People had for years admired the forest when driving past, remaining unaware of the serious weed problem developing within. Technically, a scientific reserve requires an entry permit. The reserve also had a reputation of being easy to get lost in. Had the forest been a scenic reserve with free public access, and probably a nature track, local conservationists would have raised their weed concerns years earlier.

About 15 years ago Peter Gardner, a local farmer, Forest and Bird member and convenor of the Conservation Corps, inspected the reserve and uncovered a serious weed problem. He had his team do considerable work there. The smothering extent of the native Muehlenbeckia vine was of concern at that time and no specific mention was made of the Chilean Flame Creeper (personal communication).

New DoC Weed Officer, Pete Raal, inspected the reserve and arranged Biodiversity Funding for a weed control programme. In June 2003 he arranged a contract with the Dunedin Forest & Bird to carry out the weed control work and to increase the numbers of the endangered Olearia hectorii in the reserve. The effectiveness of Dunedin Forest & Bird's Wilding Tree Group no doubt paved the way for this contract being offered to the Society by DoC after contractors had turned the work down. Disappointedly, DoC had to reduce the funding after the project was under way.

The Otanonomo Restoration project could probably have made some degree of progress had Forest and Bird entered this project with the accumulated knowledge gained about the Chilean Flame Creeper by the time we exited. The other problem exotics were just 'old friends' that we knew how to deal with. Although some would have been difficult to beat effective methods had been developed through previous experience.

Setting Up Safe Access and Manageable Units
A straight main access line was lightly cut from west to east to bisect the reserve. This was well marked with wide yellow tape markers so that it would be easy to locate when moving across and through the adjoining forest. Signs were placed on the north side of this line at 50m intervals. North - south red marked lines were then able to be lightly cut out from the access yellow line. The end result was that the reserve was broken into 36 rectangular numbered management compartments. Extensive edge bands of blackberry were cleared along the western and northern sides of the reserve in order to give road front access to the system.

In areas of high weed concern uncut guidance lines were taped roughly parallel to the central access line. Lightwell/forest collapses were marked with another colour code and given identifying location numbers.

We were now in a position to safely allocate and systematically work the reserve compartment by compartment.

The Volunteers
Crucial support came from the South Otago Forest and Bird and the local walking group 'The Ofte'n'out Plodders'. Most were retired and each worked a half weekday, monthly at the reserve project. Dunedin Branch members and others came down on some weekends. On occasions large groups from Students for Environmental Action (SEA) were subsidised to help by Dunedin Forest and Bird. The psychologically uplifting effect these young people had by working with two generation older regulars far outweighed their considerable contribution. The Telford Rural Polytech were keen to expand their help when the project was ready for them. The same applied to other groups in the wings.

Training the Volunteers
Fortunately good rural skills prevailed amongst the local volunteers. However, the specific techniques and strategies required to have maximum effect with minimum collateral damage were a big learning curve for them. At times a few volunteers had to be guided back on course when they slipped back into old or damaging short cut habits.

Team leaders were trained in the current weed control and safety methods to a specific level at which they were to stop. Subsequent training took place to bring them to a higher level of skill and understanding. This structured raising of skills and expectations reduced the risk of mistakes and having to repeat work. It also allowed time to monitor results, consolidate skills and modify tactics. It is always a balancing act to restrain enthusiasm without losing motivation. The volunteers had photographs to help them identify the less known garden escapees and were shown critical native species such as Olearia hectorii. In spite of these precautions there were two 'near misses' with the endangered Olearia hectorii which, through bark similarities, were mistaken for elderberry. This reinforces the need to carefully prepare volunteers before commencing work and need for supervision.

Chilean Flame Creeper Problem
All but one of the twenty or so problem weed species in the reserve were "old friends" to us and we knew how to beat them. The unknown factor and the greatest individual threat to the forest was the Chilean flame creeper (CFC). A number of trials were set up to see how CFC would respond to various treatments. At the time of pulling out of the project a potentially successful method had been developed.

CFC's thin stems and transpiration limitations seem to restrict the vine to below the large emergent trees. An incrementing web of thin vines builds up on the trees and shrubs, pulling the plant into a bent over form. This favours the CFC by providing a bigger platform for even more vines to capture light at the expense of its hosts. The build-up of old CFC stems continues to both weigh down the host and block its light. The host eventually collapses, bringing in more light, weeds and wind. This collapse can occur dramatically under the weight of a snow dump. Elderberry, with its early season growth spurts, seems to follow the deciduous CFC's advance and to a degree coexist with it.

Lightwells caused by the collapse of emergent trees enables invasion by CFC. It was noted that a slower invasion was taking place even in some shaded parts of the forest.

One of the Chilean flame creeper's (CFC) strengths are its multiple thin stems. Sprays will easily knock down the CFC's top growth but the thin stems limit carrying enough poison down to finish off the underground rhizomes and hence the regrowth. Pulling or breaking the many thin stems from ground level will eliminate the creeper's canopy but rapid regrowth from the rhizomes means that only temporary supression is achieved.

The potentially successful method of dealing with CFC involved carefully gathering in a smallish handful of vines, cutting through the bunch and placing a holding rubberband 2-3 cm back from the cut. The cut end was then placed downwards into a small snaplock plastic bag and another rubberband applied around the outside. A 5% Roundup solution was then directed into the bag and the vines were left to "drink." By these means the poison was able to access the root systems successfully.

The areas trialed by this method appeared to be reinvaded with new CFC on account of the considerable surrounding seed bank. CFC flowers heavily in areas of full sunlight. The tangle of gorse, blackberry, vines and wetlands along clearings made it very hard to prevent fresh seeding for birds to spread.

The last 6 months of the project gave a chance to learn more about this vines strengths, weaknesses, favoured growing requirements, reactions to treatments and interaction with other species. However much more research needs to be done.

In late 2005 the Director General confirmed to Dunedin Forest and Bird that DoC had, as yet, not found a way to adequately deal with the Chilean Flame Creeper.

Approach Taken
Initially very good headway was made with plenty of support and enthusiasm from both the local volunteers and Dunedin groups. In the 1ha westernmost block many young trees largely overwhelmed by blackberry and native vines were released, reshaped into a stable shape and staked until they could support themselves. This work proved very successful with very good regrowth. Exotics were cut into short pieces to fall and compost on the forest floor and their stumps poisoned. The heavier branches of elderberry and all branches of crack willow and pussy willow were air stacked to prevent regrowth. Blackberry regrowth and shade tolerant species such as Aluminium plant were sprayed. Holly and hawthorn were frilled and poisoned with Vigilant paste. Various trials, both chemical and non chemical were set up on the Chilean Flame Creeper (CFC).

At the northern end of the large macrocarpa tree block the focus was more directly on the CFC to see how it would respond to various treatments. Initially it was fairly easy to free the surviving understory from the webs of CFC. All elderberry, sycamore and other woody weeds were felled and poisoned. Other areas of CFC were trialed with various chemicals. The released natives responded with bursts of new foliage which we hoped would help shade-out CFC regrowth. The extent of the CFC's vigorous and more extensive regrowth the following season took us by surprise. All chemical spray trials had failed. Our removal of other exotic species had only provided more light for the CFC.

Areas of solid blackberry interspaced with other weeds were reduced to a ground layer rather than being just sprayed. Subsequent regrowth was sprayed. This was to both improve access and reduce CFC invasion in the light gaps amongst 2 m high standing debris. Yorkshire fog grass started to invade these areas so further was sown to help smother out weeds. This proved to be a very effective method.

The Chilean Flame Creeper Trials
Early on we became aware of various methods tried by others, mainly in Southland. By networking we kept up to date on new control attempts. The only method that had any real degree of success was where the vine's foliage was teased down and left to soak in buckets of Roundup. The sheer logistics of carrying out this method in heavy forest using volunteers, plus safety issues, discounted doing so throughout the reserve.

The initial idea was to get the CFC fight onto the ground to limit collateral damage. In one trial an area of CFC regrowth was covered with black polythene. Although successful a large application would have been impractical. Another CFC regrowth control trial involved a hand pulled CFC area; a Roundup sprayed area; an Interceptor spray area and a potent Roundup/Escort/Renovate/soluble oil cocktail trial. The cocktail trial slowed the CFC down the most but such a 'scorched earth' method was obviously unacceptable.

The locals with their rural backgrounds did their own chemical experiments as they found it hard to believe that CFC was such a tough problem. Some were adamant that things like Woody Weedkiller would do the job, having failed to realise that the thinness of the CFC stems was the real problem.

It's easy to pull CFC out of the understory and tear it from above ground, This gave any still living understorey a breather to start greening up. It was the vigour and speed of the CFC regrowth that we couldn't manage on a large scale. It is suspected that our initial dropping of pulled vines onto the ground helped spread the problem through regrowth. Later vines were pulled down and hung to dry in the forks of trees.

Refer to a 'cut and dunk' method that did work.

Replanting Programme
Early on in the project it was realised that shading out would have a role in holding weed cleared areas and would probably much reduce CFC establishment. Reserve seedlings were collected under permit and grown on. Telford Rural Polytechnic provided shadehouse facilities for our local volunteers. This was to form the nucleus of a community nursery. The first 100 trees ready were planted in Spring 2005 when interest was low amongst the volunteers. Endless weed work, especially with the seemingly hopeless CFC situation, can be soul destroying. Restoration planting can add another interest dimension to a project. With withdrawal from the project the Telford nursery and plant holdings in Dunedin were disbanded.

Olearia hectorii Recovery Programme
Part of the contract with DoC involved increasing the number of the nationally threatened Olearia hectorii in the reserve. Early on, the 24 known Otanomomo specimens were located and clearly remarked with additional tape. An overgrown 25th specimen was found. Despite annual seeding and fifty years without grazing only older trees remain. This is put down to a combination of the November seeding Olearia, being light demanding being out competed by exotic grass and a lack of spring flood gravels and silts to germinate on. At the time of writing there are now a dozen seedling and cutting grown plants up to 1.5m high on the reserve.

An area from under a healthy Olearia hectorii plant was cleared of grass and raked; this provided a small number of seedlings. In November 2006, funnel seed collectors and potting mix trays were placed under a number of trees.

Otanomomo sourced O. hectorii is now being used at two ecological restoration sites near Dunedin, namely Forest and Bird's Moores Bush in Leith Valley and a trial planting which is being monitored on Quarantine Island. Other Dunedin locations will follow, a likely one being the Orokonui Ecological Sanctuary. Dunedin has only one adult specimen growing just outside the Haywards Point Scenic Reserve. Propagation efforts from this plant have so far failed. When the last Olearia hectorii dies in a district various invertebrates become extinct regionally, including nearly half of the 23 moths (many undescribed) that feed on it. Invertebrate reintroduction is in mind with the establishment of new O. hectorii groves. DoC's Olearia hectorii Recovery Group will be kept informed of developments in this area.

National Politics and Outcomes
Being a Scientific Reserve, reports were forwarded to the Conservation Minister's Office and hence were available to The Parliament. 29/03/04 ACT political party NZ press release. "It's Not Easy Being Green. Taxpayers have forked out $24 000 since 2003 to the Forest & Bird Society to spray with chemicals condemned by the Greens, ACT New Zealand MP Deborah Coddington revealed today." (actual amount to this date was $12 000)

Through the Minister, the Otago Conservancy asked Project Manager, Ken Mason, to provide details of the volumes and types of chemicals being used on the project. The amounts of chemicals were rather minor. Photos of the Chilean Flame Creeper damage were provided.

Ken M then responded to requests & phone calls from Forest and Bird Central Office and Sue Kedgeley (Green MP) regarding the project and its herbicide usage. It soon became very apparent that the Greens had to learn the "facts of life" regarding the reality of saving something of our native flora and fauna from an onslaught of exotic plants and animals. They were informed that little headway could be made without the careful and responsible usage of chemicals. It was pointed out that all the Greens and ACT party were doing was 'brassing off and discouraging the many dedicated volunteers that were slogging away weekend after weekend on restoration projects.' Despite offers of many dates to come down to Otanomomo to see the problem and work done, neither MP took up the offer.

However, there was a positive outcome. Sue Kedgeley was put in contact with Forest and Bird Central Office and subsequently the Greens softened their stance on the use of chemicals (including 1080) in ecological restoration and similar recovery work with indigenous species.

Some Factors in the Project Abandonment