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Wairarapa landowners are getting $64,470 in grant funding to help protect to help preserve wildlife and natural habitat.
Labour MP Georgina Beyer announced today that Masterton District Council and Greater Wellington Regional Council are getting a total of $64,470 in government biodiversity funding.
Masterton District Council is getting $45,000 for a biodiversity coordinator to prioritise vegetation protection and scope a strategy for the Wairarapa.
Greater Wellington Regional Council is getting two grants. The larger, of $16,000, is to set up pest management on Mountfort Trimble Foundation's Rewanui property on the Castlepoint Road, East of Masterton. The forest contains uncommon Totara and Rimu and breeding Kereru. The council also gets $3,470 to help Waihora Covenants landowners near Martinborough control gorse and grow seedlings to restore indigenous forest and shrubland.
"Many fragmented areas of native bush and wetland now only exist on private land, and this funding makes a significant difference for landowners and community groups working to restore and preserve unique New Zealand fauna and flora," said Georgina Beyer.
"The funding goes some way to safeguarding New Zealand's rich biodiversity and identity as a clean green and sustainable nation."
The local grants are part of an announcement over the weekend by Environment Minister David Benson-Pope and Conservation Minister Chris Carter that $1.3 million is being distributed to 104 projects across the country. The Biodiversity Condition and Advice funds were established in 2000 under the $187 million Biodiversity Strategy Package. The next funding round is now open: see www.biodiversity.govt.nz, or call 0800 86 20 20.
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