Minister recommends ecosanctuary funding

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It would be a major contributor to the revival of the endangered , as well as the threatened hihi/stitchbird and row ito kiwi, Mr Lynch says.

A steering committee comprising Mr Lynch and representatves from Greater Wellington Regional Council, the Department of Conservation and Taranaki Whanui applied to Conservation Minister Willow Jean Prime for funding to plan and start up the sanctuary.

The Minister has recommended that $1.83 million be provided to the Puke Sanctuary project from the Prime Minister’s Emerging Priorities Fund.

The Minister’s decision to recommend the funding to begin the project “is wonderful news,” Mr Lynch says.

“It doesn’t mean to say we’ve got the money … but the Minister’s approval helps the application no end.”

The funds would enable the steering committee to pay for specialist design work, for environmental work, applying for a resource consent and setting up an organisation to manage the project.

“The potential return on these funds is very positive indeed … and Puketa would become probably New Zealand’s most valuable conservation property,” Mr Lynch says.

With its unlogged rimu forest, the Wainuiomata catchment “is exactly wha eeds”.

The ecosanctuary would also become home to a series of other birds, including kokako, saddleback, red crowned parakeet, robins and other kiwi species.

That would lead to a rejuvenation of the whole Rimutaka range, as birds from Puket started flying out from the sanctuary, Mr Lynch says.

The Minister’s decision has been welcomed by Greater Wellington Regional Councillor Quentin Duthie.

Mr Duthie says he is “stoked that the government is funding the next step to realise the dream of returning super special native species like to Wainuiomata.

“Wainui is blessed to have the oldest and most healthy forest in Lower Hutt

“Let’s muck in and welcome more unique birds and lizards to make their home [in Puketa ,” Cr Duthie says. Strigops habroptilus) has been the subject of immense conservation effort since its last survivors were rounded up and placed on secure offshore islands in the 1990s.

Establishing the Puket Sanctuary would result in this rare parrot making a return to the mainland. Almost all re on Whenua Hou, Chalky or Anchor Islands off the southern South Island. A few live on Hauturu/Little Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf.

The southern islands are at or nearing carrying capacity fo and new habitat is urgently needed.

K require predator-free habitat and an abundance of rimu trees for breeding.

Wainuiomata has been assessed by the ecovery Team as being suitable for habitat because of its size, the quality of habitat (unmodified lowland podocarp forest) and the abundance of mature rimu trees (rimu is the dominant canopy tree over 85% of the catchment) and eed rimu for breeding. This combination of factors is very rare.