Adam Gard'ner and Duane Major, from the Awaroa Beach Campaign, back the Wekaweka forest campaign.
Adam Gard'ner and Duane Major, from the Awaroa Beach Campaign, back the Wekaweka forest campaign.
The crowdfunding campaign to buy 112ha of native forest in the Wekaweka Valley is gaining momentum with a large slice of the required $185,000 now in hand.
The Native Forest Restoration Trust now needs only around $55,000 to seal the deal before the no-deal date of May 15, said chiefexecutive Sandy Crichton.
"Including our $18,500 deposit, we've probably now raised around $130,000," he said.
The scales have been tipped at this sharp end of the fundraising quest by the involvement of Christchurch men Duane Major and Adam Gard'ner, who were behind the Awaroa Beach Givealittle campaign in which 40,000 Kiwis gave $2.3m toward the purchase price of $2.8m of the coastal property in Abel Tasman Park.
"Adam and Duane's involvement has certainly given the appeal a much-needed boost and we're very grateful for their support. $130,000 might not seem a lot in the world we live in but we've honestly been overwhelmed by the support," Mr Crichton said.
"We've received donations from Southland to Northland so it has received support on a national scale which is phenomenal."
The trust said the purchase is an amazing opportunity to turn the last remaining fragment of internationally significant indigenous forest in the Wekaweka Valley into a fully protected reserve.
Contributions of any size can be made at https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/wekawekavalley and www.nfrt.org.nz/wekaweka-appeal.
