Recording flora, fauna in district

The Gisborne District Council, in partnership with mana whenua, is involved in a project to create vital native forest at Waingake. A survey conducted by GDC biodiversity staff suggests only 23 percent original native vegetation remains in the district. File picture

A survey conducted by GDC biodiversity staff is helping to identify trends in gains or losses

A biodiversity survey suggests that only 23 percent original native vegetation remains in Tairāwhiti.

The survey is led by Gisborne District Council biodiversity team leader Don McLean, who is usually accompanied by another member of the team, or sometimes an interested landowner.

They use Survey 123 software on a field device to record information on flora and fauna species identified, along with any issues affecting the health of the patch, such as damage to vegetation, signs of pests, weeds, disease or stock access.

Back at the office the findings are loaded into a database and feedback is given to the landowner.

The collected information is then used to help the council identify trends in biodiversity gains or losses in the region, monitor the impacts of interventions such as pest control and stock exclusion, as well as offering restoration advice and helping landowners to potentially access funding for maintaining or enhancing these important areas.

Some of the best preserved and most diverse examples of indigenous vegetation in our region are in private ownership and many are mapped as Protection Management Areas or PMAs in the council’s regional plan.

They are subject to special rules in the plan that help to protect the areas from clearance but there are no rules in regard to pest control or fencing.

PMAs cover seven percent (58,000ha) of the total land area in Tairāwhiti region as per the State of our Environment Report 2020 report. There were 315 individual PMAs, most of which are located on private land. The types of vegetation range from coastal dune land to high elevation beech forest.

The areas were originally mapped back in the 1980s, along with recording detailed descriptions of the vegetation present and the overall condition of the areas. In summer 2017, 48 of the 315 areas were re-surveyed for the first time since the original mapping was done.

The council’s biodiversity team is now continuing the work that began in 2017 as part of their annual work programme.

Re-visiting these PMAs was important, both to meet the biodiversity monitoring obligations as a regional authority under the Resource Management Act, and to update the records about the state of these significant, but often isolated patches.

PMAs are located both on farms and within production forestry blocks. The team aims to visit around 20-25 every year, but this year efforts were hampered by the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle.

If you are the owner of a PMA that has not yet been re-surveyed or are thinking about applying for a Natural Heritage Fund grant for fencing, or weed and pest control in your PMA, please get in touch with the Biodiversity team on 06 867 2049.