Concerns raised about the wellbeing of skinks on Bay of Plenty beaches are being eased with an abundance being found in Papamoa sand dunes.
A large number of tiny native skinks have been found in the dune where recent spraying to get rid of weeds has recently happened.
Groups concerned about the effects of sprays are worried the use of herbicides would exterminate skinks and other native populations, have approached Tauranga City Council and the Minister of Conservation with their worries.
Bay of Plenty Coast Care coordinator Pim de Monchy says he has counted 15 shore skinks earlier this month while weeding dunes at Motiti Road with a group of volunteers.
'That area had been blanket-sprayed with glyphosate and a surfactant and spot treated with triclopyr since Christmas.
'The predominantly weedy vegetation has all but died off, but the skinks were found throughout and in the adjacent native plants.”
Pim says they are delighted to find such a strong population of skinks in the dunes.
'We haven't observed any low numbers of skinks in sprayed areas compared with treated areas.”
1 comment
alive and well!
Posted on 18-07-2011 16:57 | By claypole
I wonder how the skink population was monitored for comparison of results prior to and post spraying by both Regional Council (or TCC as its reserve land or DOC for protected species) and the concerned groups.An article appeared last year in the Bay Times? from one of the concerned groups trying to stop the spraying, As a coastcare volunteer, I wondered if they had all the facts and monitoring had been carried out then. When planting last year on previously sprayed areas at Karewa Parade with International volunteers, they and I saw shore skinks. With all the activity on the dunes could they possibly have 'moved away' until the activity ceased? Re the spraying, the majority of weeds found in the dune systems are predominately from adjacent gardens of locals abutting that bleed onto the reserve area.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to make a comment.