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Local native wildlife will be the winners following the official opening of the Takatu LandCare (TLC) Resource Centre at Matakana Country Park.
The container at the centre of attention at the ribbon cutting on Saturday, July 16, may be an unassuming affair, with a glass sliding glass and simple wooden deck, but it will be the central hub for pest trapping and weed control efforts by various volunteer groups on the Takatu Peninsula, as well as around Omaha, Point Wells and Matakana.
TLC group chairman Jon Monk acknowledged the efforts of volunteers in trapping pests to help protect native wildlife on the Takatu Peninsula and surrounds, as rare native birds like kaka, pateke and kiwi move outside the Tawharanui Open Sanctuary and bred around the area. Kiwi were now being seen as far along the peninsula as Baddeleys Beach, he said.
Restoration planting is well under way on the peninsula, with funding by Auckland Council also seeing an ecological restoration programme put in place for the entire peninsula. This funding has also seen community pest control coordinator Ngaire Wallen employed for the last three years.
Traps used by the conservation groups to catch pests like possums, stoats and rats will be stored in the centre with a workbench installed so they can be for repaired and maintained. A fridge is also on site to store, eggs, peanut butter and other food used in the traps.
Monk acknowledged the efforts of Wallen in getting the resource centre project off the ground before the big Auckland lockdown in August last year.
The project required financial backing that volunteer work and donated goods couldn’t provide, so Wallen approached local businesses for support, Monk said.
Early on, Warkworth optometrists McDonald Adams committed to a significant cash donation that gave TLC the confidence to proceed and which would also cover the cost of power to the centre for several years. This gesture led to owner Claire McDonald being given the honour of cutting the ribbon on the day.
Omaha resident Phil Bougen received special mention for installing the joinery, and constructing the deck and workbench.
The TLC group doesn’t work in isolation and the project would be of benefit to many other groups, Wallen said.
“We regularly swap ideas and updates with the Omaha trappers, Leigh Penguin Project, Point Wells trappers, Pest Free Matakana, Omaha Shorebird Protection Trust, our friends at Tawharanui Open Sanctuary, and a few stragglers from further afield at Sandspit, Warkworth and Mahurangi.”
The groups support each other and work collectively, but within their own focus areas, all of which is a vital step towards Pest Free 2050, she said.
Wallen thanked McDonald Adams, Mason Containers, Matakana Country Park, Brackenridge Builders, ECM Signs, Whangaripo Valley Free Range Eggs and Auckland Council for listening to her pleas for support.
