Environment grants Restoration projects supported

Recent grants in the environment sector have included funding to help key groups with restoration and pest control work.

June 2010 TrustLine

Motuihe Trust was granted funds for its work to restore Motuihe Island, in the Hauraki Gulf. Most of the grant was for general operating support, but it also helped fund a walking track network for environmental education and improvements to the accommodation unit for volunteers, who have established a nursery on the island and planted about 240,000 trees.

“The activities of the Motuihe Trust strongly align with ASB Community Trust’s strategic objectives for the environment sector,” says Environment Grants Advisor Kim Collins. “We want to support organisations that protect and enhance the environment and we look for organisations that are operating at a community level to raise awareness of issues affecting native species, flora and fauna, waterways and marine environments.”

Puketi Forest Trust received a grant for pest control in 15,000 hectares of Northland kauri forest, where an estimated 100,000 visitors a year enjoy the experience of walking through an ancient, sub-tropical kauri forest.

“Puketi Forest not only has high conservation values, and the restoration trust uses an evidence-based best-practice approach to guide its work,” says Kim. “It has a high level of community support and it is a strong fit with ASB Community Trust’s strategy for the environment sector.”

Meanwhile, ASBCT’s pilot cultivation fund, which helps umbrella organisations as they in turn support local volunteer organisations, granted funds to The Hauraki Gulf Conservation Trust.

The grant will allow volunteer work to continue on a number of environmental projects on Waiheke Island, including the replanting of native trees on the McKenzie Reserve, restoration of a wetland at Waiheke School and restoration of the Te Toki Reserve on Waiheke’s Ostend causeway.

Further out in the Gulf, Windy Hill and Rosalie Bay Catchment Trust gained funding support for its forest restoration work on Great Barrier Island, while in the Far North, the Guardians of the Bay of Islands gained a grant for the Project Island Song restoration project.

Other environment grants include:

  • $12,350 for Friends of Te Atawhai Whenua Trust for its work protecting the Waiheke Island reserve;
  • $50,000 to help with Shakespeare Open Sanctuary’s pest-proof fence project in Whangaparaoa;
  • $50,180 for the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust’s education programmes;
  • $32,400 to help Weedfree Waitakere with its restoration and weed eradication work in West Auckland;
  • $27,695 for Pointways Pony Club’s fencing of native trees and wetland at its Manurewa base;
  • $30,000 to the Guardians of the Bay of Islands for the Project Island Song restoration project;
  • $10,000 for Hua Rakau Trust ki Omamari’s work protecting land and marine habitats at, near Dargaville;
  • $30,000 for Friends of Rangikapiti Reserve Society for weed control in the Far North, Mangonui, Rangikapiti Reserve;
  • $11,710 for Whangarei Quarry Gardens Trust’s native forest restoration at Whangarei Quarry Garden;
  • $28,700 for the Waste Resource Trust’s sustainability work on Waiheke Island;
  • $20,000 for Worldwide Fund for Nature’s work to protect the Maui’s Dolphin population.