Plant Pests

There is a war going on, it’s been going on for years. This war is quiet and insidious. It’s the war between our native plant species and the introduced plants that are invading our Coast.

The Tutukaka Coast includes a wide array of plant habitats – these habitats host a diverse range of native plant species which are connected with all life privileged enough to live within its reaches.

These invaders are plant ‘pests’. Pests, because they threaten our native plant species and their habitats. These plant pests are thriving in our warm climate and rich soils, they are out-competing our native species by maturing quickly and spreading readily.

These plant pests have, in some cases, been normalised through their presence along roadsides, in our recreation areas and public conservation land; and consequently in our communities.

So how do we identify and prioritise weeds when there are so many?

A group of volunteers have been surveying the weeds (the plant pests) in our area and we have found over 149 species of plant pests (so far!).  We have used this information along with input from community experts to classify the plant pests into categories which we will prioritise. These are:

• The Dirty Dozen : 12 plants that are already making a significant impact on our native plants and places within the Tutukaka Coast area and are our first to target.
• The Naughty Forty: 40 odd plants that are here on the coast which we will be keeping an eye on and controlling in our special places.

Every plant has its place, we need your help so our plants keep their place!

Introducing the Specialist Weed Assistance Team – S.W.A.T. Tutukaka

Through our connection with NRC (we are fortunate to be supported by the Northland Regional Council) the Tutukaka Landcare Coalition along with other interested parties from the community have formed an operational group focused on plant pests. This operational group is known as S.W.A.T. Tutukaka, thats the “Specialist Weed Assistance Team”. The team is made up of volunteers from within the community who are already waging war on weeds and a project lead to coordinate activities.

We need your help!

We can’t do it alone – we need the entire community to come together to help. Our community consists of a lot of great people already looking after their patch or ‘a patch’. However, there are a lot of people that need help and a lot of places, like our public spaces, that still need more people to help with pest plants.

It doesn’t matter if your a weed (thats plant pests!) spotter or a weed slayer..there’s a job for everyone so get in touch today and tell us how you can help…phone or text Wendy on 022 526 1972 or email s.w.a.tutukaka@gmail.com