Federated Farmers vice-president Colin Hurst (far right) said the organisation advocated for the funding boost for the QEII National Trust. Photo / Federated Farmers
Federated Farmers vice-president Colin Hurst (far right) said the organisation advocated for the funding boost for the QEII National Trust. Photo / Federated Farmers
Whanganui and Rangitīkei farmers who “want to do the right thing but don’t always have the means” are welcoming a funding boost for the QE II National Trust.
The Government has given the conservation body a $1.5m annual funding increase for the next three years.
QEII worked with private landowners, and subsequently farmers, to protect and enhance open spaces of ecological and cultural significance as most of the at-risk plants and animals were located on private land, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka said.
The increased funding will enable further legal protection of areas of biodiversity on private land and maintain the partnerships built over 50 years.
There are 5200-plus covenants that cover more than 187,000ha.
Covenants ensure special areas of bush, wetland and biodiversity are protected for future generations.
Rural lobby group Federated Farmers is a keen supporter of the QEII National Trust.
Federated Farmers national vice-president Colin Hurst said without the funding, QEII would have had to cut back on the number of new covenants which would have been “a huge setback for nature”.
“When it comes to environmental bang for your taxpayer buck, I can’t think of a better investment than the QEII Trust,” Hurst said.
Federated Farmers Whanganui provincial president Ben Fraser said the funding was great news for his area.
“From my perspective, farmers are typically always wanting to do the right thing but don’t always have the means, funding or capital to make improvements for areas that they deem of value and significance,” Fraser said.
“The increase in funding is awesome because now there is more in the kitty to be put forward to protecting the environment and areas that are significant.”
A big part of QEII's job is to work with private landowners on separating stock from native bush and plants.
The QEII National Trust has faced huge inflationary pressures and a 28% increase in demand for its services in recent years.
Federated Farmers Manawatū-Rangitīkei provincial president Ian Strahan said the demand had impacted farmers over the past decade, with extra funding not available for fencing materials, hiring of workers, pest control and other work.
Strahan said farmers he dealt with in Rangitīkei were often willing to do this kind of work themselves but having the option of more QEII funding would be beneficial.
“I find, a lot of the time, farmers being time-poor just go on and get these kinds of things done themselves without applying for funding and going through processes,” he said.
“Hopefully this gets people to go, ‘that is something I was thinking of doing’. We are entering a period where farmers might have a bit of discretionary spending money that they can put towards this as well.
“It’s all positive stuff going forward because there is not a lot of public money around at the moment – it is good we got something out of it.”
Fraser said protecting biodiversity could be time-consuming for farmers who were dealing with other issues.
“Farmers want to do the right things; for sheep and beef farmers, we have had quite a hard few years,” Fraser said.
“From a business perspective, it is quite hard to put money into the ‘nice to haves’ when you are trying to keep your business afloat.
“When there is more funding available, it makes the deal sweeter to do – the work that you would want to do but are not in the position to.”
Fraser said it was important to continue to be supported and funded for the work and maintenance after land is retired.
“There is always ongoing costs, which most landowners front themselves but, depending on the scale and size, you can burn a lot of money on areas as well,” he said.
“You get pests such as possums that go, ‘this is a nice piece of bush that I used to be disturbed in and now I have free range and a buffet to eat’, so you have to keep on top of them.”
Strahan said it was important for the Rangitīkei District’s farmers that further funds be provided to protect areas of biodiversity on private land because of the uniqueness of the landscape.
“There is lots of plant and land waterways and we have more biodiversity corridors than we are used to so they [QEII] are quite important in an area like this where there is not a lot of native vegetation left over,” Strahan said.
Strahan said recent sightings of native birds suggested QEII conservation work was helping.
“A lot of farms are generational, they are our work environments, so it is great to see birdlife come into the area that wasn’t there and see things changing,” he said.
“I’ve had a few sightings of the native falcon [kārearea] which we never used to have, which is a sign that there is an environment there that they want to live in and are able to live in.
