News

Wildlands wins Supreme Business of the Year Award

Wildlands wins Supreme Business of the Year in the Rotorua Westpac Business Excellence Awards 2017.

Rotorua Daily Post 9-10-2017

Rotorua Daily Post 14-10-2017

Posted: 27 October 2017

Wildlands joins locals to fight for pohutukawa

Wildlander Sarah Roth made local news in support of Eastern Bays residents fighting to protect iconic clifftop pohutukawa on Auckland’s Tamaki Drive.

Posted: 20 January 2017

Wilding conifer management

Wildlands has been working with a collaborative multi-agency group to develop the New Zealand Wilding Conifer Management Strategy (2015-2030), an initiative which aims to control and eradicate established wilding stands and prevent further establishment elsewhere by 2030.

Wilding conifer infestations threaten indigenous ecosystems in a number of ways, including the reduction in diversity of indigenous plant species and habitats as invasion progresses to establishment over time. Further impacts of invasion include changes in soil ecology, reduction in habitat for indigenous fauna, and the facilitation of co-invasion by other exotic pest species.

Wildlands, in consultation with key stakeholders, were tasked with the creation of a national prioritisation list, whereby wilding conifer control sites were categorised and prioritised according to a risk/cost analysis in order to inform the allocation of funding and control effort. This has resulted in a new management approach which multiplies invasiveness and vulnerability scores together to provide an overall site risk score. Cost parameters were then included in order to determine which management scenario to apply to each site; containment, progressive control, exclusion and eradication. This score is then used to rank priority wilding conifer sites based on inherent risk of wilding conifer spread.

Posted: 19 January 2017

Impact of roads and traffic on New Zealand’s bat fauna

During 2015 and 2016, Wildlands have been part of an ongoing collaborative project commissioned by the NZ Transport Agency researching the effects of roads and traffic on indigenous bat populations. All New Zealand bat species and sub-species are classified as either At Risk-Declining, Threatened-Nationally Vulnerable, Threatened-Nationally Critical, or Threatened-Nationally Endangered. Long-tailed bats are known to utilise roads to commute and forage and, while a number of causes are behind the nationwide decline, it is not clear whether road networks are a threat to bat populations due to habitat fragmentation and increased risk of collision.

The research process has been incrediblyinsightful for Wildlands staff members Dr Kerry Borkin (Bat specialist) and Dr Des Smith (Senior fauna ecologist), who undertook field surveys in 57 locations across New Zealand, and provided a report describing the analysis of bat activity data. The outcomes of this research have shown that increasing traffic volume is directly correlated with declining bat activity, however transport planners have identified a need for improved roading infrastructure throughout the country. This research therefore has important implications for the statutory processes which govern road infrastructure management in locations where bats are present, and will feed into existing monitoring and mitigation methods. An aspect of the work has been assisting in the development of framework to assess bat population viability impacted by transport systems and guide management of these effects.

Posted: 18 January 2017

Saving Auckland’s lizard fauna

Recent changes in Auckland Council’s resource consenting process have given local lizard fauna a fighting chance at survival in the face of the region’s rapidly growing development sector. In a bid to streamline ecological resource consent conditions, landowners looking to undertake works that may affect indigenous skinks and geckos are now increasingly responsible for taking measures to protect them. Auckland Wildlands herpetologist Jacqui Wairepo has been lucky enough to rescue a number of forest geckos (Mokopirirakau granulatus) and copper skinks (Oligosoma aeneum) in recent months, and relocate them safely to areas protected from future development.

New Zealand’s lizard fauna is highly cryptic and under constant threat from predation and habitat degradation. With at least two thirds of species in Auckland classified as ‘At Risk’, this makes successful lizard salvage operations increasingly important for the longevity of these taonga.

Posted: 17 January 2017