Bay Harbour: March 20, 2024

Bay Harbour News Wednesday March 20 2024
16
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Jobs for Nature’s
impact tangible
as funding ends
Over the next few
months, Jobs for Nature
projects across the
country will hang up
their spades and put
away their gumboots
for the last time. Lily
Duval from Kaimahi for
Nature Whakaraupō
spoke to conservation
teams across Lyttelton
Harbour about their
mixed emotions as the
end of the programme
draws closer
LAUNCHED IN 2020 by the
Labour government, Jobs for
Nature’s primary purpose was to
help those impacted by Covid-19
find jobs in conservation.
By September 2023, the
scheme had employed 13,350
people and invested more than
$1.2 billion in green employment.
The funds helped groups up
and down the country achieve
environmental goals, from tackling
the march of wilding pines
to supporting threatened species
or restoring vast swathes of land
to indigenous plant cover.
Evidence of the funding is
everywhere in Lyttelton Harbour
– tens of thousands of trees have
been planted on the hills, thousands
of introduced predators
have been trapped, and invasive
weeds have been uprooted.
The plantings will help stop
sediment flowing off the hills
into the harbour, improving the
quality of both freshwater and
marine habitats, and it will also
mitigate fire risk.
Harbour conservation teams
hope new forests will attract
native species like tūī and the
orange-fronted parakeet.
Predator control efforts have
given native birds, lizards and
bugs a reprieve and support wider
efforts to create a predator free
Banks Peninsula.
Weed control work has given
native plants a chance to take
root and recloak the hills.
Kaimahi for Nature Whakaraupō
is one of the largest Jobs
for Nature projects in the South
Island.
It is a partnership between
Ngāti Wheke, Living Springs and
Conservation Volunteers New
Zealand.
Two field teams are operated
from Living Springs and Rāpaki.
The project has planted more
than 70,000 native trees and
trapped thousands of rats,
possums and stoats over the past
three years.
Orton Bradley Park and the
city council also received funding
and were able to upscale their
conservation work.
Kaimahi for Nature
Whakaraupō includes Te
Hapū o Ngāti Wheke, Living
Springs, Conservation
Volunteers New Zealand:
$4,500,000
· Planted 70,000+ native
trees, shrubs and grasses.
· Employed 30 people
over three years.
· Controlled 1090ha for
predators. Trapped 1404
possums, 1605 rats and 205
mustelids.
· Built 9km of fencing.
For all these groups, the
financial boost allowed them to
achieve environmental goals that
were otherwise out of reach.
“The Jobs for Nature scheme
was a fantastic initiative, in my
opinion,” said Living Springs
field team leader Grant Whitehead.
“It really helped drive a lot of
these projects forward. It gave
employment to a lot of people.”
Living Springs field officer
Daniel Ho said the impact of
their work is already easy to see.
“When you take a walk in the
forest compared to two years
ago, you can tell the difference.
And you have local landowners
around here that also comment
on the difference. They’ve
stopped hearing the hideous
screeching of possums, and the
bird life is much better. It’s a
quality-of-life improvement for
everyone around here.”
Kaimahi for Nature Whakaraupō
was unable to find
funding to keep the field teams
active.
March 31 will be their final day
in the field.
The teams are sad to see the
project end, and many are concerned
about the future.
Whitehead worries much of
their hard work could be undone
in the coming years.
“I struggle with the fact that
this billion-dollar Jobs for
Nature programme is just going
to be finishing up with no real
funding put aside for further
work, especially when we have
such big challenges with the
environment,” he said.
“Reinvasions of predators and
pest plants like wilding pines
are major issues for us. They’re
like cancer on your land. How
to remove them without control,
I’m uncertain.”
Despite concerns over the
future, the teams have no doubt
Jobs for Nature will leave behind
a positive legacy.
They hope community volunteer
groups set up by Kaimahi
for Nature Whakaraupō can
look after some of the plant sites
and the trapping lines.
These include the Living
Who received Jobs for Nature funding in the Lyttelton Harbour area?
· Built and maintained
47km of walking tracks.
· Controlled 199ha for pest
plants.
· Started 2 volunteer
community groups.
Orton Bradley Park:
$950,000
· Controlled 1200ha
for possums with 2330
possums trapped.
· Controlled 900ha
for predators. Trapped
870 rats, 400 hedgehogs,
275 mice and 103
mustelids.
· Maintained of 30 km of
walking tracks.
· Helped preserve historic
buildings.
· Employed 8 people over
18 months.
· Built 6km of riparian
fencing.
· Planted 15,000 native
plants with another 10,000
to plant in 2024.
Orton Bradley Park
Funding ends in July.
GREEN: Workers from the
Conservation Volunteers
Rāpaki field team, whose
responsibilities include tree
planting, track maintenance,
and pest control. ​
Springs Volunteers and the
Whaka Ora Pest Project.
“It was always a possibility that
we wouldn’t find a way to keep the
project alive,” said programme
manager Lily Middleton.
“The work we’ve been doing is
so important. We know we’ve left
an incredible legacy for future
generations.”
The hapū-led Kaimahi for
Nature Whakaraupō, and the
project’s kaupapa (principles)
was built on mātauranga Māori
(Māori knowledge).
The project is part of a broader
goal to restore mahinga kai in
the harbour for future generations.
The teams are hopeful future
governments will learn from
the accomplishments of the
programme and find other ways
to fund vital conservation work.
Christchurch City Council:
$1,575,000
· Planted 7000 trees.
· Controlled 1372ha for
rats and mustelids.
· Controlled 832ha for
possums.
· Controlled 630ha for
pest plants.
· Employed 8 people over
18 months.
The city council’s
numbers are for all of Banks
Peninsula area not just
Lyttelton Harbour.
DELIVERERS WANTED
Get fit with part time work delivering
newspapers and mailers into letterboxes.
• Regular weekly work
• No experience necessary
• We are a locally owned company
• It’s easy, we drop the newspapers/mailers to your door
Email:
deliveries@alliedpress.co.nz
Include your name, address,
email, phone number
OR SCAN
THE QR
CODE
TO APPLY