A $9.2 million investment into community-led biodiversity protection will benefit the environment and sustainable tourism, says Conservation Minister, Tama Potaka.
The Department of Conservation (DOC) – Te Papa Atawhai has chosen 20 from a total of 291 groups which applied to the DOC Community Fund for support in protecting threatened species and ecosystems across Aotearoa New Zealand.
“Our country’s natural beaty and rich biodiversity attracts visitors from around the world. Investing in biodiversity is great for the environment, good for tourism, and helps support economic growth that creates jobs and boosts incomes,” Mr Potaka says.
“Projects include supporting The Forest Bridge Trust to do landscape scale predator control, which will protect nationally critical tara iti and matuku-hūrepo up north of Auckland. With a population of fewer than 40, the tara iti is probably our most endangered indigenous breeding bird.
“At the other end of the country, we are supporting the Hokonui Rūnanga in their goal of helping the nationally vulnerable kanakana/lamprey by identifying waterway issues.”
Minister Potaka said delivering better public services means prioritising high value initiatives that will deliver the greatest outcomes.
“The department selected projects most likely to have the greatest impact for biodiversity working with local communities, Iwi and Hapū.”
“In the Lower North Island, we are supporting the Manaaki Ruahine Trust to do predator control over 40,000 ha in Ngā Pae Maunga o Ruahine to support the recovery of nationally vulnerable whio and other threatened species.”
The Government is also supporting the Chatham Islands Taiko Trust to carry out predator control mahi over private and public land that will protect breeding habitats for the nationally critical Chatham Island tāiko.
The DOC Community Fund is a contestable Crown fund, open to community groups and private landowners to support community-led conservation projects on public and private land. It has invested $57.4 million into 769 community conservation initiatives since 2014.
This year’s recipients and their related projects are available on the successful applications 2025 webpage.
