Unless
someone like you cares a whole awful lot nothing is going to get better. It’s not.
– Dr Seuss
A copy of the final report and decision into the NZ
King Salmon farms can be viewed at the office of the Environmental Protection
Authority, level 10, 215 Lambton Quay and at the Picton and Blenheim Libraries
and also on the EPA website:
Transport
Minister Gerry Brownlee is quoted in the Marlborough Express (11 March), as not
being able to understand why people are so against setting up the four new
farms (!). An appeal by ‘Save our Sounds’ group has been made.
Now Marlborough residents are also concerned
about the possible loss of medical services at Wairau Hospital. They say they
will fight any decision to close surgical services. Marlborough could lose
services with all acute cases being sent to Nelson and retaining only elective
surgery here. A petition by ‘Save our Services’ can be signed at the Marlborough
Express office or online at www.marlexpress.co.nz
And of
course don’t forget about that other big issue, the possibility of the interisland
ferries moving to Clifford Bay, that lovely journey through Queen Charlotte
Sound being lost to the expediency of transport and the effect on Picton and
the whole Top of the South. Did you know that William Fox surveyor and agent
for the New Zealand Company when he was looking for a port for the Wairau in
the 1840s chose Picton with its enclosed natural harbour over what he
considered to be the exposed coastline of Cloudy Bay/Port Underwood. He
made several watercolour paintings for the Company to prove his point! One of
these is Bird’s eye view of Waitoi dated
1848. He spelled the name of the settlement incorrectly, it should have been
Waitohi and then the name was changed to Picton in 1859.
Picton
Pestival
On Saturday
the inaugural Picton Pestival (correct name) was held at Waitohi Domain in
Picton to raise funds for Kaipupu Point Wildlife Sanctuary and to raise awareness
of the necessity of pest eradication. The Kaipupu Point Wildlife Sanctuary
opened on 17 March this year after seven years of hard work. I am currently
working on a timeline to show the progress. The bush covered area on Kaipupu
Point was gifted to the Crown (us) in 1973 by the NZ Refrigerating Company who
owned the Picton Freezing Works known to workers and locals as the ‘Picton University’.
There is a sign at the Shakespeare Bay Lookout to commemorate the workers and
the site. The land on Kaipupu Point that forms the Sanctuary is 60% owned (managed
and maintained) by DOC and 40% privately owned by Port Marlborough.
At the Pestival
there were stalls with different kinds of traps like the cages we know and
another by a company called Goodnature that works using compressed gas and a
steel-cored piston www.goodnature.co.nz
I would love one but at around $150 it’s
a bit expensive for my budget. Years ago when I was woken at night by loud
thumping noises on the roof I used to borrow a cage from my father, set the
trap and when I caught a possum I would ring my neighbour who owned a farm to come and
dispose of it. When my father caught one he just used to go for a drive along
Queen Charlotte Drive and release it into the bush. What was the point of that
I asked him? He just shrugged his shoulders. I guess the question of how to
dispatch it without a gun was the reason though he never said. Then the numbers
of possums in my area declined because our neighbourhood had a conservation-minded
young man living nearby. He has unfortunately gone down to Christchurch to help
with the rebuild and the possums are now back on the roof and hissing in the
cherry tree.
Getting
back to the Pestival a Wellington group ‘The Shot Band’ entertained with live
music on stage, there were activities for children like face painting and decorating
tiles with small stones, stalls with food and beer, cider and wine and a range
of speakers. The highlight was economist Gareth Morgan offering his views in
the speakers’ tent on conservation. He emphasised the importance of ‘natural
capital’, making the most of the environment we have in NZ and in particular making
money from it through tourism. At times he was provocative suggesting that it’s
no good having a ‘Halo’* project if birds that are attracted to Picton and
Sounds gardens from the Sanctuary then get caught by a domestic wandering cat.
He suggested that cats are OK as long as they are contained. He explained this
further on a TV3 interview with John Campbell. He said cats should either be
inside or if outside contained in a wire enclosure. Is this practical I wonder?
Gareth
Morgan upset people who see their cats as companions and also by suggesting
that if the cat passes away that it not be replaced. He said he was quite surprised
by all the media coverage after his earlier comments on cats and read about it
when he was in Beijing in China where he and his wife travelled to attend his
son’s wedding. The Listener also had
a good feature on Gareth Morgan.
He also
discussed the SPCA policy of TNR – ‘trap, neuter, release’ which I had not
known about. If a cat is found wandering
or on a neighbouring property it can be taken to the SPCA where they neuter it
and release it back into the community. It’s a different policy for dogs in
NZ. They are checked to see if they are
micro chipped. If they are then they are returned to the owner and if not they
are euthanized.
During a
Q&A session Gareth Morgan emphasised the importance of community-based
conservation rather than expecting the Government to initiate projects. When
asked what individuals could do he said to get together with a few others in a
group, pick an area and look at how to go about making it pest free.
A lot to
think about. I would suggest you choose your battles. There’s only so much time
and energy available. I suppose this is why I am writing this blog, by raising
awareness of issues more people might get involved. Certainly becoming a ‘Friend’
of the Kaipupu Point Mainland Island Society and/or volunteering to help with
the project is worth considering. When I began this blog last year I thought I was
going to write about literary topics.
Now I hear the Government (think National Party), are talking about restructuring the Department of Consevation (DOC), and this will involve job losses. Let's hope they keep enough staff in the Marlborough Sounds area office to maintain and manage this beautiful part of the world effectively.
*Halo effect is where people plant native species in
their gardens to attract birds and so when they fly out from a Sanctuary there
is food available for them to feed on. I bought a Kaka beak, a wineberry and a mountain
flax at the Pestival. I already have a number of large flax bushes which tui love (when they are in flower),
and an old apple tree and the row of gum trees in the shared driveway next door
seems to attract birds as does a tall sequoia and beech trees on neighbouring
properties.
