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Weeds

The threat of weeds

Historically in New Zealand the plants most often identified as weeds have mainly been agricultural weeds, e.g. gorse, broom and thistles.
Such weeds are of little if any concern to forest restoration projects such as Manawa Karioi because in time they will be suppressed by native vegetation. In fact, gorse and broom actually help the regeneration process by providing shelter for native seedlings, which would otherwise find it hard to get established. Natives are gradually colonising the gorse-dominated slopes at Manawa Karioi and the planting we're doing will enhance this process both directly and by increasing the abundance and diversity of seed sources in the general area.

Environmental weeds (hereafter referred to simply as weeds) are the main threat to the ecological restoration of Manawa Karioi and other natural or semi-natural areas throughout Aotearoa / New Zealand. Gardens are the main source of weeds. Although many weeds have become widespread all is not lost! While in some cases eradication may be impossible, many people and organisations are making steady progress towards bringing many weeds under control.

How you can help

You can help by avoiding spreading weeds further (deliberately or accidentally), by spreading the word amongst your family and friends, by alerting authorities and land managers about weeds you see and by controlling them where you can.  If you're really keen you can contact Manawa Karioi and offer to help us get our weeds under control. Otherwise you may be able to join or start a "Weedbusters" group to tackle weeds in your local area . see www.weedbusters.org.nz.

Our most recent weed management plan is available in the box to the right. We plan to provide more information about weeds on this site in future. In the mean time, the following sources of information on weeds are taken from a very useful book called Plant Me Instead; Plants to use in place of common and invasive environmental weeds in the lower North Island published by the Department of Conservation's Wellington Conservancy in 2005. This book is available to the public and identifies a large number of weeds and alternative plants for gardens.

Regional Councils, some district and city councils and the Department of Conservation have fact sheets with information on the identification and control of many weeds. In many cases information about weed management is also available via the internet (e.g. www.nzpcn.org.nz).

Your regional council should be contacted first for advice on weeds. If you see any weeds you feel may be worth reporting, e.g. those occurring in or adjacent to restoration projects such as Manawa Karioi, report your observations to your regional council and/or the organisation that manages the place they occur in and/or the place they might be about to invade.

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