Upbeat rock music plays. See Nathan Denmark, Stream Team Member at Ōtara Waterways and Lake Trust. Behind him is lush, green native vegetation, including tall trees and dense bushes. The sky is bright blue with scattered white clouds, and sunlight casts clear shadows, indicating a sunny day.
Nathan Denmark: “When you've got chainsaws, wheelbarrows, plants to plant, shovels, all that sort of thing, you can't beat a ute for that.”
See a bright blue EV ute in the middle of a grass field. There’s trees in the background, new native plants and two stream team members grabbing tools out of the back of the ute.
See Katie Jones, Project Manager of Ōtara Waterways and Lake Trust, she is standing in front of the bright blue ute with trees in the background. The video cuts to various shots of waterways and streams surrounded by dense greenery. There are scenes of flowing water, overgrown banks, patches of invasive plants and pollution in the water e.g. a shopping trolley. Occasionally, the camera pans across the landscape, showing the scale of the area.
Katie Jones: “The Ōtata waterways and Lake Trust was established in 2016 to restore the mauri of the Ōtata waterways and to restore the connection and pride that our local communities have to their waterways, and we're facing issues with sedimentation, contamination, pollution, illegal dumping and rubbish are big problems for us.”
See volunteers working together to clean up the area, clear invasive weeds, remove rubbish and set pest traps. Some are planting young trees and shrubs, while others dig holes or carry equipment. There are close-ups of hands placing plants into the soil.
Katie Jones: “Massive amounts of pest plants and pest animals, which are then overtaking our native vegetation and native animals. So, the work that we're doing is to restore and to resolve all of those issues.”
See a map of the local area showing the size of the Ōtata catchment. Drone footage shows the area from above with lush, green native vegetation, including tall trees and dense bushes. See volunteers planting native plants and walking through dense bush.
Katie Jones: “The catchment is huge. It runs from the top of Redoubt Road and flows through Ormiston, through the Ōtata area and out through the Tamaki estuary and there's nearly 200 kilometres of open stream. We've planted nearly 200,000 native trees, shrubs and grasses hosted over a hundred community events and supported over 3,000 people. Be volunteers or people that are just coming down to participate in our community engagement.”
Drone footage shows the blue electric ute driving into the frame and parking nearby. The ute is and branded with the trust’s logo and Meridian’s logo.
Katie Jones: “The Ōtara Waterways and Lake Trust applied to the Meridian Energy Decarbonisation Fund for a fully electric ute. The ute, as you can see, is fantastic. It looks amazing. And being able to proudly say that it's fully electric really shows that we're fully committed to our sustainability journey.”
See the electric ute, highlighting its modern design and eco-friendly features. Nathan and another stream team member getting tools out of the back of the ute. They grab pesticide spraying tools and start spraying the surrounding invasive weeds and foliage in the area.
Nathan Denmark: “Even in the work that we do, which is stereotypically done with, you know, petrol chainsaws and diesel utes. It doesn't have to be that way anymore. And so this was an important step for us. To not only get another vehicle for our team to diversify our workload, but also if we care about our impact, not just on the streamway, but out on the roads as well.”
See drone footage of the surrounding lush, green native vegetation and streams.
Katie Jones: “The ute means that we can transport equipment and herbicides safely to our sites and just provides us with a lot more flexibility in the work that we do.”
Nathan and another stream team member continue walking and spraying the surrounding invasive weeds and foliage in the area. See a close up of Nathan’s hand plugging one of the batteries for their tools into the charger in the electric ute.
Nathan Denmark: “Previously, if we ran out of battery on one of our electric tools, that would be an afternoon changer. Now we've got a ute with a 240 plug in the back of it, and in half an hour your tool's all charged and ready to go again.”
See Nathan filling up his spraying container.
Katie Jones: “So, it's been an immense contribution to the trust and we very proudly drive it around to all of our restoration sites.”
The final shots show the ute driving away with the restored waterways and planted areas in the background.
See the Meridian logo appear on screen and upbeat rock music fades out.
