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."
Can you crack Today’s neighbourhood conundrum?
Without a bridle or a saddle, across a thing, I ride a-straddle. And those I ride, by help of me, though almost blind, are made to see. What am I?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.
Kalle
"Sports and travelling run in the family, and that's kind of what's led me to come to New Zealand."
"I grew up in a small town in Finland. My dad was involved with sports all his life, he was a shot putter, discus thrower, powerlifter, we traveled quite a bit when I was a kid. He never mentioned much of the rugby days. He just said he broke both of his shin bones playing rugby, so he said, ‘never play the sport, It's crazy.’
I started playing when I was 18. I played my first cap for the Finnish national team in 2014, we won the Finnish championship with my club. Rugby is not a big thing in Finland.
I moved here to play rugby in 2017. The club that wanted me to come over was Methven Rugby Club. They got me here and they were like, ‘what do you do for work? I’d just finished chef school in Finland. ‘We'll get you a job at Mount Hutt as a chef, you can do that while you play rugby with us.’ I said, ‘Perfect. Yeah, I'm in’.
I've always loved food. My mum was an amazing cook, and still is. When I was studying tourism I worked in some hotels in Finland, and I saw how the chef's worked. I just loved the kitchen vibe and I was like, Yeah, that’d be something I'd love to do.
I've had more of a culinary journey In New Zealand than in Finland. I started at Mount Hutt, after that I worked at The Dubliner in Methven. I worked as a senior pizza chef at Sal’s for maybe six months then worked as chef de partie at Cellar Door. At Eliza's Manor, I worked myself up to a junior sous chef. Then the opportunity came to work my first head chef job at Moon Under Water.
We're privileged to have a busy atmosphere, we can try new things and get a bit creative. There are no TV’s, just come here with your family or with your mates, play board games, to socialise.
I really want to drive the local food and ingredients through the menu. We don't mind spending more for quality ingredients as long as it's supporting New Zealand businesses. We just love to use local. And it's pub food, but I feel like it's elevated.
I play club rugby here for the Christchurch Football Club, the oldest club in New Zealand and I still play regularly for the Finnish national team, whenever they can fly me over to play."
- Kalle
View more stories, or nominate someone: @humansofchch
www.humansofchch.org......
This one was sent in by your fellow neighbour, can you figure it out?
What is first white then red and the plumper it gets the more the old lady likes it?
Do you think you know the answer to our daily riddle? Don't spoil it for your neighbours! Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm.
Want to stop seeing riddles in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.
Loading…
