JULY
HONGONGOI 2019
'Mega-mast' predator response scaled down ERAT’s progress chart since inception shows a big spike in April and May of 2019.
by Carl McRae Rat monitoring has shown no need for a poisoning operation in East Harbour Regional Park - for now. EHRP Ranger Jo Greenman says that owing to results from recent rodent monitoring undertaken by environmental science teams, Greater Wellington has decided that an extra Striker mast operation will not go ahead on August 5 as scheduled. “Our monitoring results indicated that rat numbers have dropped below our trigger of 20 percent” Jo said. “Results are currently at 16 percent, so trending down which is good news. There will be another monitor done later in August and at that time we will reassess the need to respond to the mast.” Both beech (New Zealand’s dominant
forest type) and podocarp forests fruited at the same time this year, producing a heavier than normal seeding process. As a result, both tge Department of Conservation and Forest and Bird labelled 2019 a "mega-mast", the biggest of its kind for New Zealand’s native tree species in more than 40 years. Mast events are known to boost rodent and mustelid numbers and when the seed is gone, the plague of predators turn to our native birds, bats, lizards and insects. GWRC’s Senior Environmental Monitoring Officer, Barrett Pistoll, says that the abundance of Hinau fruit in the EHRP indicated that a significant mast year was underway. “It is the second highest producing year on record behind 2014,” he says. “Generally we can keep pest numbers low, but during a mast event extra methods are generally required.”
The East Harbour area contains many treasured native species, including the Wellington green gecko, the ornate skink (both at risk: declining) and 33 species of native orchid. The bait drop operation was to have taken place in an area of intensive pest control in the regional park’s northern forest, know as the Mainland Island. Potato starch bait stations, known as Strikers, contain peanut-based paste baits that include the toxins cholecalciferol and diphacinone. Jo Greenman says that in the event that future monitoring programmes indicate a drop is essential, GWRC will be placing signs at all park entrances and leaflets in the thirteen brochure holders around the park. Continues Page 2
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