Blog and news
Predator Free Chathams update (CIC)
Predator Free Chathams is a community-driven project to help restore our islands’ natural gifts and gives islanders a chance to be involved in developing and delivering a project for their island and future generations. Hamish Chisholm tells us about what the group have been up to.
Eradication Feasibility Study
The Eradication Feasibility Study has undergone several drafts and is currently being finalised into the final document.
This report will be broken down into a more reader friendly document and made available to the community.
Please get in touch if you would like to find out more!
Local conservation initiatives
We had a visit from the Minister of Conservation, Hon Poto Williams, and were lucky enough to get a chance to meet and fill her in on local conservation initiatives and the benefits these projects can have for both the health of our island and our people.
It has been a refreshing change to get the opportunity to spend more time with our school children during Term 4. We built penguin boxes and potted up Chatham Island Lilies and Ake Ake with Kaingaroa and Te One schools. It was great to see how engaged the kids were and their enthusiasm is contagious.
Helping Te One with their beach clean up day was another highlight, and I am looking forward to heading to Taiko Town on Te One School camp to help guide the kids through the Tuku Nature Reserve and show them first-hand what a well-established trapping network looks like and what much of the island would have looked like before losing so much of our native bush.
DOC Community Fund
The DOC Community Fund has recently been announced. This is a nationally contestable fund with $7.2million earmarked for work that protects our most vulnerable species and ecosystems, and $2million earmarked for projects which protect our cultural heritage.
Applications are currently open and close on 31 January 2023.
For more details check out the DOC website(external link) or feel free to get in touch with me if you would like a hand with your funding application.
The Chathams Restoration Trust is community led and driven and would be happy to help develop projects and apply for funding to get your conservation aspirations up and running!
A reminder that we still have free rat traps and possum traps available, so please get in touch if you would like one of these.
Originally published on the Chatham Island Council website, December 2022
