Direct Grant funding categories for tree planting
Different tree-planting grants are available from the One Billion Trees Fund depending on the types of trees you're planting. Find the one that's right for you.
Video – One Billion Trees Fund supporting indigenous restoration in Canterbury (3.20)
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[Video starts with acoustic music playing in the background; title card reads: Planting One Billion Trees Together. Bob and Carol applied for funding under the native reversion category.]
[Bob Webster and Carol Jensen appear on screen.]
Bob: I’m Bob Webster and together with my wife, Carol, we live in Christchurch, but we bought our land over here on Banks Peninsula seven years ago. It’s 74 hectares and we bought it exclusively for conservation. We bought this piece of land because we’d always loved this part of Banks Peninsula. There’s some terrific old forest along the ridges here and we’ve enjoyed walking along here and running along here for many years.
[While Bob speaks: Aerial views of Waipuna Bush is shown.]
Carol: The old growth totara is absolutely unique because there’s so little of it left because most of Banks Peninsula was logged and burnt and grazed in the past. That’s what attracted us to the land. What we’re aiming at is overall restoring this land to that ancient forest.
[While Carol speaks: More aerial shots of Waipuna Bush and its native forests are shown.]
Bob: One of the things we really like about this property is the range of vegetation communities and this includes grassland, with old totara stumps, regenerating forest, and along the ridges some really old, original totara forest. And some of the trees here are probably in excess of 500 years old. There’s several macrocarpa plantations up here on the land that were planted in the wrong place about 20 years ago. So the plan’s been to actually allow native vegetation to grow through that forest by killing the trees but leaving them in place. And leaving them in place is seen as being a good solution because it allows light to gradually get into the forest rather than a lot of light and gorse getting in there. It allows native plants to just regenerate. Natural regeneration occurs through seeds spreading through the landscape, and that can be by wind or by birds. So the seed’s spreading all over the place all the time. On our land here we probably get 1,000 things popping up naturally for every one thing we could plant. I’d heard about the One Billion Trees Fund through the media and I did a little bit of research on the web and established that there was a fund for natural regeneration. And we thought, well, that might fit very well with our land up here and it might be a way of earning a little bit of income. To get the One Billion Trees Fund, you’ve gotta be able to demonstrate that you’re going to protect the land so it’s not grazed and you’re gonna manage the land so it will allow natural regeneration to occur. And that means pest control and weed control.
[While Bob speaks: Bob and Carol are seen walking through the grassland. A close-up view of a totara tree is depicted. Aerial shot of native vegetation growing through macrocarpa plantations are shown. Bob and Carol are seen trekking through the forest. Close-up shots of different plants are shown. More aerial views of the property are depicted. The couple is seen looking at their different pest control methods.]
Carol: The main points that we’d like people, especially farmers, to know is that their grassland, shrubland or native remnants are extremely valuable and this is another way of protecting them, but getting some income.
[While Carol speaks: Close-up shots of different plants are shown.]
Bob: Another thing which we’re quite passionate about is recreation on Banks Peninsula. With the growing population of Christchurch, people need somewhere to go and it’s quite nice to have somewhere that’s not hours away. And we’re finding that we’re getting quite a lot of people walking along the property, on top of our property, every weekend and just enjoying that regenerating totara forest.
[While Bob speaks: An aerial view shows Bob and Carol trekking through the bush. Some more aerial views of the Waipuna Bush forest is depicted.]
[Video ends with aerial view of native forest and folk music plays in the background. Tile card reads: Get Involved. Phone: 0800 008333. www.teururakau.govt.nz]
[End of transcript]
Direct Grant funding categories
There are 4 categories of Direct Grants available to landowners from the One Billion Trees Fund, as well as top-ups in some circumstances. You can apply for a grant in one or more categories, and you can apply to plant blocks over several years (up to the third year of the contract) in a single application. Grant contracts are for 10 years.
The grant categories have different grant rates to reflect the different costs of planting activities. Grants contribute towards costs, but don't cover the entire cost of a project.
The 4 planting categories are:
- native planting
- native reversion
- mānuka/kānuka planting
- exotic planting.
Native planting
$4,000 per hectare to plant a native forest.
- Types of activities under this category include native forest restoration (planting to help restore native forest), native timber production, and riparian planting (planting along waterways).
- Small tree species (less than 5 metres), shrubs and other plants are an accepted part of the planting mix, as long as the minimum establishment standard is achieved – 750 living stems per hectare of tree species capable of reaching 5 metres in height.
- Mānuka is acceptable as a nurse species, but shouldn't make up the majority of trees in these projects.
If you’re undertaking a large or catchment-scale native planting project across multiple landowners you may also be able to access project support (for example, a project coordinator) through Partnership Funding to help manage your planting project.
About Partnership Funding for tree projects
Native reversion
$1,000 per hectare to help revert your land to native forest cover.
- There must be a seed source close to the project area.
- Pest and weed control will be critical to project success.
- Supplementary planting may be needed to meet the establishment standard.
Mānuka/kānuka planting
$1,800 per hectare to plant only mānuka or kānuka blocks.
- The mānuka must be capable of reaching a height of 5 metres in your area and must not be managed to control height.
Exotic planting
$1,500 per hectare to plant an exotic forest.
The maximum area you can plant in one year is 300 hectares. We'll consider applications to establish more than 300 hectares in one year on a case-by-case basis, and lower grant rates may be negotiated.
The minimum application size is 5 hectares. This can be made up of blocks of one or more categories, and each block must be at least 1 hectare. For example, you could apply for a grant for 1 hectare of exotics and 4 hectares of reversion.
Grant rates will be the same if you are planting trees as part of a Partnership Funding project.
Basic grant category table [PDF, 477 KB]
Top-ups to base Direct Grant rates
In addition to the base grant rates, top-ups are available in some cases:
Priority land top-up
Up to $500 per hectare across all grant categories for one or both of the following situations:
- Erosion-prone land – includes land identified as Orange or Red Zone under the Erosion Susceptibility Classification, Land Use Capability classes 7e and 8e, land identified as erosion prone in a farm-scale map, or a letter of support with accompanying photos from a regional council
- Land with high land preparation costs – includes Māori-owned land or land that's in a surge region (Northland, Bay of Plenty, East Coast, Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu-Whanganui, and the West Coast). This top up will cover costs (capped at $500 per hectare) for land preparation that exceeds $500 per hectare. For example, if your costs were $750 per hectare you can receive a top-up of $250.
Fencing top-up
$500 per hectare for native planting and native reversion categories.
Native ecological restoration top-up
$2,000 per hectare on top of the native planting grant rate for high-quality projects. This top-up can't be used with the priority land or fencing top-ups.
The overall level of funding is meant to support professional-level planning and ambitious projects.
The minimum area for a native ecological restoration top-up is 5 hectares, which can be made up of different blocks of at least 1 hectare. This area can span multiple landowners or titles.
To access this top-up you’ll need to demonstrate that your project:
- meets the objectives of the One Billion Trees Fund
- has clear ecological restoration objectives
- aligns with catchment, regional or national biodiversity priorities or other environmental or conservation management programmes
- has a high quality planting and management plan prepared or endorsed by a relevant professional like an ecologist or landscape architect.