Awards celebrate region’s successes
Those showing their commitment to the environment were recognised at the 2016 Southland Community Environment Awards.
The ceremony, hosted by Environment Southland, was held at the Ascot Park Hotel last night.
Chief executive Rob Phillips said the night was about celebrating environmental successes in the region.
While the awards recognised good work across the community, it also highlighted that farmers were doing their best to keep land and water clean.
‘‘There has been a some really varied entries, it’s good to see.’’
It was also about reflecting that it was a community effort and could not be achieved by Environment Southland alone.
There were 28 Southland nominees across six categories.
Garry Christie was the winner of the Individual award for his dedication to good environmental practice, both on his own dairy farm at Mokotua and in a variety of other projects he lends a hand to.
The Schools category was taken out by Limehills School for its commitment to the Enviroschools programme and the work they have done to incorporate the principles of the programme throughout their entire curriculum.
Heddon Bush School received a commended.
Ernslaw One Ltd was called as the winner of the Commercial category because of the forestry company’s impressive diversification into farming freshwater crayfish in an environmentally sustainability way.
Two nominees took out Achiever awards on the night.
The Winton Rotary Club was announced for its work on the Rotary Trail.
The second was the Pomona Island Charitable Trust for its pest eradication work on Pomona and Rona Islands on Lake Manapouri.
The Community Group award was given to the Omaui Landcare the Charitable Trust for its major pest control efforts in the Omaui Reserve.
Elya Holdings was the Farming category winner.
Based along the Te AnauMossburn Highway, Craig and Rachael Horrell run their 720-hectare specialist grazing unit with everything possible done to minimise their environmental footprint.
Father-and-daughter team George McMeeken and Jaimee Edwards were commended in the farming section.
The Innovator award went to the Stewart Island/Rakiura Community Environment Trust for its work dedicated to improving the environment around Halfmoon Bay.
The trust has trialled different types of traps and ways of recording data in its efforts to control possums, rats and feral cats on 200 hectares of private and public land.
Pourakino Catchment Group was awarded the Councillors’ Special Award for its valuable efforts in its community.
The catchment group, formed in 2014 by a small group of proactive and environmentally aware farmers, has been rewarded for its actions, which helped improve knowledge of good practice around nutrient and land management.
The group’s actions are going a long way to developing community interest and community solutions to environmental issues.