16 OGNZ WUG mine: assessment of potential ecological effects Project 2034 5. Fund research or advisor position Annual stipend to fund a position within a university or DOC as a dedicated frog management/ science role. 6. Captive breeding research Work with established captive breeding facilities (e.g. Auckland Zoo) to improve Archey’s frog husbandry. Under usual practice, a biodiversity offset or ecological compensation package would be developed to be proportionate to the level of potential adverse effect. Often, accounting models or compensation ratios are applied to provide an estimate of the amount (or quantum) of management needed to provide equivalent benefits. In this case, there is uncertainty over the degree to which frogs may be affected. The level of effect could range from a negligible change to localised conditions that are reversible after the completion of mining, through to widerranging effects on the Archey’s (or Hochstetter’s) frog population within WUG that may take many years to reverse (that is, a potential effect on recruitment such that an unknown but likely negligible or small proportion of eggs (or larvae for Hochstetter’s frogs) that would have otherwise hatched, fail to do so). The approach to managing the (low) potential for residual adverse effects on Archey’s frogs by OGNZL has three components. These are: 1. Further mitigation – intensive pest control within 314 ha of the WUG surface footprint (where surface vibrations >2 mm / sec are expected) to deliver benefits specifically for Archey’s frogs (and associated benefits for Hochstetter’s frogs); and 2. Offset enhancements – intensive pest control within 318 ha of ‘best’ and ‘great’ habitat for Archey’s frog to the east and west of WUG (these are areas of Archey’s frog habitat that are superior to habitat within most of the WUG footprint; associated benefits are anticipated for Hochstetter’s frogs); and 3. Compensation – in the form of financial support for researchers to undertake investigative work within the WUG and wider frog enhancement areas to assess efficacy of pest control regimes for frog recovery, and surveys of the broader Coromandel Peninsula to better understand the distribution and habitat preferences of Archey’s frogs. In addition, a pest control area within the adjacent Otahu Ecological Area (ca. 700 ha) that is currently being considered by OGNZL to provide ecological gains for the wider Waihi North Project could also provide substantial benefits for Archey’s (and Hochstetter’s) frogs, but is not considered (yet) as part of this package focussed on Archey’s frog effects management. The management response proposed for Archey’s frogs (i.e., points 1-3 above) will provide a demonstrable net benefit for the species such that consideration of additional actions is not necessary. Benefits are also anticipated for Hochstetter’s frogs. Nevertheless, the larger 700 ha predator control project OGNZL is promoting (and this is likely to extend well beyond the Otahu EA to take in much of the southern Coromandel Forest Park) will inevitably deliver further and substantial benefits to all indigenous biodiversity, including frogs, by significantly reducing predators. The programme of pest control focussed on delivering benefits for Archey’s frogs within the further mitigation and offset enhancement areas is the subject of the management plan prepared by Boffa Miskell (Dr Helen Blackie12) and has these design components: 1. Pest control designed specifically to supress rats and mice as key predators of frogs, and to reverse destruction of frog habitat caused by ungulates (in particular pigs), and sustain this over a prolonged period; 2. The design of the programme, including control devices, layout, toxins and trapping programmes, control targets, operational trigger thresholds, and adaptive management responses are based on work undertaken 12 Boffa Miskell. 30 May 2022. Pest Animal Management Plan: Whakekirauponga compensation package. Report prepared by Boffa Miskell Ltd for Oceana Gold NZ. 69 pp.
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