Pest Survey Programme

Implementing consistent community-wide control measures against pests and predators is widely recognised as a highly effective means of promoting predator suppression and biodiversity improvement. In the Mangatangi-Maramarua Catchment, efforts are underway to explore ways in which we, as a broader community, can collaborate to achieve our shared predator control goals. To this end, a pest survey has been planned under the leadership of Cam Speedy, a renowned predator expert, which will provide a benchmark for assessing the extent of pest presence in our catchment. The pest survey will entail the use of 40 transect lines, with each line having 10 chew cards placed 20 meters apart and lured with flour blaze, along with a trail camera that is set to rapidly capture images. These data will form the basis for developing a species-targeted pest control program across our community. If you would like to stay informed or become involved in this initiative, please send an email to mmcatchment@gmail.com. We had the good fortune to host Cam Speedy at the Mangatangi Hall last year, and his presentation on fine-tuning predator control strategies was one of our most well-received events. If you could not attend, you can still access the talk on YouTube – it is worth watching!