Today we want to recognise the importance of partnerships, collaborations and funders to the continued mahi of Friends of Bullock Creek. When organisations work together, resources, knowledge, skills and efficiencies can be shared, meaning more capability within the community for environmental, ecosystem and change and benefit for everyone.

 With the continued collaboration and partnership with key organisations like Te Kākano, WAI Wānaka, Otago Catchment Community Inc, Tiaki Bees, Wānaka Backyard Trapping, Otago Regional Council and Otago Fish & Game, we benefit from their resources and their own staff and volunteer bases, providing the land on which we undertake the restoration work, providing support and guidance, helping us to plant the native plants, and monitoring the creek and waterway health. Plus so much more.

And without funding from key funders like Otago Catchment Community Inc, Patagonia and Central Lakes Trust, the wetlands restoration work we do at Bullock Creek wouldn’t happen. Period.

And let’s not forget our wonderful volunteers, who we continue to uplift and celebrate, in being there week in, week out over the past 9 years, during the rain and the sunshine, doing the hard mahi of weeding, mulching, and planting (and everything in between) to help restore Bullock Creek wetlands and springs to the space we all enjoy now.

Thank you to everyone who makes, and has made, Bullock Creek what it is today.

Be sure to check out and support all these fabulous organisations- together, we all make a strong community, passionate about environmental and ecosystem health and wellbeing.

What a successful day we had for World Wetlands Day on Sunday 2nd February 2025; we’re still on a high!

The sun was out, the birds were singing, the fish were swimming down the creek and we had at least 300 visitors pass through Bullock Creek! Many visitors took the opportunity to engage with the interactive displays and demonstrations, learning about the Bullock Creek ecosystem and the importance of wetlands and waterways and their conservation, to human and animal health. Demonstrations included fish displays, catching and viewing freshwater macroinvertebrates, learning about reducing the spread of didymo, meeting rabbit-catching ferrets doing their bit for predator control, learning about bees, wandering along the boardwalk to discover the native species plantings, getting to know a bit more about Wānaka history, and much, much more.

Visitors enjoyed a free community BBQ on the lawn and took the opportunity to chat with friends, new and old, and even engage in some fishing line casting fun! Some visitors were neighbours who walk along the boardwalk track daily; some were locals who haven’t visited for awhile and were awestruck by the changes made in ecosystem restoration and invasive species management; one couple who met each other at Bullock Creek decades ago came back to visit together; while others visited from out of town, keen to learn more about the gem that is Bullock Creek. Such beautiful stories of connection and of the social and ecological benefits that Bullock Creek provides for us all.

Thank you to everyone involved, funders and partners alike: Otago Fish & Game Council, Otago Catchment Community Inc and Nicole Sutton, Te Kākano, Predator Free Wānaka (formally Wānaka Backyard Trapping), Otago Regional Council, WAI Wānaka, Tiaki Bees, Wānaka History, QEII Trust, and Corrections NZ.