A philanthropic trust associated with millionaire American businessman Julian Robertson is putting almost $1 million toward boosting seabird numbers in Hawke's Bay.
The Aotearoa Foundation is investing $930,000 in a Department of Conservation-led programme aimed to attract thousands of seabirds back to Hawke's Bay and restore key environmental sites across the province.
It will focus initially on the Maungaharuru-Tutira district and the first phase of the restoration project includes work on re-establishing rare seabird colonies in predator-proof sanctuaries. The programme also includes large-scale programmes to rebuild selected forest and wetland habitats integrated with wide scale predator control.
The 10-year ``Returning the beating wings of Maungaharuru'' programme will see DOC in partnership with a range of private conservation groups, iwi, local authorities, farmers and community trusts.
The initial $930,000 investment from the Aotearoa Foundation, a philanthropic trust set up by interests associated with Mr Robertson, a Cape Kidnappers land owner, has been welcomed by DOC director-general Al Morrison.
``This is great news for conservation -- when the private sector, community groups and government organisations join together to invest in the environment, we will be rewarded by region-wide, and even national, benefits,'' he said.
The programme involves bird breeding techniques which aim to re-establish once plentiful sea bird colonies in Hawke's Bay's hills and coastline.
Along with seabirds, the project will also develop breeding populations of threatened birds such as kiwi, kaka, kokako and kakariki in selected sites across the province.
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