Landcare Volunteers have had a very busy few months undertaking winter plantings. These plantings have
been done in the following areas:

• Taumaihi reserve, at the end of Acacia Road 
• An area along the lake outlet canal for Bay of Plenty Regional Council following the replacement of the Lake Okareka outlet pipeline in the reserve at the start of the Lake Okareka walkway
• Opposite Benn Road in Tikitapu Scenic Reserve - this was a joint Landcare Okareka, Rotorua Forest & Bird and Rotorua Botanical Society planting working bee of around 1000 plants provided by Bay of Plenty Regional
• Council and Department of Conservation - plants were all in the ground in 2 1/2 hours and that time included a morning tea break!
• In the reserve area near the entrance to the DOC camp, Millar Road.

We still have some more pohutukawa plants to plant out in the area near the shade shelter, to replace some of the kowhai that are not doing very well. The pohutukawa plants that LO put in this area last year are doing really well. So we thought we would continue with this plant replacement programme.

Landcare Okareka hopes to hold litter pick ups within the settlement and roads leading into Lake Okareka during "Keep New Zealand Beautiful" week 14th September to 20th September 2015. We will send an email out to ask for help with this. Mostly the settlement area is quite tidy as far as litter is concerned.

We are concerned though to observe that some property owners/occupiers at Lake Okareka have been leaving garden prunings on roadsides outside their property, or dumping garden waste into reserves, rights-of-way or onto next door neighbours’ land. Please think twice before you do this! Dumping of garden waste on public land is actually an offence that attracts a fine from Dept of Conservation or the District Council! This is how garden plants (like "wandering willie" or Tradescantia) become problem weeds in reserves. Some volunteers are spending a lot of time and resources in trying to control and eliminate weeds in local reserves. Please don't be a community member who adds to these problems.

If you are keen to help with any Landcare Okareka working bees, we would appreciate any time that you have to spare. Working Bees will continue to happen on the 4th Saturday of the month (unless otherwise notified). Watch out for the sign boards to go up - and please feel free to come and help.

Sandra Goodwin
Secretary
Landcare Okareka
Phone 362 8865
Email [email protected]

It is two years since we set up our first shoreline trap line of twelve traps. DOC gave ten traps to the Dabchick counting group and Land Care had a couple. We now have 45 that cover the lakeshore margin along the walkway, Acacia Rd, Taumaihi Pt, Loop Rd and Boyes Beach. The traps have consistently been checked weekly in all weathers by Rod Stace, Mike Goodwin, Dave Scott and Mike Vincent. At the time of writing we had trapped 396 rats, 22 ferrets, 51 hedgehogs and 2 feral cats, the main predators of young birds and eggs. This is good for the Dabchicks (Weweia) New Zealand’s only endemic grebe of which there are only approximately 2000.

Hopefully by providing good nesting habitat which includes predator control, preserving and enhancing flora, reducing lake level fluctuation and not disturbing the birds, Okareka can increase the overall population. There will no doubt be collateral spin off for other birds such as scaup, coots, white heads, mallards, grey warblers, bellbird and tui which we see when checking the traps.

Over the past few weeks the dabchicks have been returning to the lake (where they go in the winter is a mystery, northern hemisphere grebes go to the coast because the shallow lakes they live at freeze over). Breeding pairs can be seen around the lake and in particular near the jetty, along the walkway and Boyes
Beach.

We would wish to extend our traps further along the walkway, and to new areas such as the Boyes Beach to
DOC camp walkway and around the wetland on Miller Rd. Also at Labour Weekend we are going to approach
home owners in the Loop Rd, Calder Rd and Steep St areas to see if we can get traps or bait stations on lake side properties.

If you would like to know more about what we are doing or would like to help please ring Mike Vincent on 3628 376.

Are you noticing leaves on garden or vegetable plants that appear to have been chewed? What about new
leaves on roses? Or are you hearing possum fighting noises at night?

These pests will be getting active again around the Lake Okareka settlement. We have some Timm's Possum
Traps available to help you catch and kill these pests. These Bay of Plenty Regional Council funded Timm's
Possum Traps, are available on loan to any Lake Okareka residents, if you contact Sandra & Mike Goodwin 362 8865.

The Lake Okareka community has 10 traps which were funded as “loan traps” by Bay of Plenty Regional Council. These traps have been borrowed at various times by members of the community. If you are having possum problems – maybe eating fruit or flowers or they are making a nuisance of themselves at night – and you would like to borrow a Timm's trap, give us a call.

If you are not familiar with the “Timm's trap”, we will provide you with some instructions about how to use the traps. We will also give you some advice about what seems to work best as “bait” - such as apple with cinnamon, or apple and peanut butter. If you can keep a note of any possums caught please pass that on to us when you return the trap. We like to know for our records what is being caught around the place and we can also pass that on to the regional council.

For more information or to borrow a trap, please contact Mike and Sandra Goodwin, phone 362 8865 or email [email protected]

As I am sure most of you will be aware, spring has now arrived. The birds are beginning to build nests and now is the time to get into rat baiting – as some of you have already done recently. Thank you to everyone who has purchased rat bait stations over the past 12 months.

Ditrac rat bait provided by Bay of Plenty Regional Council is, once again available to individual property owners, to support enhancing the biodiversity at Lake Okareka. We are especially interested in getting even more lake-side properties involved with rat bait stations. We believe that the results Lake Tarawera are getting with the increase in numbers of dab chicks could be due in part to their successful rat bait programme.
They have many lakeside properties there involved. If you are interested, but maybe feel that you do not come to your property often enough to keep the bait station full, please contact us. We may be able to work out a partnering system with someone who lives here permanently, and is prepared to keep your bait station filled.

Ditrac is a poison, and care must be taken when using it.

How to Use Ditrac Bait:
It is recommended that bait be fed in a type of bait station, fitted with a locating rod, that does not allow the rats to carry baits away to be stored. The baits have holes in them and they thread onto the rod. Rats and mice eat the bait in the bait station. The bait station protects the bait from the weather. It means also that bait cannot be eaten by non-target species such as birds, dogs, cats and children.

Bait Stations
Available by contacting Mike and Sandra Goodwin 362 8865 or email [email protected]. We have a new type of lockable bait station, like a small suitcase. They also have locating pins for the bait. Cost of these is $20

Do you have a bait station already? 
That's great if you do. When you collect your bait you will need to confirm your name and address and the address of the bait station. We need to update our data base about bait stations and where they are located throughout Okareka – and many thanks to everyone who has done this so far.

How do I get bait now? 
Bait is available in labelled, zip lock bags, containing 12 rat baits. This is enough bait to fill one bait station 2 times during a month. Bait stations should usually not be filled more than twice during a month, otherwise you are wasting bait and feeding potentially dead rats and mice.

If you require the bait or a lockable bait station for $20, please contact Mike & Sandra Goodwin phone 362 8865, 2 Pryce Road or Rod Stace phone 362 8523, 30 Summit Road.

Please phone first to arrange a suitable time to collect bait or a bait station.

Lake Okareka Community Association is in need of more volunteers to help look after the Department of Conservation camp up Millar Road. If you have no morning commitments such as work or young children, from 7.30am for about an hour, we would appreciate hearing from you if you are able to offer your support – or if you are able to help with the evening shift from around 6.30 - 7.00pm to about 7.30 - 8.00 pm. We
would love to hear from you.

Both “shifts” involve “checking in” campers and making sure they have all paid, checking and cleaning toilets, picking up any rubbish or litter and just keeping an eye on the place. LOCA DOC Camp volunteers are offered some form of reward in recognition for their efforts. We find it easier to work in teams of 2 people, and the teams are usually rostered on for a week at a time, but we do have some flexibility with others filling in if the current camp wardens have another engagement for a night in their week that they are rostered “on duty”.

Profits from the camp are going into improvements at the camp and conservation activities around Lake Okareka. In the last 12 months LOCA has paid a local contractor to lower and re-surface the camp sites. This has been much appreciated by campers – having more level sites. There has also been much less erosion from the camp sites of fine dusty material onto the roadway at the camp – this is appreciated by campers and camp wardens alike! Money is also going into the pest trapping project around the lake edges. A large project which will take a lot of the funds raised by the camp is the establishment of the new walking track between Boyes beach and the DOC camp up Millar Road.

This walking track project was envisaged by DOC staff when the campground agreement between Lake Okareka Community Association and DOC was signed off.

If you are interested to help with this activity – or would like to know more please contact Sandra Goodwin 362 8865 or Geoff Palmer 3628 379.

Volunteers are continuing with weed clearance work on the proposed line of the walking track between Boyes beach and the Department of Conservation beach and camp off Millar Road. Working Bees are held every first Saturday of the month. Once daylight saving returns on Sunday 27th September we will begin Thursday afternoon/evening working bees from around 4.30 - 5.00pm through to around 6 - 6.30 pm. Please email me (Sandra) [email protected] or phone Mike or myself 362 8865 - and I will add your name to the email list. You will then know when the next working bee for the track is happening. You can also check the website www.lakeokareka.org for up and coming working bee dates.

Weed clearance is currently happening in the area between Boyes beach and the Millar Road stream. On the other side of this small stream, the land becomes Lake Okareka Scenic Reserve, which is Department of Conservation managed land. There should be no dogs being taken along this track whether on leads or off, within the Lake Okareka Scenic Reserve. The rules regarding dogs in scenic reserves are quite specific - no dogs at any time. The same applies to dogs on the new track coming from the DOC camp and heading out to the "jumping off" rocks. We are waiting for some new signs from DOC for the track, which will remind people about this area being Lake Okareka Scenic Reserve.

Once the weed clearance is completed, work will then begin on putting in drainage along the track, where required, and other work related to removal of top soil and duff and levelling the track which is called benching - a lot of this benching work has been completed on the DOC camp side of the wetland. Eventually the track will have timber edging which will be filled with compacted gravel to create a good hard all weather surface. Drainage materials, timber edging, gravel, hireage of equipment to cart gravel and compact it, and so on - will all be paid for from profits made by the DOC camp which LOCA volunteers help run (see page 18).

In the meantime, we are awaiting hearing further about funding requests to help pay for the materials and construction of timber boardwalks in the lower lying wetland areas and bridges over the numerous small streams.