22 October 2000

The Minister of Conservation Hon Sandra Lee has announced that the Department’s Wanganui Conservancy will be spending an extra $157,000 this year on protecting the region’s unique animals and plants as a result of the Government's Biodiversity Strategy funding package.

The Government committed in the June Budget an extra $187 million to biodiversity protection over the next five years, from 2000–2005. In the first year, the Department of Conservation receives an extra $12 million, including more than $2 million to assist protection of biodiversity on private land. The Department’s extra funding increases progressively over the five years, to $48 million in 2005.

Ms Lee welcomed the additional funding for the region and said it would significantly boost the conservation work being done this year.

"More then half of this funding will be invested in the Palmerston North area, allowing staff to carry out programmes which would otherwise not have been able to take place, including trying to save an endangered daisy in the Manawatu from possible extinction," said Ms Lee.

About a third of the $90,000 allocated to Palmerston North, will go towards rare plant protection programmes, including the endangered daisy Celmisia "Mangaweka". This daisy is only known at one site, and unfortunately the plant’s home is eroding at a rate that would see Celmisia disappear in ten years.

A five-year programme has been initiated to try and improve the outlook for this special plant. The programme will identify site characteristics and try to find other, similar sites, and plant transfer to encourage an alternative population of plants, she said.

Another rare plant which will benefit is Acaena rorida, a piripiri endemic to the Mangaohane plateau. It has a tiny range and is threatened by advancing weeds. DOC will identify what sort of area the plant covers, assess the threat posed by the weeds, and plan ways of managing the plant in the future.

Small-scaled skinks haven’t been forgotten either, with more than $20,000 set aside to search for more populations, and to assess what sort of homes they prefer. DOC staff will monitor known populations to determine the size and age structure of populations as well as the level of migration occurring between groups. The impact of both predators and livestock grazing will also be taken into account.

Weed control gets a $14,500 injection, and White Bryony and Old Man’s Beard will be likely targets. They both pose a tremendous threat to native plants with their ‘smothering’ growth pattern. White Bryony is a relatively new plant "pest" in that it was only identified as growing in New Zealand in 1991, and is known at only two sites in NZ. White bryony berries are very palatable to birds, and the plant has the ability to spread very quickly.

However, it is still possible to eradicate White Bryony, (unlike Old Man’s Beard, which is firmly entrenched,) and efforts will focus on this end goal. The largest area of infestation is around Mokai Station, which is uncomfortably close to Ruahine Forest Park and Makino Scenic Reserve, said Ms Lee.