Winning the battle against ivy at Puahanui Bush

The challenge to remove weedy English ivy from within Puahanui Bush, Central Hawke’s Bay, has achieved another milestone. No more large examples of this invasive weed have been found within the reserve since some large, adult plants were slashed and treated with herbicide in February this year. It’s important to control mature ivy plants as they produce a lot of seeds that are then distributed within the Bush… making yet more work to remove seedlings.

The work was a day of high action, as these plants were growing from the forks of tall native trees and not reachable with usual spraying equipment. Thus, project managers The Conservation Company enlisted the help of a local arborist firm to access and treat the plants. Three staff from TreeWalkers used climbing gear and their tree climbing experience to reach the ivy plants, some 15-20 metres above the ground.

Firstly, however, a training session was necessary for the Tree Walkers staff on how to treat the ivy once they were up the trees. Kay and Craig from The Conservation Company were on hand to provide that expertise, advising slashing all the ivy growth off, finding the main stem and treating that with frilling and herbicide application. Both the known locations of ivy plants were found and treated and, as a bonus, an additional plant was found and treated on the day.

Puahanui Bush has considerable biodiversity value, being a rare example of a remnant lowland podocarp forest in Hawke’s Bay and the largest and most intact example of dryland podocarp forest left in New Zealand. Controlling English ivy to zero density has been an ongoing restoration action for the past 20 years. Initially, the weed was spread over half of the Bush and while initial control actions were completed by 2012 ongoing maintenance has been required.

This effort to eradicate ivy from Puahanui Bush was funded by a grant in 2023 from Biodiversity Hawke’s Bay’s Environmental Enhancement Contestable Fund, which directs funds from HBRC and DOC towards local projects of high biodiversity value. The restoration of Puahanui Bush is one such project, guided by a Strategic Plan (2020 – 2030) which the Trust Board and project managers are implementing. Much has been achieved in the last three years including ongoing weed control, deer and pig exclusion fencing, rabbit exclusion fencing and rabbit control. This has all been in collaboration with HBRC, DOC, Jobs 4 Nature funding, Lotteries Environment and Heritage fund, Te Wai Mauri Kaitiaki Rangers, and supported with voluntary contributions by members of the conservation community, the Trust Board and The Conservation Company.

“It’s been tree-mendous to have the bit of extra funding so that we could get professionals in to climb the trees to target these seeding ivy.  And to work with a local company to achieve that was an added bonus.  Massive thanks to the Environmental Enhancement Fund. “ says Kay.

24 July 2024

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