{"id":496090,"date":"2026-06-26T05:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T05:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/496090\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T05:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T05:54:09","slug":"on-the-up-whangarei-man-donates-800k-sanctuary-to-his-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/496090\/","title":{"rendered":"On The Up: Whang\u0101rei man donates $800k sanctuary to his community"},"content":{"rendered":"

After selling his bicycle and outdoor adventure store in 2006 and \u201cretiring\u201d, Busck began developing the land into the wetland sanctuary<\/a>, clearing weeds and creating ponds for stormwater cleansing.<\/p>\n

About 60,000 trees and plants were planted<\/a> by him, Winter and volunteers, who were also helped by Periodic Detention workers in the early days, he said.<\/p>\n

Since 2010, the site has also been used as an environmental education hub<\/a>, where children of all ages can get out in nature and learn things like the importance of wetlands as a natural water cleanser, Busck said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe if we want to save tomorrow, we have to educate today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hundreds of students, from preschool to tertiary, have since visited the sanctuary for education outside the classroom<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Busck said one of his most successful programmes was working with children who had ADHD, who he believed were transformed by the experience<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"JeremyJeremy Busck, 82, says he was motivated to do something to help the Whang\u0101rei community by the example set by his philanthropic parents. Photo \/ Denise Piper<\/p>\n

Since buying the land, Busck said he intended to donate it to the community<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The land, with its education space and sheds, is valued at $805,000 but Busck said he never thought about the money, estimating he would have spent close to $1m on the property and its upkeep.<\/p>\n

He was motivated to help the community by his parents, Theo and Imelda Busck, who were volunteers and Whang\u0101rei philanthropists, including donating land to CCS Community Action<\/a> for people with disabilities to find work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey made me realise \u2018if it is to be, it\u2019s up to me\u2019,\u201d Busck said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our planet, it\u2019s our New Zealand, it\u2019s our environment \u2013 we all should be looking after it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DragonflyDragonfly Springs Wetland Sanctuary has become an outdoor classroom for hundreds of children. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Busck initially approached Forest & Bird to take on the land, but the organisation said it had too many properties nationwide to look after more.<\/p>\n

But Northland branch chairman Bruce Bird did not want to turn down the opportunity, instead forming a new incorporated society and charitable trust by bringing onboard some of the sanctuary\u2019s dedicated volunteers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s fantastic that Jeremy\u2019s prepared to donate it to the community and all the work he\u2019s done,\u201d Bird said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought \u2018what can we do to make it work?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The land will soon be formally gifted to Dragonfly Springs Wetland Sanctuary Incorporated, which will continue looking after the sanctuary and offering education outside the classroom, Bird said.<\/p>\n

Busck will continue to be involved, as the project gives him something to focus on in retirement.<\/p>\n

Bird said that as a registered charity, the organisation will be able to apply for grants, with its first step being to apply for a rates reduction.<\/p>\n

Denise Piper is a news reporter<\/a> for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After selling his bicycle and outdoor adventure store in 2006 and \u201cretiring\u201d, Busck began developing the land into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[90266,41932,1259,98756,149255,26095,6101,5838,293,5158,86468,111,43,139,69,90,19794,30308,60895,3271,1361,223,61,810,73915,1869],"class_list":["post-496090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-800k","tag-belief","tag-community","tag-donates","tag-donating","tag-everyone","tag-good","tag-help","tag-his","tag-man","tag-motivated","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-planet","tag-protect","tag-sanctuary","tag-should","tag-that","tag-the","tag-to","tag-up","tag-wetland","tag-whangrei"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}