Bailing a sinking ship 

I love a good storm. A storm front is an amazing wondrous thing to watch. Our house has a fantastic view to the south, which is where all good weather fronts come from in Canterbury. From our deck we have watched many amazing thundery, or rainy, or snowy, or hail front arrive. Often the weather changes from a beautiful warm calm sunny day to a cold mad swirling stormy mess within a very short time. 

Thunderstorms are created by a lifting parcel of warm air, often when a cooler front advances, pushing the warm air upwards rapidly. The rising air cools fast and condenses, releasing latent heat energy which fuels the thunderstorm.  Thunderstorms typically have towering cumulonimbus clouds up to 12km high with distinctive anvil shaped heads.  Hail is formed in a thunderstorm as ice crystals grow as they are spun up and down in the rising and cooling air.  The ice crystals receive many layers of condensation which freeze and are recoated until too heavy for the wind. 

Last Sunday we had a tremendous rumbly, thundery, hail storm. We followed the dark clouds slowly encroaching us, billowing high above the approaching storm front. As the lightening got closer we listened to the thunder, counting together how long and how far away it was. When it passed over us, the hail started, with a great loud roar. Hail coated everything in white. It looked like a northern hemisphere Christmas!  

After the hail came the rain. Big fat drops falling very hard and very thickly. Masses of water coming down.  Now the problem with water is that it has to have somewhere to go, otherwise it can cause a nasty situation. On this particular day, the hail was thick and clogged the drains and gutters. Adding to it was that the weather had been dry lately and the streets hadn't been swept of the leaves that seem to continuously fall. 

At one point, a wee while after the heavy rain started, I wandered past my front door and my eye caught on a puddle at my front door. It wasn't just a small puddle, it was well over the bottom of the door and water was pouring down the street from above our house on the hill. The drain at the top of the street had failed and water was streaming down our street, part of it coming in our drive to puddle, or rather lake in the porch.   

Panic!   

Out came the kids and the buckets, and along with our neighbours, we desperately diverted the stream, unclogged the drains, soaked up the river coming in the door and bailed the front porch. All before a major catastrophe. It was lucky we were home. The front door is at the top of the house and any water coming in there would travel down the stairs through the whole house. 

 Unfortunately our neighbours below us had the same stream travel through their brand new garage which was storing their furniture to move into their brand new rebuilt home. Rather unlucky and unfortunate.  

I am not sure I will be quite so excited next time a thunderstorm approaches.  More than likely I will be slightly apprehensive about what could happen.  

Ode to explorers everywhere  

We went for a great overnight run (or perhaps walk) up Mt Somers this weekend.  Mt Somers is a beautiful extinct volcano with native bush covering the lower slopes and open mountain terrain facing the Southern Alps.  Along the track we ran into a couple of hunters carrying guns.  They had been off track to hunt deer in the area.  On this occasion they were no carcasses strung over their shoulders.  There are many deer, wild pigs, possums and rabbits around the mountains as well as many introduced plants.  How did our countryside get filled with introduced wild animals and plants? 

View from Mt Somers

  

Like all countries, ours is filled with introduced animals.  Some have obviously invaded or stowed away on ships that came exploring. However many species were intentionally introduced by well meaning colonial explorers throughout the world. 

Early explorers such as Christopher Colombus started a massive sharing of plants, animals and subsequently, disease.  Soldiers missionaries and privateers followed the soldiers, who let off livestock at every island and port they passed, so that they may have a food supply wherever they travelled.  In many places, the introduced animals and plants had no competition and bred like rabbits.  They also carried pests and disease that obliterated some native species and damaged the land.  The colonists who followed quickly added more species. 

Plants were introduced that thrived with careful attention back at home, but turned into invasive weeds in a different climate.  Broom was introduced in the early 1800s as a cheap hedging plant for farmers.  It is unpalatable to stock, seeds energetically and has a dense habit, all of which seemed positive to the farmers. Environment Canterbury now lists it as one of our most troublesome introduced plants which has invaded most of New Zealand.  The most optimistic local councils list its management as "controlled containment", which means that the further spread of it is hoped to be limited. 

Biosecurity has been a fascinating topic to research.   I have often wondered when out in the mountains, how a plant or animal managed to make its home there.  During my research I ended up reading the book "A plague of rats and rubbervines: the growing threat of species invasions" by Yvonne Baskin.   This book gave a great entertaining discussion on how and why species came to be where they are now.  I ended up reading the whole book!  It certainly has helped me understand why there were hunters on the top of Mount Somers hoping to take home some wild venison. 

  

References

Baskin, Y. (2002). A plague of rats and rubbervines: The growing threat of species invasions.  

Washington, DC: Island Press.  

Environment Canterbury. (n.d.). Gorse and Broom. Retrieved from://ecan.govt.nz/advice/your-land/plant-animal-pests/managing-plant-pests/Pages/gorse-broom.aspx

Arachnophobia 

My daughter loves grapes, especially green ones.  Every single day she has a large handful of fat, juicy, sweet grapes in her lunchbox.  New Zealand produces enormous volumes of grapes, however most of these turn into the most delicious wine in the world.  Not many New Zealand grapes make it to my local supermarket. 

Every weekend when I take my shopping trolley through the fruit and vege aisle, I stop of the grape area and select some grapes from a foreign country, usually USA, Mexico or Australia.  Grapes have all sorts of little nooks and crannies that little pests like to hide in.  In fact, just recently some unpleasant little spiders with names like "black widow" and "brown widow" were found in grapes from Mexico.  One spider was found at a supermarket near me.  If these or any other little pests escape and set up home here, it could create a large problem, not just for arachnophobia sufferers like me. 

New Zealand relies on a strong export sector, driven by our primary industries such as horticulture and dairying.  Our primary products are in demand, partly as New Zealand is relatively free of invasive pests and diseases.  It could be economically disastrous if some fruit fly or virus successfully invaded. 

So, who pays for this biosecurity network of research, border control and response?  The government is currently changing to a user pays style of system.  They are relying on primary industry organisations signing a Government Industry Agreement for Readiness and Response (GIA).  The GIA agrees to help fund research and response programmes in return for decision making input on funding, which will benefit the organisations. 

However not all primary industry organisations agree with this method of funding border security.  Mark Ross from Federated Farmers of New Zealand (n.d.) believes that the "risk generators" are the importers and tourists, not the farmers.  His view is that border security and incursion response programmes are for the good of all New Zealanders and should be funded by the government through taxpayers.  He is also concerned over the potential costs of response programmes.  These could end up costing billions if a serious pest or disease like foot and mouth made New Zealand home.  Biosecurity costs are ever increasing as there is more cargo and more visitors to New Zealand every year.  His view is completely understandable for his organisation. 

Mike Chapman from New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc (2014) disagrees with Mark Ross.  He believes that the GIA will help organisations take charge of their own circumstance with important input into decision making and response management.  The GIA is helping organisations control their own future as they steer funding into programmes and research, which each organisation believes will help them. This should help stop the nasty pests from entering the country and causing the problems in the first place. 

We all want to keep our beautiful country economically prosperous and free of harmful pests and diseases.  Hopefully the GIA will help with this. 

References 

Chapman, M. (2014). The biosecurity dilemma. Orchardist, 87(2), 2-4.  

Ross, M. (n.d.). GIA: Federated Farmers viewpoint. Retrieved November 27, 2015 from http://www.summerfruitnz.co.nz/Biosecurity/Government%20industry%20agreements/Article:%20GIA:%20Federated%20Farmers%20Viewpoint