Strong winds create problems for sanctuary

The predator-proof fence of the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary in Nelson had a rocky start to the year after it was hit by powerful winds, leaving staff worried about incursions from pests.

Chief executive Chris McCormack said the seven breaches weren’t clustered to one area, but were throughout the sanctuary fence line.

A fallen tree completely flattened the fence in one section, and while another downed tree didn’t crush the fence, it provided a potential bridge for predators.

However, action to repair the breaches was swift: the sanctuary had a fence monitoring system that sent an alert to the person manning the duty phone, and a quick response team went out to inspect the fences, he said.

The winds hit on Monday, December 29, and the following morning, as soon it was safe, the staff and volunteer fence repair team swung into action.

By Tuesday everything was patched, and by Friday permanent repairs were completed.

Of the 100m of reserve fence the sanctuary kept for such instances, 12m had been used on the work.

As it was now stoat dispersal season, a dense grid of traps and monitoring tunnels has been laid around each breach site, in addition to extra monitoring around the fence line. These are to be checked regularly for two months.

“The next eight weeks will be the testing time for us,” McCormack said, “but it’s still very early stages at this point, so we’re really crossing our fingers that nothing’s managed to get in.”

Last year, 41 kiwi pukupuku (little spotted kiwi) were translocated from Kapiti Island to the fenced, predator-free sanctuary just outside Nelson. At least two kiwi chicks have hatched there in recent weeks.

Because of their small size, kiwi pukupuku are prone to stoat and ferret attacks, and outside the sanctuary, there had been a great deal of stoat activity, McCormack said.

However, there were no biosecurity issues after a slip following heavy rain caused a breach in the fence last May, and the sanctuary wide survey completed in December had no detections of anything other than mice, which other sanctuaries had too.

The winds funnelling through the Brook Valley also hit the campground, bringing down trees and ripping off branches.

McCormack said there was no damage other than debris, but there had been a few close calls with people staying in tents.

By Catherine Hubbard, Nelson Mail