Funding boost for Banks Peninsula predator control

Sunday, 9 August 2020

On The Detail, Sharon Brettkelly meets two people who are doing their best to help achieve New Zealand's Predator-Free 2050 goal. (Video first published November 2019)

More than $5 million is being pumped into predator control on Banks Peninsula to accelerate existing efforts and create 15 new jobs for five years.

Conservation minister Eugenie Sage announced the funding boost at an event on pest-free Ōtamahua/Quail Island in Lyttelton Harbour on Sunday.

In a statement, Sage said the project aimed to restore native wildlife and plants on Christchurch’s doorstep and across the peninsula by removing introduced pests such as possums, mustelids (such as stoats) and rats.

The Government wants Banks Peninsula to be free from predators by 2050.

‘’The investment will allow large-scale pest control to be progressed over about 28,500 hectares, expanding work under way in the Wildside Project in the southeast of the peninsula, and the internationally significant spit and dune systems of Kaitōrete,’’ she said.

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Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage says landholders, community organisations and councils have already made progress towards NZ’s predator-free goal in recent years.

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“These areas can be more readily defended against the reinvasion of pests.’’

The $5.11m will be spent over five years across parts of Banks Peninsula and Kaitōrete, Sage said.

“It will create 15 full-time jobs in an area where the tourism and hospitality sectors have been particularly hard hit by Covid-19.”

The funds will cover staff, vehicles, equipment, conservation dogs, traps, and a predator diversion fence.

The initial plan is for a mix of trapping, an extensive poison station network, and backyard trapping in urban areas. No aerial drops of poison are currently planned.

It will use new and emerging technology where possible, such as smart traps that send a remote signal when they are set off, reducing labour for trap checking.

While it will provide a significant boost to trapping efforts, there is still a long way to go to make the entire peninsula predator free.

A 2017 report found eradicating pests from Banks Peninsula using existing technology would cost $88m to $134m, depending on the methods used.

The $88m option would be a mixture of poison and traps and would take more than seven years to eradicate pests. Just deploying enough traps would take about 100 full-time workers about a year.

It is hoped new and developing pest control technology will reduce those costs.

In November 2018, 14 groups – including the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust, the Department of Conservation, Environment Canterbury, and Ngāi Tahu Rūnanga – signed a memorandum of understanding to remove pests from the area.

The agreement was to eradicate predators from 110,000ha on Banks Peninsula by 2050, building on decades of community-driven ecological restoration work.

Sage said she was thrilled to announce more funding for the project, which put restoration of nature at the heart of Canterbury’s economic recovery.

“Significant inroads have already been made on reducing possum and goat numbers on Banks Peninsula in recent years and there are long-standing successful trapping programmes.

“I acknowledge what landholders working with councils and community organisations have achieved in recent years. This has created a solid platform for predator-free.’’

Banks Peninsula is the tenth large landscape project funded by Predator Free 2050 Ltd. Other areas include Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, Wellington, Dunedin and Lake Brunner, where $15.7m will be spent over the next five years.