Environment Minister Simon Upton, writing in this morning's Dominion Post Tuesday 30 June, praises the work of the Karori and Maungatautari Sanctuary fenced enclosures.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/2552958/How-do-we-pay-to-save-our-ecological-treasures
He paints a picture of these as the future face of biodiversity conservation on mainland NZ. He briefly mentions DOC's work "clearing 69 offshore islands (of pests),(but)it has taken community-based iniatives with DOC support to do the heavy lifting onshore".
Upton is miles off beam. Despite being a former Minister of Conservation (well acting at least), he fails to acknowledge and even appreciate the scale and the extraordinary success of DOC biodiversity projects throughout mainland New Zealand. These include saving kiwi, giant landsnails, endangered plants, whio-blue duck, rata, fuchsia and pohutukawa. These DOC projects are so impressive because they are stretched the length and breadth of NZ, something that fenced sanctuaries can never realistically hope to achieve.
Both sanctuary projects are admirable. Both have been high profile and have involved lots of people and a huge amount of fund raising. Both have been hugely expensive. Both, particularly Maungatautari, have had a huge amount of DOC staff resources poured into them. Both projects have also had a huge amount of central, regional and local government funding poured into them. The figure Upton quotes for Maungatautari Sanctuary of $18 million to date to protect 3,300 hectares works out at $5,454 per hectare. This isn't the end of the spend because the fence is always depreciating and will need replacement so the costs will be ongoing especially if there is a storm event that breaks the fence.
Surrounding where I live in the South Westland, on the 36,000hectare Abbey Rock/Moeraki Valley/Whakapohai block, DOC spends $8 per hectare per annum or $288,000 per year in total on its aerial pest control operations. Every 3 years for the last 15, DOC has used aerially applied 1080 that controls possums, rats, mice and stoats. This programme aims to preserve the biodiversity of a huge and diverse area stretching from virgin lowland coastal beech podocarp forest to montane forest and from the Tasman seacoast to the Southern Alps. Within the area covered by the operation, there are many threatened and endangered native species. Their future has been guaranteed for the 15 years this programme has been operating. Kaka, whio-blue duck, kea, parakeet, kereru, falcon, tawaki penguin, scarlet mistletoe, rata and fuchsia are all thriving and can be seen throughout this area.
At a 10% discount rate, DOC's annual expenditure of $288,000 on the 36,000ha block could be capitalised up to say $2.9 million. So for a capitalised expenditure of $2.9 million, one sixth the cost of the Maungatautari project, DOC is protecting an area more than 11 times the size of Maungatautari.
Abbey Rock-Moeraki-Whakapohai is only one of many such projects being undertaken by DOC West Coast who are similarly treating for pests every 3-4 years a total area of 140,000 hectares on the West Coast, 42 times the area of Maungatautari at a cost of $1.12 million per annum, 6% of the $18 million expenditure so far on Maungatautari.
I respect the good people involved in the Maungatautari projects. I acknowledge that it is close to Simon Upton's electorate and historical home. I note that Simon and his colleagues have been desperate for many years to prove that private sector conservation does a far better job than DOC. I have already noted Minister Upton has slashed the jobs at the Ministry for the Environment. I wonder if his article is a prelude to his colleagues doing a similar slash and burn job on the Department of Conservation. The money they save from DOC could perhaps then be destined for the private sector conservation projects.
If this is the case, we urgently need some clear comparisons about costs and sustainability of the different approaches.
I don't shirk from comparisons between private and public sector conservation but do hope that there can be some honest appraisals of the cost:benefit performance of each. There are immense benefits to the West Coast and to our $100 million tourist industry from still having rare birdlife and vulnerable plants and trees here.