Predator Free 2050 Ltd – what’s been achieved so far, learnings and next steps | Auckland Council

um morena tatou um it's nice to see so many familiar faces in a different setting the uniforms change but actually the uh the the groups in the sector that we're working is still still still reasonably reasonably close and um and uh and connected um as jane said um i um i left um auckland council um at the end of um of september and started the next day working with uh predator free 2050 limited and um a little bit of what i'll i'll talk about this morning is um is is what the company's doing um around eradication work um uh throughout throughout new zealand um my my role in particular is the the senior project support manager um and i've got a team based base based throughout new zealand supporting projects and connecting them with with science and our r and d um team of the team as well um so um a little bit about the company a little bit about the company um we were yeah always something to to to to distract someone um took a 16 year old to work to work 34 00:01:16,159 --> 00:01:21,119 that out um uh the the the the the company is a um uh is a is a is a charitable uh company um owned by the crown a crown company the minister of finance and minister of conservation are our shareholders 42 00:01:33,119 --> 00:01:40,320 um we were set up really to um to drive uh the predator free mission that the um that the prime minister um at the time uh sir john key established uh were initiated in 2016 i think it was july 2006 and it's six six sixteen which really mainstreamed uh the the the the the eradication work uh and mission um um there are a number of of them there are a number of impact areas that we that we are working on um certainly what uh the most important is the is the proof of concept we need to be able to demonstrate to new zealand that actually we can do this um another um really crucial part is um is developing the the the tools and techniques and and and and tech technologies to be able to do it so it's sort of learning as you go and then the science to to trance to transform it there's a lot of learnings we don't we that we don't know yet so um in july in july 2017 16 when when they started one of the one of the typical questions that that i i received and probably you did as well was can we actually kick it was it was can we actually eradicate stoats rats and um and uh and and and possums by by twenty fifty could you know technically can can we do it and so it was a bit like um we've got this blank canvas what can't what we'll go is it's an unknown question and so we find ourselves literally um uh building building the uh building the plane as as where as we were flying um we got it going we made it quick sort of collectively we made some quick decisions got some work going still not knowing all the answers and we've got to be quite honest about that if we were in 2016 can we do it with with the tools of the time and the tools the time now possibly not but but are we making innovation to get there absolutely so can we do it at the end yes we can um uh our approach collectively um uh to to start eradicating is has really been around three uh three things we we are looking at at uh had a network of of of eradication patches what we call sort of patchwork stuff got projects uh spread around the country in different different areas uh we've got some that are starting to join up and be quite large landscapes so we're getting these swathes of of of of areas being done um and then we got uh the the importance important important element of science the the patchworks that we've been working on uh the company um random expression of interest process in 2017 i think it was 2018 and a number of of of of of of of projects around the country applied i think there were 54 at the time and certainly there were uh six or seven that auckland council was was involved in um in and around auckland but the the the the projects the company selected at the time which which is the first tranche was um in in in taranaki um there was a project in hawke's bay in mahia in in wellington there are two projects working alongside each other but it's predator free wellington is the urban area and capital kiwi is the is the rural area up to porirua uh waiheke and and and Dunedin so um all of them different but that was that those were the those were the first projects that that that that um that got going now the the important thing with all of the projects the company works with is that they are eradication projects the the goal uh from these projects in the in these patches is all around is removal and and and and protection they don't come back and that's a sizable difference to suppression work which is which is a which is a growing um growing number of activities and projects around the country involved in that then an additional um uh uh transfer money came through from for from from the crown to support uh provincial growth uh provincial growth fund so a bunch of new projects were launched um in d'urville island lake brunner on the south island west coast chatham islands whangarei and whakatane um with with uh with the whakatane pro project it was also the first project uh that was that was iwi-led ngati awa uh the others so have been either regional council-led or community group led then in this in this current financial year post covid were um through the jobs for nature fund of which uh predator free 2050 got 76 million um was projects have been launched in banks peninsula wellington has been extended southland taranaki has been extended and accelerated waikaremoana dunedin so right the way through to more working behind porirua in capital kiwi so the thing with all of these projects is that they are uniquely uh placed in different ecosystems they're all ambitious they're all testing different methodologies and and trial there's not one um because that's why they're unique but there's not one that's the same and that's an it's been a really important part because we're trying to learn what does and doesn't work all of these projects are so ambitious they have they're literally sitting on an edge of failure because they're pushing the barrow so hard but that's the only way we're going to learn and then the and then the the plan is to take all those learnings work out what what does and doesn't work with new technologies coming on and then and then roll that out to the national and the national front and from about 2025. so now we're starting to get into these swathes and two of our most recent projects have been much greater in size um so before they were around uh ten to twenty thousand hectares give a give a give or take some 23 there abouts uh but now we're looking into much larger land and a landscape so you can see these these the swathes of of geography are starting to occur so the scale is much is much much much bigger a project obviously was in southwestern that's in round figures a hundred thousand hectares so quite a substantial area from the alpine ridge down to the to the sea so uh just a general summary a where of these eradicate eradication projects 18 across the country um extending literally north north to south and across the way um the there was a target uh set um of of achieving another million hectares under under under under um under on eradication work just the company alone is is is is reaching around a um reaching around eight hundred thousand hectares so starting to get some really large uh landscapes under um under a real discipline precision going a long way so we're learning a huge amount um to support all these projects which is really the work of um that i'm doing with with my team and um we've got some based in dunedin and someone based in in hawke's bay um the projects are are taking um we work with them in in a partnership sense we've we've modified the way it works that it's not just setting the project up to go and do it's actually working alongside them all all of the time because we're finding new new developments and learnings literally week by week and it's important that that information is injected straight into projects as soon as they can so they can modify things so we're developing um a really um agile way of of of of um of um of of achieving eradication it's not making radical changes because you've got to learn what the sort of watch sort of what each incremental difference makes but but but projects are open to changing things and learning things which is which is a really great mindset so some of the things that we are learning from and and and what good we're saying is a plaster this um dna analysis is uh it's always been uh sort of fascinating space but what we what we as the library of information around dna grows um so we're finding the risks of re of the value from dna analysis to the risks of re um to the risks of of reinvasion um are quite telling so some recently we learned on waiheke for example that um the the stoat population there is so inbred effectively it's it's first cousins and siblings so it's genetically so low it's diversity it's it's one wonders how they literally stand him um still looking still looking like a stoat um but but what actually that means is that the the animals on coming from other parts of auckland onto onto waiheke there's no evidence of that actually there's something uh the the the um the the stoats on waiheke are closer related to i think it's norway than they are to rangitoto mission bay waitakere ranges so so animals got there somehow they can make speculate how they have happened but probably probably something that floats um and nothing else has got there since that's all it's all breeding within themselves so here we were thinking that uh for example that that stoats would go from sort of island hopping maraetai onto onto ponui and through for example or onto onto motuihe and across would swim a little bit but no but no that's not occurring there's no genetic evidence of that occurring which is quite remarkable so we're looking at things again this this this curiosity around what what what information is really telling us this is making some remarkable finds as mentioned we uh not only uh arboreal animals and um in um in the urban setting but in rural settings too we're finding um arboreal rats and possums um ship rats it was always assumed that at some point an animal was going to come to the ground in part of its life cycle even even if it isn't your roof at some point it would come down but we're finding is animals that are in in trees forest canopy that are never coming never touching the ground at all in their life cycle now that chan again changes how we think about it if you can't get you can't get an animal to a device uh then how do you get the device to the animal either or you remove the or you remove the habit you you remove the habitat those are effectively your three options but in a in a rural you know in a park-like setting or something you're removing the trees not necessarily desirous um uh but also uh from for from a possum perspective we nev we never thought that possums were completely arboreal um as well again assumed majority would come without come down at some point now the majority do um of both ship rats and um and and possums but the catch is that some don't and and you for an eradication to be successful you have to get those that don't if you don't get the last one you're wasting your time that's the difference of eradication and and suppression so how do you get those last animals so development of of lures to attract animals out of their home range into some into somewhere else is really is really gaining in momentum we're starting to see a relationship between device setting uh um in terms of of incline and aspect and and and how successful they are so so incline how many uh what what what sort of what sort of a degree it's lying on the ground and and and aspect is a bearing sort of um is it south facing east 229 degrees or whatever it is but we're starting to see a difference there it's it's still a bit early to work out definitively what it what it's telling us but there seems to be a relationship between so incline aspect and traps and trap or device success now if we get again if we can unpack and get that right that'll explain why some traps are successful and others aren't um we're also starting to see a labour market issue um some of these uh eradication projects around the country can't find enough qualified competent people and people for some of the the highly skilled skilled work again uh with with with eradication we said it's um it's precise discipline work um and it's it can be quite time consuming can get quite monotonous so we need that precision that's that that that skill there's uh there's a lot of people that are interested but when it becomes it becomes hard and hard work we're not finding them um survival those sort of sticking rates um but actually it's a it's a it's a lovely problem to have um because it shows them the the the growth in the in the sector but if we can't get people into into it as a career then in 30 years time are we going to get there so it's a work to get done there um we're starting to find um some things around business models how um how projects are are forming and and over the next the next few months we'll do some more work on it but we're starting to find about five types of business models that are apparently successful unfortunately um as some projects are tending towards success and eradication seems inevitable uh or is predictable some projects are starting to get white-anted uh people are starting in the community are starting to undermine those successes those reasons we don't fully understand um but it is disturbing where um when when when those are starting to be so eroded by planting sort of carcasses in areas where they haven't been before so just slow just just surreptitiously erodes the confidence that actually is this successful which is so worrying um we're also seeing um some really useful information around design methods and how you design networks and and plans but also the the costings so the uh previously the costings per hectare were very high we're now getting them down to around about 230 to 200 or 300 dollars a hectare uh whereas previously where they were thought to be around sort of three three to four thousand dollars a hectare so again it's that economy of scale and as we get collectively sharper at it and apply those learnings the costs are coming down which makes eradication work much more feasible and much more affordable all right from a landscape project whether it be a swathe or or a little bit of patchwork stuff each project is is ambitious it's designed to be it's unique when they all they're all contributing to that to that picture of of of what success might look like we are creating a really safe space and challenging challenging space within our projects that to in in part uh the most valuable conversation is what didn't work because that stops the reinvention of the wheel it's great to say well this has worked we've achieved we've got rid of the last one photograph in the annual report of the chairman or something um great that's why that's what it's about and from the public perspective but from a technical perspective it's what did you try and didn't work because that'll save someone else doing it sorry um technique counts as a discipline precision size counts um you know the the the analogy of um of of of cell phones uh when they when they first came out 20 years ago i suppose 30 years ago so there were big blocks and you just drive around you had to get a battery pack in the boot to be able to use your cell phone it worked fine okay so but but but uh but we got it better now and now it's it says it slips in your pocket you've got more computing power on that than was get to the moon but but the point is is that um it's that innovation that yes it does work but how can you make it better and a lot of a lot of the projects are more in this space they're learning the technique the the size the the ambition again um size counts um we have to be big and bold if we got new zealand is several million hectares if great we've got a million hectares in round in round figures under eradication as a company but there'll be others um but there's still a long way to go so we have to get we have to start learning um how to how to deal this in bigger hectares hundred thousand hectares is great but the next the next aspiration has to double or triple that got to be agile and innovative if you if you if you're thinking if your your thinking is constrained to inside the box or inside the square you're you're in trouble you're not thinking you're hard enough your curiosity has to really wander you've got to constrain your thinking said please don't um so don't think outside the box throw the box away get rid of it because you constrained in your thinking got to be really curious one of our greatest assets are curious minds wanting to understand why uh doing the the actual control work the killing is great but if you don't understand understand why it's not going to help us um and and finally on this point um eradication and and um and suppression are different so treat them so um you can't expect a suppression project to give you an eradicated outcome not not yet so from um just a few points on on on our science and r and d work um with that picture of the of the plane learning to flight and so now that we know that we're doing it we're trying to go from that old um uh model to sort of post the uh the wright brothers into into something supersonic um but we need to understand some of the thinking behind it um the the the the the landscape projects at that scale that we work with have been have stimulated a lot of need so one of our regular questions is what is if you had what is it that you need if you had won lottery what would it look like so so some of the things we have been working on um are long life lures with things last better for longer and still taste as good um i'll be finding some interesting things around uh mayonnaise for for example and similar to to similar to free-range eggs the calcium and the oil inside inside a good mayonnaise is what really attracts same as the calcium and oil in a free-range egg compared to a cane to come compared to a cage egg makes a big difference new new new devices from a number of different players and all in all of these all of these projects in our r and d work we we co-fund these we spend quite a bit of money um supporting these for these these projects and it's all for new zealand inc uh and the idea is of of these is to get tools developed to in response to those to the question to projects what if what do you need to be to be to be successful so so some of those devices are intended to move animals out of their home home range so we can get them out of trees and get them into other areas the technology around the thinking around the the zip model in the in the perth valley at 12 000 hectares and extrapolating that out into a hundred thousand hectares has come through our funding uh and so new in new devices we're not saying any of these are perfect yet um but it's good enough to start sort of rolling out and trialling again new devices hammer force that's using air a nail gun technology so we can finally say we nailed it but um but really it takes out um toxins and things too um and and um and just literally driving a um blunt force trauma kind of device um uh communications being for project to see data in real time using a range of different uh platforms whether it's um irrespective of who the supplier is is really crucial it's expensive stuff so um technology work um to to lower the cost and broaden the and broaden the the platforms um the thermal imaging cameras uh and the and the in the uh and the and the thermal recognition work uh we're using cameras uh um increasingly to uh to to to to prove a absence or to see densities and how you respond to that where animals are so it's much more targeted response um but if you if you put a put a camera out you might get 8 000 images through a night now that's a lot of images you gotta you it's a lot of cups of coffee to go through the next the next morning to see what was there you might miss it um so so with that technology alongside it we've developed um um image recognition software and the computer is much more accurate than the human eye so we've had we've trained uh the computer to pick up uh very very small parts that's free software people can run run it through they can see exactly what's there while you're literally boiling the kettle it was that technology that that was used in shakespear recently to find it to find that animal okay and then um or auto dispense uh devices um is another one all right um using uh uh target specific uh toxins as mentioned earlier the uh toxin buildup of um of of anticoagulants um it's sort of the gift that gives again uh secondary poisoning can be useful but in in in certain settings but you've got to be really careful in the urban environment um norbormide is is rat specific but it's there's quite a lot around it how um how an animal uh picks it up and if it can't if it if it can pick up something different um uh in it then it won't eat it so we've got to make sure to take out the the uh the the actual sort of smell of it really so that an animal can't detect it okay oh um something that you're interested in um this this this is one sort of that that that's quite exciting is um it's a it's a kill trap it'll be um aerial aerial released um so these are body biodegradable compostable kind of devices that's the that's the theory so far which seems to be developing well um but effectively in each of those little capsules animal puts his head it puts his head in it for the for the bait uh pulls it out there's a rubber band that's on the edge there um that's a rubber okay um yeah that's a rubber band so pulls the pulls the bait triggers it and the rubber band goes around and it goes around his neck and and and asphyxiates it and then the and then it kills itself there's no there's no toxin there's no secondary poisoning there's nothing like it um and the and the actual capsule just biodegrades in in the next rain so if we can do that instead of raining pellets we'll be raining devices through forest which makes a huge difference and some of those we'll get into into into into into into those tree tops which hopefully will pick up some of those ship rats for example so a couple of years before we get those um into the in in in in into the market uh some of the breakthrough science so that thermal imaging work um we have referenced uh we now understand all the uh with through genomics aotearoa we understand exactly what what makes up some of our some of our target species um and um and knowing exactly what's inside it we can start then to make informed choices around animal behavior animal targeting um matching matching its genetics with with with with control devices uh and we've just gone through uh a range of um of ph of post-doc phd students around sort of new uh new science work to start analyzing so a range thats too many to put on the screen so as you can see a range of the companies got adopting a range of different approaches from developing new tools what works in the field getting getting those tools tools on the shelf understanding the science the deep meaningful science behind it but also supporting projects on the ground learning learning to fly the plane as it's going but from small to to quite to quite large so looking at looking ahead um it's quite it's it's quite an exciting it's exciting space really um we want to continue to to mobilize new in new new projects grow them it's at scale grow them at size developing a pipeline of of um of of projects funding does become available from time to time we're just recruiting a philanthropy um a manager to go to to to to to attract international funding this month we know there's money out there um but if we can we don't have to we don't need to get the money through through our accounts we need to get it into the industry um so there's definitely money out there um but in new zealand we know that only four percent of philanthropy goes to conservation and of that four percent i don't know how much goes to to to eradication but but but it can't be much of not much um uh we also want to be um be um uh embedding and growing the project support support work so we learn more we so we develop this really this really safe a safe safe safe space and then partnering more with with mana whenua around the country so that the capacity and the and the ability grows across new zealand not just in one sector or not um and then and then the last two points is again this is building on growing more science and understanding but i think that one of the most important things is actually building building new zealand support for the mission if if eradication is new zealand's moon shot using that using that sort of analogy then then the predator free company is new zealand's nasa now we don't need to develop everything to build the rocket build the space ship we need to work with the industry work with the community work with new zealanders to get there and and that and one of my greatest challenges keeping new zealanders on board because some of this work is does take time it is people forget about it and 2050 is not a long time away but it's but it's far enough that people lose lose commitment so holding people in the in this space is really is really crucial. yep thank you happy to take any questions.

2021-07-16 05:43

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