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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:navy'>Does this work in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">New Zealand</st1:country-region></st1:place> relate to any of our
weeds? Thanks.</span></font><font size=4><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;color:navy'>Marc<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:130%;background:white'><b><font size=4
color=black face=Verdana><span style='font-size:15.0pt;line-height:130%;
font-family:Verdana;color:black;font-weight:bold'>Gorse a threat to water
quality <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:130%;background:white'><font size=1
color="#666666" face=Verdana><span style='font-size:7.5pt;line-height:130%;
font-family:Verdana;color:#666666'>The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Marlborough</st1:City></st1:place>
Express | Friday, 2 February 2007<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><strong><b><font size=1 color="#333333"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;font-family:Verdana;
color:#333333'>Gorse could be destroying the quality of the country's water and
action must be taken now to rid the country of the noxious weed, says a senior
scientist involved in a Rotorua study on the weed. </span></font></b></strong><font
color="#333333"><span style='color:#333333'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>Dr Guna Magesan, a
senior scientist with Ensis, the unincorporated joint venture between Crown
Research Institute Scion in Rotorua, and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Australia</st1:country-region></st1:place>'s CSIRO, said gorse could
be having a greater effect on nitrate levels than originally thought. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>Nitrate is one of the
major nutrients that damages water quality. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>It stimulates algal and
weed growth in lakes and rivers which can cause the water to be unsafe for
drinking and swimming and can make it an unsuitable habitat for fish. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>Lakes are particularly
sensitive to nitrate, making this research important to the clean up of Rotorua
lakes. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>"Nitrate is a huge
issue and millions of dollars have been spent trying to reduce it. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>"The main blame has
always gone to farmers, but our findings indicate that gorse may also
contribute significantly," Dr Magesan said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>"The government is
currently doing nothing to control gorse growth. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>"Yet if funding
isn't made available our waterways will only become more degraded by
out-of-control gorse." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>But the effect of gorse
on <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Marlborough</st1:City></st1:place>
water is not known. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>Marlborough District
Council rural services manager Alan Johnson said the council could not really
carry out water quality monitoring throughout the district to determine nitrate
problems. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>Gorse was prolific
throughout the district, but nitrate levels were not seen as a big problem. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=1 color="#333333"
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>Marlborough</span></font></st1:City><font
color="#333333"><span style='color:#333333'> was different from the <st1:place
w:st="on">Waikato</st1:place>, where runoff into lakes was not flushed away as
in rivers, Mr Johnson said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>Currently in most of <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Marlborough</st1:City></st1:place> gorse must be
controlled within 10m of a boundary if your neighbour is controlling it. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>Gorse was difficult to
control and it would be impossible to legislate for landowners to control all
the gorse on their property. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>Mr Johnson said gorse
was beneficial in that it was a nitrogen fixer and was a good host species for
some plants, so it had positive effects as well as negative. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>He said he would watch
the study with interest. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>Dr Magesan's study,
which was funded by Environmental Bay of Plenty, is the first to focus on the
role gorse has on water quality and the results have surprised even him. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>"We found that
nitrate leaching from gorse was extremely high in some cases. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>"For example,
samples taken from a gorse area on a farm had nitrate levels of 16 parts per
million, compared with 1ppm for the control area on the same land. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>"Our results
indicate that gorse is a serious problem for our waters. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>"What makes that
even worse is that gorse is a fast growing species and has already taken over
900,000ha of the country," Dr Magesan said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>Dr Magesan and his team
are in the final year of the three year project, and hope to expand the
research to the rest of the country. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>He said it would be
important to look out how soil type and climate impacted nitrate leaching from
gorse. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>"Gorse is prolific
throughout <st1:country-region w:st="on">New Zealand</st1:country-region>, so
if our findings are replicated in other areas then <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">New Zealand</st1:country-region></st1:place> has a major issue on
its hands." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>Gorse was declared a
noxious weed in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">New Zealand</st1:country-region></st1:place>
in 1900 and government subsidies were given to farmers to eradicate the weed
until 1984, but the battle against the growth of the weed was never won. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>"Gorse is a hard
weed to get rid of. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>"It is fast
growing, can live for 46 years in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">New Zealand</st1:country-region></st1:place>, and seeds can remain
in the soil for up to 30 years. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>"It would be a
massive undertaking to rid the country of gorse, but if we are serious about
saving our water, it is something we might have to do." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='background:white'><font size=1 color="#333333" face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:9.0pt;line-height:130%;color:#333333'>As well as extending the
project to the rest of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">New
Zealand</st1:country-region></st1:place>, Dr Magesan said that his team hoped
to explore alternative methods for destroying gorse and slowing down growth. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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