The Albany Basin is home to 4,000 small businesses, 30,000 employees, and 15,000 students. It also has one of the lowest levels of canopy cover in North West Auckland. Add to that the area’s many grey, heat-absorbing surfaces such as concrete and commercial rooftops, and you begin to understand why it has been designated a 'heat island'.
A heat island is a pocket of land that experiences higher temperatures than surrounding areas. In a climate-impacted future, the extra heat in a heat island will not only be more uncomfortable, but will aggravate health issues and increase the risk of heat-related harm to humans, animals and wildlife. Albany basin still has green spaces and taonga species and waterways in its ecosystem; it is home to Rosedale Park and the Alexandra Stream. Unfortunately, these valuable spaces with the potential to improve our living situation have been neglected for 70 years and infiltrated by pollution, industrial waste and weeds.
The birth of a brilliant idea
When the National Hockey Centre in Albany was opened in December 2019, mātua Tracy Davis, Ngāti Whātua, asked members of the North Harbour Hockey Association an important question. “If you want to look after your people, what are you doing to look after your whenua (land) and your awa (waterway)?”
For Nicky Shave, at the time a board member of North Harbour Hockey, now project lead at Te Hōnonga a Iwi (Restoring Rosedale), the question came at a pivotal moment. She and the board had recently been tasked with creating North Harbour Hockey’s sustainability roadmap and were committed to becoming a pioneer in sports sustainability. Further consultation with Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara and local community groups began to seed the vision. From the beginning, it was more than solely an environmental goal; Te Hōnonga a Iwi is deeply about people. It’s in the very name of the project; Kaumatua Richard Nahi, Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara, explains.
“Te Hōnonga a Iwi virtually means the responsibility of being a kaitiaki (guardian), which also means being a kaitiakitanga, which means looking after the land, caring for the waterways, caring for the piece that has been designated,” he says. “Te hono means to join. Te Hononga is a way of people coming together, regardless of nationality, what area they come from, what country they come from. It’s a recognition of everybody together working as one people for a purpose and the kaitiakitanga of the whenua and the waterway.”
Values in action
Originally part of North Harbour Hockey, and then the Upper Waitemata Ecology Network (UWEN), Te Hōnonga a Iwi became a stand-alone entity in 2025 to enable growth, funding and resources. Nicky explains that voices from many sectors, including mana whenua, education, research, sporting, commercial, local government, NGO and corrections, helped create the organisation’s goals.
“We are iwi, SME and youth-led,” says Nicky. “Our youth in particular were very insistent that we needed to increase environmental health to increase social equity and individual health. We are also interdisciplinary, intergenerational, inclusive, transcultural, collaborative and hopeful.”
You can see these values being put into action on a daily basis at their te ngāhere (bush) restoration site behind Hilton Brown Swimming and the mara kai (food garden) beside the National Hockey Centre. There is a role in this project for every kind of volunteer with every kind of skill set – from the retired gardeners at Settlers Lifestyle Village who nurture native seedlings, to local cultural groups like the Sunnynook Chinese Association who come in to weed and clear waste.
“Te Hōnonga a Iwi is about connection – bringing together people who might not otherwise work alongside each other around a shared goal of improving the wellbeing of our natural environment and our community.” Te Hōnonga a Iwi chair Sheryl Blythen says, “We are thankful to the many local businesses, schools and early childhood centres, youth leaders, universities and researchers, Paremoremo Prison, disabled people, lifestyle villages, volunteers and community groups who have all contributed their time, expertise, resources and enthusiasm to our mahi [work].”
There have been many different types of mahi to participate in! More than 5,500 volunteers have cleared waste and weeds, planted trees, looked after those trees using bio-organic methodologies, trapped pests and monitored soil health and freshwater quality. Te Hōnonga a Iwi also sources green waste from the wider area, such as tree trimmings, which are mulched and composted in on-site reactors before moving on to the vegetable beds in the mara kai and new native planting. There are also chickens to be cared for. The chickens work for the project in their own way, helping to break down organic matter and fertilise the ground.
Each new effort builds upon the work that has gone before, helping Te Hōnonga a Iwi to slowly regenerate freshwater quality, improve tree survival, welcome back wildlife and increase Albany’s heat island resilience for the future. Nicky explains, “There’s an ongoing relationship between the land and the community, and it’s a reciprocal relationship where the community also benefits. The restored whenua can provide canopy, food, fresh water and act as a carbon sink.” (Carbon sinks pull carbon out of the air and lock it away, which plays a key part in lowering the amount of greenhouse gases.)
She makes clear that the environmental changes they want to see require long-term commitment, as do their goals for positive community and individual health impacts. However, within three and a half years, the project has already achieved increased canopy cover using regenerative methods.
Impacting community and individuals
Positive community and individual health impacts are clear to see. People from many different backgrounds volunteer here together around a shared objective; they are not just restoring land but building community. The work groups in the Seed Whakapapa workstream are an intergenerational example. (Seed whakapapa broadly means the lineage of care for the seeds) These groups include older adults from retirement communities working alongside school students. Both benefit from the connections – reducing isolation, valuing elders, and helping pass down knowledge and skills to local youth.
Rehabilitation benefits are generated from the connection with the Paremoremo Prison nursery, which contributed half the native tree stock needed for the 2026 plantings. Here, conservation work gives inmates a hands-on way to make a positive difference in their local community. Inmates grow specific varieties, such as nīkau palms, to create the groves needed to regenerate weed-infested areas of Rosedale Park.
Environmental learning opportunities are offered to people of all ages and abilities. Te Hōnonga a Iwi has taught students how to grow food, care for chickens, prune trees and grow seedlings, and some schools like Kristin School and Rangitoto College have used volunteering at the project to fulfil service-learning hours and build leadership skills. In fact, Nicky says, “three quarters of the total volunteering hours towards the project have come from students. These include schools such as Wilson School, Takapuna Grammar, Rangitoto College, Kristin Schools, Westminster, Albany Senior High School and Albany Junior High School, Northcross Intermediate, Long Bay College and home schools.”
On-site research
Te Hōnonga a Iwi partners with a variety of academic, governmental and private organisations, as well as Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara, to undertake ongoing analysis of water quality, aquatic and land biodiversity, canopy growth, carbon sequestration, carbon footprint, soil health, bird counts and pest management counts. “We have academic, educational, ecological, disability and health specialists, university capstone and intern students, community specialists such as the UWEN team, and regenerative expert Matt Cummings from Untangled Landscapes working on this project alongside cultural wisdom and knowledge," Nicky says.
Another aim of the project is to identify the feasibility of using bio-organisms and bio-organic processes to control weeds. An example: students from Wilson School recently grew the tradescantia beetle population in their classroom 'beetle hotel' for release at Rosedale Park. This species specifically eats a weed that has formed a mat over the forest floor. Bio-organisms like these beetles can be a strong form of weed control, and are less harmful to other plants than herbicides, self-sustaining, and more cost-effective over time.
How special is all of this?
Te Hōnonga a Iwi is already recognised as extraordinary, not only because it is a voluntary climate action project designed to decarbonise and sequester carbon to benefit the health and wellbeing of people, businesses and the planet, but also due to the way they go about achieving their goals. The project is a finalist in the Sustainable Business Awards and one of ten in the Regenerating Nature Award category; winners will be announced on 26 November. They have also been selected as one of ten Australasian restorations for Bupa’s Healthy Cities campaign and are a finalist in the North Shore Business Excellence in Not-For-Profit Award, which will be announced on 13 November.
Get involved, make a difference.
Whatever your skills may be, Te Hōnonga a Iwi (Restoring Rosedale) would like to hear from you. Sign up via their membership form at restoringrosedalepark.org.nz/become-a-member and receive monthly updates and lists of volunteering opportunities.
Benefitz, the publisher of Channel Magazine, has partnered with Te Hōnonga a Iwi and provides an ongoing supply of reused banners for the project to use in the fight against invasive pest plants.
