The spotlight is on biodiversity this week and many of you are already living and breathing its goals without realising it.

By biodiversity, I mean biological diversity – all the different micro-organisms and fungi, trees, plants and animals that live in our district.

Council has just released its first Biodiversity Strategy for public consultation and it’s a draft blueprint for looking after our district’s biodiversity; we will all need to work together on this and build on the good work that’s already been done.

That good work includes our local ecological groups that spend their weekends planting trees, and farmers who plant native shelter belts and riparian margins, and protect wetlands.

There are many other residents with a passion for our environment, and their projects are diverse. Some fund the work themselves, others apply to Council for biodiversity grants that can help their projects gain traction.

Just recently, Council granted $7500 to the Lake Clearwater Hutholders Association, whose members are creating a strip of wetlands running from the foreshore of the lake to the public camping ground. Volunteers plan to plant 1716 natives.

Council also granted $7500 to a Staveley wetland restoration project, and $7500 to the Staveley Campsite Committee, which is making a huge effort to protect and restore 10 hectares of remnant forest at Staveley Camp.

This Friday, Councillors who also sit on the Ashburton Water Zone Committee will hold their monthly meeting at the Staveley Camp and then spend the rest of the day helping volunteers at the start of a weekend of weed wrangling.

So our community is already invested and involved in many biodiversity projects, some trying to protect indigenous biodiversity that is unique to our patch but at risk of being lost.

Farmers, whose lives depend on the land, naturally go about their daily lives knowing they must look after the natural environment that looks after them. They are actively sharing information and good practice.

So this strategy is for all of us, and has been developed in partnership with interest groups, landowners and Manawhenua.

Developing the draft document has been a great learning opportunity for all of us involved and even the act of reading it will grow your own knowledge.

Join us on this important journey.

See our draft Biodiversity Strategy Consultation document here.