In 2015 Landcorp did an ecological survey of a 2.5ha paddock beside its Eyrewell dairy unit in North Canterbury.
The overgrown mass of Scotch broom and other weeds was scattered with used car parts and scrap metal as Canterbury grass skinks sunned themselves, scurrying about between rock piles, rank grass and corrugated iron.
The hardy skink is found only on the Canterbury Plains east and north of Christchurch and at Eyrewell the species has proved to be as adaptable as ever.
Pamu, the skink project’s funder, is working with conservation experts and schools to plant several thousand native vines, tussock grasses and small trees for the skinks. It’s also encouraging several local schools in the Enviroschools programme to educate students about pest control and biodiversity.
The work is understood to be Pamu’s only non farm-linked biodiversity project. Biodiversity conservation usually involves stream planting or the restoration of wetlands to reduce nutrient runoff, for instance.
Conservation Volunteers NZ project officer Hamish Fairbairn said the target survival rate for the Eyrewell plantings is 90%.
A mosaic of kanuka and manuka will be established across the area with each species to be planted in swathes of 80-150 plants.
The kanuka areas will be larger and have more plants than the manuka zones. Five other species will be planted in the area in smaller numbers, closer to the rock piles and mixed shrub and grassland vegetation.
The new plants have a guard to retain moisture, reduce browsing by pest animals and minimise competition with weeds. Fairbairn recommends plantings should be inspected at least three times in the first 12 months following planting.
Lizard expert Carey Knox said skinks need damp areas to escape from heat with dry, open spaces to bask and places to shelter from predators. The Canterbury skink is fairly resilient and the population might increase if more is done to protect its habitat, he said.
Suitable habitat for skink restoration includes Spaniard spear grass, types of coprosma, pohuhue, porcupine shrub and indigenous grasses such as silver and hard tussock.
Now rocks are in place and the first stage of planting is done, the next step is to plant the type of taller native vegetation that was common in the area before European settlement.
Pamu environment specialist Vanessa Vermeulen said a pest control programme will target feral cats, hedgehogs, mustelids like weasels and stoats, rats and mice.
Years 5-8 students from nearby West Eyreton School planted 700 natives at the site one morning in September.
Busloads from other schools put in a similar shift on the unforgiving stony soil the next day and all the pupils must have been grateful for adult volunteers digging holes with a post hole digger before they started.
West Eyreton deputy principal and Enviroschools co-ordinator Lisa Duff said it was impressive to watch the students go to work and they look forward to helping Pamu in the next two stages of planting, skink tracking and monitoring.
Pamu’s Eyrewell dairy farm is near the Eyrewell Scientific Reserve, a protected 2.3ha remnant of kanuka forest managed by the Conservation Department. The area is also known to be a habitat for McCann’s skink, the exotic golden bell frog and the critically endangered ground beetle.
The beetle is in the top 100 managed, threatened and at-risk species in New Zealand.
In a survey a decade ago only 10 beetles were been found – all at Pamu’s Eyrewell dairy unit.
Ecology reports prepared for the skink project said indigenous vegetation and forest shrubs comprise less than 0.1% of the lowland Canterbury Plains ecological district.
Most of the terrain is in intensive dairy, sheep, cattle and crops or exotic forests and urban areas.
Indigenous forest remnants are still present in the Christchurch suburb of Riccarton and on the plains at Arowhenua in South Canterbury while kanuka stands remain at Eyrewell and Bankside, just north of Rakaia River. Fresh-water and estuarine wetlands are found in less than 0.2% of the district, the surveys found.
Who did what
Pāmu are working alongside Wildlands Ecological Consultants, the ecological experts providing surveys, reporting, education and restoration advice and Conservation Volunteers for logistics and running of planting days.
Stage 1 of the project has been completed with the help of local schools West Eyreton, Cust and Swannanoa.
West Eyreton: 100 kids, parents, and teachers planted about 700 plants.
Cust and Swannanoa combined: 80 kids, teachers and parents planted about 600 plants.
