Habitat restoration groups meet

Habitat restoration groups meet for the first time at national workshop.

Wellington, New Zealand - WWF and CommonGround will hold a national workshop involving Habitat Protection Fund and Action Bio-Community restoration groups. They are coming together for the first time, from all over the country. The workshop will be held at Tapu Te Ranga Marae, adjacent to the local restoration site - Manawa Karioi, Island Bay, Wellington on Friday 17 October.

The aim of the workshop is to share knowledge; it will include sessions on fundraising, land protection, technical issues of habitat management, and sustaining community involvement. The workshop has been made possible by generous support from the Biodiversity Advice Fund (administered by the Department of Conservation and the Ministry for the Environment).

The Habitat Protection Fund is managed by WWF, with support from The Tindall Foundation. The Fund has disbursed well over half a million dollars for community conservation projects across the country. Action Bio-Community is a national biodiversity project run in partnership between central and local government. CommonGround, the project managers, are working with council staff across the country, to show councils that they can make a difference.

"One key element for all our Habitat Protection Fund projects is to foster communities and individuals to take action to look after and restore their local ecosystems. This workshop is an important step towards working together as a whole nation to save our special species and places," says WWF Chief Executive, Jo Breese.

"It is an important opportunity for Habitat Protection Fund and Action Bio-Community projects to share practical information and to seek advice from specialists," says Sarah Wilson, CommonGround.

The Habitat Protection Fund and Action Bio-Community projects include a wide range of activities such as re-vegetation programmes, native planting along rivers and streams, species protection, and wetland and estuary restoration. Their diversity is as rich as the biodiversity they restore.

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