Caring for Kaitorete Spit

Forest and Bird, Issue 310, 1 November 2003, Page 34

Caring for Kaitorete Spit

LYNETTE HARTLEY

reports on a forgotten corner of coastal Canterbury.

rise behind the beach at Kaitorete Spit you can sometimes glimpse the rounded dorsal fins of Hector’s dolphins as they feed in the disturbed water beyond the surf line. The dunes, which run the full 24kilometre length of the spit, disappear in the distance in the misty salt-laden air. The coarse grey sand and gravel is covered in meandering clumps of wiry, reddish-orange pingao, the native sandbinder that once covered much of New Zealand’s foreshore. Kaitorete Spit forms a natural barrier between Te Waihora /Lake Ellesmere and the Pacific Ocean. Strictly speaking it is a barrier not a spit because it is joined to the mainland at both ends. It is approximately 6000 years old and gravel is still being on the first row of dunes that

added by currents sweeping up the east coast of the South Island. A series of old, low dunes stretch back behind the younger, active dunes at the ocean edge. At the eastern end, where the spit butts up against Banks Peninsula, it is five kilometres wide but it tapers to about 250 metres at the western end. Contained behind it, the large, shallow, brackish lake of Te Waihora is one of New Zealand’s most important wetland systems, particularly for wildlife. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature recognised it as being internationally important in 1981. On its outside, Kaitorete Spit is special. The environment is very dry and exposed — more reminiscent of an alpine than a coastal environment. The spit has the largest continuous population of pingao in

New Zealand and a distinctive flora and fauna which some have suggested merits its own ecological district. The introduced marram grass is present but the spit escaped mass plantings of marram that occurred on many other New Zealand sand dunes in an attempt to stop sand movement. There is a very high level of endemism — life forms peculiar to this place — among the plants and invertebrates on the spit. Examples include a native broom Carmichaelia appressa, a woolly-head Craspedia ‘kaitorete’ which is still to be formally named, and at least three species of moth, Kiwaia jeane, Kupea electilis and a new Notoreas species. The invertebrate and moth fauna is diverse and the spit is also home to several species of skink and gecko. In addition, many species found on the spit

such as Muehlenbeckia astonti are becoming rare elsewhere. Despite its high conservation values, little of Kaitorete Spit has formal protection. Most of the land on the spit is farmed and has been for many generations. Public conservation land comprises a strip of land running the length of the ocean side of the spit including the dunes (but not associated grasslands) and three small scientific reserves further inland. ‘Unauthorised off-road motorbike and four-wheel-drive use is a significant problem on both conservation and private land, crushing threatened plants, damaging the dunes and archaeological sites, says Forest and Bird field officer Eugenie Sage. ‘Grazing needs to be considerably reduced. Stock, especially cattle, damage pingao and mature shrubs, inhibit regeneration and spread weeds. DoC is reviewing its grazing licences and working with the three private landholding families on the spit to improve fencing and control stock access. Environment Canterbury and the Banks Peninsula District Council as other landholders could do the same, Eugenie Sage says. ‘The distinctive landscapes, plants and wildlife and outstanding conservation significance of Kaitorete Spit and Te Waihora mean that the area deserves a higher profile, more resources and better co-ordinated management. DoC and Ngai Tahu are in the final stages of preparing a joint management plan for Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere. This plan covers the lake edge of the spit. The department is currently working on a restoration plan for the seaward side of the spit. Most of the area behind the dunes and stretching to the lake edge is farmed by three separate families. It is a mixture of freehold and leasehold land. It is covered in grasses, shelter belts of pine trees and patches of low native shrubs. The land is currently owned by Environment Canterbury, Banks Peninsula District Council and private owners. The Maori marae at Taumutu, on the mainland at the western end of the spit, owns a substantial section. The farmland in the central part of the spit is dotted with knee- to waist-high rounded shrubs of shrubby tororaro Muehlenbeckia astonii. Of approximately 2600 plants in the wild in New Zealand 2500 are on the spit. M. astonit is a divaricating shrub with wiry branchlets and small heart shaped leaves. Given a chance it lives for up to 80 years and grows up to 4 metres high. It is home to many invertebrates peculiar to the

spit, particularly moths. Individual M. astonii plants can survive grazing by stock but no young plants are found in the grazed pastures of the spit. DoC has a nationwide recovery plan for M. astonii. With farmer co-operation, an area on the spit containing 30 M. astonti was fenced three years ago to exclude stock. Outside the exclosure the grass is short and the M. astonii shrubs are rounded by grazing. Inside the grass is long and the shrubs are starting to send out straggly shoots. So far there are no young plants in the enclosure but the DoC botanist for Canterbury conservancy, Nicholas Head, is optimistic. A strip along the ocean side of the spit om the high-tide mark to roughly 300 metres inland is public conservation land. In a couple of places scientific reserves increase the width of this strip by up to a kilometre. This area is particularly vulnerable to

damage. It includes the front dunes and the older lower dunes behind them. It also contains the pingao community and most of the endemic and rare plants. At present cattle and vehicles can get in to the dune area along much of the Banks Peninsula end of the spit. It is ironic, Nicholas Head says, that plants capable of withstanding the extremely harsh conditions of the spit cannot cope with disturbance from animals and vehicles. There is a formed road running the length of the Spit with limited access to the beach and several informal vehicle tracks through

the dunes. A management report for DoC describes motorbike use along the length of the dunes as killing adult pingao, causing dune erosion and vegetation damage and disturbing and exposing sites important to Ngai Tahu. How to discourage the inappropriate use of vehicles is a major challenge for DoC and local councils. DoC does not intend to stop vehicle access along the beach, however, signage and proposed new fencing along the back of part of the dunes should help reduce vehicle damage. DoC senior biodiversity officer, Robin Smith, says vehicles do little

damage if they travel below the high tide mark. Unfortunately soft sand can force them higher up. A minority of vehicles and bikes deliberately go in to the dunes to hoon. he Department of Conservation has put in considerable effort to removing pockets of marram grass and, where necessary, replanting pingao. Some other weeds such as gorse, lupins and boxthorn on the spit are also being controlled by the department. Limited animal pest control occurs. Farmers on the spit are opposed to any restrictions on grazing although they are willing to work co-operatively with the department. Albert Birdling, whose family has farmed on the spit for over 100 years, says the spit’s farmers are very aware of its special nature and farm responsibly and sustainably. ‘If we were going to stuff if up we would have stuffed it up long before now, he says. To date, the ecological values of the spit have been partly protected by the fact that few people are aware of its beauty and accessibility and the fact that it has been under a stable and relatively conservative farming regime. The Department of Conservation has been hampered by lack of resources but for the last seven years has funded protection and restoration programmes. Nicholas Head of DoC says a long-term possibility is establishing a reserve running from one side of the spit to the other. It could contain a representative sample of each habitat and link the dunes with Te Waihora/Ellesmere. The spit has the potential to become increasingly important over time if Te Waihora is returned to a more natural state but it will also come under increasing pressure from off-road users. Let’s hope that future generations can also stand on the dunes at Kaitorete Spit, surrounded by pingao, watching Hector’s dolphins in the surf.

Maori Links With Kaitorete Spit

ith the massive wetland of Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other, Kaitorete Spit was, and still is, important for Maori. Lake and ocean food would have been prolific and the nearby forests of Banks Peninsula (Horomaka) would have provided still more resources. A natural resource manager of Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu, David O’Connell,

says there is rich evidence of overnight and semi-permanent camps on the spit and of gathering fish and seabirds. With the extensive, and impassable wetlands stretching inland, the continuous spit was also a major route for Maori travelling between Banks Peninsula and South Canterbury. There were permanent settlements on the mainland at either end of the spit.

David O’Connell says the Taumutu marae to the west recently purchased land on the spit to re-establish a link between the runanga and its heritage. The land is or a perpetual lease to the existing farmers. David O’Connell says the runanga has established a good relationship with farmers. Stock numbers are kept low and the runanga wants to maintain the ecological values of the spit.

Lizards on the spit | ena Spit resident’s distress, every time her flatmate’s cat caught a lizard, has led to a three-year study on the merits of providing hidey-holes for lizards. Marieke Lettink, who describes herself as a lifestyle biologist, has been living at Birdlings Flat, a small cluster of baches at the Banks Peninsula end of the spit, for four years. The spit is home to a species of gecko, the Canterbury gecko Hoplodactylus aff. maculatus, and three species of skink, the common skink Oligosoma polychroma nigriplantare, McCann’s skink O. maccani and the spotted skink O. lineocellatum. Both the Canterbury gecko and the spotted skink are known to have declined in numbers over the last 30 years. The germ of the idea for Marieke Lettink’s study was planted several years ago while replacing the roof of an old shed. She found hundreds of geckos living under the old roof which was made from corrugated asbestos. Marieke Lettink used the old asbestos to make new lizard homes by stacking it four or five sheets high in the back yard. There are one centimetre gaps between the sheets and Marieke Lettink says the asbestos is perfect for lizards because the sun heats it slowly and it retains heat. Over the years Marieke Lettink has found more and more geckos, including young ones living under the sheets despite the presence of the cat. The observation has led Marieke Lettink to start a PhD through the University of Otago looking at what happens if lizards are provided with habitat that lets them escape from predators. The study will have implications for lizard conservation in parts of New Zealand where it is impossible to remove predators. Marieke Lettink deliberately chose Kaitorete Spit for her mye because she loves the environment. ‘There’s not much of this type of habitat left in New Zealand. It’s an example of an ecosystem that’s really worth protecting. You live and you work out here and you get a feel for the place. It’s so open, you get a real feeling of space with an expanse of sky: