Jobs for Nature workers hope programme will carry on despite funding running out

Jobs are in limbo and environmental gains set to be lost as the Jobs for Nature funding programme nears its end date.

The $1.2 billion programme was set up in 2021 amid the economic downturn of Covid-19 to simultaneously create jobs and improve biodiversity, with various government agencies administering funding to hundreds of projects nationwide.

But the programme has not been renewed by the coalition government and the funding has run dry, meaning projects and jobs must find alternative funds to carry on.

For former chef Vyona Broughton, the role of project leader for the iwi-led Hem of Remutaka project was a turning point. She was on the benefit and not sure where to go next.

"I had no experience in the industry," she said.

"I was a solo mother who didn't know where to start to get back into full-time work."

The project received $1.56 million from the Department of Conservation (DOC), and had many other partners: local iwi Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o te Ika, Conservation Volunteers New Zealand, the Tupoki Takarangi Block Trust and Greater Wellington Regional Council.

Its goal was to restore more than 4000 hectares of coastal land, owned by iwi, farmers and the regional council, by trapping pests and planting riverbanks, grassy paddocks and wetlands.

It had successfully lowered the number of stoats along the Turakirae coast, increased the number of mokomoko (native lizards) in Baring Head, a noticeable increase in banded dotterel nesting, and planted 50,000 native plants grown in its own nursery.

Now, its future was uncertain. Broughton said if trapping and weed control were to stop altogether, the grass would soon choke the new saplings and rodents and mustelids would take over, eating new shoots and destroying years of work.

"It directly affects the banded dotterels, the weta, all the native gecko and lizards found in Baring Head, the upkeep of the area, so plant care after planting, those plants could due because it's an ongoing process a few years after planting," Broughton said.

"As hard as we're working to secure small contracts here and there, it is going to be hard to hold full-time people, six full-time staff members."

An extra three months of work had been secured by additional contracts with the regional council and DOC, which would see planting continue through winter until September.

But after that, nothing was guaranteed - and conservation jobs were "definitely not readily available in Wellington at the moment", Broughton said.

"There's been a lot of job cuts in conservation, so we've got a lot of people scrambling for any role in conservation."

DOC said projects were told from the beginning their funding would be time-limited. It had funded 225 projects totalling $445m, with all funding to be completed by the end of June 2026.

Operations manager Angus Hulme-Moir said there had been discussions for at least a year about how to ensure work continued.

He said discussions were still underway regarding the long-term, and there was a "strong interest" from all the partners for that.

But if that did not come to fruition, the people the project employed could be facing job losses.

Before joining the project, Kirihi Nohotima-Hunia (Te Āti Awa, Tūhoe, Tūwharetoa ki Kawerau) worked as a fencer. While that had come in handy for keeping stock out of planting areas, he had also gained a wider understanding of the plants, animals and insects that made up the wider ecosystem.

"My family whakapapa back to this block here," he said.

"As a kid, we used to come down here almost every second weekend, every summer, every Christmas.

"I just can't wait to bring my own kids when my own time comes, and paint a better picture than what I would have seen as a kid."

He said he was gutted the funding was coming to an end, and he hoped they found a way to carry on.

"Next 50 years, hopefully we'll have a few skyscraper trees starting to come through the ground."

The project would need to find new ways of funding that dream come September - but for now, there were still trees to plant.