In Horizon Regional Council’s draft 10-year plan, the reserve’s funding budget has been increased for pest management, revegetation and biodiversity work.
At a meeting last month, regional councillor Fiona Gordon said she had regularly brought up the funding topic over the past four years and persisted because “biodiversity can’t show up and speak for itself”’.
“I know we have iwi, hapū, landowners, volunteers, sponsors, businesses and school kids, among many other people, who are out there every day doing the mahi to help our indigenous biodiversity improve.”
Gordon said biodiversity needed more from the council to retain the small foothold it had left.
Due to introduced species and man-made changes to the region’s landscapes, there were very limited sites now representing a time gone by - “Sadly, they are museum pieces.”
“Regulation and rules alone will not halt the decline,” Gordon said.
For the 2023/24 financial year, Horizons provided $21,400 to the sanctuary for operations such as predator monitoring, weed control and maintaining the predator-proof fence and gates.
Bushy Park, which is free to visit, is designated an icon biodiversity site by the regional council.
Whanganui-based regional councillor and Bushy Park Tarapuruhi Trust board member Alan Taylor told the meeting it wasn’t “an icon site for nothing”.
He said some councillors had visited it just before Christmas.
“They appreciate the amazing resource we have there. The conversation for the hour after they left the sanctuary was pretty much all around what they had seen.
“It’s an impressive place, but having said that, it’s a tough call for an organisation to run on the very lean budget it does - with dozens of volunteers.”
It was hard to retain the commitment of volunteers without significant funding, he said.
“We have supported it [Bushy Park] over the years as a council. That support, I believe, needs increasing.
“Continuing to apply for contestable funding is an incredible drain on the staff that have to do that work. It’s tough too when they’re turned down.”
Speaking to the Chronicle, sanctuary manager Mandy Brooke said staff were still working on where the additional funding - if it was signed off - would go.
She said volunteers put in between 500 and 600 hours per month.
“I’m employed by Forest and Bird, and its engagement in this space is significant. They are a non-governmental organisation that has to find funding through donations and fundraising as well.
“Horizons supporting a site like this really makes sense, in terms of the work going on, but also the community effort that goes into it.”
Bushy Park Trust board member Keith Beautrais told the Chronicle compared to other eco-sanctuaries,it ran on “the smell of an oily rag”.
“Everybody is concerned about rates and the level of rates, but I think Whanganui can be assured that the funding, in comparison to other assets, has been pretty light compared to the value it gives the district.
“We would encourage people who value the park to put in submissions [to the Long Term Plan], and perhaps to speak to them in the hearings that will come up.”
Brooke said the predator-proof fence wasn’t perfect but it slowed down re-invasion, especially in comparison to the pressure on outside areas.
“Essentially, we are maintaining and monitoring the fence all the time. It is ageing, as are the gates.
“There are also full forest audits, and if we find anything, which we occasionally do, we respond immediately - generally to good effect. It usually takes a week or two to sort it.
“Bushy Park has so much visitation. Cars can drive in and out, but that’s a feature - you can come readily, stay and visit the forest without cost. I’m not sure other mainland sanctuaries do that.”
The council has approved its Long Term Plan (LTP) 2024-2034 for a formal audit process, after which it will be put out for community consultation.
If the extra $30,000 in funding is officially signed off, it will begin in the 2024/25 financial year.
The LTP comes into effect on July 1.
Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multi-media journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.
