Reihana Robinson: Bitter battle brews over fencing an inland island

The Coromandel is a favourite getaway for thousands of Aucklanders, Hamiltonians and overseas visitors. It's an iconic Kiwi paradise. But there is trouble brewing.

The basis of it is "environmentalists versus environmentalists". On one side is the Moehau Environment Group (MEG), a Coromandel conservation organisation which is active in pest and predator control, environmental education, and habitat restoration projects in and around the Moehau Range. For that, it is well respected and has the support of most residents.

But many Coromandel people now feel that MEG has overstepped its bounds by promoting a controversial plan to create what would be New Zealand's largest "mainland island," a sprawling 18,000ha expanse of public and private property to be managed as a "pest-free zone".

The idea is to erect a pest-proof fence - a 2m high steel barrier stretching coast-to-coast from Colville on the west to Waikawau Bay on the east.

Intensive efforts would then be undertaken north of the fence to eradicate all predators (cats, rats, stoats, weasels, possums), pests and "habitat destroyers" (goats, pigs and deer) so that native species could thrive and others be successfully reintroduced.

But the prospect of being fenced in has long-time residents and landowners alarmed.

What's wrong with the fence?

Don't we all want to see the bush recover along with kiwi, brown teal, frogs and other endangered native species? Aren't we all conservationists at heart?

Of course we do, and of course we are.

But the potential ramifications of a pest-free zone are only now coming into focus.

The toxin 1080 is at the heart of the issue. Eradication of target species cannot be accomplished in an area so vast without widespread use of 1080.

Banned in most of the world and classified by the World Health Organisation as "1A, extremely hazardous", 1080 not only wipes out target species but poses an environmental threat of its own to people, pets and a broad spectrum of organisms.

In a report to a government biosecurity committee in November, the MEG co-ordinator said "Negotiations with the Mahana commune over 1080 use are progressing well as are negotiations with another group in the North."

MEG is clearly working to promote 1080 use on private land, and DOC already uses it on public lands despite deep national division on the issue.

Landowners in the projected zone expect further pressure for 1080 to be widely applied if a pest-free zone is fenced.

There is little more alarming to environmentalists than 1080.

In the words of one Port Charles farmer: "If they think they're coming anywhere near my family's water supply with 1080, they better think again."

And a Coromandel beekeeper said: "There goes my organic honey business."

The traditional Coromandel wild-pork dinner is also in the crosshairs. Pigs do a fair bit of environmental damage, especially to the kiwi habitat, and most conservationists regard the pigs as pests.

But wild pigs have been a well-managed resource for over a century here.

Pig hunters can make noise when they want to, so MEG has given this species a wide berth. Pig hunters know, however, that in the projected complete eradication of feral pigs is not a question of "if", but of "when".

The essential question is whether the proposal for a huge pest-free zone is actually feasible.

There are fundamental obstacles, according to the only published extensive report on the proposal, a Waikato University study commissioned by MEG in 2004 and funded by Environment Waikato Regional Council (EW).

Unlike every other location where a pest-free zone has been attempted, the projected upper Coromandel "mainland island" includes many family homes and farms - with cats and dogs and stock - thousands of seasonal visitors and constant traffic.

One thing is for sure. Where people reside, there will be rats. Where people reside, they will want to have cats and dogs.

Where there are pet cats, there will be feral cats.

Where there are dogs, kiwi will be killed.

So the only strategy will be to introduce regulations, obligations and restrictions binding on local residents and visitors alike, encumbering property and invading private rights.

Already, as reported in a recent MEG newsletter, the Thames Coromandel District mayor has agreed that "new compliance procedures for restricting cats and dogs will be built into future subdivision developments, especially in those areas of intensive species protection - particularly kiwi".

Do we envisage a total ban on pet cats in this Coromandel "paradise"?

Do we want every visitor's dog to be checked at a fenced Colville border to see if the animals have had kiwi and frog-aversion training?

Will there be a cat amnesty bin for holidaymakers?

And what about that seaside picnic that so many Auckland-area boaties enjoy?

On a "mainland island" there would have to be binding restrictions on shore landings and tie-ups.

In the end, the no-pest vision is not feasible, unless they eradicate from the Coromandel the biggest pest of all - people.

And there is the nagging problem of cost. Leaving aside construction and early-phase pest and predator knockdown, the continuing costs of attempting to eradicate those last few rats, possums, stoats and cats would be huge.

Further invasions would be inevitable. An army of trappers and baiters and monitors and taggers would be required.

It would be a dream come true for bureaucrats at DOC and EW and trust-funded full-timers at MEG.

But the money can come only from a few places.

One obvious place is further targeted rates for Coromandel residents and taxpayers at large.

Conservation-minded proponents of a "Free Upper Coromandel" are to voice their concerns to district and regional councils and their friends in the conservation movement.

We all want to knock down possum numbers and protect our kiwi.

At issue, though, is how to do it.

We are asking DOC and EW to end their tacit support of the community group's fence plan.

We are saying, loudly and forcefully, "Don't Fence Us In."

* Reihana Robinson is a member of the Upper Coromandel Landcare Association.