News

With the dry spell finally receding, we are grateful for Auckland Council’s ongoing support for Landcare, particularly including the supply of another water tank to help prevent a repeat of the water supply issues experienced this summer. Council have also provided 200 more bait stations and committed to providing more DoC200 mustelid traps in the near future to continue the clearance of these voracious pests from the peninsula, so if any landowner has a problem with weasels, stoats and/or ferrets, please call us for advice and solutions, including how to make the best use of these most welcome traps. Also, please remember that in order to remain effective, bait stations need to be replenished regularly. To help with this need, in addition to our regular hours of 8:30 to 12:30 Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, we will open on Saturday morning, May 11^th from 9 to 11am for an extra chance to get the bait supplies you require.

Also on the pest control front, we plan in the next issue of Peninsularama to include the results of the council initiative Residual Trap Catch (RTC), a programme using Dept of Conservation protocols to determine possum densities in the area and monitor the effectiveness of possum control efforts up and down the peninsula. RTCs are regularly carried out under strict guidelines to provide standard, unbiased results – more next month.

With potting up almost finished at the nursery, we must give a huge Thank You to all of our wonderful volunteers who responded to our urgent call for labour, including both long-term regulars and new workers, whom we welcome with open arms and hope to see become regular members of our Landcare family. New seedlings are popping up and looking healthy and bright. This, of course, is a timely reminder of the need for anyone wanting plants for the next planting season to get orders in as early as possible.

Finally, for anyone wondering how the planting in is progressing at Te Mahanihani, Ports of Auckland have opted to plant the area themselves this winter, as the site is deemed too steep for volunteer workers. Our thanks to all who were gearing up to assist in this great work.

The Landcare Team