The Conservation Department is supporting plans by an American developer to protect endangered seabirds at Te Arai north of Auckland.
A Los Angeles financier, Ric Kayne, is buying 230 hectares of pine forest from Te Uri o Hau to develop what he says will be a world-class golf course next to the beach.
Auckland conservator Sean Goddard says DoC supports the conservation initiatives announced by Mr Kayne and the hapu and has been working with them on a shorebird protection plan.
He says the trust Mr Kayne has set up, with a seeding donation of $100,000, will pay for predator control and more surveillance of threatened species nesting at Te Arai.
An annual charity event at the golf course will also support the trust.
Mr Goddard says the developer is also spending $1 million on replacing the old pines with native species in order to restore the birds' habitat.
