Funding Will Help 'Critically Threatened' Long-tailed Bats
A project that delivers pest control to help long-tailed bats living in the Franklin district has received a $45,300 funding boost.
EcoQuest was one of 64 conservation projects carried out by mana whenua and community groups that received Auckland Council's latest funding to help protect, restore and enhance the natural environment.
The group looks after the native long-tailed bat, or Chalinolobus tuberculatus - one of New Zealand's rarest and most vulnerable creatures which settled in the Manukau Lowlands.
EcoQuest Finding Franklin Bats lead researcher Natasha Bansal said the funding will help employ a coordinator who will connect their work with the community.
"Because we deal with a lot of private landowners, the aim was to get a community connector, someone who is from the community to talk to these landowners and talk to them about the bats," she said.
"For the past year, we have had increasing requests from schools and communities to come and talk to them about the project."
Since starting the project in 2017, Bansal said one of their aims was to keep the community involved.
"We have a lot of people that come and volunteer their time, and we appreciate that.
"But this grant will allow us to employ someone to do that work."
The native long-tailed bat is listed as both nationally and regionally critically threatened, with a high rate of decline due to predation and loss of roosting habitat.
The project team works in Waiuku, Patumahoe and Pukekohe and so far, more than 200 bats have been mapped out within that triangle.
Bansal said there could be more, and work on tracking them will continue for the next few years.
"We've only done this for two seasons now, we have five seasons in total. And every time we go out, we're finding more and more bats."
Council's Environmental Services general manager Samantha Hill said the grants ranged from $5800 to $85,000 - allocated to projects that will help to protect and restore native ecosystems, grow community involvement and contribute to Māori outcomes.
"One of the projects delivers pest control to help long-tailed bats living in Franklin," she said.
"Another supports mana whenua-led conservation work on Aotea/Great Barrier Island, and several other groups are carrying out ongoing predator control and native habitat restoration to support a range of threatened native species."
With the invaluable work the community groups were doing, significant steps in progress to protect, improve and minimise risks to the natural environment would be seen, she said.
"It is important for us to continue to recognise and support the tireless commitment given by these dedicated community-led conservation groups and their many volunteers."
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