The Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group has welcomed the recent $4.33million funding boost for Predator Free Dunedin, saying it "represents a huge opportunity''.
Formed in March 2017, Predator Free Dunedin is a coalition of 20 conservation-focused groups and agencies, which have the aim of eradicating predators from the city and rural landscape.
Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group (OPBG) chairman Hoani Langsbury said Predator Free Dunedin would build on the work of a range of community predator control efforts across the city, including on the peninsula.
The funding provided by Predator Free 2050 Ltd over five years will support the existing work of the OPBG (Predator Free Peninsula Project) and the Landscape Connections Trust (Halo Predator Free Project), and a new Urban Linkage Project that connects these two existing projects.
Significant funding has also been provided by the Dunedin City Council and the Otago Regional Council.
The overall Predator Free Dunedin Project will be managed by the recently formed Predator Free Dunedin Trust, whose trustees are appointed by the 20 coalition partners.
Mr Langsbury said that, as part of Predator Free Dunedin, the Biodiversity Group could further pursue its ambitious programme of possum eradication from the 9000ha Otago Peninsula.
The group has already removed almost 17,000 possums from the peninsula through the combined efforts of contractors, landowners, volunteers and the wider community.
"The Predator Free Dunedin Project represents a huge opportunity for OPBG to help accelerate Dunedin's efforts to become predator free and to reassert its status as New Zealand's wildlife capital,'' Mr Langsbury said.
"The community and volunteers are pivotal to the success of this ambitious, yet achievable, goal.''
The Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Trust will host a public meeting next Wednesday, October 24, from 7pm to 9pm at Macandrew Bay Hall.
The event will include presentations on this year's winter operations, volunteer opportunities, and discussion of the way forward within the wider Predator Free Dunedin project.
- STAFF REPORTER
