Local initiative preserving East Taranaki's wildlife thrives
Lottery funding boosts East Taranaki Environment Collective’s conservation and sustainability efforts
Two decades ago, a group of locals in East Taranaki started on a mission to protect their local native wildlife by creating a natural environment where native species could thrive free from the dangers posed by introduced pests.
Fast forward twenty years and the East Taranaki Environment Collective (ETEC) is now a leading community-conservation initiative, supported by lottery funding grants from Te Puna Tahua Lottery Grants Board to deliver one of the largest community environmental projects in Aotearoa.
The programme spans over 18,000 hectares of mustelid (animals like stoats and ferrets) control in East Taranaki and 1,000 hectares of intensive rat and possum ground control in the Pouiatoa.
By employing a network of traps and ground control methods, the programme works to create a haven for indigenous species such as kiwi, kōkako, and the New Zealand long-tailed bat to thrive.
This is just one example of the incredible causes happening in your community, with 100% of Lotto New Zealand’s profits going back to support thousands of great causes all over Aotearoa. So, every time you play any Lotto New Zealand game, it’s a win for our environment, and it’s a win for our native species.
Read more Local Grants recipient stories
Poll: If we want to reduce speeding, what do you think actually changes driver behaviour? 🛻🚨🚓
In the Post's article on speeding penalties, the question is asked whether speeding fines are truly about road safety, or are they just a way to boost revenue for the Crown?
What do you think? Should speeding motorists receive speeding fines or demerit points?
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37.1% The sting of a fine (Money talks!)
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62.9% The threat of demerit points (Nobody wants to lose their license!)
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!
Love potatoes? We will give away free copies of the May 2026 issue to readers whose potato recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way to enjoy potatoes: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by March 1, 2026.
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