Future Management

Source Author Year Title Quote
Emerging Issues March 2014 The Royal Society of NZ 2104 Challenges for pest management in New Zealand “New Zealand’s ‘can do’ attitude towards the eradication of vertebrate pests from ever-larger areas is providing impetus for two future challenges: eradication or large-scale suppression of certain mammals on large inhabited islands and the mainland, and a long term vision of a “Predator-Free New Zealand’ involving the eventual complete eradication or large scale suppression of mustelids, possums and rats.”
Stuff.co.nz 30/1/14 B. Moore 2014 War on pests stepped up with ‘battle for our birds’ “”It will save millions of other native birds like fantails, robins, tui, riflemen, bell birds, tomtits and warblers, reptiles like geckos, insects like weta, trees like rata, and plants like mistletoe”, Dr Smith said.”
Emerging Issues March 2014 The Royal Society of NZ 2104 Challenges for pest management in New Zealand “Invertebrate, micro-organism and weed pests in the natural environment for the most part go uncontrolled but, in contrast, intensive campaigns are conducted against vertebrate pests using aerially-applied toxins”
Emerging Issues March 2014 The Royal Society of NZ 2104 Challenges for pest management in New Zealand “New Zealand’s ‘can do’ attitude towards the eradication of vertebrate pests from ever-larger areas is providing impetus for two future challenges: eradication or large-scale suppression of certain mammals on large inhabited islands and the mainland, and a long term vision of a “Predator-Free New Zealand’ involving the eventual complete eradication or large scale suppression of mustelids, possums and rats.”
Emerging Issues March 2014 The Royal Society of NZ 2104 Challenges for pest management in New Zealand “New Zealand’s commitment to the international Convention on Biological diversity obliges it to protect its unique natural ecosystems, flora and fauna.”
Otago Daily Times Online News 06/04/14 Rebecca Fox 2014 Research aids kea conservation “…allowing conservation managers to move birds between populations as part of any conservation attempts to reverse the kea’s decline.”…Department of Conservation technical adviser Bruce McKinlay said the struggle to find the right population to manage would be easier thanks to this research”
Otago Daily Times Online News 10/02/14 Mark Price 2014 Kea-resistance on pellets “That is exactly what Doc does not want kea to do, as it embarks on its “Battle for our Birds” – a programme to spread cereal pellets laced with 1080 across 500,000 of native beech forest in spring this year.”
Otago Daily Times Online News 10/02/14 Mark Price 2014 Kea-resistance on pellets “In his experience, kea in the “back blocks” of the beech forests that has little human contact tended to ignore the unnatural “junk food” and there was “zero” evidence of those particular kea dying from eating 1080 pellets. For that reason, 1080 pellets dropped in beech forests this year would not contain a repellent.”
TV3News online 29/01/14 Simon Wong 2014 Expanded 1080 drop to curb ‘plague’ of rats “The Government will be dropping 1080 poison on an extra 500,000 hectares of forest in an effort to combat an expected “plague of mice and rats of biblical proportions””
TV3News online 29/01/14 Simon Wong 2014 Expanded 1080 drop to curb ‘plague’ of rats “Dr Smith says it is “particularly urgent” this year because there is a one-in-10 year beech mast in which beech trees will drop a million seeds in autumn. “This flood of food will trigger a plague of an additional 30 million rats and tens of thousands of stoats,” Dr Smith says. “When the seeds germinate in spring, these starved predators will annihilate populations of our endangered birds””
TV3News online 29/01/14 Simon Wong 2014 Expanded 1080 drop to curb ‘plague’ of rats “Dr Smith addressed detractors of the poison by saying the independent Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and the Environmental Protection Authority make plain that 1080 is safe and the only practical tool that will work” Reason must triumph prejudice about poisons when the very species that define our country at stake”. Money for the programme will be spent over the next five year out of DOC’s $335 million annual budget.”
Green Party NZ website NZ Green Party 2014 More and better pest control: 1080 as last resort “1080 poison is a measure of last report that should only be dropped from the air in hard-to-get places where it is the only practical way to control pests.”
Green Party NZ website NZ Green Party 2014 More and better pest control: 1080 as last resort “We’re about to propose a Green New Deal package to train and employ more people to deliver effective pest control alternatives on the ground. For example trapping possums for fur can create jobs and improve forest health.”
Green Party NZ website NZ Green Party 2014 More and better pest control: 1080 as last resort “The unique natural environment of Aotearoa is precious. We must effectively control the pests that threaten our forests, but 1080 poison should be a measure of last resort.”
Otago Daily Times Online News 7/12/13 Rebecca Fox 2013 Beech 1080 blitz possible: Doc “Doc scientist Dr Graeme Elliot said a large mast and resulting rat plague in 2000 caught Doc by surprise and there were huge losses of birds, including the loss of a mohua population at Mt Stokes in the Marlborough Sounds and a population in the Eglinton valley in Fiordland, which was reduced from several hundred to a dozen or so birds. ‘We learnt our lesson and we’ve been practicing in the meantime, so we know what to do.'”
Otago Daily Times Online News 7/12/13 Rebecca Fox 2013 Beech 1080 blitz possible: Doc “The Mohua Charitable Trust had been doing trapping work in the Makarora Valley and it would be the first time Doc had considered a 1080 programme there”
Otago Daily Times Online News 7/12/13 Rebecca Fox 2013 Beech 1080 blitz possible: Doc “A 1080 poisoning programme may be needed in Otago’s beech forests next year to protect endangered species from a potential pest plague, DoC says…staff will take samples in February, which would hopefully give an indication of the extent of seed fall and then in May results of rat tracking would show if rat numbers were rising as a result”
Otago Daily Times Online News 7/12/13 Rebecca Fox 2013 Beech 1080 blitz possible: Doc “The 1080 operations would be planned for September to November, dependent on the weather. In areas such as the Catlins, where 1080 had been undertaken for possum control, low rates of poison would be used – 1kg of bait per ha with the concentration of toxin 0.015%”
Otago Daily Times Online News 21/08/13 Ashleigh Stewart 2013 Kea killed in 1080 operation “Further research was now being undertaken to minimise the loss of the “particularly inquisitive” bird, DOC Technical Advisor on Threats Michelle Crowell said.”
Kea Conservation Trust Updates Dec 2012 T. Orr-Walker 2012 Kea killed on roads in Arthurs Pass “…to alert motorists of the issues with kea and other wildlife in the area as well as providing some general information on ways to safely interact with kea while still enjoying their unique character.”
NZ J Ecology 35: 312-317 R. Scofield et al. 2011 Are predator-proof fences the answer to New Zealand’s terrestrial faunal crisis? NZ J Ecology 35 (3): 312-317. “While we applaud the idealistic goal of ecosystem restoration to its prehuman state, its implementation in New Zealand is problematic. The keystone avian herbivores, the moa, are extinct and so are crucial components of the prehuman biota, from the giant flightless herbivorous goose, to the tiny flightless avian mouse.”
Arthur’s pass Wilderness Lodge 12/12/11 2011 The Wilderness Lodges – A great place to view New Zealand’s parrots “Like their relatives elsewhere around the world, New Zealand’s parrots are incredibly intelligent. To watch then in the wild playing, feeding and ranging through healthy forests is a special treat for us and our visitors from around the world.”
Otago Daily Times Online News 17/06/10 Mike Bennett 2010 1080 use is a money-go-round “…rabbits disturbed even by the bark of a dog will head for the safety of their burrows. If the money spent on aerial 1080 was spent hitting rabbits where they actually live-….there would in a few short years be no rabbit problem…no animal can possibly survive constant pressure on where it actually loves in a contained environment. It surely has to be better than another century of the hit-and-miss methods of the past, and the ill-informed use of 1080.”
Otago Daily Times Online News 22/06/10 Keith Ulisse 2010 1080 use is a money-go-round “Why go to so much expense when there is a market for ungulates, rabbits and hares, even possums…They can be harvested and used. To just kill then and let ’em die without achieving anything in the way of your original purpose is kinda stupid. I can’t believe the average kiwi hasn’t tripped to that”
Otago Daily Times Online News 07/05/09 Otago Daily Times Online News 07/05/09 2009 Help needed in kea count “Ms Orr-Walker said as many as 150,000 or the birds were killed during that time and it was still unknown how the numbers had regenerated. “They have mostly been left to themselves,” she said”
Stuff.co.nz 24/05/2008 Anon. 2008 1080 drop ‘cruelty’ says SPCA “The SPCA has come out against a planned $210,000 aerial drop of the controversial poison 1080 by the Department of Conservation in Kahurangi National Park…about 75 percent will be covered by an aerial 1080 drop this winter…They’re using it to control far more than possums. 1080 was never supposed to be used like a driftnet.”
ERMA Appendix N Table N7 2007 ERMA 2007 NZ land birds susceptible t non-recovery if subject to significant impacts and recent monitoring after 1080″ “Species: New Zealand Falcon; Risk of non-recovery: medium; Research priority in 1997 and rationale: High priority- due to lack of information on potential impacts of 1080”
Environmental Risk Management Authority R. P. Scofield et al. 2007 Are predator-proof fences the answer to New Zealand’s terrestrial faunal crisis? NZ J Ecology 35 (3): 312-317. “While we applaud the idealistic goal of ecosystem restoration to its prehuman state, its implementation in New Zealand is problematic. The keystone avian herbivores, the moa, are extinct and so are crucial components of the prehuman biota, from the giant flightless herbivorous goose, to the tiny flightless avian mouse.”
Centre for Resource Management Studies 29/07/2005 Owen McShane 2005 The role of the Department of Conservation and the need for change “Hence the Centre decided to prepare a report on how to restructure the management of Crown lands and the necessary reforms to their governance and administration. This restructuring should be driven by two major imperatives: 1. The inherent conflicts between conservation of natural heritage, cultural heritage, general economic development, exploration, mining, recreation and tourism, should be resolved in an open and transparent forum, rather than behind closed doors.”
Centre for Resource Management Studies 29/07/2005 John Third 2005 The role of the Department of Conservation and the need for change “This was to be the operational department charged with the management of the conservation estate.”
Centre for Resource Management Studies 29/07/2005 John Third 2005 The role of the Department of Conservation and the need for change “Crown minerals is now advocating for minerals and has been winning some cases before Council Hearings, which DoC, or the Forest and Bird typically appeal to the Environment Court, or to the High Court”
Centre for Resource Management Studies 29/07/2005 John Third 2005 The role of the Department of Conservation and the need for change “…staff who sought refuge in the new government departments were those who were “environmental” or other single-issue zealots, or who had no confidence in holding down positions in commercial enterprise….further the infiltration of these departments with such single issue “zealots” has intensified rather than reduced over time and there are frequent examples of DoC managers acting as spokesmen for NGOs such as Forest and Bird with clear conflicts of interest and continued blurring of the boundaries between them”
Centre for Resource Management Studies 29/07/2005 John Third 2005 The role of the Department of Conservation and the need for change “DoC management failures are legendary, ranging from the Cave Creek platform collapse, to the death of rare and endangered kakapo because the department was so focused on PR that they allowed dirty gumboots from pig farms to transfer infectious bacterium to kakapo enclosures in Fiordland”
Centre for Resource Management Studies 29/07/2005 John Third 2005 The role of the Department of Conservation and the need for change “DoC has neither the management competence, nor the capital or human resources, to manage its current estate, let alone an ever-expanding one”
Centre for Resource Management Studies 29/07/2005 John Third 2005 The role of the Department of Conservation and the need for change “…the failures in what should be its core competencies – the deaths of endangered wildlife arising from avoidable incompetence – also go unpublished. Indeed the more likely outcome is to have its budget increased. The department’s reward for failure is consistently an increase in budget or claims for an increased budget. DoC staff are faced with perverse incentives which reward failure and crisis – the opposite to those that drive quality performance, and the efficient use of resources.”
Centre for Resource Management Studies 29/07/2005 John Third 2005 The role of the Department of Conservation and the need for change “Some years ago the Far North District Council published a proposed District Plan that took so much private land for “natural heritage” protection, that Council withdrew the whole plan and started all over again. Their revised plan gained widespread support from the local people and communities. DoC and its government funded associates were not happy and have filed references to the environment Court as follows. Department of Conservation – 137 points of appeal; Royal Forest and Bird Society – 90 points of appeal; Environmental Defence Society -57 points of appeal”
Centre for Resource Management Studies 29/07/2005 Owen McShane 2005 The role of the Department of Conservation and the need for change “The Crown Lands within the Conservation Estate belong to all New Zealanders and should be managed in the interests of the nation as a whole, rather than in the interests of one group driven by its own ideology”
Centre for Resource Management Studies 29/07/2005 John Third 2005 The role of the Department of Conservation and the need for change “Once the High Country Tenancy review is complete DoC will be responsible for the management of about 50% of New Zealand’s land mass…potentially 50% of New Zealand is managed by a department that is interpreting its own legislation, is not accountable to any democratic process, and whose decisions lack all transparency or accountability”
Centre for Resource Management Studies 29/07/2005 John Third 2005 The role of the Department of Conservation and the need for change “To further the imbalance Government also receives advice from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment – again with no balancing source. This distorted situation is simply poor governance. It is also very expensive”
Centre for Resource Management Studies 29/07/2005 John Third 2005 The role of the Department of Conservation and the need for change “DoC needs economic incentives to provide access where reasonable and secure other areas of high conservation value where appropriate. Currently it is unconstrained and continuously holding its hand out to lock up yet more and more of New Zealand’s land and marine environment even though it is demonstrably incapable of managing the land already under its control.”
Centre for Resource Management Studies 29/07/2005 John Third 2005 The role of the Department of Conservation and the need for change “In summary the three recommendations from this report are: – 1. Balanced advice should be provided to Government via the receipt of advice from a number of agencies..such as but not limited to Environment, Conservation, Natural Heritage, Land Development and Rehabilitation, Forestry and Agriculture, Transport, Crown Minerals, Maori claims and issues, Energy resources, Cultural heritage, Parks and recreation, Tourism, Management of Crown Land resources – general principles (eg capital resources, taxes, rates, etc); 2. Establishment of a separate agency to administer the RMA on a balanced basis; 3. The rigorous classification and ranking of the different classes of Crown Land.”
Centre for Resource Management Studies 29/07/2005 P. Hartley, quoted by John Third 2005 The role of the Department of Conservation and the need for change “Alterations to policy that would make conservation more a part of all activities that use natural resources – so that conservation becomes better integrated into the economy rather than one of the remaining “ghettos” of socialism”
Trends in Ecology and Evolution 16: 454-459 E. Zavaleta et al. 2001 Viewing invasive species removal in a whole-ecosystem context. “species removal in isolation can result in unexpected changes to other ecosystem components …Food web and functional role frameworks can be used to identify ecological conditions that forecast the potential for unwanted secondary impacts….a holistic process of assessment and restoration will help safeguard against accidental, adverse effects on native ecosystems.”
NZ J. Ecology 23: 111-127 J. Innes & G. Barker 1999 Ecological consequences of toxin use for mammalian pest control in New Zealand- an overview “Pests, and control methods such as toxin use, can have ecosystem-level effects by influence on properties emergent from the interaction of the biota and the physical environment. These ecosystem level properties include litter decomposition rates, relative size of different nutrient pools, and net primary productivity.”