Tent town plan to dodge spraying

By ANNE BESTON

Some West Auckland residents are threatening to put up tents outside an insecticide spray zone to avoid being sprayed during the painted apple moth eradication programme.

Terry Gosset, who runs a trust for children with behaviour problems, said he planned to erect a tent town outside the Waitakere City Council headquarters because he could not get a guarantee from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry that the children would not be affected by spray drift, although the trust was outside the 600ha spray zone.

About 300 people attended a public meeting in West Auckland last night to discuss MAF's plans to start spraying the biological insecticide Foray 48b, or Btk, by helicopter tomorrow.

Residents, including pregnant women and people with respiratory problems, said they were worried about possible health risks.



Eruere Pene, aged 57, of Glendene, which is in the heart of the target zone, said residents should not leave the area.

"Why should we move out of our own houses?" he asked. "Stop the spraying right now."

The mood of the meeting, while low key, was one of anger and concern. It was organised by members of the community advisory group appointed by MAF late last year to advise on residents' concerns over the aerial spraying.

A member of the group, Dr Meriel Watts, said the latest tests done on the moth suggested New Zealand's best-known native trees were safe from the pest.

The forestry industry trials indicated that pohutukawa, kauri, rimu and rata did not appeal to the pest, she said. But at least two other native trees, kowhai and ribbonwood, were threatened.

The Minister of Agriculture, Jim Sutton, plans to visit Auckland tomorrow if the spraying goes ahead.

Organisers of the spraying campaign did not know yesterday whether the weather would fall in with their plans.

The operations controller for MAF, Peter Wilkins, said the best they could do was keep a close eye on the weather and hope it would be all right on the day.

The forecast was for showers and high winds tomorrow, clearing in the afternoon. For Sunday, it was the other way round.

The helicopter needs calm, dry conditions for its seven-hour circuit of the spray zone and ideally no rain for at least five hours afterwards.

"It [the forecast weather] is not exactly what we want on either day but it's just one of those things," Mr Wilkins said. "We are planning to have everything in place to make a decision at 3.30 or 4 am and we'll work from there."

The twin-engined BK-117 helicopter will load the biological insecticide Btk at MacLeod Park and begin spraying almost 600ha, including parts of Avondale, Kelston, Glendene and Traherne Island in the upper Waitemata Harbour.

The island, Waikumete Cemetery and the margins of the Whau River are the worst-infested areas.

Painted apple moth is a native of Australia and was discovered in Glendene in 1999.

Btk is aimed at the caterpillars of the moth.

It kills them by rupturing their gut after being ingested.

Late last year, MAF decided an aerial campaign by helicopter would be needed because other attempts to eradicate the pest had failed.

The $11 million campaign will be reassessed after three complete sprays of the target zone.

nzherald.co.nz/environment