Costs may rise to monitor bats
Landowners, developers and councils may have to spend hundreds of dollars on training and monitoring equipment to ensure the habitat of long-tail bats is protected.
Awareness of the region’s bat population has now flown onto the radar of the Waipa¯ District Council.
In a report to councillors, staff heard anecdotally of a contractor that had to stop work on a protected oak tree because of a bat-roost found there.
Bat habitats are protected under the Resource Management Act.
‘‘This raises the question of what bat monitoring should be undertaken prior to commencing work,’’ the report by community services manager Sally Sheedy said. ‘‘Due to the large flight distance of the pekapeka (bat), the whole Waipa¯ district could be considered to have areas that host these species.’’
It could mean ‘‘larger financial and time related costs’’ for bat monitoring.
To monitor bats, staff needed to be deemed a ‘‘class C supervising bat ecologist’’ by the Department of Conservation. Waipa¯ is reviewing what training is required for staff or its tree maintenance contractor to perform monitoring. A consultant ecologist is used at the moment.
Department of Conservation district manager Ray Scrimgeour said landowners or developers of any site which had bat habitat were responsible for bat monitoring.
‘‘As an example, large infrastructure projects require the relevant organisation to carry out bat monitoring as part of resource consents.’’
The department had in the past provided expert advice to councils to support protection for bats.
‘‘And we can assist on bat
Department of Conservation related work on request.’’
Bat monitors are expensive and there’s a backlog of orders. The department manufactures the monitors on a ‘‘cost-recovery’’ model, $375 per unit for community or conservation groups and $700 per unit for commercial operators or consultants. A global hold-up in the supply chain for electronics meant manufacture times were long.
‘‘We produce batches of 250 bat detectors at a time, and we are currently finishing off one build cycle, with 205 of the 250 pre-sold.’’
Scrimgeour said the department, Waikato regional, Waikato district, Waipa¯ district, Hamilton city councils, and Waikato-Tainui had formed an alliance to protect the habitat of the pekapeka tou roa, the longtailed bat.
The idea was to form a strategy for all to follow when it came to policies, initiatives and plans to look after the bats.
The long-tail species is classed as ‘‘nationally critical’’ and its population is in decline at sites where predator control is not in place.
Its cousin, the short-tail bat, is deemed ‘‘nationally vulnerable’’ or ‘‘recovering’’.
The new alliance was formed as public awareness of bat populations grew around the region.
Waikato Regional Council had bat surveys around Hamilton for the past 10 years but knowledge of the bat habitats around the rest of the region was sketchy.
‘‘We can assist on batrelated work on request.’’