REPORT ON THE ANIMALS WITHIN THE TARAMAKAU CATCHMENT By L.W. Best and P.S. Crosier Protection Forestry Branch Report No. 74 Copy No. Date: February 1970 Protection Forestry Branch, Forest & Range Experiment Station, RANGIORA. s ) 1. REPORT ON THE ANIMALS WITHIN THE TARAMAKAU CATCHMENT FOREWORD Authorship of this report warrants a brief comment. Technician L.W. Best managed the field survey, made the first analysis of data, and wrote the first draft of a report. He then resigned to take a position with C.S.I.R.O. in Australia. At this time it was decided to include parts of reports written by Scientists C.N. Challies, on condition of deer, and I.L. James (F. & R.E.S., Napier), on correlation of opossums with damage in forest canopies, because these were very pertinent to the objects of the survey. It thereby became necessary to assign a new face to the tasks of writing­ up, collating the different MSS, and checking all the records and computations. This was undertaken by Philip S. Crosier, a Zoology student at University of Canterbury, who had been employed on the survey, during November-December 1969. In addition, the contributions of R.E. Lambert, J.T. Martin, M.J. Barnett and I.G. Douglas of the Animal Research Section warrant a special word of appreciation, as does the co-operation, advice and helpful criticism from J.A. Wardle, J. Hayward and G.R. Evans, who managed the vegetation surveys. C.L. Batcheler Head, Animal Research Section, Rangiora. 2. SUMMARY 1. A survey was undertaken in the Taramakau catchment to determine the status of red deer (Cervus elaphus), chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra), opossum (Trichosurus vulpecula), and hares (Lepus europeaus) in Protection Forestry planning. 2. The survey involved running random pellet lines in grassland and forest, along with shooting and autopsy of red deer. 3. The highest red deer pellet density was in the forest of the Deception area. The Top Taramakau forest also had a high pellet density. The True Right grassland had the highest grassland pellet density. 4. Chamois pellet densities were highest along the Aickens and Barron ranges. 5. Opossum pellet densities were highest along the True Right of the Taramakau river and in the Deception river. 6. Hare pellet densities were highest in the Top Taramakau grass­ land, Goat Hill and along the Kelly range. 7. The areas with the highest deer pellet densities were highly associated with the critically damaged or highly modified vegetation associations, viz: short-scrub hardwood, kamahi forests, and the Chionochloa pallens - f · austral is grasslands. 8. There is a highly significant correlation between opossum pellet frequencies in plots and the percent browse damage on canopy trees in the rata-totara and kamahi forests. 9. High hare pellet frequencies were highly associated with grass­ land areas containing Chionochloa australis, C. pallens and Celmisia species. 10. The Taramakau red deer population is at a density where heavy pressure has been exerted on preferred food resources and it is now utilising non-preferred food resources. Figure 1. Map of survey area, the Upper Taramakau Catchment ·.___. .. --~··-·· ~---·-·x----ALEXANDER RANGE __ __..-_.---+----7---\ --·-··-----...__ MT ALEXANDER-··---------- '\ \ - - ., ~ I I 9 , ~ , . / -~----- I -··----.... : I '"' ! 24 \_;( HARPERS --2 : / -~~ MICHAE CREEK /' I ~~ ...._________) • 30 , / BALD RANGE : ~ // 11 ------- \~ / '-... : /' ----.._/ \} -------: .. ...----- / KELLY ----~-· .////~./ RAN~_....,....- \ I .. /.. \ \ \ \22 .. / I / .. / / /.. 34 .. / .. KELLY ----- I \. ',20 ./ j' ........,/ \ ./' \. \ \ /""/ BARRO r~ '"'~ANGE AICKENS\_RANGE / 5 6 • line tronsec t \ /MAIN DIVIDE 18 \ N DECEPTION RIVER ] I /~ j I 21;r;·· // / __ £? 31 I ~ I / t ·~- \ I I --16 I .· ( ) ~ \ I j _,j I I ./ ---·· \ \ __..,,.-· \ \ ~ ___/( ~\_ -1-----·--- /~·.. ) ~\- _/--·I --- / / "" ''·-···-----------.. -----~. ---- _,,...-- '1(,._:_:_::;F~N ·-- 11. It is recommended that the deer control programme be intensi­ fied in the Deception forest area, the Top Taramakau area and to a lesser extent, the Otehake river headwaters. The use of helicopters and 1080 poison on broadleaf is suggested as the method of control. 12. Chamois could probably be controlled more economically with the use of helicopters by venison recovery teams. 13. Opossum control needs more emphasis than it has had in the past. Three proposals are put forward: the exclusion of private fur collectors from the critical areas where no interference in the control programme can occur; an intensive winter 1080 poisoning programme; and th~ integration of the poisoning programme with current opossum research being done at this Station. INTRODUCTION Approximately 100,000 acres of the headwaters of the Taramakau catchment (42°50 1 s - 171°41 1 E) were surveyed to estimate the status of red deer (Cervus elaphus), chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra), opossum (Trichosurus vulpecula) and hare (Lepus europeaus) in Protection Forestry planning. The southern boundaries of the area were Harpers Pass and the Main Divide south-west to Mount Rolleston, north along the Barron and Kelly ranges, and west along the Bald range to opposite Hut creek on Mount Alexander. The main ridge of the Alexander range from Mount Alexander east to Harpers Pass formed the northern boundary. Most of the area south of the Taramakau river is part of the Arthurs Pass National Park (Figure 1). The survey began on 7 January 1969 and the work undertaken by the Animal Section was finished on 21 February 1969. A total of 220 man- days were spent on survey; 60 man-days were occupied with shooting and autopsy of red deer, the other 160 man-days were spent running 4. 34 pellet frequency lines. HISTORY OF THE ANIMALS WITHIN THE CATCHMENT 1. Red Deer The first red deer in the Taramakau catchment were probably pro­ geny of animals liberated in the Poulter valley in 1908 and 1909. Descendants of deer liberated in the Rakaia (1903, 1906), Mount Tuhua (1903, 1906), Lake Kaniere (1906), the Grey catchment (1898) and the Nelson district (1851 to 1922) may also be in the area. The libera- tion dates and known intermingling of the herds (Forbes, 1924; Harris and Logan, 1967) suggest that red deer were established in the survey area by 1925-30. In 1930 the Government removed protection from red deer and in 1931 the Department of Internal Affairs began culling operations. With the exception of the World War II period, shooting operations have continued up to the present day. Appendix 1 lists the kill figures obtained by Government shooters during the post-war control operations. The survey area lies within the Taramakau shooting block. Red deer in the catchment have been and still are being hunted by sportsmen and commercial venison recovery firms (Appendix 2). Most of the regular hunting under the auspices of the Arthurs Pass National Park has been on the Kelly and Barron ranges (Appendix 2a, b). Commercial recovery of venison accounts for the greatest number of deer killed outside the Government control programmes (Appendix 2c, d). Most of these animals were taken by helicopter from the alpine grasslands of the Alexander range. 2. Opossum A list of liberations of opossums in the Taramakau and surrounding area is given in Table 1 (Pracy, 1962). Pracy carried out a survey of the opossum population in the Taramakau catchment in 1949 and 1950. He found that opossums were well established below Inchbonnie on the true right of the river but were absent up river beyond this point. They were also present in the head of the Taramakau and had probably entered the valley over Harpers Pass from the Hurunui river in Canter- bury. On the true left of the Taramakau river opossums were well established at Townsend creek and were present down to and up the Otira river to about the mouth of the Deception river. These animals were probably derived from an unrecorded liberation at Townsend creek. TABLE 1 - Liberations of Opossums around the Taramakau Area (from Pracy, 1962) Year Colour Locality 1891 Black Hurunui river 1920 Black Haupiri river 1922 Black Poerua river 1923 Black Griffin creek 1926 Black Otira ? Mixed Upper Taramakau ? Black Bald range-Taramakau ? Black Ahaura river The true left of the Otira was colonised from opossums liberated at Kelly creek in 1926 and also from animals crossing the Taramakau river on the railway bridge below Jacksons. The distribution of opossums on both sides of the Taramakau river at Townsend creek was checked by Logan and Mangos (1953). Their results agreed with the distribution found by Pracy. Opossum protection was removed in 1947. Since then, opossums have been trapped or poisoned for furs and control purposes. From 1951 to 1961 a bounty of 2/6 (25 cents) an animal was paid to encourage control. Control programmes in the Taramakau were run in 1964 when 6. the Kelly range was poisoned and in 1968 when an experimental poisoning was undertaken from Taverners Flat to Michael creek. Taking opossums for furs has probably fluctuated in intensity with the demand for pelts. There has been intensive trapping and poisoning in the area in the last three to four years. 3. Chamois Chamois were liberated in the Mount Cook area in 1907 and 1914 and were well established by 1920 (Thomson, 1922). Chamois probably arrived in the Taramakau area about 1925. This date is estimated from the dispersal rates given by Caughley (1963) and Christie (1963). Protection of chamois was removed by the Government in 1930 and in 1936 the Department of Internal Affairs began control operations. The majority of chamois killed in the Taramakau have been shot by Government shooters (Appendices 1 and 2). Records show that private hunters in the National Park have not killed many animals (Appendix 2a, b). 4. Hares Hares were liberated on Banks Peninsula, Canterbury in 1851 (Donne, 1924), but many unrecorded liberations have also been made.