Local applicants shortlisted for Otago Regional Council’s (ORC) annual ECO Fund - for projects to enhance the environment - will find out later today (Wednesday May 21) if they have been successful.

ORC environmental funding lead Elodie Letendre said there is $1,059,500 available in the fund, and initial requests came in for almost $3M, making the fund almost three times oversubscribed - similar to the past two years.

There were 69 applicants (including 17 from around the Queenstown Lakes District), and just 28 have been shortlisted.

“The oversubscription again this year reflects increasing community awareness, and that people are very keen to help protect the environment,” Elodie said.

“Every year we wish we could fund more applicants.”

Elodie said there were “a large number of very good applications” this year, covering a range of projects, from weed and pest animal control, native species protection and habitat restoration, native revegetation and regeneration and water quality.

“It’s the communities who know what matters most locally and these funding programmes can empower them to turn great ideas into action,” she said.

At a full council meeting today the council will make a final decision on recipients and consider endorsing a budget reallocation from two of the ECO Fund funding categories to another category, which would allow funding of two additional projects in the general funding category.

The ECO Fund has distributed $2.58M since 2018.

PHOTO: Supplied