9th September 2026
Help Us Protect Four Years of Conservation Gains
The Bluff Hill Motupōhue Environment Trust urgently needs to raise $50,000 to protect the gains that four years of intensive habitat restoration have produced on Motupōhue and Ōmāui
Across Motupōhue, Ōmāui and the wider Bluff environment, our staff and volunteers have worked tirelessly to suppress rats, possums, mustelids and feral cats. Maintaining consistently low predator numbers gives our native birds, plants and other wildlife the opportunity to recover.
That work is succeeding—but predator control cannot simply be paused.
Why we need funds
BHMET is facing facing a serious shortfall in operational funding. Several anticipated funding opportunities have not eventuated, leaving a gap between our present resources and future project income.
Without additional support, we will have to drastically reduce our ability to:
Maintain and service service more than 2,000 manual and automatic traps;
Monitor predator numbers and identify emerging threats;
Respond when traps or monitoring equipment fail;
Maintain the data systems that demonstrate whether our work is succeeding;
Support our volunteers and community trapping activities; and
Continue expanding habitat restoration and native planting.
Predator populations recover quickly when control is work stops. If that happens, the gains achieved through years of investment, fieldwork and community effort could begin to unravel.
This appeal is not about funding a new or untested ambition. It is about safeguarding something that is already working.
Our target: $50,000
We need to raise $50,000 to maintain essential conservation operations and bridge the gap to our 2027 funding.
Every donation—large or small—will help keep practical conservation work happening on the ground.
What your donation can support
$25 contributes to lures, gas and field consumables.
$50 helps us inspect, service and maintain traps.
$100 contributes to the ongoing operation of a priority trapline.
$250 supports fieldwork, monitoring and rapid responses to equipment failures or predator activity.
$500 makes a substantial contribution to sustained predator suppression in one of our priority areas.
$1,000 or more helps preserve BHMET’s capacity to coordinate and deliver predator control across the wider landscape.
These amounts illustrate how donations contribute to our overall programme. We will direct funding to the areas of greatest immediate conservation need.
Donate by bank transfer
Account name: Bluff Hill Motupōhue Environment Trust
Bank account: 38-9008-0319201-06
When making your donation, please use:
Particulars: Your name
Code: Donation
Reference: Protect
BHMET is a registered New Zealand charity. If you require a donation receipt, please email [Enable JavaScript to view protected content] with your name, donation date and donation amount.
You can also donate anonymously online here: https://givealittle.co.nz/org/bhmet
Can your business or organisation help?
We would welcome conversations with businesses, funders and community organisations that could provide a larger donation, sponsorship or short-term financial support.
Support can be acknowledged publicly, or treated as confidential if preferred. Please contact David Swann ([Enable JavaScript to view protected content]) to discuss how your organisation could help.
Other ways to support us
If you cannot donate, you can still make a real difference:
Share this appeal with your friends and networks;
Introduce us to a business or organisation that may be able to help;
Encourage others to support community-led conservation; or
Volunteer your time with BHMET.
The Bluff community has invested years of work in protecting this extraordinary environment. Together, we can make sure those gains are not lost.
Please donate today—and help us keep predators down and native wildlife thriving.
Ngā mihi nui
David Swann
Trustee & Project Leader
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