The Otago Community Trust is helping Central Otago restore a community of endangered native skinks, presently extinct from the Alexandra basin.
The Trust donated $40,000 to the Central Otago Ecological Trust to construct a 1.6 kilometre pest-proof fence, which will protect the skinks from pests like cats, ferrets, stoats, weasels, rodents, hedgehogs and possums.
The dryland eco-system on the 14-hectare pest-free sanctuary on public land near Alexandra is now being restored in preparation for the release of some of the narrow, long-tailed lizards.
A pilot trial, which the Trust also helped to fund, has already established that it would be possible to recover lizard populations provided there were no predators.
The community, including local schools, has been heavily involved in this work, which has also inspired artwork and a sculpture, a children’s book, and museum displays.
