A community group leading a conservation effort to save the Otago skink from extinction has won yet another award and the prize money has bought it one step closer to extending the Mokomoko skink sanctuary. Reporter Sarah Marquet talks to Central Otago Ecological Trust chairman Grant Norbury about what the future holds for the trust.
The Mokomoko Dryland Sanctuary, named after the Maori name for the critically endangered skinks it protects, is the result of efforts by a small community group of trustees led by wildlife ecologist Grant Norbury and aided by about 100 volunteers.
Since its inception seven years ago, the Central Otago Ecological Trust, now a partner with the Department of Conservation's (Doc) Grand and Otago skink recovery programme, has seen the Otago skink population within the sanctuary double to between 20 and 25 lizards, with some of those being born to parents released into the wild.
Although it is a feat the trustees and volunteers are proud of, there was still so much more they wanted to achieve, Mr Norbury said.
The ultimate goal is to extend the 0.3ha sanctuary near Alexandra and reintroduce other fauna such as takahe and tuatara.
However, Mr Norbury said that was still a long, long way off and for now they were working hard to increase the population of the Otago skinks, and increase the size of the sanctuary.
The trust is at present reviewing quotes from various companies to extend the predator-proof fence to create a 14ha sanctuary.
They are weighing up two fence options - the standard predator-proof fence, or a significantly cheaper one, designed by Doc officer Tim Whittaker.
Mr Norbury said the big decision was whether to go with a cheap fence that was "not tried and true" or to opt for the more expensive fence, at a cost of about $300,000.
However, the more expensive fence also present the problem of paying for it.
Mr Norbury said although they worked alongside the Department of Conservation, Landcare Research and the Central Stories Museum, they were totally reliant on funders such as the Central Lakes Trust, the Otago Community Trust, and the World Wildlife Fund, among many others.
The $1500 in prize money the trust received for winning the overall Central Otago award at the recent TrustPower Community Awards will go towards the fence, but that still leaves a lot of money to be found, even if they go for the cheaper option which was previously estimated by Mr Whittaker to cost about $80 per metre.
However, that is just one of the problems this passionate group of people faces.
For a start, no fence they could build would be completely pest free - baby mice, for example, can squeeze through a hole the size of a pencil.
Mr Norbury said excluding mice was "very complex".
"The trouble is that there is no fence in New Zealand that can exclude mice. They are cunning little buggers".
But, "we found some mice attacking lizards, but not killing them".
He said the idea was to let them in the fence but then "contain" them with poison which would not affect the lizards.
Another problem is that the lizards take about four years to reach sexual maturity and then breed relatively slowly, producing only two or three babies a year, something that was typical of many native New Zealand animals, Mr Norbury said.
Not all the lizards survive either - some have died due to the conditions, some have been eaten by larger lizards and some have disappeared, either escaping the sanctuary or being eaten.
Mr Norbury said once the new fence was built, the plan was to introduce a bigger population of the lizards, including the offspring of the wild stock to hopefully breed out the genes of those born in captivity, which were generally inbred.
"The success of these things is genetic diversity - a bigger population and more outbreeding with wild stock."
They hope to introduce the Grand skink, which is also critically endangered and endemic to Otago, the jewelled gecko, common geckos and McCann's skinks, among others.
"We'll consider birds later ... and maybe tuatara ... but that's way down the track, if at all.
"It's one step at a time ... we want to do things slowly and step by step."
The Otago skink
• Classified as nationally critically endangered.
• Endemic to Otago.
• Had disappeared from the Alexandra basin in the past 40 years.
• Grows up to 30cm.
• Marked with distinctive black, yellow and green spots.
• Lives up to 15 years.
Dependent on schist rock (it can crawl into the cracks to hide from the elements).
Trust timeline
March 2005: Central Otago Ecological Trust is formed.
November 2005: Then prime minister Helen Clarke officially launched the trust. Eleven Otago skinks were returned to Alexandra.
December 2005: Three Otago skinks were donated to the Alexandra's Central Stories Museum for live public display.
October 2006: Beginning of habitat restoration by removing introduced weeds.
February 2009: First Otago skinks born in captivity in Central Otago.
June 2009: Construction of herbivore-proof fence to protect restored habitat for skinks.
July 2009: Construction of predator-proof fence at Mokomoko Dryland Sanctuary.
September 2009: Beginning of native re-plantings to restore habitat for skinks.
November 2009: Official opening of Mokomoko Dryland Sanctuary and release of 12 Otago skinks.
May 2010: Trust named the Regional Winner for Heritage and Environment at the TrustPower Community Award.
September 2010: Trust wins an Otago Conservation Award.
January 2011: First sighting of two baby Otago skinks born in Mokomoko Dryland Sanctuary, another was seen in February.
December 2011: Another 16 Otago skinks were released, three were the offspring of wild skinks.
March 2012: Four more baby skinks found.
May 2012: Trust named as the Overall regional winner for Central Otago at the TrustPower Community Awards.
