Love Bittern Project

Work Areas

Main CEPA work area

Community workshops, wetland walk and talks, wetland habitat assessments, school visits - with over 100 community groups each year. Newsletters and communication of nationwide synchronized events and results.

Top three successes

Connect to Protect – ongoing campaign to raise awareness and educate communities by meeting them in their project area providing on-site education and advocacy for Bittern and their wetland homes.

The Great Matuku-Hurepo Muster – Coordinated synchronised nationwide counts of male Bittern (or Matuku, Matuku-hurepo in te reo Maori) booming. In using Bittern as a measure for the health of wetlands we are connecting people to their wetlands , helping them realise the value of wetlands and empowering them to take meaningful action.

Habitat for Hurepo – as the only wetland specific apex predator we train and upskill our communities to assess the features of an intact Bittern (wetland) habitat and set what action they can take now to protect and restore their wetland homes.

Top three challenges

Being mobile- presents a huge benefit in terms of being face-to-face but can also be challenging to sustain travel for 4-8 months of the year.
Growing pains – we’ve grown rapidly which means that we have to think about how we can create efficiencies in our delivery.
Remaining funding fed and not funding led -presents challenges in getting the right sponsors, ie. funders who share the project vision rather than dictate the direction.