Total funding awarded was $21,297 and the grants cover a range of conservation activities, from trapping to native plant restoration. All the recipients are based in the Greater Wellington Region and the Chatham Islands and have clear community conservation value for native wildlife and wild places. 

“Conservation is at the heart of everything we do at Wellington Zoo, and we’re thrilled to be able to support so many amazing projects throughout the Greater Wellington Region and on the Chatham Islands this year,” says Wellington Zoo’s Conservation Manager, Dr Ox Lennon. “Thanks to the support of our community and Zoo visitors that contribute to the Wellington Zoo Conservation Fund, we can support projects that encourage wildlife and wild places to thrive.” 

“It’s been a tough few years for everyone, which made it all the more exciting to see the number of applications we received for the programme,” says Dr Ox. “Conservation projects like the ones we are funding are part of the reason the Wellington region is so special, and we’re thrilled to be able to continue to support their mahi.” 

Wellington Zoo has been supporting local conservation through their Local Conservation Grants since 2019, when they funded six projects. Dr Ox Lennon says it’s been inspiring to follow the journey of these projects.  “It’s been really inspiring to see so many passionate people dedicating their time and effort to projects that focus on looking after our local biodiversity as well as benefiting our community and planet. One incredible outcome was seeing the huge distances that the critically endangered Chatham Islands tāiko travel when they leave the islands– finding out where the birds go when at sea is vital for the Chatham Islands Tāiko Trust to protect their populations.” 

For more information please contact – MediaWZT@wellingtonzoo.com

List of Local Conservation Grant recipients 2021/22

Remote camera monitoring of tāiko (Pterodroma magentae) in the Tuku Nature Reserve and Sweetwater Conservation Covenant. (Chatham Islands Tāiko trust)

The funding is for purchasing cameras and batteries for monitoring breeding behaviour and predator impacts on tāiko in the Chatham Islands. 

Porokapa 2022 (Makara Peak Mountain Bike Park Supporters Inc.) 

The funding is for restoring an area of Makara Peak conservation area, including using the restored area to produce seed to help restore further areas. 

He Kākano: Nursery Infrastructure (Pae Tū Mōkai ō Tauira Incorporated Society)

This project is to build plant nursery infrastructure near Featherston to supply plants for restoration of wairarapa moana (wetland). 

Conservation of Wellington’s little blue penguins/kororā around the coastline (Forest & Bird/Places for Penguins) 

The funding is for purchasing trail cameras and passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag readers for population monitoring and to allow better targeting of conservation action. 

NZ native bee school ecosystem project ( Aladár Lavack – individual)

This is to purchase materials to create native bee habitats and signage in Wellington schools, including Crofton Downs Primary School. 

Wellington Cable Car Bird Strike Prevention Project (Urban Wildlife Trust) 

For purchasing window stickers to prevent bird strike at the Wellington Cable Car terminal. 

Wooden trapping tunnels made by Scouts for local conservation projects to eradicate rats in the local community (1^stWaterloo Scout Group) 

This is to purchase materials for a Scout group to build trapping tunnels for predator control and provide them to the local community. 

Pīngao and spinifex restoration trial (propagation, planting, and plant protection) at Ōkorewa Lagoon near Lake Ferry (South Wairarapa Biodiversity Group)

This project aims to propagate pīngao and spinifex (which can be hard to propagate), to share the information on how to achieve this, and to use the plants for local dune restoration. 

Kārearea/NZ falcon Honour and Quentin’s scrape and chick protection project (South Wairarapa Biodiversity Group) 

This is to purchase DOC250 traps to protect a breeding pair of kārearea and their offspring.