Waikato councils, DoC and mana whenua form alliance to protect local bats

The Waipā District Council endorsed a collaboration with other councils, DoC and mana whenua to protect the long-tailed bat through the Waikato Regional Bat Strategy. Photo / Supplied

Waipā District Council continues its joint efforts with other Waikato councils, mana whenua and the Department of Conservation (DoC) to protect the region's long-tailed bat population.

The council's strategic planning and policy committee voted to carry on participating in the Waikato Regional Bat Strategy which focuses on 5900km2 of land across Hamilton city and Waikato and Waipā districts where the bats (pekapeka-tou-roa), a nationally critically-endangered taonga species, are known to reside.

Waipā District Council's district plan policy advisor Julie Hansen said the location of the long-tailed bat habitat is at the heart of the plan, as it overlaps with future housing and development plans in the three areas, along with existing landowners managing trees on their properties.

"Bats are not just living in areas that are protected, they are living in old shelter belts and things so there's no protection for their habitat. These issues, coupled with threats from predators, require a solution to be found for the long-tailed bats, which has previously been elusive for each district working in isolation."

She said the aim of the bat strategy was to provide a framework for better collaboration across agencies regarding bat habitat protection and restoration measures in the Waikato region.

This includes sharing resources and information, aligning policies and planning, meeting new national policy and legislation requirements for bats as well as resolving dilemmas and conflicts outside legal and planning challenges.

"Endorsement of the strategy will enable the territorial authorities to proceed together with 'next steps', including short, medium- and longer-term initiatives."

The long-tailed bat has just been named as the New Zealand Bird of the Year. Photo / John Stone

The alliance of the councils, mana whenua and DoC wants to promote awareness of threats to the bats, among landowners, arborists, and people who deal with trees.

"Bats are protected under the Wildlife Act so people need to be aware that there are serious penalties if they purposely or inadvertently harm the bats which may occur when trees are removed."

Waipā District Council arborist planner Chris Brockelbank said the Waikato Regional Bat Strategy includes actions such as providing support to train arborists in basic bat habitat identification.

"The idea is alliance members could establish a regional bat team, pooling resources and collaborating, to provide training for arborists so ecologists don't have to be engaged to do that initial assessment to establish if a tree could be a bat habitat and also increase public awareness about bats and potential bat habitats."

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