We were recently involved in an Okarito volunteer conservation project called Gorsebusters that was driven by the desire to give back to our local environment by controlling invasive gorse on Okarito Lagoon, the largest natural wetland on the West Coast of NZ.
We are always looking at ways of enhancing sustainability and giving back to our environment. Many types of schemes exist such as carbon offsetting, sponsoring endangered species and tree planting. However we have been very wary of schemes that could appear to be greenwashing.
Kaitiaki
After looking at many different ways that Okarito Sandfly Repellent could give back to it’s environment, we decided that a kaitiaki approach seemed a lot more appealing. To act as guardians of our backyard, helping to protect it from threats through habitat restoration of the local environment we have worked and lived in – and lived off – for many years.
In 2021, Baz Hughes & Gemma van Beek, the new owners of our former business Okarito Kayaks had a great idea. The region’s tourism industry had been hit hard by Covid-19. There were a lot of bad news stories coming out of South Westland. For a number of years they had wanted to find a way to give back to Okarito Lagoon which lies within Westland National Park. They had looked at attempting to do some gorse bush removal from parts of the riparian margins of Okarito Lagoon. One problem – this was a huge job. Two or three people would hardly scratch the surface of the problem.
Okarito Gorsebusters is Born
So Okarito Gorsebusters was launched. It is a volunteer project where people would come from all over New Zealand and spend a week at Okarito helping to restore the ecosystem by cutting gorse from the lagoon. What would they get in return? Not much – free camping, food and evening entertainment. Baz thought maybe 12-20 people might be mad enough to sign up. But some great publicity on Seven Sharp and Jesse Mulligan on RNZ saw the phone run hot and more than 50 people signed up.
We teamed up with Baz and Gemma to assist in the organisation and running of the event, and provided Okarito Sandfly Repellent to all the volunteers.
The event was a roaring success – 19 km of lagoon shoreline was cleared of gorse. An estimated 26000 gorse plants were cut and the stem pasted with a herbicide gel to prevent regrowth. The volunteers loved their time. Many immediately signed up to return the next year.
Keeping the Gorse Out
We all know that gorse grows back. Its seed is distributed by wind, water and animals. And gorse seed can remain dormant but viable in the soil for decades. We didn’t expect to instantly eradicate it. So Gorsebusters will be an ongoing thing. Once the “old man gorse” is removed (the largest trunk had a 400mm diameter!) we will do annual checks on regrowth to keep it under control.
