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Nelson Nature Fix
 
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Nelson Nature Fix

 
Welcome to Nelson Nature Fix – a regular snippet of interesting information, events, and stories about the Nelson Whakatū natural environment, and what we can do to look after it. 

Volunteers wanted for an exciting new citizen science project!


Come along to help us plant teabags for an estuarine decomposition experiment that looks at carbon sequestration.

It will be muddy, but fun :) 

We need 20 volunteers on Tuesday 30 November at The Haven from 11.30am
and 16 volunteers on Wednesday 1 December at Waimea Inlet from 12.30pm.
 

What is it for?


Nelson City Council scientists are looking at our local estuarine health and carbon sequestration potential, as well as contributing to a global study to gather information about how soils around the world sequester carbon. The study involves analysis of litter decomposition within wetland ecosystems using household teabags, a novel but scientific technique for measuring carbon decomposition at low cost.
 
Currently, there are nearly 20,000 teabags deployed in more than 300 sites in 30 countries around the world!
 
Teabags of two very specific types are used to represent natural plant litter – exactly the same two types of Lipton teabags are used by all of the sites globally to ensure the starting point is the same in each experiment. The teabags are planted in different soil types, so in an estuary setting like the Nelson Haven and Waimea Inlet, it will be in seagrass, saltmarsh and mud.
 
The teabags are left for three months after which they are dug back up again (and, yes, you guessed it we will need help with that as well around March, but will organise that later).

Teabags are weighed before burial, and then again after retrieval and drying. Decomposition can then be calculated. Little-to-no decomposition indicates carbon sequestration in the seabed.
 
This information will help us locally when we undertake saltmarsh and/or seagrass enhancement projects, by identifying areas where there may be blue carbon sequestration occurring. This means we can enhance our estuarine ecosystems while doing our bit for climate change at the same time by sequestering carbon. If the seabed is left undisturbed this carbon can remain sequestered for millennia.
 
More detailed information about the logistics of taking part will be provided to those who are interested in participating.

If you are interested in either of the planting days, and/or for the March retrieval, or would just like more information, contact Vikki, NCC’s Coastal & Marine Scientist at Vikki.ambrose@ncc.govt.nz

Port Hills trapping group gets a boost


A newly-formed backyard trapping group of Port Hills residents has received some welcome funding from Predator Free New Zealand in support of their work. Predator Free New Zealand’s Backyard Community Funding round 2021 awarded money to 11 groups around New Zealand after receiving more than 100 applications from highly-motivated trapping groups keen to make a difference in their communities.

The Stepneyville Halo group is a community initiative started by Cawthron scientist Jonathan Puddick after he was inspired by the work being done by the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary and the ‘Nelson Halo’ project, and was keen to emulate this in his own suburb. The Nelson Halo project is a collaboration between Nelson City Council’s Nelson Nature programme, Department of Conservation, community groups and private landowners to coordinate predator control and habitat restoration in an area called the ‘Nelson Halo’ that includes most of the areas within the Nelson Whakatū region, stretching from Wakapuaka in the north, east to the Richmond Range and south to the Tasman district border.

“The funding will enable us to set up a monitoring programme and to get 100 new traps out into our suburb,” says Jonathan. “We are a new, small group, and this funding will help us to get things going and get as many people in the neighbourhood on board as we can. One of the things we want to identify is the kinds of pests we have in the Port Hills. We know we’ve got rats and mice, but we don’t know if we’ve got possums and other pests.”

Jonathan started out by building himself a trap, and then he built a couple more and gave them to some of his neighbours, and the group grew from there.

“For people that are keen to have more bird life and lizards in their gardens but are less keen to use the traps themselves, we can still do monitoring from their gardens via chew cards or ink cards, which gives us important data that helps the cause. People can also help by making their gardens a haven for native animals; like setting up bird feeders, making lizard gardens and insect hotels, planting pollinator plants and putting water out for birds in the summer. There’s lots of ways people can get involved.”

If you live in the Port Hills/Stepneyville area and would like to be a part of the Halo group, please get in touch by emailing stepneyville.halo@gmail.com or you can join the Stepneyville Halo group on Facebook.

Want to find out if there is a trapping group near you?
Email nelson.nature@ncc.govt.nz or visit predatorfreenz.org/get-involved/find-a-group

Aquatic pest plant control programme


Invasive pest plants like water celery, parrot’s feather and Vietnamese parsley are choking our waterways and negatively impacting stream health in Nelson.

Nelson City Council is implementing a control programme that began on 25 October 2021 to help stop them spreading through the region’s waterways and causing further damage. The programme began at one of the most affected sites – Orphanage Stream. (Pictured top left to right is Orphanage before and after a test treatment).

These pest plants form dense mats that block sunlight and deoxygenate the water, smother indigenous plants and trap sediment, and reduce habitat for stream life, including fish, eels (tuna) and macroinvertebrates. Choked streams can also exacerbate flood impacts, threatening infrastructure such as bridges and pathways.

Attempts to remove aquatic pest plants by hand or mechanical means have had limited success. Advice received from NIWA is that herbicide application is likely to be the most successful control technique and has the potential to eradicate infestations over time. Use of triclopyr triethylamine (Garlon 360) is
recommended as it has given excellent field control results (as shown in the images at the top) and it does not persist in the environment.

Triclopyr triethylamine (Garlon 360) will be applied with a backpack sprayer (100ml/10L) to control water celery (Apium nodiflorum) in Orphanage Stream, Saxton Creek, Jenkins Creek, Orchard Stream, Arapiki Stream, and Brook Stream; Vietnamese parsley (Oenanthe javanica) in Poorman Valley Stream; and parrot’s feather (Myriophyllum quaticum) in Hillwood Stream and a site along Cable Bay Road (pictured above).

Council asks that people do not harvest plants or animals (e.g. tuna) from the treated area for at least two weeks after spraying. Keep dogs and children away from the area during treatment. For more information, go to: nelson.govt.nz/aquatic-pest-plants
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