Unfortunately, the New Zealand Government wants to make a quick buck by mining some of the beautiful New Zealand forests which are home to Archey’s frogs (Leiopelma archeyi) and Hochstetter’s frogs (Leiopelma hochstetteri). If this goes ahead then we will be able to document the extinction of two more frog species.
Archey's Frog. Iamge: Patrick Crawley.
In the 1990s areas of New Zealand that were considered to be of “high conservation value” (including many National Parks) were placed on Schedule 4 which recognised their conservation significance and proclaimed them as a “No go” area for all other activities. The New Zealand Government is now asking for public submissions about their proposal to remove some of this high conservation value land from Schedule 4 to open it up for mining (coal, gold iron ore and rare minerals). The areas to be mined include several long-term frog monitoring sites where the frog populations have been continually monitored for over 40 years – this represents the best data on frog populations anywhere in the world.
In addition the proposed mining area includes the ‘type’ locality of Archey’s frog (Tokatea on the Coromandel Peninsula) and Hochstetter’s frogs (Coromandel Peninsula). Archey’s frogs only occur in two areas of New Zealand and the Coromandel is considered the ‘stronghold’ population.
“Save our frogs – stop the mining” really is the biggest issue in New Zealand conservation – of course saving the long-tailed bat, woodroses and a North Island brown kiwi along the way is important too!
These endangered frogs (Archey’s are Critically Endangered losing 88% of their population since 1996) are just hanging in there and without our help they will disappear. If we destroy their habitat then we will quickly lose a part of one of the most important pieces of New Zealand history as well as a large piece of the amphibian evolutionary tree. We have a moral obligation to protect these original inhabitants of New Zealand – the little people of the forest.
For more information on how the frogs will be affected (including maps of distribution and proposed areas to be mined) click here…… http://www.nzfrogs.org/
To see some ppt about the mining issue during a recent Panel Discussion (including frogs) click here……. http://www.otago.ac.nz/law/nrl/mining/index.html
For more information about the mining in Coromandel click here……. http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/saving-our-environment/threats-and-impacts-/mining-/mining-coromandel
Please make a submission to the New Zealand Government by clicking here ….. http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/mining
May 27, 2010 at 3:13 am
Jeremy Hance from Mongabay.com has just written a great article called “World’s ‘number one frog’ faces extinction from New Zealand government”, which provides more detail about the government’s proposal, and why it’s so important for us to act now to help save protected areas in New Zealand from mining. His article can be found here: http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0526-hance_archeys.html
July 17, 2010 at 2:34 am
I have started a facebook page to help spread the word. Please join & invite all you friends …
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1578911044&v=box_3#!/group.php?gid=135503389817744
July 21, 2010 at 2:35 am
New Zealand government drops its plans to mine!
Thanks to the response from the public about the proposed mining on the Coromandel peninsular, the New Zealand government has just cancelled its plans to mine in the area. This is great news!
For more details, se this article: http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0720-hance_nz_mining.html