KEY POINTS:
A Coromandel environment group is putting its money where its mouth is in opposing the use of 1080 to control pests.
Kuaotunu Environment Action has put $7000 into a Department of Conservation possum control operation on the Otama Peninsula to secure the use of cholecalciferol rather than 1080.
Such deals could become compulsory. Environment Waikato staff are proposing that individuals or groups pay extra if they want to use pest control methods other than those chosen by the council.
Cholecalciferol, a concentrated form of Vitamin D, is being laid in bait stations between Otama and Kuaotunu in an operation targeting possums and testing its use on rats. The 900ha operation covers both private and DoC land.
Kuaotunu action group committee member Liz Leckie said the community was strongly opposed to the use of 1080.
However, the department's budget for the operation covered only the cost of 1080, which is much cheaper than cholecalciferol, so the group chipped in with the difference of $7000.
DoC's northern peninsula pest control manager, Steve Bolton, said the bush had a high infestation of possums and rats.
Cholecalciferol was not as effective as 1080 but more bait stations had been added.
Environment Waikato biosecurity manager John Simmons said the trend for toxins other than 1080 was having a serious impact on the regional council's pest control budget.
In Otorohonga, ratepayers are footing an additional $20,000 cost because of landowner opposition to an aerial operation.
A project between Manaia and Coromandel town is more than $100,000 over budget, because of the use of trapping and cholecalciferol instead of aerial 1080.
The overrun is not being recovered and the project has had to be scaled back.
Payments are achieved by agreement but Mr Simmons wants the council to give staff more power to require payment.
Environment Waikato pest management committee chairman Simon Friar said the proposal was a big policy change. Some people supported it but others saw it as a club to force them to accept aerial 1080.
Committee members were discussing the proposal with their communities, he said.
The Upper Coromandel Landcare Association said the plan was a coercive and intimidating tactic to force aerial 1080 drops on communities and stop the mounting opposition to the council's expanded toxin use.
The charges constituted heavy financial penalties for those who exercised their right to enjoy clean water, clean food supplies and a clean environment, and would fall on those who can least afford it, the group said.
