Nursery manager Dr Nicole Bezemer is ecstatic that the trust has been granted $48,200 over the next two years in this year’s Otago Regional Council (ORC) Eco Fund grants round, as well as being granted $15,000 per year in the Dunedin City Council 9 Year Plan process.
"Receiving this funding is an absolute game changer for us — it gives us a really solid base for our work moving forward," Dr Bezemer said.
Having been forced by funding constraints to scale back its activities in the first half of this year, the grants meant Tomahawk-Smaills Beachcare Trust could "ramp up" to support more volunteer days at the trust’s nursery.
"It will be wonderful for our volunteers, who can have more opportunities to be included — and we can really pick up the pace again," she said.
"It is going to be especially meaningful for local disability service providers and young people wanting to complete their community service hours."
The Eco Fund grant was tagged for the Tomahawk-Smaills Beachcare Trust’s work on enhancing sealion habitat, which was becoming an increasing focus for the organisation.
"We have growing numbers of sealion mums giving birth in the Smaills Beach area, including the pup who was in residence at our nursery over the summer.
"Also, sealion mums who have given birth at other locations have been bringing their pups to this area as a kind of pre-creche — we have had about one-third of the pups born in Dunedin brought here this season."
Another reason for the increasing numbers was that some families of sealion females had been coming to Smaills Beach for generations.
"So, as the generations grow, we get more and more sealion pups here, which is just wonderful," Dr Bezemer said.
In recent years, the Tomahawk-Smaills Beachcare Trust has been increasing its plantings to help create habitat, shelter and safe places for sealions away from local roads.
"Sealion mums like to take the pups off the beach and into coastal forest, and some mums go a long way inland to give birth," she said.
At Smaills Beach there are quite large areas of marram grass and thickets of taupata, which did not provide good shelter for birthing sealions, and the trust was keen to work on re-establishing coastal forest species. These included ngaio and slow-growing podocarps like totara.
Dr Bezemer said the Tomahawk-Smaills Beachcare Trust was also working closely with the Ecotago team on riparian planting at lagoon creek, which fed into Tomahawk Lagoon.
Local landowner Warren Matheson had been "extremely supportive" of the work and had offered to fence off a paddock near the Tautuku Fishing Club to open up a whole new planting area for sealion habitat.
Dr Bezemer said the recent donation of tools from the Green Island Shed had also been very welcome.
"We are very thankful for all the support we have had," she said.
Work on potting up seedlings will continue at the trust nursery throughout winter to help build up a supply of native trees and plants ready for planting in spring.
"From July, we are looking forward to announcing more volunteer days at the nursery," Dr Bezemer said.
For more information, email beachcare@zoho.com
• Another major recipient of funding through the ORC Eco Fund was Te Nohoaka o Tukiauau — Sinclair Wetlands, which was granted $49,800 to help manage its growing stream of visitors.
Te Nohoaka o Tukiauau — Sinclair Wetlands trust chairman Ian Bryant said the wetlands, which formed a 315ha portion of the Waihola-Waipori wetland complex, south of Dunedin, already welcomed visits from several schools and volunteer groups.
"Our aim is to increase the number of schools coming to the wetlands and to create a resource to cover our history and restoration, and the role of wetlands, birdlife, aquatic life, native plantings, pests and predators and weeds," Mr Bryant said.
The resource would likely be a photographic guidebook-style publication and the funds would also help establish a regular, dedicated guide-person role to add to the volunteers promoting and working for the wetland reserve.
ECO FUND GRANTS
Otago regional councillors granted $1,059,178 to 28 community-led environmental projects across Otago from its annual Eco Fund disbursement.
Eco Fund assessment panel chairman Cr Alan Somerville said the funding supported community-driven projects which protected, enhanced and promoted Otago’s environment.
Recipients in the Dunedin-Coastal Otago area include: Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust ($44,528), Te Nohoaka o Tukiauau — Sinclair Wetlands ($49,800), Tomahawk-Smaills Beachcare Trust (48,200), Dunedin Environment Centre Trust ($2985), Sutton Creek Trust ($9757), Reid Family Trust ($15,000), Matai Hill Trust ($15,000), Waitati Beach Reserve Society ($15,000), Makarara Farm ($15,000), Otokia Creek and March Habitat Trust ($15,000) and Deborah Bay Residents’ Association ($16,020).
