There have been recent comments and letters regarding Gisborne District Council’s spartina grass eradication programme. It is worth noting that spartina grass is on the pest weed lists of most district and regional councils in the country and for good reason. The thick sward of spartina destroys the main feeding grounds of our wading birds; open mudflats.
Birds such as white-faced herons, pied stilts, royal spoonbills and godwits, etc, rely on the rich and extensive supply of polychaete worms, mud crabs, molluscs and other invertebrates that abound in undisturbed mudflats.
There is information regarding this much-overdue project on the GDC website as well as an information sheet available at the council front counter . . . much more detailed information than I can provide here.
Grant Vincent
