This is what we love to see… Juno took me on our walkies yesterday, to see where the team were doing a great job washing down their canoes after a wet cruise down the Tongariro River. The team was from the local Outdoor Pursuits Centre course where they preached and practised the biosecurity priorities. The importance cannot be overstated.
The huge increase in Easter tourist traffic on the region’s rivers and lakes requires constant reminders for visitors and residents and other organisations to remain aware of the dangers.
With our local champion, Didymo Dave, leading the campaign for the last 20 years, the success of his CCD (Check Clean Dry) biosecurity awareness messages to promote continual cleaning of gear between lakes and rivers cannot be denied. The photos above were taken over ten years ago, just in time before the sign had to be removed. Fortunately, the message had already got through!
Despite Dave’s incredible efforts, it is hard to believe there are still lazy, ignorant people who do not bother to care. They need these constant visual reminders to embarrass them into action, to improve their sense of community responsibility.
That may be why the most prominent signage at both TRM entrances are aimed at increasing public awareness. If Didymo had polluted the Tongariro River, it would have ruined TRM too.
This is also timely for a BIG thank you to Taupo Council, Harcourts, Turangi Auto, and DOC for their continued support. i.e. When Dave’s old truck was struggling to survive in 2019 they stepped up with the replacement vehicle below.
Harcourts came on board by providing the fuel and Turangi Auto maintained the vehicle. Their community generosity is so encouraging.
It is a nice change to see Council investing wisely (instead of dinosaur statues!) where it is desperately needed. So it is disappointing to discover there are still some people who ignore the warning messages. Now we are facing similar threats from other bio-nasties, Taupo Council realise we cannot afford to relax the awareness messages.