An eco-sanctuary will be created on Farewell Spit in a partnership between online retailer HealthPost and the Department of Conservation.

HealthPost, which is based in Collingwood in Golden Bay, hopes to raise $100,000 a year to fund the ecosystem restoration and native species protection project. It will be based on Farewell Spit and adjoining public conservation land.

Minister of Conservation Maggie Barrie announced the initiative today.

Shelly Grell HealthPost chair Peter Butler on Farewell Spit.

Barry said the Wharariki and Triangle Flat areas near the spit attracted more than 70,000 visitors a year.

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"Farewell Spit is internationally important as a wetland and sanctuary for migrating wading birds and it has the highest level of protection as a Nature Reserve. More than 90 bird species live in its diverse habitats that include salt marshes, mudflats and sand dunes," she said.

Pheye Creative HealthPost chair Peter Butler and DOC Golden Bay operations manager Andrew Lamason.

The first stage of the project will cover a 900-hectare area at the spit's base, with plans to extend it to the spit within five years.

HealthPost staff have already begun planting native species such as spinifex and sand coprosma in the dunes near Triangle Flat.

HealthPost chair Peter Butler said it aimed to create a "wondrous, accessible nature sanctuary" where control of predators enabled native species to flourish and rare and threatened species to be re-established.

Pheye Creative Lucy Butler on one of the first planting days at Farewell Spit.

"We want to make it a place where people can interact really closely with flora and fauna they may not have seen before," he said.

"We have discussed with DOC some exciting ideas for the reintroduction of threatened species which probably once called Farewell Spit home. But first we will have to get predator numbers down to ensure successful breeding."

HealthPost Executive Director Dr Lucy Butler said it will donate $1 through its existing donation programme every time a customer selects the Farewell Spit HealthPost Nature Trust as their chosen charity after placing an order on the website.

The project fitted with the company's core values of genuinely caring, not just for the wellbeing of its customers, but for the wider community and the planet.

"We're lucky enough to be based only 20 minutes drive from Farewell Spit so we know first-hand how special it is. We want to do whatever we can to restore and enhance this incredible environment and create a safe haven for vulnerable native species."

DOC Golden Bay Operations Manager Andrew Lamason said reducing the pressure on native species in the area from predators like rats, wild pigs and stoats could enable them to flourish.

"We can't wait to see people seeing and hearing the riotous, cacophonous spectacle of thousands of seabirds like fairy prions, petrels and shearwaters returning at dusk to their nests on the cliffs around Cape Farewell and departing again at dawn."

The Farewell Spit HealthPost Nature Trust trustees include Dr Lucy Butler and Peter Butler from HealthPost, conservationist, publisher and photographer Craig Potton, and Stuart Macintosh, General Manager of Pics Peanut Butter and a trustee of the Motuihe Island sanctuary.

Potton said the very generous offer from Healthpost would allow one of New Zealand's most significant places to receive pest and weed control on a scale it deserves.

"Higher protection will be afforded to the iconic flocks of godwits and knots and wonderful flora and fauna of international significance. It's a brilliant project".







