Natural Area Conservation grant

Funding criteria | How to apply | 2008 recipients | Heritage

Funding criteria

The Auckland City Council Heritage Fund provides grants to fund conservation projects on private land in the Hauraki Gulf Islands. A total of $50,000 is available in the 2008 funding round.

Potential conservation projects could include, but are not limited to, pest and weed control, revegetation, or fencing. Projects might involve a variety of works or materials. A direct environmental gain should result from the project.

The following categories of criteria are used to decide which project applications will receive grants:

Significance: including quality, rarity and the presence or absence of ongoing threats.
Improvement: the anticipated improvement in the natural values of an area given the proposed management actions.
Protection: the legal status of the natural area, with preference given to existing protected natural areas.
Stronghold: where an ecological district is a stronghold for the vegetation or habitat type of the candidate site, preference will be given. An example is the habitat of pateke (brown teal) on Great Barrier.
Other: the capacity for considering unusual features of a natural area need to be included. Examples include the provision of low impact public access or high scientific or educational value.

Significance

Significance criteria will be applied to candidate sites to work out the existing level of significance of the site. These include comparative assessment of the size and quality of natural areas, within the relevant ecological district (Great Barrier or Inner Gulf Islands). Areas will be considered according to the degree to which they are good representatives of the more common types of natural areas found in that ecological district. Alternatively, their rarity within the ecological district may be important.

Characteristics to consider are:

the rarity of an area, with rare vegetation or habitat types being considered more significant than more common types
the size of the area, with larger areas of particular types of vegetation or habitat being more important than smaller areas
the age of an area. Many species cannot be easily seen and the relative age of an area, as compared to the ages of areas of similar vegetation or habitat, can be used as an indicator of the probable diversity of species living within the area
the quality of an area, with areas in generally good natural condition being considered to be of more importance than those in poorer condition
the shape of the area, with more compact shapes being more sustainable than complex or attenuated shapes
the connectedness of the area, with connections between different types of vegetation or habitat being valuable. Of additional importance are natural sequences, such as the sequence from coastal wetlands to freshwater wetlands or the sequence from gully bottom forests to ridge top forests.

The other major category of criteria is the habitat value for threatened species of plants and animals, or for species at their distributional limits.

Mention any unusual species known to be present on your land. Even if such species have disappeared from your land, consider whether they are likely to return given the actions to be taken in your project
Consider threatened plants as well as threatened animals. If you are aware of the presence of a threatened plant, please mention this in your application. Your area will gain significance because of its value as a habitat for this species.
Mention breeding sites of threatened animals. The area where a threatened species breeds is often the area that is most vulnerable to disturbances, such as predators. Successful or even attempted breeding is important.

Improvement

The anticipated improvement or maintenance in the condition of a natural area when the proposed management actions have been carried out will also be considered, in combination with the costs of the actions. The criteria for significance, outlined above, include considerations of the level of threat from weeds, pests and stock. Therefore fencing, weed control or eradication, or pest control could potentially all help to improve the condition of a natural area.

Protection

Protection, in this context, means the formal legal protection of a natural area. Such formal protection includes QEII covenants and covenants with the Department of Conservation or with Auckland City Council. Formal protection entered on the certificate of title for a property means that an area is more secure from future development.

Stronghold

Criteria for significance tend to look at an area within the context of the relevant ecological district. However, certain ecological districts are strongholds for particular community types or species. For example, there are a number of native plant species that are endemic to Great Barrier Island. Great Barrier is also the stronghold for various fauna species, such as brown teal.

Other

Unusual circumstances need to be considered where they apply. For example, areas where low impact public access is being allowed or areas of particular scientific or educational value need to be recognised. If your land is used by the public in any way, mention it in this category. This may consist of open days. It may also consist of access easements allowing public access across your land. You may allow people to collect seeds on your land or set up research projects. School groups may be allowed onto your land. Viewing points may be available.

Updated January 2008