JS Watson Trust

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 The JS Watson Trust is administered by Forest and Bird. Applications are invited from individuals or conservation groups for financial assistance for conservation projects over the 2008-2009 year. Applications close 4 June 2010.

Criteria For Assistance

* The conservation of plants and animals and natural features of New Zealand
* The advancement of knowledge in these matters by way of research, literary contribution, essay or articles, or other effort
* General education of the public to give them an understanding and love of the world in which they live

Download an application form

Please note the following: 

* For restoration projects, the Trust will fund projects usually to a limit of $4,000 for the first application, and accept a second application with no guarantee that it will be funded. After two years the applicant should not expect further funding from this Trust, unless special circumstances apply
* The Trust does not fund conference attendance or thesis production
* The Trust normally funds less than 30% of the applications received with many deserving applications being unsuccessful
* Applications in which travel costs are the major item will be given a lower priority by the Selection Committee
Funds AvailableA total of approximately $20,000 is available for distribution. Individual applications should be limited to a maximum of $4,000.

How to Apply

For assessment purposes, the committee prefers typed application forms. You are invited to download an assessment form and the application procedures. Alternatively, you may request an application pack by emailing or writing to JS Watson Trust, Forest & Bird, PO Box 631, WellingtonApplications will only be accepted on the one page assessment form provided.

The completed assessment form should be emailed or posted to the above address.Successful applicants and their projects are published in the February issue of the Forest & Bird magazine.

Successful JS Watson Trust applications 2007-2008

JS Watson Conservation Trust Successful Applications 2007-2008

Twelve grants for conservation projects were allocated for the 2007-2008 year by the Trust, which is administered by Forest & Bird. Details of the latest projects to be supported are as follows:

• Marleen Baling of Massey University will be investigating the translocation of shore skink (Oligosoma smithi) and the function of variability of colour in the species from Tawharanui Regional Park.
• Diane Batchelor of Carterton will conduct an ecological survey of fungi at Mt Holdsworth in the Wairarapa.
• James Bell of Victoria University will study marine reserve connectivity between the lower North Island and upper South Island by investigating population genetics.
• Gaylynne Carter of Massey University will be investigating the effects of stoat control on ship rat populations in relation to endemic forest ecology.
• Christopher Hepburn of the University of Otago will be investigating whether exotic species are irreversibly changing native marine habitats on the Otago coast.
• Gary James of the Wellington Branch of Forest & Bird will be growing a variety of common and rare native plants at low cost to supply budding community native forest restoration projects around Wellington City.
• Todd Landers of the University of Auckland will track the long-range at-sea movements of threatened Westland petrels (Procellaria westlandica).
• Victor Meyer of Auckland will be conducting research on the biodiversity and phylogeny of the Philosciidae and Armadillidae terrestrial isopods (Crustacea, Isopoda, Oniscidea).
• Dai Morgan of Massey University will collect diet, density, movement and home range data on all pest mammals (cat, ship rat, mouse) present at an island in the Hauraki Gulf. The data will indicate how important rodents are as prey items for cats and the threshold rodent density that causes cats to start hunting birds.
• Luis Ortiz Catedral of Massey University will document habitat use, social interactions and breeding success of newly translocated critically endangered orange-fronted parakeets on Maud Island in the Marlborough Sounds.
• Kate Richardson of Hamilton will study the survival, dispersal and body condition of the endangered hihi or stitchbirds translocated to a mainland site in the Waitakere Ranges, Auckland.
• Lisa Tracy of the University of Otago will study the genetic consequences of habitat fragmentation and population bottlenecks in the endangered yellowhead (mohua).