Conservation Minister Tama Potaka announced $9.2 million of Department of Conservation Community Fund (DOCCF) funding will go to 20 community groups delivering conservation projects across New Zealand.

The DOCCF is a contestable Crown fund to support community-led conservation projects on public and private land.

“Communities around the country are rolling up their sleeves to protect the places and species that make New Zealand unique — combining practical conservation actions with local knowledge, community effort, and strong partnerships with Iwi,” Mr Potaka says.

“These groups play a vital role in New Zealand’s conservation efforts, and this investment will help turn their commitment into action.

“The projects selected this year cover a range of New Zealand’s threatened ecosystems and species, from internationally recognised wetlands and geothermal areas to Northland horopito and Whitaker’s skink.

“The positive impacts will be felt for years to come; protecting wildlife, enhancing ecosystem health, and leaving a lasting legacy for future generations of New Zealanders.”

See the full list of projects funded by DOC on their website.

Father leaves 7-year-old son alone on Mount Fuji while continuing hike

Police reprimanded a father after he left his son on Japan’s highest mountain for several hours with only a soft drink and a snack.

The seven-year-old was spotted sitting on a bench on Mount Fuji in foggy and rainy conditions, at a point situated at over 2,000m.

His father, 48, reportedly told him to “wait here” after the boy complained he was tired – and continued the climb with his elder son.

Staff at a mountain hut found the child near the sixth station of a hiking route towards the summit and alerted police. His father was tracked down between the route’s seventh and eighth stations – said to be a three-hour hike away.

Officers castigated his father when he returned from the higher station and reunited with his son, who is said to have been “tired and fussy” after eight hours of waiting.

“Even if it means having to give up on climbing the mountain together, leaving a child behind is unacceptable,” one told him, according to Japan Today. He is said to have apologised for the “rash” decision. Read the full story from the BBC.

Tramping club looks for contributions for its 50-year jubilee publication

As it chalks up a half-century of traversing the great outdoors next year, the Geraldine Tramping Club is compiling a jubilee publication.

It is inviting content from people associated with the club through the years, committee member Charlotte Woods says.

“We’d love contributions of articles and memories – anecdotes, poems, photos – and the philosophy of ‘Why did you join?’ ‘What do you get out of the club?’,” she says.

For people unable to provide material in those formats, “I’d welcome hearing from them. One of our members could visit to note down some anecdotes.”

The publication’s launch, centrepiece of the wider anniversary celebration in June next year, will encapsulate the to-date legacy of a flaxroots community endeavour.

“Fifty years ago, some people had the idea of forming a tramping club, as there were already several groups working to encourage young people to get into the hills.”

Learn how you can contribute to the Geraldine Tramping Club’s 50th Jubilee publication by contacting Charlotte at geraldinetrampingclub@gmail.com and read more from the Otago Daily Times.

DOC rangers don stab-proof vests as whitebait tensions turn violent

DOC staff are patrolling some of Canterbury’s most popular whitebaiting rivers in stab-proof vests as tensions between fishers spill into violence ahead of the new season.

DOC says competition for lucrative whitebaiting spots has become so heated that staff now regularly conduct joint patrols with police, with officers facing situations involving knives and physical confrontations.

Long-running disputes over access to whitebaiting sites and customary fishing rights have prompted Ngāi Tūāhuriri to place a temporary rāhui on customary whitebaiting activities at several rivers this year.

The hapū says the move was made because of escalating safety concerns after years of abuse and violence.

Ngāi Tūāhuriri Tangata Tiaki committee secretary Te Marino Lenihan said the rāhui affects customary permits, which allow hapū members to fish for whitebait two weeks before the general season opens and for a month after it closes. It will not affect fishing during the standard whitebait season.

Forest & Bird’s Nicky Snoyink said all six whitebait species are threatened and at risk of extinction. Read more from One News.

Bodies of two hikers missing for decades found after Swiss glacier melts

The bodies of two Belgian men who went missing in the Swiss Alps in 1992 have been discovered after being exposed by the melting of a glacier, police have said.

DNA analysis confirmed them to be those of two mountaineers who went missing 34 years ago near the Weissmies mountain, police said. They were aged 39 and 41 at the time of their disappearance.

Peaking at over 4,000 metres, the Weissmies mountain – which the two men went missing in the vicinity of – is a popular mountaineering spot in the Saas Valley.

Regional officials maintain a database of missing people dating back to 1925. Most of them disappeared in the mountains, or in rivers and other bodies of water, police said.

The force noted that this was not the first time melting glaciers had exposed the remains of people who had gone missing decades earlier. The upward trend in global average temperatures has brought unseasonably warm weather to Switzerland’s higher altitudes, and a reduction in snow has imperilled some of its ski resorts and competitions. Read more from the BBC.