About

History

The Blythe Valley, a catchment spanning 6537.42 hectares along the North Canterbury coastline, is a mix of pastoral dryland farming and forestry nestled within the Motanau ecological district. This region, characterised by its remnant coastal vegetation and the unique braided river ecosystems, forms the backbone of local biodiversity and environmental integrity. In response to growing ecological pressures, the Blythe Valley Community Catchment Group (BVCCG) was formed in 2023. This proactive community group, consisting of 22 landowners and their families, totalling over 70 members, is committed to safeguarding and nurturing the valley's natural resources.

Who we are and What we do

We are a vibrant, supportive, engaged community that is enthusiastic about biodiversity and looking after the land and our environment. This commitment can be observed through the thousands of native plants that were planted in 2023-24 and the propagation and sourcing of an additional 8000 native plants for the 2024-25 planting season.

Predator control has formed an integral part of the community’s activities This activity was initiated after the roll back of the TB control program. TB vector control resulted in very low possum numbers in the area, and it is believed that they remain at levels below 2% Residual Trap Catch as a consequence of continued community effort.

Community desire to control pests is both practical and altruistic – we can readily target a broader range of pests – complementing trapping and baiting with a high skill set in shooting. The availability of relatively affordable thermal imaging significantly increases hunting success but also enables pest monitoring using thermal imaging drones. The BVCCG has recently trialled thermal drone imaging to provide an indication of pest numbers and hotspots. These have been followed up with on the ground, hand-held thermal imaging.

We currently have a relatively large number of cage traps which have been strategically placed so that they can be checked daily using existing routes frequently travelled by landowners. These cage traps are supplemented by a range of instant kill traps which are checked on a less frequent basis but typically weekly to fortnightly.

Expert Advisors

Alongside our community group we have sought support from experts to assist us, including:

James Lambie

James has a Master of Applied Science (Resource Management) and is one of the directors of Lambie Ecology – an ecological consultancy based in Port Underwood, Marlborough. James has extensive experience in indigenous habitat mapping and classification, pest management, and ecological monitoring.

Dr Suzanne Lambie

Suzanne has a PhD in Molecular Genetics and is one of the directors of Lambie Ecology. Suzanne’s extensive research background provides sound technical advice along with data analysis skills and interpretation of eDNA data.

Lambie Ecology

Lambie Ecology specialises in providing practical and pragmatic ecological advice to councils and landowners. The team has offered to assist the BVCCG to identify the high priority biodiversity assets in the Blythe Valley and provide advice on monitoring ecological outcomes.

Marion Rhodes

Marion has a Graduate Diploma of Conservation & Ecology from Lincoln University. Marion’s experience includes two years on Raoul Island (Kermadecs) as part of a DoC team working on pest and weed control, a year working for the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (weed control, pest control & bird monitoring), and over 15 years of bird monitoring for the Department of Conservation. She was also involved in the successful rodent eradication program on Lord Howe Island in 2019. Marion lives close to the Blythe Valley and is familiar with the area and willing to lend her knowledge and experience to helping the catchment group with trapping advice and assisting with training and conducting bird monitoring.

Mike Henderson

34 years’ experience planning vector monitoring operations, trapping and TB testing livestock. Carried out TB vector control targeting trapping and baiting of possums, ferrets, hedgehogs, cats and stoats. Pigs and deer were also targeted. Qualified as a Meat Inspector. Role included postmortem of feral animals and livestock reactors checking for TB. Facilitation roles of local farmer programs (locally initiated programs) to support TB eradication for the Animal Health Board. Currently working for AsureQuality who were historically part of MAF, now MPI, which included monitoring and pest control as well as postmortem programs for TB vectors. Familiarity with the Blythe Valley and has ongoing relationships with local landowners which includes deer control outside of his role at MPI. Mike is enthusiastic to provide support to the Blythe Valley Community Catchment Group both through providing knowledge of running effective trapping programs, monitoring of pests and postmortem for presence of TB in pests caught.

Billy Bartrum

Worked for Environment Canterbury as a Land Management and Biodiversity Advisor and is currently employed by Rural Consulting Ltd as a Farm Environmental Consultant with most of his full-time role involving working with the Hurunui District Landcare Group. Billy has experience in project managing trapping and monitoring programs through his work at ECan and will bring his experience to support The Blythe Catchment Group via sponsorship/funding from MPI. Billy also has been involved in a number of braided riverbird monitoring surveys in Canterbury.

Key Community Members

We have skilled resources within our community who have extensive experience in project management in a wide range of industries. These project management skills are being applied to the Blythe Catchment Groups current program of works.

Nicki Murray

Experienced project manager through her work with KPMG Consulting, Meridian Energy and PA Consulting Group, both in NZ and internationally.

Richard Shaw

Richard is now semi-retired and consults as a subject matter expert to major mining companies such as BHP and Rio Tinto on metal separation processes. He has worked for major international mining corporations involved as a key technologist and project manager for large scale, complex projects.

Richard has helped co-ordinate the initiation and ongoing development of the BVCCG and is very enthusiastic about pest control and has his own trap line which he checks daily.

Blythe Valley Community

A number of properties with multi-generational family ownership provides a wealth of knowledge of the land as well as historic trapping and pest behaviour. Bringing this experience and knowledge to the project is not only exceptionally valuable but also provides a high level of buy in and support.

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