Volunteers protecting rare ecosystem at Wye Creek
Archived content: This media release was accurate on the date of publication.
Introduction
A Department of Conservation project to protect a rare ecosystem near Queenstown is to receive a helping hand from the local climbing club.Date: 16 May 2013
A Department of Conservation (DOC) project to protect a rare ecosystem near Queenstown is to receive a helping hand from the local climbing club.
DOC and the Queenstown Climbing Club are holding an open day at Wye Creek to set out 35 stoat traps, the first step in a long-term plan to protect the flora and fauna of the 250ha Wye Creek ecosystem. Members will carry the traps to marked locations.
DOC is looking for volunteers from the wider community, as well as the climbing club, to help with monthly stoat trap checking.
The Wye Creek site is an ideal site for community groups, volunteers from overseas, or businesses to contribute to as it is only a 20-minute drive from Queenstown. After a brief training session, volunteers can spend a few hours or a few days doing some valuable conservation work in one of the few forested areas in the Remarkables.
The open day will be held from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm on Saturday 18 May at the Wye Creek carpark. Anyone keen to help should bring sturdy shoes, a large tramping pack (if possible), food and drink for the walk and a willingness to carry stoat traps up hill.
Background information
Queenstown Climbing Club members have also installed a toilet at Wye Creek and planted a Project Gold planting site.
DOC has identified Wye Creek as one of New Zealand’s priority conservation sites for conservation management as it is one of the few remaining ecosystems that stretch from lake edge to mountain top.
The trapping programme compliments goat and wilding pine control already being undertaken at Wye Creek and throughout the Remarkables.