Pest plants threaten te Raukūmara because of their potential to quickly take over. By hindering and stopping the growth and development of native plants, pest plants create big problems for our native birds, insects, fish and bats, and our native plants too.

​

Birds and insects who eat the berries and fruit of native plants also struggle to find the food they need if pest plants take over. If native birds and insects can’t survive, they can’t pollinate the native plants such as harakeke, pōhutukawa, rata, the tree fuchsia, native mistletoes, ngutukaka (kaka beak) and kōwhai.

 

Observers in te Raukūmara have noticed that it is more common now to find pest plant species colonising fresh slip faces than native plants. 

​

Some pest plants are well known:

• pampas (Cortaderia selloana and Cortaderia jubata)

• gorse (Ulex europaeus)

• privet (Ligustrum sinense)

• wilding conifer/ wilding pine (Pinus spp.) and many more.

​

Others are less commonly thought of as a pest include: 

• Taiwan Cherry (Prunus campanulata)

• Buddleia (Buddleja davidii)

• African Club Moss (Selaginella kraussiana) among others.

These are the pretty flowers and trees that our tīpuna might have planted around homesteads a century ago and now grow wild.

​

Solutions
 

Control mahi for pest plants requires a careful combination of spray and manual pest plant control.

​

Eliminating pest plants from te Raukūmara will require a multi-faceted approach Incorrectly cutting down and removing plants and trees can sometimes make the problem worse. The steep, inaccessible terrain also presents additional challenges. 

​

Education and advice about the problem, as well as recommendations and rules for property owners is as important as control mahi.