Close to half of the more than $36 million being injected into tackling wilding pine infestations across New Zealand will benefit the Mackenzie Basin, an area known as “ground zero’’ for the battle against the spread of the invasive tree.
Mackenzie Drylands protection takes step forward – NZ Govt Press Release
The legal protection of 11,800 hectares of land as new conservation land is a step towards protecting the fragile drylands of Te Manahuna/the Mackenzie Basin, the Minister of Conservation and Land Information Eugenie Sage announced today.
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EDS commends the protection of new land in the Te Manahuna/Mackenzie Country – Media Release EDS.
Today the Minister of Conservation and of Land Information, Hon Eugenie Sage, announced the legal protection of 11,800ha of new conservation land on the floor of Te Manahuna / Mackenzie Basin, as part of the Tu Te Rakiwhanoa Drylands initiative.
Tahr Control Operational Plan released – DOC media statement
“We will shortly recommence targeting all tahr in Aoraki/Mount Cook and Westland Tai Poutini National Parks. In the national parks we are legally required to reduce the number of tahr to the lowest practicable densities and it’s important we protect and preserve these special areas for New Zealand’s native species.”
Aoraki/Mt Cook evacuated in the face of massive Mackenzie District scrub fire – Joanne Holden & Steven Walton, Timaru Herald
Aoraki/Mt Cook has been evacuated as firefighters battle a mammoth blaze which has closed two state highways and continues to threaten properties.
Wild kakī population boosted by over 100 birds – Dept of Conservation Media Release
DOC is releasing 104 juvenile kakī/black stilts into the South Island’s Mackenzie Basin as part of the Kakī Recovery Programme.
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage gets death threats over tahr cull – Andrea Vance, Stuff
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has received multiple threats from those opposed to a controversial tahr cull – including five threatening her life.
Hyperbole flies over high country – David Williams, Newsroom
Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage introduced the Crown Pastoral Land Reform Bill.
………..More intensive farming of former high country land has been highly visible, especially the greening of the Mackenzie Basin, and has sparked public concerns. A paper co-authored by Brower in 2017 suggested laws were being ignored in the Mackenzie, with scant protection for important landscapes and threatened habitat going into private ownership.
University students get hands on with rare black stilts – Alice Geary, Timaru Herald
Twelve students from Otago University got hands on with the Mackenzie Basin’s rare black stilts this week as part of an annual field trip with the Department of Conservation.
The NZCA supports Doc’s tahr control operations in National Parks – Media Release NZCA
The New Zealand Conservation Authority (NZCA) fully supports the
Department of Conservation in their operations to cull all tahr, as far as
possible, in the Aoraki/Mt Cook and Westland Tai Poutini National Parks.