Win for possum control

An innovative possum control project has won Hawke's Bay Regional Council a local government excellence award.

An innovative possum control project aimed at boosting native bird numbers in urban areas has won Hawke's Bay Regional Council a local government excellence award.

The Hawke's Bay Urban Biodiversity programme (HuB) won the Air New Zealand Excellence Award for Environmental Impact at the Local Government New Zealand Excellence Awards held as part of LGNZ's annual conference in Rotorua this week.

The HuB programme involved the regional council working with Napier City Council and Hastings District Council on a community possum-control initiative, which has seen tui and korimako (bellbird) numbers grow in the region.

The programme was praised by the awards judges who highlighted the "huge community engagement and demonstrable impact, with clear benefits achieved both for the natural environment and for residents".

Launched in 2008, the scheme covers 15,860ha across Napier, Hastings and Havelock North.

It has proved so successful there are plans to extend it to Wairoa and Waipawa. Under the programme, contractors set up bait stations and traps in backyards and a subsidised bait scheme was launched, with the council providing bait at a 50 per cent subsidy. Monitoring sites were established to track changes in bird populations in conjunction with information gathered from the public and media to assess changes in vegetation and bird life.

The project has seen a steady and consistent growth in the number of korimako and tui, including tui numbers on Napier Hill increasing four-fold and korimako three-fold since 2008.

Possum damage has also reduced in parks and private gardens. Residents have reported quieter nights and a reduction in damage to buildings and improved crops from fruit trees in gardens.

Regional council chairman Fenton Wilson said the award was a tribute to local home owners who got involved in the HuB programme and kept bait stations stocked to help keep possum numbers low.

"We were pleased how positively people responded to the programme. The improvement in our urban parks and gardens and the return of bird life has been reward enough - it's a winning programme from all angles," Mr Wilson said.

Napier City Council was also recognised at the Local Government New Zealand Excellence Awards with its $30 million biological trickling filter wastewater treatment plant project being highly commended in the EQC Excellence for Infrastructure Project of the Year category.

The plant, constructed next to Napier's existing milliscreening plant at Awatoto, was built to improve the quality of wastewater discharged to the sea. It was completed on time and under its initial $36.2 million budget.