● Mahakirau Forest Estate Society for its Trilogy of Treasured Taonga project ($201,000 over four years).
Archey's frog at home in Mahakirau Forest Estate. Photo / Sara Smerdon
The Natural Heritage Fund helps implement the council's commitment to preserving native plants and animals, threatened ecosystems, outstanding landscapes and the natural character of waterways and the coast.
The fund has been in place since 2005 and is derived from the Natural Heritage Targeted Rate of $5.80 per property.
Sharing the Mauri and Mana of Maungatautari project, $1.48 million
The funding helps cover the cost of maintaining Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari's pest proof fence and detecting and removing invasive pests. The total cost of maintaining Maungatautari's predator free status is $5.4m over four years.
Waikato Regional Council deputy chairwoman Kataraina Hodge says Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari Trust has been a significant beneficiary of the fund and has made excellent progress as a key site in the recovery of New Zealand's threatened species and the restoration of functioning ecosystems. https://www.sanctuarymountain.co.nz/home
Expanding Thames Coast Predator Control and Habitat Protection, $270,000
The funding will go towards the wages of two staff to extend the area for mustelid control and for materials to reinstate possum/rat control. The total cost of the project is $998,700 over four years.
Thames Coast Kiwi Care was set up in 2006 to protect and enhance kiwi populations along the coast between Thames and Coromandel. It has seen kiwi numbers climb from an estimated 28 kiwi to 250 kiwi in 2021.
"This group's track record is outstanding; without their project, the local kiwi population would almost certainly have disappeared." https://www.thamescoastkiwicare.org/
Bush to Burbs, $129,517
The Bush to Burbs (B2B) project aims to create safe corridors for the increased numbers of birds spilling out from Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari into the north of the maunga.
The project area, from Sanctuary Mountain to Cambridge, is about 11,578 hectares and includes Lake Kārapiro and Rotōrangia and Pukekura to the west. The project will promote and coordinate predator control by private landowners. It borders the Te Taiea te Taiao restoration project along the Mangapiko Stream, which is about creating safe corridors between Sanctuary Mountain and Mt Pirongia.
Successful Bush to Burbs possum kill. Photo / Supplied
The funding will help cover the costs of traps and a small amount of advocacy and liaison time. The total cost of the project is $1.01m.
"There has been no coordinated possum control in this area since the mid-2000s when TB possum control was stopped. Bush to Burbs will essentially pick up where this work left off but with a predator free vision to build considerable biodiversity gains by controlling possums, rats and mustelids," Hodge says. https://www.facebook.com/bushtoburbs/
A Trilogy of Treasured Taonga, $201,000
Mahakirau Forest Estate is an internationally significant natural area comprising of 580 hectares of privately owned native forest on the 309 Rd in the Coromandel Peninsula.
This project centres on the prevention of biodiversity loss of three of New Zealand's most endangered species, which are only found in the Waikato region: Archey's frog, northern striped gecko and Helm's butterfly.
The project area is 400 hectares of an intensely predator-controlled land and involves 18 landowners.
Northern striped gecko in Mahakirau Forest Estate. Photo / Sara Smerdon
The funding will help cover the cost of pest control contractors, with a particular focus on rodents, cats, wasps and pigs, the main species believed to negatively impact the trio. It will also help pay for materials and the preparation of biodiversity management plans.
"We're impressed with this group's high-level biodiversity outcomes and how they work with the likes of researchers and other conservation and environmental groups to clearly define their targets, " Hodge says. http://www.mahakirau.co.nz
