The Road Crew and Little Penguins

When a bunch of conservation-minded professionals put their heads together, great things happen for our endangered native wildlife.

In this case the matter was about constructing a footpath along a local road that was also habitat for little penguins - smack bang in the middle of their breeding season. We had to ensure they weren’t disturbed during this sensitive time and maintain safe access to their burrows.

Solution?

A Penguin Management Plan was submitted to local council by Professor John Cockrem outlining the safety measures required to minimise disturbance to nesting penguins.

The Tasman District Council adopted the plan and incorporated it into the project’s resource consent and construction programming.

The project managers, WSP, oversaw the planning and implementation, ensuring the penguin plan was observed.

The contractors, Downers, working on the ground, ensured no penguins were adversely affected during the road works by creating safe zones around the penguin burrows. It’s a tough job to minimise noise when trucks, diggers and earth movers are involved, but by everyone taking a little extra care, the outcome was successful.

We monitored the nesting penguins with trail cameras every day, recording data and keeping the Downers team updated until the chicks safely fledged and headed out to sea.

Job done! Congratulations everyone, amazing team work!