Budget 2022: Deer and goats on hit-list as predator eradication focus of conservation funding

Thursday, 19 May 2022

Budget 2022 has dedicated $30 million to deer and goat control over the next four years to protect native ecosystems.

The big wins for conservation in Budget 2022 are predator removal and native forests, with deer and goats the focus of a new push in protecting native ecosystems.

Conservation Minister Kiri Allan said a key piece of work this year will be establishing a national programme for deer management and goat control to protect forests and maximise their carbon sequestering potential, while maintaining hunting opportunities.

The Government plans to spend $145 million on native forest replanting and restoration, $111m on research into carbon storage in native forests, and a further $30m in deer and goat control over four years, along with an increase in baseline predator control from 450,000ha to 600,000ha.

“We are facing twin crises for biodiversity and the climate, and they are intrinsically linked,” Allan said.

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“Outside of the Covid response and the Jobs for Nature programme, Budget 2022 represents the single largest baseline investment in conservation and biodiversity in decades.”

The big areas of spending are $398m for the management of natural heritage, including the maintenance, restoration and protection of ecosystems, habitats and species – an increase of $17m on last year – and nearly $205m for recreational facilities and services and managing concessions. Tracks, huts and campsites have been dedicated $60m for improvements.

Green MP and former Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage said an $11.38m boost to upgrade the water infrastructure at Whakapapa Village at Tongariro National Park would see a solution to a years-long problem, which hadn’t been successful in a Budget bid before.

DOC huts are in line for renovations, and rangers might be in for a pay rise, thanks to this Budget. Pictured: Dave Ditmer, senior ranger at Hooker Valley Hut in Aoraki Mt Cook national park, (File photo)

There was also a much-needed boost of $5.3m to ease the department’s own cost pressures when it came to wages and salaries, which the department had been meeting out of its own budget.

“DOC rangers are frontline conservation,' Sage said. “Their salaries are too low, and this [Budget] does make provision for an increase there.”

Greater Wellington regional councillor Thomas Nash said the Budget was “focused on dealing with the mounting pressures – just keeping our heads above water”.

“One of the big problems that we have in biodiversity and native ecosystems and pest control is just keeping up with the scale of the problem.”

The investment in deer and goat control was “a good start”, he said. “We know we need to get on top of these browsing animals who are essentially destroying the understorey of our native forests, and preventing regeneration.”

A DOC research boat observes and tries to tag Maui dolphins between Port Waikato and the entrance to the Manukau harbour.

Research into the link between native ecosystems and carbon sequestration was good news. “We know that trees store carbon, but there's a lot less known about how soil and coastal marine environments also store carbon,” Nash said.

There was no funding for the potential Wainuiomata Sanctuary, which wasn’t surprising, Nash said. Other projects were more pressing, and had been waiting longer.

Forest & Bird chief executive Nicola Toki said: “Native forest restoration is a big winner in the Budget – but needs to go hand in hand with pest control to support it, otherwise we’re just putting on a free lunch for deer and goats.”

Forest & Bird is welcoming the $256m to be spent over four years to kick-start the process of large-scale native forest restoration but warned it would only be as successful as the pest control that supports it.

“There’s little point in attempting large-scale forest restoration projects if deer and goats invade from neighbouring conservation land to eat newly planted trees,” she said.

Funding was also set aside for the protection of Māui dolphins and migratory seabirds, antipodean albatross, Whenua Hou diving petrel and black petrel.

Greenpeace oceans campaigner Ellie Hooper said she was disappointed there was no funding for cameras on boats.

'With 90 percent of seabirds and 22 percent of marine mammals threatened or at risk of extinction and the ocean under increasing pressure from destructive fishing, climate change and pollution, the Government should be investing to turn things around now,” she said.

Greenpeace was calling for cameras on all commercial fishing boats to ensure transparency and compliance with rules to protect marine wildlife.