Nelson Weekly
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Wednesday 29 May 2019
‘Why I’m striking’
Page 4
EVERY VEHICLE AT EVERY BRANCH IS REDUCED FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH OF JUNE
Squaring up for semi-finals
Butterfly plan to save Natureland Sara Hollyman
Tears of marathon glory Benjamin Pickersgill-Brown flew into Nelson from Melbourne to compete in his first-ever marathon, in the form of the K2M event on Saturday. The Kiwi farewelled wife Sarah and two young children at the start line but didn’t anticipate having to pick up parenting duties before he even finished the race. However, the slight tantrum did not seem to have slowed him down with Benjamin coming third overall in the event. Photo: Evan Barnes/Shuttersport. Full story on page 23.
CurtainsPlus
Page 24
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REALLY NEAT FLOORING
The owners of a North Island butterfly sanctuary say they can run the embattled Natureland profitably and with less council funding than is currently being asked for. The Butterfly Forest owners say the result will be a unique regional attraction featuring everything from hundreds of butterflies to crocodiles and a marine reef. Butterfly Forest, which is based in Thames, made a submission to the Nelson City Council to merge their company with Natureland. The move would see it take over from the current Natureland Wildlife Trust, which has told council that it will be insolvent by September unless its funding is increased. Butterfly Forest’s Daniel Adam and Nelson-based Geoff Proctor recently fronted council on behalf of the company, which opened the country’s first butterfly house in 1999. Now, 20 years later, it has been forced to find a new home due to the lease not being renewed at their current site. If successful, they say they can run Natureland at the current proposed funding level of $170,000 and aim to reduce their reliance on council funds as they introduce new revenue streams. Spokesperson and co-owner, Glenn Turner, says it seemed like the “ideal opportunity” for them to step in
after reading about the current struggle Natureland was having with funding and hearing that closure was being considered as a possibility “When the Natureland idea came up in Nelson it was purely by coincidence, but it seemed like an ideal opportunity to help Natureland survive. We approached the council and put together a submission, we’re trying to offer an alternative to closure.” Butterfly Forest currently houses between 400-600 butterflies as well as other tropical species including frogs, reptiles and fish. If successful, the entire collection will be moved to Natureland to be housed in an MPI-approved greenhouse along with more than 3500 botanical plants. Plant propagation will become another form of revenue for Natureland, and a five-year-plan could include the introduction of crocodiles and a marine reef. Glenn says the proposal is to increase the attractions at Natureland and to generate revenue to reduce the financial strain on ratepayers. The group plan to form a new trust to run Natureland and say they would “dearly like” to give members of the current trust board the opportunity to join them. “Put it this way, we really like the
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