Zeroing in on Russell lupins in the Lindis River Catchment
Russell lupins in the Lindis River catchment waterways are one step closer to being dealt with thanks to OCC Wai Connection funding, a motivated catchment group, and a skilled drone operator.
In 2024 the Lindis Catchment Group received OCC Catchment Project Funding for Paula Macfie to write a Plant Pest Management Plan for the catchment. Russell lupins are on the hit list.
Russell lupins are an aggressive exotic weed that smother gravelly riverbeds by growing in dense stands. This is bad news for hydrological processes and native wildlife.
A distribution survey was needed to properly formulate a plan to deal with the lupins. Mapping using aerial imagery and AI was considered. However, the lupins need to be in flower to be effectively surveyed, which the imagery is a bit hit and miss on.
Enter Aurum Drones Ltd. They have a monitoring drone that has the capability needed to map lupin distribution in a format that can be used to inform control.
Consequently, Lindis Catchment Group now have an interactive map where they can zero in on the lupin patches. It not only gives them the location but also the area in hectares of each patch, which is great for control planning.
The next step is dealing to the lupins. Lindis Catchment Group coordinator Paula Macfie has been discussing with staff from Otago Regional Council (ORC) and DOC Twizel Office how best to tackle this. They are looking at a spray trial to compare the effectiveness and efficiently of drone spraying versus ground based spraying. This is something that has not been previously documented in Otago and could help inform future control plans for ORC and DOC.
“Wai Connection Funding has enabled us to work with ORC and DOC to tackle the Russell lupin issue in the Lindis catchment” says Paula, “It also presents a great opportunity to find out the best way of doing that.”
In 2024, OCC received Wai Connection funding from Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust. This funding can be used to increase knowledge and skills in Otago Catchment Groups until June 2026.