Bay of Plenty's Bay Conservation Alliance and Coromandel's Predator Free Hauraki Coromandel Community Trust are just two of the community conservation hubs that will receive funding to support their work connecting and supporting community conservation groups.

Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today announced that 116 community conservation projects have been granted $5.44 million from the Department of Conservation's Community Fund/ Putea Tautiaki Hapori.

'The DOC Community Fund/Putea Tautiaki Hapori is designed to support practical on-the-ground projects that give our native plants and wildlife a helping hand and encourage people to get involved in conservation,” says Sage.

'The range of projects funded this year highlights the amazing range of work being done by volunteers and groups all over New Zealand.

'The funding includes $900,000 for six community conservation hubs which will bring together like-minded people to super-charge conservation goals and outcomes in their region."

'Providing funding support for community conservation groups all over Aotearoa will see more conservation work being done, more New Zealanders active in the outdoors, and more people aware of our country's unique conservation challenges,” says Sage.

Some of the 116 projects receiving funding will support research, others will help New Zealand's threatened species, and others allow community groups to take their conservation goals to the next level. DOC staff help provide support to projects.

Six community conservation hubs will each receive a share of $900,000 to fund their work connecting and supporting community conservation groups. These ‘hubs' are:

· Predator Free Hauraki Coromandel Community Trust, Coromandel

· Bay Conservation Alliance, Bay of Plenty

· Hawke's Bay Biodiversity Trust, Hawke's Bay

· Wild for Taranaki, Taranaki

· Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust, Banks Peninsula

· Whakatipu Wildlife Trust, Queenstown Lakes

Bay Conservation Alliance currently has eleven member community conservation groups, each of them a registered charity in their own right.

The DOC Community Fund was established in 2014 to support community-led conservation projects on public and private land. Funds are directed towards practical projects aimed at conserving New Zealand's indigenous biodiversity. This includes initiatives focused on restoring natural habitats and populations of our native species. More than $33 million has been awarded to over 600 different conservation projects in the first five DOC Community Fund funding rounds.

The current funding round was opened in February 2020 with a call for applications focussed on projects that restore the diversity of native plants and wildlife, including, pest control, habitat restoration and weed management.

Other projects and organisations are also receiving funding in this round.

The Coastal Restoration Trust of New Zealand is receiving $168,700 to produce 12 videos and organise community workshops to raise awareness about the impacts of climate change on coastal ecosystems, demonstrate best practice coastal restoration, monitoring, and long-term management.

The Takaka Hill Biodiversity Group is receiving $97,699 for the Takaka Hill National Park Halo Predator Control Project to install of traps for predator control on private land in the Takaka Hill area. This land forms a corridor between Abel Tasman National Park and Kahurangi National Park. Trapping will reduce the risk of the land becoming a reservoir for predators and allow indigenous species to spread safely outside the national parks.

Hollyford Conservation Trust - Te Roopu Manaaki o Whakatipu Waitai will receive $60,000 to part fund a Project Manager role to manage the Trust's ecological restoration project and pest control operation.

Auckland-based Te Whangai Trust is receiving $36,000 to transform a wasteland in Panmure on the Tamaki Estuary into an urban ecological island. The area is currently affected by fly-tipping. Weeds and animal pests will be removed, and native plantings will encourage native species back to the area.

For a full list of DOC Community Fund recipients, visit http://www.doc.govt.nz/get-involved/funding/doc-community-fund/successful-applications/