Tūpiki Trust Provides $122,935 Funding for Young Valley Biodiversity Protection
Tūpiki Trust has agreed to fund a biodiversity project in the Young Valley, Makarora region. The Young valley project is a part of a major Southern Lakes Sanctuary Trust Conservation project. The project enables: conservation planning, site-monitoring, trap network expansion, catch monitoring, data analysis, indigenous biodiversity assessment, knowledge sharing and collaboration among stakeholders. The Tūpiki Trust will contribute $122,935.
Tupiki Trust deed lists its charitable purposes and includes … ‘Promote conservation of climbing spaces, and the maintenance and improvement of the ecological status of climbing spaces, including through weed and pest control and other conservation projects, and by providing a forum for discussing sustainability of climbing activities.’
The Tūpiki Trust funded project lies in the upper Young Valley within the Makarora catchment and will expand on existing trapping efforts in the area. The Young Valley has been chosen as a key site for suppression, because of its high potential biodiversity and suitable habitat for numerous native species (rock wren, whio, mohua, kea), defensible lines (i.e., high ridges and rivers), existing trapping infrastructure, and the potential for eventual predator elimination and protection of an iconic mountain landscape within the Southern Alps.
The Southern Lakes Sanctuary (SLS) is a community-led Trust focussed on conserving the natural taonga of the catchments of lakes Wānaka and Whakatipu, where there are approximately 30 native species threatened with extinction. The Southern Lakes Sanctuary project arose from a DOC initiative in 2017, to coordinate the efforts of local conservation groups and develop a landscape scale predator control programme. SLS Trust (CC59200) was officially launched in 2021 with $2.986 million of initial funding from DOC’s Jobs for Nature program. The Sanctuary currently operates as a consortium of six large conservation groups, representing about 87 community volunteer led projects. Few projects in Aotearoa encompass such wide community engagement, across such an extensive and significant landscape.
The long-term vision of the Southern Lakes Sanctuary is to see flourishing native biodiversity at a landscape scale across the region. The natural barriers of the Southern Alps, and the lakes and rivers of the region, will assist in moving towards predator elimination within selected sites, thereby contributing to a Predator Free New Zealand. The initial focus is the suppression of predators to help native species which amplifies the mahi being done by SLS consortium groups. The Tūpiki Trust is particularly aware of the need to have this important biodiversity area managed to be ready for more effective predator management tools as predator control technology advances.
'Tūpiki Trust welcomes the opportunity to partner with the Southern Lakes Sanctuary Trust in funding the Young Valley expansion project. This will have a significant impact on native biodiversity in this stunning part of the Southern Alps'
Many alpinists will recall that John Nankervis, the founding Chair of Tupiki Trust, suffered a severe fall in 2013 in the Young Valley.