Close-up of young green onion plants sprouting from soil with white planting tags in a garden

Our catchment

One catchment, fourteen communities.

Our landscape | 96,920 ha spanning from Clive to Kererū, across much of the Heretaunga Plains is the productive heart of Hawke’s Bay and one of New Zealand’s most recognised food growing landscapes, where land, water, communities and industry intersect.

From the Raukawa Range and the Poukawa Basin, past Havelock North and Hastings, to the Clive River and the sea. Each sub-catchment has its own waterways, land uses and priorities.

Color-coded map showing different regions with labels such as Poporangi, Mangatahi, Hastings, and Havelock North, with major roads like State Highway 50 and 2, and bodies of water including the Tutiraekurir River.

Overview

  • The Karamū River Catchment Collective is a local led network working across 96,920 hectares and 12 unique sub-catchments throughout Te Karamū and the Heretaunga Plains.

  • Our purpose is to help nature thrive within working and living landscapes.

    We focus on practical, locally led action that shows how biodiversity and productive land use can exist side by side strengthening each other over time.

    We work across the catchment to show what becomes possible when nature is integrated into everyday land use.

  • We deliver and support projects and learning across the Karamū catchment, including:

    • Wetland restoration

    • Riparian planting and drainage network enhancement

    • Predator trapping and biodiversity recovery programmes

    • Urban and peri-urban biodiversity initiatives

    • On farm demonstration projects across sheep and beef, horticulture and viticulture systems

    Each project is designed to demonstrate nature in practice showing what works, where it works, and how it benefits different land uses across the catchment.

  • Karamū River Catchment Collective is a learning network.

    Members gain access to:

    • resources

    • locally relevant funding opportunities

    • workshops and field based learning

    By connecting across subcatchments, members share experience, test ideas and build practical solutions together.

    • Muddy Creek

    • Mangateretere / Havelock Streams

    • Raupare

    • Louisa

    • Karamū Clive Corridor

    • Irongate

    • Paritua

    • Awanui

    • Poukawa

    • Maraekakaho

    • Mangatahi

    • Poporangi

A stream that changed course, and a landscape that changed with it.

In 160 years the Heretaunga Plains have changed almost beyond recognition.

Te Karamū was once the main channel of the Ngaruroro River. After the great flood of 1867 the river changed course, and the streams from Irongate to Longlands, around Havelock North and on to Waipatu, joined to become Te Karamū.

Māori named the stream for the karamū (Coprosma robusta) that once covered much of Hastings. The Karamū and its tributaries gave an abundance of kai to the whānau and hapū of the area, and marae such as Ruahāpia and Waipatu still stand in the catchment today.

Today the same stream waters some of New Zealand's most productive land, carries most of Hastings' stormwater, and still flows past the places people fish, walk and swim. Looking after it is a shared job.

Working together with

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Logo of the Bioeconomy Science Institute, featuring an abstract design of interconnected shapes and the text 'Bioeconomy Science Institute Maangi Taio'.
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The logo of the Ministry for Primary Industries, Manatū Ahu Matua, featuring the New Zealand coat of arms with symbolic figures and elements.
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Logo of the Department of Conservation, Te Papa Atawhai
Hawkes Bay Regional Council logo with green leaf graphic

Get Involved

Find your place in the Collective.


Whether you farm 500 hectares or live beside the stream, there's a way to be part of this.

  • Four men standing outside near a blue flag that reads "Karamu River Catchment Collective" under an overhang, with trees and a grassy area in the background.

    Farmers & growers

    Funding, advice and on-farm support for the changes you want to make.

    • Help finding and applying for funding

    • Co-investment in fencing and planting

    • Field days with people who farm like you

    Support for Landowners
  • A young woman with curly hair wearing a pink shirt and a black and white striped vest outdoors near a canal, with green trees and houses in the background on a sunny day.

    Iwi & mana whenua

    Caring for the mauri of Te Karamū, together and on your terms.

    • Support for marae and hapū-led restoration

    • Connection to science and monitoring

    • Space to share mātauranga

    Working with iwi
  • A woman with long hair tied back, wearing a blue jacket, is standing near a small stream in a rural area. In the background, other people are fishing or walking along the bank, with greenery and trees around.

    Schools & community

    Plant, count, test and learn about the stream on your doorstep.

    • Community and school planting days

    • Citizen science you can join

    • Borrow a trap from the Trap Library

    Community Programs
  • Local businesses

    Local businesses

    Put your support into local, visible projects your team can be part of.

    • Project sponsorship

    • Staff volunteer days

    • Reporting on the difference you make

    Support for local businesses

Join the Collective

Membership connects you to funding, workshops, field days and people doing the same work.

Become a member