressures on Tauranga Harbour are silt and excess runoff nutrients. The solutions start upstream, on the land.
Project Parore works alongside farmers and landowners on riparian planting, wetland restoration, and the retirement and reafforestation of steep or unproductive land. These changes protect soil, improve water quality, and strengthen farms for the long term.
Innovation on farm
One of the most innovative tools has been the introduction of dung beetles onto livestock farms. These small insects deliver big benefits. They reduce faecal runoff into streams and the harbour, improve pasture recovery from dung bombs, and increase water infiltration into the soil.
Scientists from Bioeconomy Science Institute AgResearch have worked alongside Project Parore volunteers for several years, tracking beetle spread and measuring their effects on soil health, earthworms, and gastrointestinal parasite loads. It is practical science, tested on real farms, delivering real results.
Growing capacity
Last year alone, Project Parore planted more than 100,000 native plants. To meet growing demand and keep costs down, the organisation established a much larger nursery in 2025, invested in a potting machine, and employed a nursery manager.
Volunteers play a vital role, collecting local seed and helping grow plants that are well adapted to this land.
Measured change
Project Parore is a registered charity and incorporated society, led by local volunteers and supported by a professional general manager and team. Jobs for Nature funding from the Ministry for the Environment in 2021 enabled the organisation to scale up its work.
In the four years to June 2025, 31 hectares of riparian and wetland areas were restored, with a further 71 hectares underway, and 166 hectares of unproductive non-riparian land were retired. That is real change, measured on the ground.
Ongoing mahi
The work does not stop there. Fish passage remediation, plant pest control, and support for community-led animal pest control are all ongoing. The team provides technical advice, practical services, and backs local people who want to do the right thing for their land.
Project Parore was a founding member of the Bay Conservation Alliance ten years ago and continues to partner with it to support environmental education in local schools. Several of Project Parore’s current and former staff were trained in the BCA Conservation Cadet Programme, showing that investing in people is just as important as investing in land.
Recognition and future focus
Parore’s work has been recognised, including the NZ Landcare Trust Catchment Group Award for the Bay of Plenty in 2022 and nationally the Cawthron Institute’s Aotearoa New Zealand Freshwater Champions Award in 2024. One of its lighthouse farms, Pukekauri, operated by the brothers Rick and John Burke together with Rick’s wife Jan, also won a national award, showing that good environmental management can help deliver excellent farming results.
This year, Jobs for Nature funding comes to an end. Project Parore is now positioning itself for a more commercial approach that will support its long-term survival. Like many rural organisations, it knows it must ultimately stand on its own feet, but it is also looking to government agencies, including the Ministry for Primary Industries, for clarity and support for catchment groups doing this essential work.
Because at the end of the day, this is about more than funding. It is about backing local people to care for their land, protect their waterways, and leave something better behind for the next generation. Their work helps rivers run clearer and slower, reducing downstream risks and impacts all the way to the sea. Everyone, and nature, wins. www.projectparore.nz
