Seed Collecting, Navigation and Pest Trapping
Seed Collecting, Navigation and Pest Trapping were the three most recent workshops held in the Education Centre in February 2021.
On 3 February Chris ran a seed collecting wananga for Hokonui Runanga. February is at the start of the seed collecting season and the group learned about plant identification, right plants for the right place and then had time in the field identifying different plants and collecting seeds that were ready. These field skills are essential when going out into nature to collect and start the process of growing local plants appropriate for the Hokonui area.
On Saturday 20 February - A report from participant Judy - Twenty tramper’s from the Southland, Wakatipu, Hokonui and Fiordland clubs came together for a Navigation Course held at the Southland Community Nursery, run by Barry Smith on behalf of Federated Mountain Clubs. We used the Education Centre in the morning for lessons on GPS, map reading and different navigational devices around the world. The Education Centre was well set up for us to have seating and tables, electricity for power point, refreshments and toilet. In the afternoon we were outside using our new found skills walking along pest line tracks and the adjacent Bushy Point. This was an ideal area with a mixture of bush and clear ground for testing direction and distance measuring between pre determined points.
On Wednesday/Thursday 24-25 February 2021 a two day pest trapping workshop was held with tutors Steve Price from NMIT and Lisa Thurlow, Senior Ranger Biodiversity from DOC.
Lisa said “The workshop will be a valuable tool for people who’d like to become more active in predator pest control and it will provide an overview of New Zealand pest predators focusing on rats, stoats and possums. The course looks at defining why these predators are pests, their impacts, and the control methods to use.
The main focus will be on developing an effective predator control plan for participant’s local areas and the importance of monitoring, allowing new trappers to work out the right methods to match the outcomes they are looking to achieve. Participants will also gain the practical experience needed to be able to trap successfully”
The weather was perfect – rain all day Wednesday for the indoor stuff and fine for the setting out of traplines and the field component on Thursday and the sixteen participants all gained some important knowledge to help their pest control projects succeed.
Find out more about training courses at https://www.doc.govt.nz/get-involved/training/
Posted: 1 March 2021