The Central Otago Ecological Trust, which aims to save the critically endangered Otago and grand skinks from extinction, finally has all the money it needs to extend a predator-proof fence at the Mokomoko Skink Sanctuary near Alexandra.
The final $110,000 needed came recently from the Lotteries Grants Board.
For four years the trust has been trialling a small-scale fence which created a 0.3ha sanctuary, while seeking $450,000 worth of funding to extend the fence and sanctuary to 14ha.
Taking four years to study the pilot fence gave the Central Otago community a lot of time to get behind the project and that is what trust chairman Grant Norbury credits for its success.
''That's what funders want,'' he said.
''We're really indebted to the community.''
He said while he was excited to have all the funding, it could be some time before they could introduce animals to the sanctuary.
The plan was to start building the fence in April and then spend the winter eradicating pests - cats, ferrets, stoats, hedgehogs, mice, rats, possums, rabbits and hares - by trapping and poisoning.
The sanctuary will then be monitored for 18 months to ensure there are no surviving pests or ''fence leaks'' and skink will be ''translocated'' towards the end of 2015.
Both species of lizard were once abundant throughout Central Otago but land use change has forced them to near-extinction, Mr Norbury said.
They now exist in two genetically distinct populations - in the west of their former range, around Tarras and Lindis, and in the east, protected by the Department of Conservation in the Macraes Conservation Area.
Since the ones in the east are being protected, the trust intends to introduce animals from the western area, and their offspring, to Mokomoko. The long-term goal is to re-release them into the wild.
He described the fence as the ''Rolls-Royce design'', the best that money could buy, but said no predator-proof fence would keep mice out.
Their pilot study showed mice would attack the skinks and though they would not necessarily kill them, the skink population plummeted when mice breached the trail fence..
''They're tiny but ferocious.''
The new fence would allow only a leak of mice, rather than a flood, which could be controlled by poisoning or trapping.
The biggest problem with the new fence was that it would, as intended, greatly expand the sanctuary, meaning it would be hard to monitor the lizards and carry out regular checks of the fence. Mr Norbury and the trust are hoping more members of the public will help out with those tasks.
In the eight years since the trust's inception, the skink population in the sanctuary has doubled to at least 20.
Sanctuary grants
• Central Lakes Trust $150,000
• Lotteries Grants Board $110,000
• Landcare Research $50,000
• Otago Community Trust $40,000
• Jean Malpas Estate $40,000
• Department of Conservation $30,000
• Transpower $30,000
• Canon - Four DSLR cameras with telephoto lenses.
