Kia ora Friends of the Te Wairoa River!
Kids are heading back to school, and you know that means we’re going to remind you to make sure your traps have fresh lures, and bait stations have new bait. The fruits of summer and bird nests are starting to disappear and empty, so our predators are getting hungry and may be more likely to wander into your trap. In line with this, Auckland Council have employed contractors to support select properties with possum control in the coming months. If you’re one of the lucky properties getting some help, you’ll receive official communication from Council about this soon – keep an eye on your mail box.
If you are reminded by these newsletters to service your bait stations, congratulations – you’re pulsing your bait! But what does that mean?
Not everyone has the time to maintain a baiting regime year-round, and actually it is good to have bait stations empty for a period of time too. Baiting pulses involve a 3 – 4 week intensive baiting period about 5 times a year. We send out these newsletters to align with good times for pulses – each school holiday period, and two during the summer holidays.
During a baiting pulse, stations should each receive a small handful of pellets and be topped up each week. At the end of the month all leftover baits should be removed. Bait goes off over time and ‘bad’ bait can make a pest sick, resulting in a bait-shy animal which can teach others to be wary of baits and bait stations.
This time of year is also the last chance to plan your winter planting areas – you don’t want to leave this too late! Is there a piece of land on your property that is steep, prone to slipping, or an unproductive part of a gully that actually could just be fenced off and planted? You’ll want to get the fencing done soon, so that you can calculate and order enough plants with plenty of time, so they’re ready to get into the ground from late April – you want to give them as much of the wet winter weather as possible to settle in and grow strong roots to survive next summer.
Now the news you’ve all been waiting for… When and where can we get some more supplies?!?
We are back at the Clevedon District Centre on Friday 13 March, from 3pm – 5pm with a bait and trap day. We’ll be able to help you with materials and advice for your predator control activities. Our Catchment Regeneration Coordinator will be available to help you plan your winter planting sites, introduce you to local nurseries and any funding that may be available. You can also take this opportunity to pick up some pest plant herbicide gels to deal with invasive plants on your property.
We thank the Franklin Local Board for their consistent support with funding, allowing us to hold events such as these. They will be available to chat to the community during the Clevedon event at the District Centre while holding their Wairoa Reps meeting. Please ensure you thank them for enabling these events every year!
We will be in Hūnua on Saturday 28 March, from 12pm -3pm with similar offerings as part of the Hūnua School 150 year anniversary celebrations and gala day. Our Catchment Regeneration Coordinator has seen two children through the school, and our Predator Control Coordinator spent her primary school years here, so it’s a celebration that is close to our hearts! We’ll be joined by Marleen from Hūnua Bird Life, the local bird rescue, who will be fundraising and available to answer any questions.
We have two more events to confirm in Paparimu and Ararimu – keep an eye on www.predatorfreefranklin.nz, your inbox or our social media for further details once these get confirmed.
Late last year we found a kākahi, or freshwater mussel shell on the bank of a stream in Hūnua while water testing, which seemed to have been washed downstream during a flood. Kākahi are a taonga species and a critical component of freshwater ecosystems. They are important filter feeders, with each kākahi able to filter a litre of water per hour! They can be found in a range of habitats from streams to lakes.
Kākahi have a strong foot for movement, burrowing into sediment, and anchoring to substrate – you can sometimes see the tracks on the streambed. They were once a reliable food source, particularly in winter, as they can’t move far. The kākahi lifecycle depends on native fish as they spend part of their lives growing up in kōaro, smelt and bully gills. They reproduce after around four years, and can live for up to 60 years.
Kākahi are threatened by habitat loss, predation by introduced mammals, pollution, and declining fish host populations. So predator control and stream restoration by replanting stream banks and removing crack willows is critical! The survival of many species is intertwined with the fate of others, so protecting their habitat to ensure they can complete their natural role in the ecosystem is more than worthwhile.
When starting with pest plant control, climbers are generally your first priority. If they don’t smother the understory, preventing native seedlings from growing, they climb up into the canopy and block the light getting to the leaves of mature trees. This can lead to forest death if uncontrolled.
Moth plant is a highly invasive vine quietly making it’s way into Clevedon and we need to stop it NOW.
At the moment, it is easy to spot with its white flowers, and white sap that oozes out when the stems are snapped. The flowers are dangerous to butterflies, moths and bees as it gums together their mouth parts and kills them when they attempt to get nectar from the flowers.
It is beginning to form seed pods (hundreds per vine), which grow and mature and pop open to reveal thousands of dandelion-like seeds, which float for kilometres on the wind before settling… maybe in your back yard, or maybe in the middle of the Hūnua Ranges. Almost all seeds are viable and will grow seedlings that grow quickly and smother any structure or vegetation in its path.
Once you know what you are looking for, moth plant is easy to stop. Pull out any seedlings. Cut any stumps at the base, and paste with extra strength glyphosate or metgel herbicide. Pull off any pods and place in your rubbish bin (not compost), and the rest of the green vegetation can compost where it lies.
Watch out for the white sap – this will stain clothes and is a skin and eye irritant. You will want to wear long sleeves, gloves and safety glasses.
If you spot it on a neighbours property, have a gentle word with them. We don’t all know the severity of what we’re up against, but we can kindly educate each other so that we’re stronger as a team.
Once you have identified what your pesky climber is, search it on the Weedbusters website in order to find out what to be careful of (e.g. toxicity or thorns), and how best to effectively manage it.
Finally, we would like to celebrate the collaborative efforts with Auckland Council Local Parks and local residents to install a community-maintained trapline in the Hūnua Domain. A week ago we installed over 30 traps and bait stations in the Domain, which is closed to the general public. This week, those experienced volunteers went back and found minimal rat bait take, but cleared a whopping 6 possums from the traps, including in more recently planted sites which were not receiving any predator control. The trapline will be maintained by volunteers, supported by Friends of Te Wairoa, with materials supplied by the Council’s Local Parks team.
The Hūnua Domain is a critical stepping stone for manu (birds) that venture out of the Hūnua Ranges, where there is an active predator control programme near the Hūnua Falls. We’re stoked to be able to support local wildlife and provide more safe spaces for them to live and thrive!
Whew – did you make it down to here? That was a long one! Hopefully you found this update interesting – we certainly haven’t been sitting idle in the past few months, and there is so much more exciting news to share with you in due course.
Remember to send your catch numbers through to pestcontrol@tewairoa.org.nz if you are trapping, so that we can keep track of which pests are where.
If you have questions about pest plants, planting plans, or funding for revegetation, email regeneration@tewairoa.org.nz.
Pests be gone! Let the whenua thrive. Happy trapping!
From the team at Friends of Te Wairoa
