Editorial: Cape to City worth supporting

Andy Lowe

Many of us have a simplistic view of conservation - a pristine reserve fenced off from predators, maybe?

That is certainly part of it but conservation is all around us.

Gardens, schoolyards and even farmland can be conservation areas.

A few weeks back I spent time chatting to local businessman Andy Lowe, Hawke's Bay Regional Council's land service manager Campbell Leckie and the Bugman Ruud Kleinpaste, about the Cape to City project.

Mr Lowe is a major employer in the region but one of his biggest passions is the environment. Cape Sanctuary is the largest privately owned and funded wildlife restoration project in the country and covers three properties on the Cape Kidnappers peninsula, one of which is owned by Mr Lowe and his wife, Liz.

But Mr Lowe does not want to stop there and has a vision for a pest and predator-free New Zealand in the next few decades.

This is where the Cape to City biodiversity project comes in. It is striving to make Hawke's Bay predator free, using low-cost, large-scale predator control throughout 26,000ha of farmland between Waimarama and Havelock North.

The aim is to restore native species and plants and add value for farm businesses. Cape to City and sister project Poutiri Ao o Tane will receive more than $6million of funding over five years through a collaborative partnership involving the Hawke's Bay Regional Council, the Department of Conservation, Landcare Research, Cape Sanctuary and the Aotearoa Foundation, as well as private businesses and other Crown research institutes.

But Cape to City is also about educating the young and making them environmentally aware.

So, next time you hear about Cape to City, don't hesitate to support it.