Fund to help flora and fauna flourish

A new fund will help landowners who act as custodians of our most precious natural places and work to protect native plants and animals.

Christchurch City Council has set aside $200,000 a year for the Biodiversity Fund to assist with the cost of fencing, planting and pest control.

The fund is designed to encourage initiatives that protect and enhance sites of ecological significance (SES) on the Christchurch Plains, Port Hills and Banks Peninsula.

The SES must meet the criteria within the Christchurch District Plan and have an agreed site of ecological significance statement and a management plan.

Successful applicants will be private landowners, runanga, businesses, trusts, schools, or other groups who are trying to protect these areas with high biodiversity values. Biodiversity refers to a range of native plants and animals such as insects, fish, lizards and birds.

 The applicants are each eligible for a grant worth up to $40,000 a year from the contestable fund, and they can apply for projects lasting up to five years.

Council Head of Strategic Policy Helen Beaumont says the grants will be made on a 50:50 cost-sharing basis, so the recipient must match the amount they receive from the fund in spending from their own pocket on work such as fencing, native planting, and pest control.

Protected jewelled geckos are one of the threatened species that live on the Port Hills.

Ms Beaumont says Christchurch has lost more of its biodiversity than any other New Zealand city.

That means only small pockets of important habitats for native birds, plants and animals remain, and they are scattered across the Christchurch Plains, Port Hills and Banks Peninsula. “We want to encourage and support landowners as they take these steps to protect and enhance the biodiversity values across both working farms and covenanted areas. We recognise there is a lot of effort and expense involved in carrying out these worthwhile measures,” she says.

While some areas in parks, waterways, dunes and wetlands are protected by Council park rangers and volunteers, others are on land that is held by private owners.

“The Council has invested in restoring habitat by planting native trees in our parks and along our waterways, but since amalgamation with Banks Peninsula in 2010, there has been no fund for private landowners to protect biodiversity."

The fund aims to connect local businesses, environmental organisations, schools and iwi with private landowners so they can work together on projects designed to protect and promote native habitats.

“Anyone can apply to the fund, as long as the project takes place on private land, especially in habitats with high biodiversity values such as cliffs, wetlands and dunes. If we all pitch in, we can really make a difference,” Ms Beaumont says.

The new Biodiversity Fund was approved by the Council for inclusion in the 2017/2018 draft Annual Plan at its June meeting.

Future annual funding will be considered for inclusion in the 2018-2028 Long Term Plan. See the Council website for more information on how to apply.