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Leading efforts in pest management
Last updated: 17 August 2026
Reporting frequency: Quarterly
Core service: Environmental Regulation and Protection
We work with others to implement the objectives of the Canterbury Regional Pest Management Plan and support the outcomes set out in the Long-Term Plan.
This service includes our work on eradicating wilding conifers and containing wallabies and responding to invasive organisms.
How are we tracking on our service measures?
Service measure 10: Percentage of known active sites where Eradication or Progressive Containment Pests are controlled to prevent pest reproduction (excluding wilding conifers)
Target: 95% or more
How are we doing: 90.7% – a total of 98 of 108 sites have been inspected as of 24 March
On track
Service measure 11: Percentage of known areas at high risk of immediate spread of Eradication or Progressive Containment pests that are searched (excluding wilding conifers)
Target: 95% or more
How are we doing: The work to confirm the result for this service measure is underway, but could not be completed in time for this report and therefore it is reported as at risk
At risk
More information
We are responsible for providing regional leadership in activities that prevent, reduce or eliminate adverse effects from declared pests present in Waitaha Canterbury.
We control plants and animals that have a negative impact on our natural environment through the implementation of the Canterbury Regional Pest Management Plan. We report annually on our progress. To do this, we partner with Ngāi Tahu, landowners, communities and industry to promote pest management, develop an awareness of pest threats and encourage community action.
The 95% target was exceeded this year with 100% inspections of the 108 active sites, improving on the previous year’s result of 84.2%. Performance was improved by defining key terms, overhauling planning and inspection recording processes and providing clear information to the whole team, along with the significant quarter three effort by Biosecurity officers. At end of year, biosecurity officers have searched 100% of the 109 IHR sites, up from 84.4% now confirmed from the previous quarter.
You can learn more about the identification and control methods of pest species in the pest search – a library of over 100 species potentially impacting Waitaha/Canterbury.
Our Biosecurity Advisory Groups are community groups that have been established to provide advice and support for regional biosecurity programme delivery in their respective regions.
We also contribute to local, regional and national biodiversity partnerships, such as the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme, Wallaby Management Programme and South Island Councils’ Biosecurity Alliance, which enable us to share knowledge and resources and deliver programmes that are more efficient and better connected.
One of the goals of our wilding conifer work is to transition management of wilding conifer control back to landowners. To support this work, we have developed a Wilding Pine Control Handbook with advice on identifying pest pine species, finding the best methods to control or remove them, and choosing suitable replacements.