Eco island’s cash crisis - Maungatautari in Jobs for Nature pinch

Thursday, 4 July 2024

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari needs $500,000 to keep operating as they are, general manager Helen Hughes says.

The country’s flagship mainland ecological island project has only two months to find half a million dollars before cutting back its vital conservation work or letting staff go.

The future for Maungatautari Sanctuary Mountain looks increasingly uncertain, with Jobs for Nature funding ending this month, a $150,000 overdraft, and requests for additional support from the Department of Conservation being so far unsuccessful.

The 3400ha project, just south of Cambridge is by far the largest ecological island in the country since fencing was completed and pests eradicated almost 20 years ago.

Much of the Jobs For Nature funding at Maungatautari went towards fence upgrades and maintenance.

The sanctuary is home to several populations of threatened bird species which thrive in the absence of predators, and has the only mainland population of the nationally critical kākāpō.

The Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust raised $83,600 in ticket sales from a gala dinner and art auction in June, but general manager Helen Hughes said they are still $500,000 short in cash, $250,000 if they were to cut back on organisation-growing costs such as marketing.

The initiative has ended up costing Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari money, general manager Helen Hughes says.

If cash is not found the Trust could face laying off staff and reverting to a partly volunteer-run model.

Maungatautari was one of 519 projects to receive funding through the Labour Government’s $1.19 billion Jobs for Nature programme, getting $589,000 over four years.

The funding enabled the creation of four new roles and extensive upgrades to the 47km predator proof fence enclosing the sanctuary, but the momentum was short lived.

“From a morale perspective, the team is really struggling,” said Hughes.

Whilst the Jobs for Nature funding was only for four years, Hughes said the expectation many projects had was that there would be ongoing funding.

“Why would you just release that volume of people back into the workforce with nowhere to go?”

Hughes said the initiative has ended up costing Maungatautari money.

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari is the largest predator-free mainland sanctuary in New Zealand.

In order to pay the four new rangers living wage, they had to find an additional $50,000 per year.

Hughes said she feels like she’s been running a marathon.

“Emotionally, it’s exhausting.”

Hughes said up until two years ago they had been receiving around $90,000 annually from the Department of Conservation, as well as in kind support which helped to maintain the predator-proof fence and carry-out pest monitoring. Two years ago, that funding stopped.

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari released six male Kakapo in September 2023. Pictured is the Department of Conservation’s Dani Whitaker holding one of the birds.

The sanctuary receives funding from Waipa District Council, Waikato Regional Council and DOC as well as funding from philanthropic sources, but Hughes says over the last two years DOC hasn’t been contributing equally to the baseline costs of running the project.

Though there was no formal agreement, Hughes said there was an agreement in principle that the three organisations would contribute $300,000 each per year to the costs of running the project.

“We need central government to come to the table.”

Conservation Minister Tama Potaka said it was a DOC operational matter.

Hughes wrote to the Minister for Conservation Tama Potaka asking for support following his visit to the sanctuary in May, but has not had a response.

When asked by the Waikato Times whether he would be considering providing assistance to the project, the Minister said it was a DOC operational matter.

He said DOC was doing the best they could with a limited budget, for what is a huge area of conservation land to manage, as well as their marine obligations.

Hughes said she understands DOC’s funding constraints, and the Minister’s comments about needing to prioritise conservation efforts, but says they should fund the programmes that are working.

DOC wants to support Maungatautari, Waikato district operations manager Jane Wheeler said, ‘but how that will happen, I don’t know yet’.

“We are the only mainland sanctuary that can help native species thrive. The government talks about predator free 2050, we are predator-free at the sanctuary right now.”

“We say we are the largest fully-fenced sanctuary in the world. We could fit every other pest-free sanctuary into Maungatautari twice.”

“Scientists are able to come in and see what landscape recovery at scale looks like.”

Hughes said the predator-free sanctuary has been going backwards financially for some time, beginning with the loss of baseline funding from the DOC two years ago.

Though DOC has contributed significantly to threatened species management, Hughes said DOC had not been contributing equally to baseline funding.

DOC Waikato district operations manager Jane Wheeler said DOC had contributed $1,170,000 to the project over several years, including supporting threatened species monitoring and translocations.

She said as the Jobs for Nature programme comes to an end, DOC is providing transition support, including identifying other possible sources of funding they could apply for, and providing staff time and technical advice.

“Our approach at DOC is to support the project to lead their own transition.

“Other parts of DOC are having conversations with Maungatautari about how we can support.”

Wheeler said, “we want to support them, but how that will happen, I don’t know yet.”

Hughes said after applying for other DOC funding streams unsuccessfully, they had been told they could consider applying again.

Hughes said, “we might not be here.”

“Everyone is very concerned. Nobody wants to see the project fail.”