Biodiversity
Habitat for threatened native birds, fish and wetland plants in a nationally significant ecosystem.
For funders, councils & government
A Project Worth Investing In
Restoring Waikare and Whangamarino isn’t simply an environmental project. It’s environmental infrastructure.
The proposition
Ten returns from one landscape.
Investment here does not buy a single outcome. It buys biodiversity, water quality, resilience, culture, education and regional reputation from the same catchment.
Water quality
Reduced sediment and nutrient in the lower Waikato system, with measurable indicators.
Flood resilience
Whangamarino is part of the Lower Waikato flood-control system. Restoration and resilient infrastructure belong in the same plan.
Climate resilience
Peat wetlands store carbon and buffer extremes. Degradation releases what restoration protects.
Cultural restoration
Restoring the mauri of the lake and wetland, and the relationships and practices tied to them.
Recreation
Safe access to water, walking, birdwatching and paddling for a fast-growing population.
Education
A living outdoor classroom for schools across the northern Waikato and Auckland fringe.
Tourism
A Ramsar-listed wetland an hour from Auckland is an underused visitor asset.
Community wellbeing
Pride, connection and volunteering built around a shared long-term project.
Regional identity
The lower Waikato known for a recovering wetland, not a degraded one.
Invest in the environmental infrastructure of the Lower Waikato.
What funding unlocks first
- Feasibility and engineering studies for water movement, legacy sediment and water-level control options.
- Long-run monitoring so investment can be evaluated against evidence.
- Catchment-scale planting and erosion control delivered alongside landowners.
- Sustained koi carp control rather than one-off removal.
- Community and school programmes that keep public support behind the work for decades.
Why WWWR
A community partner, not another voice against you.
WWWR is deliberately collaborative. We bring landowners, mana whenua, residents, schools, scientists, councils and agencies together, and we back solutions that protect both the environment and the community that lives in it.
We inherited the problem. We can leave the solution.