Jobs for Nature boost for South Westland
By local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Underspend on a $1.2 billion dollar conservation programme means work in South Westland is to be extended until the middle of next year.
Jobs for Nature has funded nearly 11,000 hours of community conservation in the three years to the end of June.
The multi-agency programme which was due to finish this winter will now run until June 2024.
Department of Conservation Western South Island director Mark Davies said the extension had been made possible due to an underspend of about $850,000 from the original allocation for the region.
Davies said the focus of the programme was to support the communities in South Westland however the quicker return of visitors to the Glaciers post-covid meant the project funding had been underspent, enabling the extension.
"Visitors came back a bit faster."
It effectively enabled a good opportunity to extend the programme timeframe beyond that envisaged which was "a great outcome".
The $1.19b Jobs for Nature programme set up in the wake of Covid-19 managed funding across multiple government agencies as an economic stimulus to benefit the environment, people and the regions - with South Westland a big beneficiary from 2020 onward.
A report to the West Conservation Board on August 25 noted the South Westland Conservation and Tourism Jobs for Nature Programme had the green light for a fourth year.
This effectively enables its business partners to continue to contribute towards conservation outcomes in conjunction with DOC and support the retention of employees throughout the winter low season.
"In the final quarter of the 2022-23 year, 19 of the business partners carried out a further 1515 hours of conservation work," the report said.
"This means that year three of the programme ended in June with over 10,900 hours of work completed in total."
Thoughout the past year business partners in the programme had contributed to track and amenities upgrades, species monitoring, weed and predator control, digital archiving, and biodiversity assets support.
"This has been an asset to conservation in South Westland and we look forward to continuing this collaboration with our business partners into 2023-24."
Worst Xmas ever?
There's a a lot of planning that goes into Christmas day and sometimes things just don't go to plan. But it can be a good thing - a family mishap or hilarious memory that you can laugh about in Christmases to come.
Whether you burnt the dinner or were stranded at an airport...
Share your Christmas mishaps below!
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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61.7% Summer
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36.7% Winter
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1.6% Other - I'll share below
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