Priority Habitats Programme

We run a number of programmes to support biodiversity in our region.

Our ‘Priority Habitats’ programme is one of these and makes up approximately 30% of this activity. The programme focuses on restoring and maintaining a representative range of the region’s indigenous ecosystems that remain on private land at a healthy and functioning level.

There are three main components to the programme:

• Management of the sites currently in the priority habitat programme
• Assessing any new sites of the appropriate ecosystem type and quality to consider for addition to the programme
• Monitoring and reporting on the priority habitat sites.

Ecologists Singers&Rodgers identified 72 different indigenous ecosystem types in the Horizons Region (59 terrestrial and 13 wetlands) ranging from alpine types to various forest, coastal dune, grassland and even cliff types.

Each ecosystem is unique, packed with an amazing variety of different indigenous species; huge trees right through to microscopic fungi. This native biodiversity has evolved to live together in complex harmony and we couldn’t hope to recreate it from the small selection of plants available at a nursery. 
 
Prioritisation work in recent years identified 30 indigenous ecosystem types that are particularly rare or threatened in the Horizons region and could feasibly be protected. The Priority Habitats programme has worked to seek out sites where remnants of these priority ecosystems persist, to protect and preserve the natural biodiversity there. The programme is non-regulatory, relying on the willing participation of the landowners.
 
The process used to physically assess a site is called a rapid ecological assessment (REA). Science team ecologists and biodiversity staff record all the main species in each layer of vegetation, taking into account soil and geology, weeds and animal pests evident, native birds and insects and the overall condition of the site. From this assessment the ecosystem type(s) there can be formally identified. Site protection may include fencing and, typically, ongoing weed and animal pest control and some monitoring to assess the effectiveness of this control. Actively managed sites have the same REA process repeated every 5 years to help track significant changes over time.”
 
In 2025, 95 sites containing 29 of the priority ecosystem types are being actively managed in the Priority Habitats programme.