Horizons Regional Council staff describe the pests they want to destroy.
Horizons Regional Council staff describe the pests they want to destroy.
Pic 2: BTG220321PC2 Caption: Horizons Fresh Water Specialist Sarah Falloon explains about the two types of traps as Horizon's Pest Control officer Tony Dickson, Te Kāuru Chairperson Arapera Paewai and Te Miro Farm co-owner Penelope Drysdale look on.
Pic 3: BTG220321PC3 Caption: Pest Control officer Colin Jeffries explains how this trap kills ferrets and stoats.
Pic 4: BTG220321PC4 Caption: Arapera Paewai explains how Horizons Pest Control officer Colin Jeffries is installing an A24 trap for opossums.
Pic 5: BTG220321PC5 Caption: The children have questions about traps and native trees
Pic 6: BTG220321PC6 Caption: Sarah Falloon supervises as the children look for wildlife under the rocks in the Manawatu headwaters.
Sidebar: Norsewood Children Participate In Te Miro Pest Control Day
By Dave Murdoch
Bring together Horizons Regional Council, Te Kāuru Hapu Collective, the students and teachers of Norsewood and District School and owners of Te Miro Farm at the headwaters of the Manawatū River Penelope and Blair Drysdale and good things for the environment happen.
This has been a relationship for 10 years and has resulted in the retirement of the banks of the Manawatū headwaters on Te Miro Farm and the planting of 10,000 native trees funded by the Ministry For The Environment Fresh Water Improvement Fund.
Horizons Fresh Water Specialist Sarah Falloon with Horizon's Pest Control officer Tony Dickson, Te Kauru Chairperson Arapera Paewai and Te Miro Farm co-owner Penelope Drysdale.
Te Kāuru Hapu Collective formed after the Manawatū River Leader's Accord set the priority to cleanse the river. Its manager Arapera Paewai said it was a great opportunity to promote the environment and increase the bond between it and local hapu.
She said the generosity of landowners Penelope and Blair is not very common among landowners along the river because Te Miro Farm allows access to anyone wishing to participate in this environment.
The project took another step with the laying of a trapline along the river's edge on Tuesday, March 16 to protect the young native trees planted over the last decade, many by the Norsewood students.
The entire school came out to see examples of the pests and the traps being set by Horizons staff as obviously allowing children to do it was too dangerous. The children, however, led them to the sites for the 14 traps and learned about how they worked, especially the gas-powered A-24 traps which reset after a kill and can kill 12 opossums or ferrets without a recharge.
They learned about other box traps designed for stoats and rats which are also lethal on wildlife. This is the time of the year for these pests as they have just been evicted from their nests in the bush up river. Opossums come looking for food in winter.
The children had to make up group reports identifying native species along the river and eventually went into the river to study wildlife with the guidance of Horizon's fresh water specialists Sarah Falloon and Margo Richardson before adjourning to the woolshed for a barbecue.
Deputy principal of Norsewood and Districts School Hiraina Tamhana said trips out like this were the perfect way for children to learn and she was proud to see how well they did.
