Critically endangered long-tailed bats living beside Lake Matiri, near Murchison, will be under threat if a hydro-electricity scheme goes ahead, independent conservation organisation Forest & Bird says.

“South Island long-tailed bats are as endangered as kakapo,” Forest & Bird Top of the South Field Officer Debs Martin says. “These special bats live beside Lake Matiri, and we should be doing all we can to protect them and their habitat. We should not allow a hydro scheme on the lake while there is still so much we don’t know about bats.”

Recent Forest & Bird surveys found the bats in the forest beside the lake. The area is perfect for bats, with large open freshwater areas where the bats forage on the wing for insects, and large red beech trees where they roost.

If the hydro scheme went ahead, tall trees would be removed for the development, and the bats’ feeding areas would be disturbed.

The Department of Conservation today granted a concession for the New Zealand Energy Ltd hydro scheme to go ahead on conservation land at Lake Matiri, which is bounded by Kahurangi National Park.

Other native animals would be harmed, too, including native fish and longfin eels. “A hydro scheme would block some of Lake Matiri’s outlets and the lake level would fluctuate,” Debs Martin says. “This would hinder the migration of longfin eels travelling between the sea and the lake, which they need to do as part of their natural life cycle,” she says.

“Lake Matiri is a wildlife refuge and is part of the Buller catchment water conservation order. It would be the first dam on this wild and intact river system. It’s a completely inappropriate place for a hydro scheme.

“Forest & Bird is concerned that this decision fails to recognise the importance of this southern entrance to Kahurangi National Park. The concession provides for a small financial mitigation package – none of which is targeted towards protecting the bats. The decision contradicts our legislation because it does not constitute any net conservation gain to this lake and its wildlife.”

Forest & Bird has been carrying out surveys across the top of the South Island for bats over the past three years. Bats will become extinct on the mainland in the next 50 years if something is not done to protect them. This year Forest & Bird initiated a bat protection programme, launched in Marlborough by Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson at the end of April.

“This decision flies in the face of all the work that needs to be done to protect the critically endangered long-tailed bat, our wild rivers and our public conservation land. We are considering our next step to protect these bats.”

ENDS

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