Enduring environmental gains from Jobs for Nature funding
Hinepango Wetland Restoration group volunteers supplied by The Nature Conservancy and Kotahitanga mō te Taiao with funding from Lottery Grants Board Environment & Heritage Fund. Back from left Blair, Roseanne and Adam Kibblewhite and in the foreground, David Wilson
Environmental runs on the board will endure despite the funding for the Jobs for Nature Restoring and Protecting Flora Project coming to an end.
Major weed infestations threatening high-value ecosystems at 150 sites across Marlborough, Buller, Nelson, and Tasman have been controlled by the Kotahitanga mō te Taiao Alliance (KMTT) landscape-scale weed project through the Jobs for Nature funding which concluded at the end of May.
In Marlborough 11 sites were targeted as part of the project involving approximately 900 ha. More than 12000 pest plants were destroyed over the lifetime of the project, including willows, wilding pines, and wild kiwifruit vines.
“Funds were made available to the Department of Conservation in 2021 as part of the Covid-19 recovery Jobs for Nature initiative for biodiversity gains at the top of the South Island. DOC signed a funding deed with The Nature Conservancy who were also engaged to project manager on behalf of the KMTT Alliance partners,” said Council’s Rob Simonds, the Operational Support Liaison for the project in Marlborough.
“Our focus was on short term high impact weed control programmes in areas with high biodiversity values. We wanted to focus on those sites that could make a meaningful impact on conservation values in conjunction with community groups so that the environmental gains made will not be lost,” he said.
In Marlborough these included supporting the Hinepango Wetland Restoration Group at Hinepango Wetland, and nearby Te Whanau Hou Grovetown Lagoon which is doing restoration work on the south bank of Kelly’s Creek.
“The Flora Project collaborated with Council, the Department of Conservation and the Hinepango Wetland Restoration Group to help do the heavy lifting and open the Hinepango Wetlands up for planting and ongoing maintenance weed control,” Rob said. “This is a great example of Jobs for Nature working with community groups for a single outcome - the restoration and enhancement of a valuable ecological area.”
Letticia Dodson from the Hinepango Wetland Restoration Group extended her thanks to the KMTT Alliance, the Kūmānu team and Council.
“The work undertaken by the project team has given us a huge leap forward in terms of controlling old man's beard and willows in the wetland. It is going to be an ongoing battle but already we can see a lot of natural regeneration happening and the previously choked natives beginning to flourish now that the canopy is thinning,” she said.
“The weed control work under the project has also opened new areas for our group to control and plant - areas we would not have accessed for several years to come. I believe the Hinepango Wetland will continue to benefit from the contributions of the KMTT Alliance project well into the future.”
Hudson Dodd, Project Manager for KMTT, said that the project would not have been possible without the support of DOC Jobs for Nature, the collaboration of the KMTT partners, and the wider community.
“Our vision is to bring everyone together for long-term landscape scale collaboration, and these last three years have demonstrated that by working together we can achieve major improvements in biodiversity for the Top of the South that will make a difference for so many special remnant native ecosystems and taonga species.”
