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Tuesday 6 July 2021
Book Fest’s page turner
Knockout Page 19 Cup begins 1080 drop bid to save native species
Page 8
Paula Hulburt
Blenheim Remote Controlled Car Club members at the Riverlands track, their home for just two more weeks. Photo: Matt Brown.
End of the road for evicted club? Matt Brown Reporter
matt@marlboroughmedia.co.nz
A world-class remote-control racing club with some of New Zealand’s top talent is on the hunt for a new patch of dirt. The Blenheim Remote Controlled Car Club has enjoyed nine years and six track layouts at the volunteerbuilt course behind Riverlands Roadhouse Truck Stop. But imminent development at the site has seen the club evicted, triggering a desperate last-minute search for a new
home for the popular group. Blenheim Remote Controlled Car Club president Bevan Burney says the ideal plot of land would be about 7000 square metres, with water and electricity. “Best case scenario – handy power and water, but it’s not necessary,” he says. “We ran on solar and a generator for years; we’re totally self-sufficient.” He says the club lucked out with the generosity of the Riverlands Roadhouse. The club has been accommodated behind the
LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED
truck stop, on State Highway 1, for nearly a decade at no cost. Former club president Phil Balcombe says their current site has been ideal. “We’ve been lucky with the truck stop,” says Phil. “We filled the accommodation during Nationals, in March. We used the café a lot and drank a fair few beers. “It’s been ideal.” Club members are circumspect about their next move, thankful for what they were given, but worried about the future. “We had a heads up [about
the development], but we thought it was years down the track – it ended up being a month,” Bevan says. “We’re a non-profit club, so we’re very limited in funds. “We need to find a place by the end of September to move this all to. “If we can’t get it straight away, there’s just nothing after that.” And the club aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. Bevan says when they were first given their current site, it was just a swampy hole.
SEE PAGE 2
A bid to help save some native species from extinction will see a huge 1080 drop over nine thousand hectares of land in the Pelorus Sound. Giant land snails, forest birds and Red mistletoe are facing local extinction in Tennyson Inlet as predators slash numbers. The move will see the public temporarily banned from several public facilities for the poison drop as a precaution. Department of Conservation bosses say rats, stoats and possums have also been decimating native numbers of rifleman and bush robins. “It [the 1080 drop] give these and other species a better chance to breed and for the offspring a better chance to survive to adulthood. “If unchecked this predation of our most vulnerable remaining taonga could lead to local extinction.” The area is the largest intact and original forested landscapes remaining in the Marlborough Sounds. Affected tracks will be closed to the public prior to the 1080 aerial drop until staff have inspected tracks and removed as many toxic baits as as possible. The 9573-hectare project area takes in public facilities including part of the Nydia Track between Duncan and Nydia bays (to the Nydia Bay campsite), the Opouri Bridle Track and Archers Track between Penzance and Elaine Bays. The Tennyson Inlet operation is planned from 19 July and is weather dependent. Contractor Vector Free Marlborough Ltd (VFML) have been engaged to handle the drop which will begin with aerial application of nontoxic cereal pre-feed pellets. The aerial drop will happen at least five days later. People intending to visit the affected area before 1 December 2021 are advised to check the VFML and DOC websites for the status of the operation.
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