Auckland pest management project wins environment EXCELLENCE award

Local Government New Zealand is delighted to announce Auckland Council’s Hunua Ranges Pest Management Programme as the winner of a local government EXCELLENCE Award for environmental impact.

The Council won the Air New Zealand EXCELLENCE Award for Environmental Impact at the LGNZ EXCELLENCE Awards in Dunedin last night. The awards, now in their third year, recognise and celebrate the outstanding leadership role local government plays within communities. More than 600 delegates from local and central government, and stakeholders, celebrated the outstanding leadership role local government plays within communities.

Auckland Council’s 1080 programme was carried out in August and September 2015, successfully achieving its targets of reducing pest numbers to allow for ecosystem recovery and the reintroduction of rare and threatened species.

In recent years, possum and rat numbers had increased significantly in the area, having a severe effect on the health of the forest and its treasured native species, such as kokako, that live within it.

The Council voted to change the way it managed pests to include the use of 1080 bait to reduce pest numbers to target levels and increase the flora and fauna of the parklands.

Judges praised the project as “a well planned and courageous initiative which achieved its objective to safeguard native wildlife in the Hunua Ranges, while at the same time safeguarding the water supply to New Zealand’s largest city, which is important to New Zealand”.

This was achieved by using technology and science to use much lower doses of 1080 than in the past.

LGNZ President Lawrence Yule says Auckland Council’s project is an example of innovative and careful environmental management.

“The Council’s project worked to protect an iconic feature of the Auckland region in a way that had minimal negative impacts, and sets a great example for other councils to follow,” Mr Yule says.

Judges for the awards are former Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast, Chair of EQC Sir Maarten Wevers and The New Zealand Initiative’s Executive Director, Dr Oliver Hartwich.

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