In January 2016 the Department of Conservation signed an agreement with Nelson City Council to project manage Nelson Nature for three years.

In 2015 the Nelson City Council budgeted $6m over 10 years to invest in Nelson Nature, a significant biodiversity programme throughout the city. The programme is made of 11 components including: restoration of nationally significant ecological management areas, a strong focus on controlling invasive weeds, large-scale pest management, and restoration of urban and rural waterways to achieve abundant native fish populations.

DOC had been working with the council on the development of management prescriptions for the Dun Mountain ecological management unit, which falls within the Nelson Nature project area. It was identified that by working more closely with council, DOC could offer technical expertise to apply best practice conservation management cross-boundary. This enables greater conservation gains than either council or DOC could achieve working independently on all 11 project components.

Nelson City Council are funding a fixed-term project manager position based in DOC's Nelson Office. A council officer will work with DOC on secondment as assistant programme manager. Other partners will hopefully join the project to maximize conservation outcomes.

Find out more about Nelson Nature on the NCC website.