In a statement, the Otago Regional Council said the council’s Eco Fund was open for private landowners, iwi, community groups and environmental organisations.
Cr Chanel Gardner said $919,800 was available this year.
Successful applicants would include projects that protected, restored and enhanced the region’s environment.
‘‘Whether you are continuing an existing project or developing a new idea that could make a real difference for your local environment, I encourage everyone to be ready to apply,’’ Cr Gardner said.
The fund was chronically oversubscribed and the council said since 2018 it had distributed $3.6 million to Otago conservation projects out of $10.45m requested.
It said the fund had supported 194 projects from 420 applications, across 11 application rounds.
Each round averaged 38 applications and had been oversubscribed by an average of 300%, the council said.
Two of the funding categories had been updated.
‘‘Hill country erosion management’’ category was replacing critical source area management on private land and focused on reducing sediment and soil loss through erosion control measures, with up to $51,100 available.
The ‘‘scaling up for the biodiversity’’ category, replaced large-scale biodiversity projects and would be used to back applications that sought to protect and enhance native biodiversity.
The council said the available $306,600 was also intended to help community groups build delivery experience and transition towards the council’s Large-Scale Environmental (LSE) Fund or other long-term funding sources.
The other categories — general (up to $306,600), sustained rabbit management incentives ($102,200), biodiversity enhancement on protected private land ($102,200) and weed removal and revegetation ($51,100) — all remained unchanged, the council said.
A review process took place each year, to align with organisation’s strategic directions, the council said.
Applications close on April 19.
