The mystery of Tekapo’s disappearing lupins: Who killed the social media star?

They’ve destroyed the iconic lupins at NZ’s Lake Tekapo! (stuff article below) And there’s a lot of passing the buck going on with it. The sprayers of environmental poisons tend to do this, hiding under the radar while spraying with impunity, saying little if anything to the public, as appears to be the case here. Apart from this they appear to have killed the tourism. Agenda 21 has made great biodiversity promises (apart from a lot of other things) and yet as I continually note, the results don’t add up.

Remember the roadside harakeke (flax) that got sprayed to death by local council? Equally as ugly as the lupin ‘cemetery’.

Roadside flax in Orepuki, Sth Is NZ, along a popular tourist route, sprayed with herbicide by local council

Very sad on both counts, in my opinion, and in the case of lupins, the destruction of such an iconic spot. The lupins destroy the waterways apparently … from the same people who can now pepper 1080 into waterways with impunity. In the flax debacle it was sprayed in wet weather allowing it into waterways, against the manufacturer’s instructions.

On topic, see our glyphosate & 1080 pages for more info on the hidden environmental dangers of these widely used poison ‘treatments’.(see other waterways related posts here). EWR
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stuff.co.nz

by Brook Sabin

OPINION: It’s one of New Zealand’s most iconic shots: Lake Tekapo, the mountains and a bright glow of purple. You probably know what purple I’m talking about. Yes, the “L” word – “lupins”.

Mackenzie Country is known around the world for its lupins; before Covid-19 Lake Tekapo would often have traffic jams around lupin hotspots.

READ MORE:
* New pull-over areas part of upgrade to State highways in Mackenzie
* Should a money-shot of Tekapo lupins have won an international competition?
* Department of Conservation says lupins should be controlled, not farmed

The Department of Conservation says the weed has spread to riverbeds, where it poses a risk to native ecosystems. And DOC has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on pest control.

On the other hand, it is cheap publicity. There are literally hundreds of thousands of pictures on Instagram that have provided, over the years, countless dollars worth of publicity. Lupin season in Tekapo (before the borders were closed) is big money.

All this brings me to my visit to Tekapo last week. My mouth literally dropped open when I passed the “purple peninsula” that juts out into Lake Tekapo. A year ago, almost to the day, I was here among hundreds, who were eagerly filling their camera rolls with purple weeds. But today, it was bare. Not a lupin or tourist in sight.

READ MORE

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/300187364/the-mystery-of-tekapos-disappearing-lupins-who-killed-the-social-media-star?fbclid=IwAR0uykJk5XvR1LQ1sHPGzzlNJc4ZxCj-3tAHISsYVR28-K-AZyYcfJchex4

Photos: stuff.co.nz

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