Why Living Springs?

Could Living Springs become an eco-sanctuary? Part 4

Why build an eco-sanctuary here? Just because Living Springs owns a large property and already undertakes restoration work, it does not mean it is automatically a good location for an eco-sanctuary. Jim’s assessment looked further than the boundary of our site. 

One of Living Springs’ strengths is its geographical location. The property lies within Whakaraupō / Lyttelton Harbour, between the wider Banks Peninsula landscape and Christchurch and the Port Hills. And conservation work does not stop at our boundary. 

Living Springs already operates predator control across its core property and helps manage a much larger buffer and halo zone of approximately 1,200 hectares. Jim considered that wider landscape important whichever sanctuary option Living Springs eventually chooses. 

A sanctuary doesn’t exist in isolation 

Living Springs’ location is important, because even a fenced sanctuary isn’t an ecological island. Some species would remain largely within a protected area. Others, particularly birds capable of dispersing, could move beyond it. A secure population inside Living Springs could therefore become a breeding source for the wider landscape. Jim describes this as a halo effect. 

Under the existing predator control model, that halo already matters. Under a fenced model, Jim concluded it could become considerably stronger because a greater range of species could establish secure populations within the sanctuary and expand beyond it. 

Species such as kākā, kākāriki, tūī, brown creeper and rifleman could potentially become more abundant and widespread in the surrounding landscape. The purpose of the fence would not be to separate Living Springs from the conservation work happening around it. The protected core and the surrounding landscape would help each other. 

Jim’s assessment concluded that both options should retain the approximately 1,800 hectare managed buffer and halo zone. The fence, if Living Springs eventually builds one, would therefore be only one part of a much larger ecological picture. 

And before any of those species can thrive, there is another fundamental requirement: habitat. This is covered in Part 5 next week.