Lake Alexandrina Conservation Trust
A volunteer trust member applies a
herbicide paste to cut stumps of target
weeds
The Lake Alexandrina Trust began in 2004, after a few keen locals took ownership of an idea promoted by the Twizel Area Office of the Department of Conservation.
The Department of Conservation sent out a postal survey to people who had huts or camped at Lake Alexandrina to assess interest in setting up a Conservation group in the area and 80% of those surveyed responded positively. Consequently a conservation Group was set up to cover the whole area comprising all the landowners, hut-holders and campers in the Lakes Alexandrina & MacGregor reserve. The group achieved Charitable Trust status in 2005, so they could apply for funds to purchase tools, herbicides and native plants, and to employ expertise for the removal of established source pines.
The aims of the group are to:
- Promote awareness of environmental issues in the Lake Alexandrina reserve area.
- Undertake a programme of environmental restoration within the Lake Alexandrina reserve area
- Train people to undertake restoration work in the Lake Alexandrina Reserve Area
Tasks include:
- Weed removal, in particular wilding pine and briar
- Undertaking bird surveys of the area
- Predator control
The Trust is also attempting to educate hut owners and campers to plant only DOC-approved native plants and to correctly remove any small wilding pines they may come across casually. In selected areas the Trust is planting DOC-approved native plants and Trust members and their friends carry out watering of these plants whenever they visit the area in order to achieve as high a survival rate as possible.
A highlight for the trust is the numerous messages of support they have received and the frequent comments heard at working days that; "It is great to have people from every area working together for the common good and getting to know each other." They always have a social debrief session at the end of working days to facilitate networking and good fellowship.
Partnerships developed to assist in the project consist mainly in people from all areas of the reserve, including the landowners. Andrew Simpson, in particular, has been very supportive, often turning up at workdays with his tractor to facilitate briar removal. We also greatly appreciate the help and support of the Twizel DOC staff and their friendly educational input. Recently Trust members and volunteers completed a crested grebe count for Forest and Bird and anticipate doing more of this sort of thing in the future.
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