Biodiversity updates

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush - and conservationists in a band can achieve more than a solitary push.

That's the approach taken by community groups and agencies working to protect indigenous plant and wildlife in Taranaki. They met in December 2009 in the Taranaki Regional Council's third Biodiversity Forum, where the emphasis was on communication, co-operation and the sharing of ideas and resources.

Groups at the Forum included the Taranaki Kiwi Trust, the East Taranaki Environment Trust, the Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust, Fish and Game, Forest and Bird, the QEII National Trust, Federated Farmers, the Department of Conservation and the Taranaki Regional Council.

"Each of these groups has their own priorities but they share many common interests," says the Council's Director-Operations, Rob Phillips. "We all agreed there is much to be gained by sharing knowledge and pooling resources.

"There was also agreement that a small group of representatives should meet regularly to ensure biodiversity activities are co-ordinated as much as possible. This group will establish mechanisms for collaboration, and will draw up across-the-board biodiversity priorities for the region."

Mr Phillips says  co-operation could include the bulk purchasing of equipment such as pest traps, and reducing the competition for funding.

"If we can present a united Taranaki front, funders are likely to be more confident about the effectiveness of programmes they are being asked to resource."

The forum also included a practical workshop on traps and baits used to control predator pests.

Biodiversity Forum, June 2009

Protecting and boosting native plant and wildlife takes brains and brawn, and both were to the fore at the second Taranaki biodiversity forum held in New Plymouth on 3 June 2009.

The brains were three scientists from Landcare Research. The brawn was made up of those doing the hard yards on the ground – representatives of community groups, iwi, individuals and agencies working on a variety of biodiversity projects and programmes throughout the region.

Organised by the Taranaki Regional Council, the forum heard from Landcare Reseach scientists John Innes, Bruce Warburton and Wendy Ruscoe, who explained some of the latest research findings relating to predator control and other measures to protect and enhance indigenous biodiversity.

The threat posed by predators was graphically illustrated in video footage presented at the forum (see below).

Key points highlighted at the forum included:

• New Zealand is doing okay in terms of preventing extinctions but not so well in other areas such as having self-sustaining native plant and animal populations, sustaining rare ecosystems (e.g. lowland forests, wetlands and dunelands), and providing habitat for native species across all types of environments.
• The importance of forest remnants – now much reduced in area and largely lying in populated rural landscapes.
• The changes to be expected when areas are fenced and pests are controlled.
• The biodiversity threats posed by rats and the impacts that control on other pests may have on rat abundance.
• The importance of pest management objectives that reflect the values of the site - that is, determining what we most want to protect (i.e. the values) in order to determine what are the pest threats, and, hence, what control actions should be taken.
• More efficient approaches to trapping and baiting. For example, research is showing that more defined deployment of bait such as 1080 can result in significantly reduced application rates without compromising efficacy and in many instances resulting in improved kill rates.

Also covered were guidelines and recommendations covering which predators to control. For exampe:

• Stoat control where kiwi, whio, kaka or other stoat-susceptible ground-nesting birds are present. Cost effectiveness of stoat control will depend on scale of management, i.e. the size of fragment or whether nearby or adjacent fragments/areas also have stoat control.
• Possum and ship rat control where other biodiversity (indigenous fauna and flora values) assets are present. The level and frequency of control will depend on the specific values being protected.

Among the 40 people at the forum were representatives of the Taranaki Kiwi Trust, the East Taranaki Environment Trust, the Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust, Ngati Tama, Forest and Bird, the New Zealand Herpetological Society, the New Zealand Ornithological Society, Oaonui Sandy Bay Society, private landowners working to protect native plants and wildlife on their properties, the Department of Conservation, the New Plymouth District Council, and the Taranaki Regional Council.

Also present was a representative of the Government’s Biodiversity Fund, a key source of assistance for projects on private land.

It was the second biodiversity forum run by the Taranaki Regional Council, which is planning another one later in the year.

For further information, please contact: George Gallop, Manager – Biodiversity Operations, Taranaki Regional Council. Ph (06) 765 7127 or email george.gallop@trc.govt.nz.

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