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Applications open today for the Westpac Water Care Project grants, which give six community and catchment groups the chance to claim $10,000 each to support an initiative in their area.
The grants are available to any group working on environmental projects that improve the quality and health of waterways – through initiatives such as stream restoration, planting and pest control.
For the last four years the Westpac NZ and NZ Landcare Trust partnership has provided much-needed financial and volunteer help to passionate locals to protect their natural surroundings.
Last year’s grants funded the planting of more than 4,900 native plants; the installation of 133 pest control traps; the establishment of two bio-monitoring programmes; and the improvement of four wetlands.
NZ Landcare Trust CEO Dr Nick Edgar says grant funding is really important to small environmental groups, who know their communities and waterways best.
“Collective action is critical to conserving our waterways to protect biodiversity, and to connect communities,” says Dr Edgar.
“By providing local groups with funding to get their projects under way, we give them the means to get really aspirational about what they could achieve.”
Westpac NZ Head of Agribusiness, Richard Anderson, says the community waterways projects already funded have benefitted thousands of people across the country.
“Healthy and thriving waterways are a big part of our lifestyles and who we are as New Zealanders, which is what makes this partnership with NZ Landcare Trust so important,” he says.
“Talking to farmers and community groups at the recent Northern, Central and Southern Fieldays events, it was great to see the passion of our rural communities for looking after their land, their waterways and the environment for the benefit of their business and the wider community.
“This is a really important partnership for Westpac - our bankers and other teams put in hundreds of volunteer hours every year to work alongside these great local groups on projects in their own backyard.”
Applications for this year’s grants close on 31 May. Interested groups can check if they meet the criteria and register their interest in funding on the Westpac Water Care Project website.
The six recipients of the 2025 Westpac Water Care Project grants and their initiatives were:
- Living Springs (Canterbury) for a power barrow to enable it to maintain and upgrade tracks to ensure access to service traplines, bait stations and transport natives for planting to protect and restore its 1130-hectare catchment.
- Between the Two Rivers Community Catchment Collective (Hawkes Bay) for installing five innovative floating wetlands in Lake Rūnanga to restore lake water quality.
- Otaio/Makikihi Community Catchments Group (South Canterbury) for new and existing riparian, stream and wetland projects, for example fencing, fish barriers, weed control and native planting, that provide the most benefit for water quality in the catchment.
- Makarewa Headwaters Catchment Group (Southland) for phase two of its revival project that will see it work with the local community to reduce feral ungulate (goats, thar, deer and chamois) numbers in a sustainable way to prevent bush damage.
- Otara Waterways and Lake Trust (Upper North Island) for its stream restoration programme, which will see 18,300 native grasses, shrubs and trees planted around 25 streams over approximately 54 hectares.
- Taranaki Community Catchment (Central) to enhance freshwater health and biodiversity and promote sustainable land management practices in the agricultural community in the central dairy farming region.