Conservation Week 2024
This is a week-long event celebrating and promoting New Zealand’s unique biodiversity and natural heritage.
To coincide with Conservation Week and because our inhouse Ecologists and Soil and Water Contamination teams deal with ecosystems every day, this year we wanted to make a practical contribution to Give A Trap.
Give a Trap is a fantastic initiative that helps local groups by providing them with traps to control invasive pests such as rats, possums and stoats. Our donation will directly support Pest Free Waitākere Ranges Alliance and their continued work to eradicate pests from the area. Nationwide groups are listed on the Give A Trap site.
Volunteer installing a trap. Image Source: https://www.doc.govt.nz/ taken by Michelle Bridge ©
World River Day 2024
The aim of World Rivers Day is to inspire change and show the important part rivers play in the health of the planet, and the challenges they face. It also serves to strengthen partnerships between governments, NGOs, and communities and recognise the cultural and economic significance they have.
NZ’s streams and rivers and lakes are home to over 40 native species of freshwater fish and hundreds of plant life species and invertebrates – many found only in New Zealand. Streams are also important corridors through the landscape – when the banks and margins are covered in native vegetation this not only helps protect the stream but it creates a corridor through the landscape that is used by birds etc.
Thomas Consultants has been involved in many streams and rivers projects, both large and small, since our inception. Our Principal Ecologist, Melanie Dixon says “None of these are more significant than Project Twin Streams (PTS) – a large scale environmental restoration project (running since 2003) that works collaboratively to engage West Auckland communities around restoring the streams in their local neighbourhoods. Our ecology team played a crucial role from the start, negotiating property purchases for flood-affected areas and serving as the lead ecologists on the project. We’re also working closely with Auckland Council to assess flood-damaged properties and collaborating with them to implement the Making Space for Water programme”.
Auckland Botanical Gardens
According to the Auckland Botanical Gardens there are only 4% of New Zealand wetlands left – many have been converted for agriculture, urbanisation and infrastructure.
The Gardens Threatened Native Plants area was not designed as a display garden, but to mimic nature as closely as possible, giving plants optimum growing conditions and highlights those plants at risk. The garden is home to two of the world’s rarest plants – only one of each of these plants now survive in the wild!
Their conservation efforts include field training, research and seed banks, propagation and cultivation techniques, along with tips for domestic gardeners so native species thrive everywhere.
Image Source: Auckland Botanical Gardens
