Regional environmental award
Chris Rowse with his giant wonga wonga root. Photo: Ina Holst.
Chris Rowse, co-ordinator of the Rocklands Road Weedbuster group, says that their recent Tasman District and Nelson Environmental Award in the Community and Neighbourhood Group section has been a great tribute to the efforts of the group.
“I am very honoured that the weedbuster group has been recognised by this award, especially since weeds are not a particularly sexy topic, and yet it affects all of us, particularly in Golden Bay where there are so many lifestyle properties and people get overwhelmed by the number of weeds and the extent of the pest infestation on their properties.”
The group has been fighting banana passion vine for many years, and last year received funding for three years from the Biodiversity Condition Fund. This enabled the group to pay some serious attention to the eastern side of Rocklands Road, which has towering limestone formations and steep gullies.
The first round of funding was well spent employing five paid and experienced weed control workers, two of them climbers, and Chris said that support from TDC and DOC in providing technical advice, the GPS and mapping devices was amazing and made it all come together.
“The biodiversity funding was an answer to our prayers,” says Chris. “Over the winter months, we have achieved 80% of the initial knockdown, 3200 vines cut and their stumps poisoned. This shows how a little money can clean up a lot of properties. We have also included wonga wonga vine (Pandorea pandorana), the largest carpet of the plant we found measured 20m by 20m in size, another giant was growing over a matai tree and down a cliff. Old men’s beard and perfumed jasmine, which is more of a problem than we thought, were also dealt with.”
“The key thing is that, after completing project one—to get the funding and the first 14 properties done—project two is now well under way. Starting next year, we will do the western side of Rocklands Road with 30 individual property owners covering an area of limestone reefs that stretches from Bird Road to Packards Road.”
Chris said a huge amount of time went into the identification of the weeds, over and above pest control itself and the following maintenance. He estimated that another ten hours a week was spent on the organisation and administration of the project. Education about the issues, ongoing communication with landowners, diligent data collection and teamwork have been some of the group’s main keys to success, said Chris, though the financial support had been crucial to propel the project forwards.
Not resting on their laurels, they are now asking where the Clifton residents can go as a weedbuster group and how much support can they get for the next stage. Chris already has an eye on the Pohara area, provided that funding is still available in late 2011 and invites interested landowners to get in touch with the group.
“The funding matches the recent efforts of the landowners and so we encourage as many of them or their tenants to make a big effort, so that the weed team can deal with the hardest areas.”
Chris Rowse can be contacted on 525 8588.
Ina Holst
A total of 81 entries were received this year and the judging panels once again had their work cut out with some top-quality entries.
Co-organiser Rob Francis says, “We’d like to congratulate all our winners and thank everyone who took the time to enter or nominate. Each year when we do the awards we uncover all sorts of new and exciting environmental projects happening all around our region.”
Co-organiser Karen Lee commented, “These awards allow us to celebrate all the hard work that is happening in our community, and their work is a great source of inspiration for us all. Thanks are also due to our generous sponsors whose support makes the event possible each year”.
The awards were presented in a ceremony at Woollaston Estate in Mahana with prizes of $500 and $1000 across the categories.
