DoC starved of funding to save native species

Sebaea ovata (a relative of gentians) is probably extinct as a wild plant in New Zealand. The last two places where it grew naturally were dune hollows near the mouths of the Whangaehu and Waitotara Rivers.

Eighteen months ago, I highlighted the precarious state of a native button daisy which has all but one of its known sites in NZ on our local coast (Chronicle, July 18, 2012). Since then, the NZ Indigenous Vascular Plant Panel has released its findings on the conservation status of every NZ native flowering plant, conifer and fern species.

In its publication, the status of our button daisy, Leptinella dispersa subspecies rupestris, was raised from "naturally uncommon" in 2009 to the highest threat level, "critical", today. In other words, it is on the edge of extinction. As you might suspect, this change in conservation status has made absolutely no difference to the future of the daisy.

It seems unlikely that much help will come from the Government, when the Department of Conservation (DoC) has had severe cuts in staff and operating funds. In speaking about the latest cuts last year (The Press, April 13, 2013) DoC's Director-General said they would tap two main sources for "doing more for less". The first would be commercial partnerships.

It is true that sponsorship has provided much-needed funds for improving the lot of some threatened iconic species, like kakapo, kokako, kiwi and whio. Close to home, DoC has provided some funds for the translocation of hihi (stitchbirds) to Bushy Park. But how realistic is this for our local button daisy or almost all the other small, threatened native plants - and lichens, insects, freshwater fish and other organisms?

It might be possible to get a financial sponsor for spectacular plants like kaka beak, but we need to consider the magnitude of the plant-species conservation problem.

The 2013 list of threatened and uncommon plants numbers around 1150 species, a rise of about 80 species over the previous (2009) listing.

If we look close to home, a quick count shows that about 44 of these grow within the area covered by DoC's present Whanganui office. I wrote "grow" but, in fact, of those 44 species, I have seen four almost certainly become extinct. These are a dwarf mistletoe, a coastal tussock-sedge, a native "daphne" and a gentian relative.

There was a second suggested answer to saving species - encouraging more volunteers. To save plant species means protecting habitat; managing weeds, browsing animals, erosion and people such as recreational users of dunes for example; understanding each species' pollination and seed dispersal needs so as to encourage natural regeneration and produce more plants; and, for wetland plants, managing water levels and quality.

Even for 40-odd plant species locally, this is a big ask. Where are the volunteers with the time, skill, finances and other resources to do all this? In the end, it is our biodiversity that is going to be the big loser unless we rethink how to best protect it, including funding.

Colin Ogle is a semi-retired ecologist, employed by DoC in Wanganui 1988-2000.