ICE PLANT REMOVAL JANUARY 11th, 2018

As part of the Department of Conservations summer volunteer activity programme, a large quantity of ice plant was removed from the Cooks Beach dunes.

Not to be confused with New Zealand's native ice plant (Disphyma austral), the species targeted in our dunes is the South African variety. It makes the dunes less resilient to erosion by:

• Forming mats displacing beneficial native dune plants such as pingao, spinifex, and sand daphne.
  
• Hindering the natural dune change process that native plants perform naturally.
• Reducing soil pH and having a negative affect on soil nutrients.
• Producing a build-up of organic matter leading to the establishment of other non-native and non-beneficial species.

South African Ice Plant

Many thanks to Jo Fearn, the other Department of Conservation staff , and the volunteers for doing a wonderful job of helping remove this exotic pest from the Cooks Beach dunes.

More information on ice plant is available from the Weedbusters website.