Pūteketeke / Southern Crested Grebe pair doing a courtship dance on Lake Wānaka. Image by Oscar Thomas.
Central Otago Lakes Branch encompasses a large part of inland Otago including Hawea, Wanaka, Queenstown, Cromwell, Māniototo and Alexandra districts.
We have 90+ active members involved in a wide range of projects including trapping networks, planting programmes, submissions on developments and proposals through to weed control and education.
The branch is a founding member of the Southern Lakes Sanctuary (SLS), a consortium of volunteer groups dedicated to regional predator control and biodiversity restoration across the southern lakes rohe.
Our Projects
Animal Pest Control:
Makarora long term predator control targeting stoats, rats, possums and hedgehogs in forested parts of the Makarora area including North and South Young Valley, Blue Valley and main Makarora Valley. This programme aims to help threatened species including mohua, whio and kakariki. This is a major focus for the Branch and is vigorously supported by SLS
No More Bad Cats – a live capture predator control programme using Celium remote monitoring technology around the Matukituki and Makarora Rivers, targeting cats, hedge hogs and ferrets. It aims to protect nesting populations of braided river birds including black fronted terns, black billed gulls, oystercatchers, banded dotterels and wrybills.
Roys Peak predator control trapline targeting hedge hogs, ferrets and other high altitude predators to protect species of alpine wetas and lizards, including the rare orange-spotted gecko.
Education and Community Participation
Supporting the Lake Wānaka Grebe Project team in providing floating platforms for safe nesting and increased breeding success of threatened pūteketeke / southern crested grebes (elected NZ Bird of the Century in 2023) in Lake Wanaka.
Advice and Advocacy
Inspections and submissions on developments with potential environmental impacts, including subdivisions, track construction, mining and water extraction.
Current involvement includes the Upper Lakes Catchment Action Plan, Mt Iron Reserve Management Plan and Santana mining proposal for Thompsons Track area.
Planting and Habitat Restoration
Lake Hawea Foreshore - weekly weed-control and planting sessions.
Lindis Pass reserve - weed-clearing and replanting beside the state highway and in the Lindis Pass Conservation Area.
Grand View Creek, Hawea habitat restoration, carbon sequestration and biodiversity enhancement project covering 1.5 Ha of land owned by Lake Hawea Station. Over 1500 trees have been planted requiring ongoing maintenance, weed control and watering.
Shortcut Road/Reko’s Point planting near Luggate. Starting in 2010 this is a long term project on conservation land aiming to restore the natural shrub communities bordering the Clutha River/Mata Au.
Butterfields Reserve. Plantings and restoration of kanuka forest and wetland communities. Starting in 2010, this is another long-term project requiring weed control and maintenance.
Makarora - Pennycook Podocarp Restoration Project aims to restore totara, matai and kahikatea in a area of predominantly cut-over silver beech forest near Makarora. Currently in its 5th year, over 250 Podocarps have been planted so far.
Supporting wilding pine control efforts and removing other invasive species district wide.
Special Projects: Why do some rat traps catch more rats?
Across New Zealand, hundreds of community groups are trapping rats and other predators to increase survival rates of native birds and protect native vegetation. Curious trappers want to know why some of their traps catch more rats than others.
To answer this question in 2020 Central Otago Lakes Branch of Forest & Bird (COLB), instigated a research project carried out by Peter Doyle in conjunction with Otago Museum and the Wildlife Management Programme at the University of Otago.
Put simply, Peter’s finding were that traps tend to catch more rats when located among small trees and shrubs like karamu, putaputaweta, horopito, mingimingi and round-leaved Coprosma. Where traps are sited under beech forest with little understory, they catch fewer rats.
Peter’s research has been reported in the Forest & Bird magazine and published in the New Zealand Journal of Ecology. His findings are also posted on the SLS web site http://southernlakessanctuary.org.nz/about-southern-lakes-sanctuary/reports-reference/
Carbon Accounting / Our Footprint
As part of our commitment to the environment, the Central Otago Lakes Branch of Forest & Bird accounts for its CO2 emissions caused through conservation work, mostly through travel.
Our remit to adopt a net Zero-Carbon approach was accepted for implementation at the Forest & Bird 2018 national Annual General Meeting. The methods of Central Otago Lakes branch for carbon accounting have been published as part of Forest & Bird’s branch guidance materials.
We urge all our members to calculate their own emissions and work to reduce them. Many carbon calculators are available, such as: https://ekos.org.nz/lifestyle-calc
Branch Program / Field Excursions
The Central Otago-Lakes branch committee also arranges talks and visits to places of interest such as the Old Man Range. As we get closer to the time more information will be available for these trips, keep an eye on our branch page and newsletter!
Connections:
Forest and Bird Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/ForestandBirdCentralOtagoLakesBranch
Southern Lakes Sanctuary (SLS):
https://southernlakessanctuary.org.nz/
Lindis Passs Conservation Group:
https://www.facebook.com/LindisPassConservationGroup/
Branch Newsletter: Voice for Nature
View our latest newsletter here: Voice for Nature July-December 2023
