Kaikoura’s pest liaison committee chairman Derrick Millton said the region faced an explosion of deer, goats and possums.
Parts of the Clarence back-country were full of Red deer and there was serious risk of more erosion and fouling of waterways if they weren’t kept in check, he said.
Millton had seen estimates of 24,000 new slips across the upper South Island since last November’s earthquakes.
The Clarence farmer, a Kaikoura District councillor, said his country was among the most vulnerable to a deer outbreak.
“So far nothing has been done since the earthquakes. Rust doesn’t sleep does it? The animals keep breeding.”
It didn’t help that the area had been mostly inaccessible for hunters since the quakes, Millton said.
A leaseholder on Waiau-toa Station on the Clarence, George Murray, said the earthquakes had set off a sequence of slips that might never be regrassed.
Some areas were “just running mud”.
There was probably little anyone could do about repairing some of that land but it seemed more weed seed from publicly-owned property up-river was being carried toward the coast.
There was also no weed control in the lower reaches of the river last summer, he said.
“That’s one thing with the earthquakes, that people lose sight of their core jobs.”
On the weed front, ECan accepted the earthquakes had made monitoring harder.
“It’s definitely not been helped by the earthquakes. There’s just some areas that we can’t access at the moment,” ECan biosecurity team leader Leanne Lye said.
Landowners were responsible for weed control but the regional council had “stepped back on inspections” in the worst-hit areas, partly on compassionate grounds.
It was a trade-off between regulation and creating unnecessary stress for isolated and stressed owners and managers.
“We’re not in there harassing them at the moment. They’ve probably got enough to do. It’s business as usual with a twist.”
The usual round of property inspections for gorse and broom in April, May and June had been deferred, partly because some areas like upper Clarence River were virtually inaccessible for council staff and motorbikes.
Noxious plant numbers appeared to be holding steady but slips had created plenty of bare land for pest plants, Lye said.
ECan had maintained its usual regime for nassella tussock, which affected about 60 Kaikoura properties. Most landholders had until the end of September to do necessary control work.
No allowance could be made for nassella because it could spread quickly and dominate pastures.
Unspent Kaikoura ratepayer funds for control of gorse, broom and other weeds would be retained for plant inspections.
