The future of Aotearoa’s national icon on the West Coast is looking brighter thanks to a cash injection of more than one million dollars.
The Paparoa Wildlife Trust has been allocated $1,122,314 over five years to create jobs and supercharge kiwi conservation in the West Coast region. Kiwis for kiwi, New Zealand’s national charity for protecting the kiwi, is working with the Department of Conservation to distribute millions of Jobs for Nature funding into kiwi conservation projects all over the country, with the combined goal of creating more jobs and boosting kiwi conservation efforts.
Paparoa Wildlife Trust chair Paul Berry says this funding has been earmarked for boosting the organisation’s predator control efforts.
“This Jobs for Nature funding will supercharge our predator control, enabling us to create more safe habitat for kiwi and other wildlife,” Mr Berry says. “The funding will allow us to create 17 full time equivalents (FTEs) over five years, almost doubling the number of contractors we currently employ, which is a great boost for both the West Coast economy and kiwi conservation.”
Over five years, Paparoa Wildlife Trust will increase the area they protect from 8,000 hectares to approximately 15,000 hectares, with a network of 220 kilometres of traplines and 2,200 traps deployed.
“By scaling up our predator trapping, we will provide a much greater control of predators,” says Mr Berry. “All native species in the controlled area will benefit, including great spotted kiwi/roroa, whio, kea, kākā, kākāriki and falcon, as well as vegetative and invertebrate restoration.
“The faster we can scale up, the more chance we have of getting a positive breeding response from our ageing, nationally vulnerable and declining roroa population.”
Jobs for Nature is investing more than $1.245 billion into jobs for 11,000 people that will restore Aotearoa’s rivers, protect precious places, and ensure our native wildlife thrives. The Department of Conservation is responsible for allocating $500 million to partners and projects that will create 6,000 nature-based jobs over a four-year period.
Jobs for Nature funding for Kiwis for kiwi projects will create more than 200 Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) over a four-year period and will supercharge kiwi conservation projects, including predator control, kiwi avoidance training for dogs and Operation Nest Egg. The funding will be managed by Kiwis for kiwi, together with the Department of Conservation.