Marlborough has the highest number of endemic species of any region in the country and Council’s Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) programme helps maintain and protect them.
Biodiversity Coordinator Mike Aviss spoke to the last Environment and Planning Committee meeting about one of the most interesting areas in the programme, Brian Boru or SNA 63 which he’d visited recently.
Near Isolated Hill and Benmore on the East Coast, it contains unique limestone geology, tall, old forest on bluffs and a number of threatened species.
“It’s very diverse geologically and therefore botanically, in fact in terms of all biodiversity,” he said. “It’s a significant SNA here in Marlborough and given its limestone in dry country it’s unique. It is so big and diverse and amazing country, almost like a national park.”
The site is one of 962 SNAs in Marlborough, the number having increased by 14 in the past year and now covering 138,383 hectares.
Council has maintained the programme since 2001 which involves extensive field-based ecological survey work and a protection and monitoring programme, all on private land.
This may include trapping pests, destroying pest plants and planting and protecting natives.
The Landowner Assistance Programme helps landowners to protect and restore SNA sites and currently there are 40 active projects with $230,000 of Council funding spent managing them during the past year.
Seventy-one sites are monitored - 34 are managed and 37 unmanaged, with the managed sites in much better condition.
The most obvious threats to sites in the north are possums while Old Man’s Beard is a recurring issue in the south.
Mr Aviss spoke highly of people running their own programmes that involve trapping pests and planting natives, mentioning Birch Hill and Wild Waikawa in particular for their outstanding work. “They are the rock stars of the programme - they get out and engage with the community,” he said.
