Forest & Bird 100 Years & Counting... by Forest & Bird

Te Reo o te Taiao

YEARS

& COUNTING ...

Forest & Bird’s history and highlights

1923-2023

HEAR OUR VOICES Mark Hanger Perehitini, Te Reo o te Taiao | Forest & Bird President

s President and a supporter for more than 45 years, it is my pleasure to introduce 100 Years & Counting... with stories and highlights from Forest & Bird’s first century of conservation mahi. I have been guiding nature tours around Aotearoa New Zealand for more than 30 years, and I still get excited about sharing our natural heritage and conservation wins with visitors and locals alike. Two of my favourites are the huge campaign to save Lake Manapōuri, which garnered New Zealand’s biggest petition of 265,000 signatures. The other is the fight for the beech and podocarp forests in the 1980s, which ended native logging on state-owned land. None of the many achievements documented here would have been possible without the passion, determination, and generosity of hundreds of thousands of Kiwis. I thank all of our members, volunteers, donors, staff, and supporters, past and present. We are in awe of you and your willingness to be a strong voice for nature. What you have achieved really matters (see page 23) and inspires the next generation to face today’s conservation challenges. There is still much to be done. We continue to pillage our oceans and mine for coal on conservation land. I’m angry my mokopuna can’t swim in their local river, and I expect you feel the same. There remains a lack of leadership and courage to step up and tackle the climate and biodiversity crises. I don’t want to stand eyewitness to the unfolding tragedy that is 4000 native species sliding towards extinction. Our kings of the ocean, the Antipodean albatross, are expected to become extinct within my lifetime without human help. This is why our mahi remains so important. I love how Forest & Bird brings people together from all walks of life. We offer many different ways to make a difference. You could make a regular donation to support our national and legal advocacy or leave a gift in your will. From personal experience, I know volunteering on a branch restoration project is a fun way to make a difference, get fit, and make lifelong friends. Or jump onto our Give a Trap website and donate a trap to your favourite predator-free project or gift a Forest & Bird membership to a loved one. Children love learning about nature with our Kiwi Conservation Club, and many of today’s young conservation leaders have developed new skills through volunteering with Forest & Bird Youth. We hope the stories of courage, hope, and action in 100 Years & Counting... will inspire you to join us and be a voice for nature in the way that works for you. Together, we can forge a better future for our wildlife and wild places. When the mahi gets tough, we can always look to the nature we have saved for a moment of joy and inspiration.

Forest & Bird acknowledges the Stout Trust for its support of our Force of Nature history project with two generous grants. Thank you also to the Alexander Turnbull Library, Archives New Zealand, and Ngā Taonga. We are grateful to Forest & Bird’s history scholarship winners Tess Tuxford and Emma ten Haven, and their supervisor Dr James Beattie, of Victoria University of Wellington, for helping us find and share the stories of early women and child conservationists in this publication.

Beech forest.

Bryce McQuillan

It’s difficult to imagine New Zealand without the Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society Former Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand.

CONTENTS 4

Force of Nature: Who established Forest & Bird and why?

Te Ropu Tiaki Manu: Sanderson’s early Māori campaign

Cherish our Heritage: Early conservation campaigns (1923–1945)

10 Heroines in History: Perrine Moncrieff, Amy Hodgson, Lily Daff 12 Finding our Voice: Conservation in the post-war era (1946–1979) 16 I Can Make A Difference: Engaging children in nature protection 18 Defining the Wilderness: Saving forests, freshwater, oceans, and the climate (1980–2023) 23 Key Highlights (1923–2023) BC How we can all become kaitiaki, Further resources

WE CAN ALL BE KAITIAKI Nicola Toki Kaiwhakahaere matua, Te Reo o te Taiao | Chief executive, Forest & Bird

t the start of our Centennial year in 2023, I attended a wonderful celebration of Captain “Val” Sanderson’s life at Paekākāriki, close to Kāpiti Island, the place that fired his conservation zeal 100 years ago. He founded the Native Bird Protection Society, now Forest & Bird, and became its first volunteer aged 57, hammering out letters to government ministers and showing New Zealanders why they needed to cherish their unique birds and bush. It’s a privilege to walk in his shoes today and be inspired by his story of hope and action as he fought to stop more birds going the way of huia. He led the Society for two decades, including through the Great Depression and World War II, penning his last editorial just before his death in 1945. Sanderson was a visionary whose primary objective was to secure public backing for a “vigorous campaign” to establish a single agency for the protection and control of all birds, animals, plants, and fish in New Zealand. He carried out practical conservation work too, travelling to remote islands to check the state of wildlife, carrying out emergency bird translocations, searching in vain for the last huia, planting native trees, trapping rats in his garden, and heading into the bush to shoot pests. His passion for nature and belief it could be restored was shared by other prominent founder members, such as the ornithologist Perrine Moncrieff and legendary botanist Leonard Cockayne, and remains central to Forest & Bird’s kaupapa today. Many of Sanderson’s conservation messages are also still relevant 100 years on – the urgent need for browsing mammal control in our forests, showing what Pākehā could learn from te ao Māori, and preserving native forests on steep slopes to prevent soil erosion and flooding. Ultimately, though, the power of Forest & Bird comes not from a visionary founder or a chief executive but from the collective. From the hundreds of thousands of people who have contributed to nature protection over a century. Today, we face different challenges and urgently need your help to raise our collective voices to demand our decision-makers create a safer world for our rangatahi, tamariki, and mokopuna. One where te taiao nature is healthy, abundant, and looked after by everyone. Some of the most effective solutions for reducing emissions and adapting to our climate-changed world come from nature. Restoring wetlands, protecting native forests from predators and browsing mammals, stopping new mines on conservation land, reducing on-farm emissions, and allowing room for rivers will boost community resilience as well as biodiversity. Now more than ever, we need to recognise the value of nature’s solutions and invest for a sustainable return. We know nature will protect us, keep us safe, and help us thrive – but only if we protect and restore our natural world first.

Korihi te manu Takiri mai i te ata Ka ao, ka ao, ka awatea Tihei Mauri Ora! The bird sings The morning has dawned The day has broken Behold there is Life!

Hoiho.

Ross Mastrovich

FORCE OF NATURE May Kāpiti Island, one of the few remaining bird and bush resorts, prosper so that our children and children’s children may see and learn something of our once wonderful birdlife. Val Sanderson, 1922

Who established Forest & Bird 100 years ago and why? We look at the life and times of founder Ernest “Val” Sanderson.

ired up by his successful campaign to protect the flora and fauna of Kāpiti island and at the urging of prominent conservationists and scientists of the time, Captain Ernest “Val” Sanderson founded the Native Bird Protection Society at a public meeting in Wellington on 28 March 1923. The Society’s original objectives were to obtain “unity of control in all matters affecting wild life” and advocate for a bird day for schools. Sanderson’s friend and former Prime Minister Sir Thomas Mackenzie was elected President, and its first Vice-Presidents were newspaper owner Sir George Fenwick, Wellington College headmaster JP

Sir Thomas Mackenzie

Sir George Fenwick

JP Firth

Firth, and the renowned naturalist William Herbert Guthrie-Smith. An Executive was appointed to advise the new Society, made up of leaders in the fields of ornithology, entomology, agriculture, and forestry. All of them worked as volunteers. Annual membership was five shillings for adults and one shilling for school children. The first member was Arthur Leigh Hunt, a Wellington businessman, who was given receipt No 1. Early influential women supporters included Pérrine Moncrieff, Elizabeth Gilmer, and Lily Daff. The Society was renamed the Forest & Bird Protection Society of New Zealand in 1934.

Pérrine Moncrieff

Lily Daff

Elizabeth Gilmer

SANDERSON THE MAN Sanderson was born in 1866 and had a difficult childhood. He attended Wellington College, a few minutes’ walk from his home, and was mentored by headmaster JP Firth, who decades later became a founding member of the Society. In 1893, Sanderson witnessed his older brother Louis shooting their abusive father William Spreat, who had attacked the pair with a knife and a poker. After Spreat exonerated Louis in a deathbed deposition to police, the matter was deemed justifiable homicide. Sanderson founded the Society at the age of 57, after serving his country in two different wars and running a successful business. A man of vision, hope, and action, Sanderson went on to dedicate the rest of his life to the cause of nature conservation. He led the Society for 22 years, first as its organising secretary and then as president. He was a gifted communicator and campaigner who spoke up for the birds and bush while also carrying out practical conservation work, including pest control, planting native species, searching in vain for the last huia, and carrying out emergency bird First poster published by the Native Bird translocations to Protection Society, 1923. Alexander Turnbull Library save a species.

ISLAND OF DREAMS

anderson’s conservation zeal was lit by a forestcloaked island north of Wellington rich in Māori and colonial heritage, an ancient place where moa and kākāpō once roamed. He knew Kāpiti Island well, having travelled there as a child, and deeply cherished its native birds. But, during a visit there in 1914, he was incensed to find the country’s oldest nature sanctuary falling apart. He rattled off a series of letters to government ministers warning that he would get the press involved if the Internal Affairs Department didn’t act.

Under pressure, the department agreed to have the goats and cats destroyed and to erect a fence to stop the sheep on private land at the north of the island wandering into the sanctuary. Sanderson then headed off to serve in World War I believing the fight to have been won. But, in 1922, when he returned to Kāpiti to check on progress, he found the sanctuary in a mess. Arriving by boat from the mainland, accompanied by a newspaper journalist and botanist, he was shocked to discover 3000 sheep and 2000 goats had destroyed the undergrowth, and possums had devoured the kōtukutuku wild fuchsia trees. Sanderson saw red. He gave the government no peace until fences were erected, noxious animals destroyed, a qualified caretaker appointed, and countless trees and shrubs planted. This allowed the native habitat to recover and, over time, Kāpiti became the glory that it is today. “I don’t know who this chap Sanderson is, but he’s not going to dictate to me,” said the Minster of Lands at the time. But Sanderson had friends in high places, including newspaper owner Sir George Fenwick, a founding member. Sanderson later said, “I was going to dictate to him because the Press was at my back.” From the 1920s, the irrascible conservationist was a regular visitor to Kāpiti Island, planting native trees and hunting browsing mammals, sometimes staying overnight with his friends Utauta and Hona Webber, who farmed the northern end. During the 1930s, Sanderson made a conservation film called Glimpses of Nature featuring the Webber family feeding native birds. Sanderson died in 1945, aged 79, and is buried at Ōtaki Cemetery, overlooking his beloved Kāpiti Island.

MILITARY SERVICE A remarkable New Zealander, Captain Ernest Valentine ‘Val’ Sanderson emerged from two wars to become a leading figure in the fight to protect New Zealand’s natural heritage. Online Cenotaph, Auckland Museum

anderson first served in the South African War (1899–1902), where he excelled as a Quartermaster-Sergeant for the No 12 Company (Wellington section), 5th contingent, New Zealand Mounted Rifles. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Sanderson was 48 and too old to enlist. So he pretended to be five years younger so he could serve his country for a second time. After a number of applications, he was finally accepted and sent to Egypt. There he served as a Quartermaster and Honorary Captain, and was invalided home. His command and organisational abilities were to become invaluable after the war as he went into battle to save New Zealand’s fast disappearing forests and birds. 5

TE ROPU TIAKI MANU

anderson believed Māori had much to teach Pākehā about the natural conservation of birds and forests. From 1923, he worked to engage with Māori on nature protection while simultaneously raising awareness among his predominantly Pākehā membership of what today we would call the Māori world view of nature, a deep connection between the land and the species that inhabit it. In early 1924, the Society published a pānuitanga or poster in te reo Māori. It was printed on paper for inside use, with 500 on calico Forest & Bird Archives for outside display. They were distributed to anyone who wanted one. Members (both Māori and Pākehā) put them up all over the country, including the Hokianga, Kāpiti Coast, Whanganui, Taranaki, and the Bay of Plenty. Elsdon Best, the renowned ethnographer and chronicler of the Tūhoe people, is thought to have translated the text for the pānui. It noted how “descendants of Tāne Mahuta and Tane-i-te-rere have been diminished by accidental killings, deforestation, or by hunting for food”. It went on to emphasise the benefits of birds and the hope that no more species would go the way of the moa. The Native Bird Protection Society (now Forest & Bird) was

referred to as Te Ropu Tiaki Manu, and the publisher’s address was care of Paaka No 631, Poneke, a post office box number Forest & Bird still uses to this day. One of the Society’s first Māori members, Nopera Otene, an influential tribal chief from Hokianga, was worried about the loss of birdlife in the great kauri forests of the Far North. Correspondence between the pair shows that Sanderson travelled to the Hokianga to meet Otene. Sanderson wrote to Otene in te reo, as we can see from this letter in Forest & Bird’s Archives.

In the mid-1930s, Cecilia O’Rorke, a life member of the Society and an influential leader in the Girl Guiding movement in New Zealand, wrote to Sanderson asking why there were no Māori names among the Vice-Presidents representing the Society around the country and asked him to address the issue. He wrote to three possible candidates. In 1935, New Zealand’s first Bishop of Aotearoa, Frederick Bennett (Ngāti Whakaue) accepted Sanderson’s invitation and became Forest & Bird’s first “Representative of the Maori Race”. By 1936, he was also listed as a Patron of the Society, alongside the Governor-

Val Sanderson, early 1920s. Forest & Bird Archives

General Viscount Galway, on the Society’s official letterhead and in its journal. The establishment of the role, while largely ceremonial, The first Bishop of suggests the Society Aotearoa, Frederick Bennett. Alexander was anxious to Turnbull Library reach out to Māori and demonstrate it understood and valued tangata whenua perspectives and knowledge of the natural world. Sanderson also wanted to share Māori perspectives on native birdlife and conservation. He commissioned articles about te ao Māori, including long lists of bird names in te reo with regional variations, which appeared in the Society’s journal in the 1920s and 1930s.

Woman feeding birds above Sanderson’s Paekākāriki house. Lantern slide, Forest & Bird Archives

CHERISH OUR HERITAGE

During the Sanderson years (1923–1945), the Society raised awareness of the unique nature of New Zealand’s birds and secured new sanctuarie and stronger wildlife protections.

Anti-poaching cartoon commissioned by Forest & Bird, 1938. Marmaduke Matthews

PROTECTING NATIVE BIRDS

n 1925, Sanderson was warned by an eminent New Zealander living in the United States that an expedition was being formed to collect vast numbers of birds from Aotearoa. His informant John Myers told him the view at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard was that New Zealand’s indigenous birds were “doomed” and every attempt should be made to collect more while there was still time. A few months later, Sanderson discovered a Mr Whitney was visiting from America to observe our bird life. He suspected the birds would be “observed” over the sights of a shotgun. Firing off a letter to the Department of Internal Affairs, he discovered a permit had been issued in December 1925 for 846 New Zealand wild birds to be taken without supervision. The list

included six Chatham Island snipe, four Snares Island robins, and two Auckland Island ducks. Some species on the list had just 10 or 20 individuals left on Earth. After a strong protest by the Society, with Sanderson working day and night on the problem, the Minister sent an observer – the same New Zealand official who had advised him to issue the permit! But, as a result of the Society’s advocacy, a bigger battle was won. Early in 1926, the Minister agreed that “no collecting whatsoever would be permitted in sanctuaries, scenic reserves, and domains”. Permits would only be given to museums, and all foreign collectors would be accompanied by a government officer “experienced in bird matters and his expenses borne by the collector”. It was one of the Society’s earliest “wins”. Meanwhile, Sanderson was trying to persuade the government to designate the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands a bird sanctuary. His first attempt, in 1925, failed because there was a £40-a-year grazing lease with seven years still to run. But he didn’t give up and carried on bombarding the government with letters. “Should the natural beauties of the islands be damaged or destroyed, it would arise indignation in all civilised lands,” Sanderson wrote in one of his letters. He sent scientific information about the islands’ unique flora and fauna gathered by the eminent botanist and Forest & Bird Vice-President Dr Leonard Cockayne. The Auckland Islands were gazetted a reserve in 1934.

Tīeke saddleback, circa 1933.

Lily Daff

SAVING SADDLEBACK

n November 1925, Sanderson set off on an expedition to Hen Island, east of Waipu on the Northland coast, helping Forest & Bird stalwart Harold Hamilton, from the Dominion Museum, catch tīeke North Island saddlebacks. The caretaker of Kāpiti Island, Stan Wilkinson, joined them. They captured 18 tīeke and took some over to Little Barrier, where they liberated them. The rest were taken to Kāpiti Island and freed there. We’ve found evidence that Sanderson made arrangements with the station masters all the way back to Paraparaumu, via Whangārei, Auckland, and Palmerston North, to make sure 7

the birds were safely transported to their new home! In 1930, ornithologist Bob Stidolph reported that the saddlebacks were thriving on Kāpiti Island. Sanderson saw New Zealand’s offshore islands as essential refuges for species at risk of extinction, although he would later argue against the practice of moving birds around the country. In the 1920s, the loss of huia was still keenly felt among conservationists. In fact, Sanderson would drop everything to lead expeditions into the bush to investigate reported huia sightings, as he did in February 1924, when he travelled to Akatarawa River, north of Wellington, but to no avail.

A Lost Harmony (Huia). Hannah Shand

DEER MENACE

rom 1923, the Society promoted science-based ideas and conservation solutions ahead of its time, including raising awareness of the damage “noxious animals” – introduced deer, goats, possums, cats, rats, and stoats – were making to native forests. Sanderson, together with Leonard Cockayne and soil scientist Lance McCaskill (Vice-President, 1932), made it their mission to educate the public about what they called the “deer menace”. In 1930, the Society’s advocacy led to the government organising a Deer Conference in Christchurch on

STOPPING GODWIT SHOOTING

Sanderson’s Underwood typewriter. Forest & Bird Archives

the impact of browsing mammals. Sanderson and Cockayne attended along with other interested groups and several government departments. McCaskill sent two representatives from the Society’s Otago section. The government agreed the animals were pests and pledged “war on deer” at the conference. Ministers removed regulations that had up to this point protected browsing mammals and allowed free year-round shooting of deer, chamois, and tahr to control their numbers. It was another early win for the Society. In 1935, the Forest & Bird Protection Society wrote to every general election candidate in the country asking them to stop forest destruction in watersheds, saying it led to erosion, flooding, and poor water quality. In the same letter, Sanderson also called for an extension of the government’s campaign against deer, pointing out the Department of Internal Affairs’ 9000 target was less than 5% of the annual natural increase of the pests that were ruining native forests. “Is New Zealand for deer or for mankind?” he asked.

Leonard Cockayne (left) with Harry Ell. Forest & BIrd Archives

uring the 1930s, Forest & Bird called for an end to wild duck hunting and for absolute legal protection for kuaka bar-tailed godwits. At the time, it was still legal to shoot native ducks, including parera grey teal and pāpango black teal, as well as kuaka godwits and other visiting shorebirds. Sanderson published articles in Forest & Bird’s magazine about the Godwit hunter, 1930s. long-distance flyers and called for godwits to be added to the list of absolutely protected birds and for Pārengarenga Harbour, in Northland, to become a godwit sanctuary. In an letter to the Minister of Internal Affairs in 1933, Sanderson said hunters were concentrating on certain species and extinction would result. “Ducks were rapidly disappearing and godwits would follow,” he wrote. The Minister refused to fully protect godwits from the gun but agreed to a shorter season, in 10 locations, with Lily Daff, August 1936 a bag limit of 20 a day. Sanderson said this didn’t go far enough. “The slaughter of godwits is really a disgrace to New Zealand,” he added. After a prolonged campaign by the Society and others, kuaka finally received absolute protection in 1941. William Parry, the Minister of Internal Affairs, announced the move in December 1940, saying it was proposed “as a Centennial gesture, to place the godwit on the protective list”.

REGIONAL REPS

S Early donation receipt, 1931. Forest & Bird Archives

ENDING BIRD LIMING

n 1935, Forest & Bird organised a petition signed by 8000 New Zealanders calling for an end to the horrific practice of bird liming. At the time, poachers and collectors were putting the sticky substance on branches to capture live birds so they could be sold to private bird collectors. The petition was presented to Parliament by a group of Society members, including Elizabeth Gilmer, daughter of former Prime Minister Richard Seddon, who helped collect signatures. She was an active member of the Society and became a Vice-President in 1934. As well as an end to bird liming, the petition called for the abolition of wild bird trafficking. Mr Field, the MP who presented the petition, spoke in favour of it and pointed to the great cruelty inflicted by the liming and the loss to bird life. Several other MPs spoke in support. The government’s Bird Lime Regulations were passed in 1936 and 1937, prohibiting the possession of bird lime or using it to capture birds.

Forest & Bird’s bird lime petition, 1938. Forest & BIrd Archives

anderson resisted the idea of setting up a network of branches, preferring instead to use the Society’s limited resources in other ways. He did appoint regional representatives. One of the first was Mr JB Speed, who became the Society’s Auckland representative in 1924. The first known Forest & Bird branch was established in 1928 in Raetihi by Tom Shout but didn’t last long. Then, in 1930, Sanderson arranged for meetings in Dunedin and Invercargill to form the Otago and Southland branches. They both closed within a few years, possibly casualties of the Great Depression, only to re-emerge two decades later. In 1934, the Society’s magazine started publishing the names of its regional representatives. They were Bernard Sladden, Bay of Plenty; WW Smith, Taranaki; Perrine Moncrieff, Nelson; Leonard McCaskill, Canterbury; George C Thomson, Otago; and JB Thomson, Southland. They acted as the eyes and ears of the Society in their regions, reporting back on any local risks to wildlife and habitats and promoting the society’s national campaigns in their local communities.

This 1929 poster was displayed at tram and railway stations. Forest & BIrd Archives

UNITY OF CONTROL

Sanderson was a visionary whose primary objective in establishing his New Zealand Bird Protection Society was to secure public backing for a “vigorous campaign” to establish a single agency to protect and control birds, animals, plants, and fish in New Zealand. He explained the need for what he termed “Unity of Control” in a letter written in January 1923. Val Sanderson (1866–1945) “At present the control of our animals, birds and kindred inhabitants of the forest is administered in a very haphazard manner by various bodies most of them un-registered and therefore not fully responsible. Hence the balance of control is upset and we have the rabbit, deer, goat, pig and other troubles affecting the welfare of our forests, farmlands and efforts at arboculture. “Some of the bodies mentioned are working in direct opposition to other institutions. For instance, the Forest Service is trying to conserve forests while the Acclimatisation Societies continue to distribute deer. In the meantime, it is nobody’s particular business to protect our native birds.” In prophetic terms, he added it was of vital importance to act urgently “otherwise the balance provided by nature will be destroyed and the results in such a case would provide ruinously expensive to the community”. It would take nearly 45 years for Sanderson’s ambitious goal to come true, when the Department of Conservation was established in 1987 (see page 19).

Lily Daff (1885–1945) Artist | Book illustrator | Forest & Bird artist | Exhibitions Officer, Otago Museum

F Pérrine Moncrieff (left), on a field trip to Stephens Island, Marlborough. Alexander Turnbull Library

HEROINES IN HISTORY F orest & Bird was the first of New Zealand’s modern-day conservation groups, and women were involved from its creation, becoming vicepresidents, honorary secretaries, and executive board members. Despite women being active in all aspects of the first 50 years of the Society’s work, there has been limited scholarship looking into their lives and contributions to conservation. In 2020, Forest & Bird awarded a Force of Nature scholarship and archive support to Master’s student Tess Tuxford, of Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, to research, as case studies, the conservation work and impact of six early women members. They were Amy Hodgson, Pérrine Moncrieff, Elizabeth Gilmer, Violet Rucroft (Briffault), Lily Daff, and Audrey Eagle. Tuxford discovered the many and varied ways in which women contributed to conservation within wider societal themes of gender, class, and identity. The impact of these women was evident nationally and locally during their lifetimes. “Visitors undertaking the great walk in Abel Tasman National Park, picnicking in the Briffault Reserve, or admiring Wellington’s pōhutakawa at Christmas time experience the benefits of their hard work,” says Tuxford. These short profiles are based on Tess Tuxford’s research and findings. Taking Flight: The Role and Impact of Women in Forest & Bird’s Early History can be accessed at Bit.ly/3N2261g. 10

ollowing her mother’s death, the London-born artist moved to New Zealand in 1926 and found work in the government’s publicity department drawing native flora and fauna. In 1929, Daff was offered a commission by Sanderson and the Native Bird Protection Society to create a collection of artworks to raise awareness of her adopted country’s unique birdlife and promote the need for their preservation. Advised by famous ornithologists of the day, including Robert Falla, she created 52 beautiful and scientifically accurate watercolour bird paintings. These were published in two Forest & Bird books: New Zealand Forest Inhabiting Birds, in 1933, and New Zealand Sea and Shorebirds, in 1940. These were reprinted several times and distributed to schools well into the 1950s. The artworks also appeared on the covers of more than Lily Daff. Forest & Bird 30 Forest & Bird magazines Archives from 1933 to 1945. The artistic appeal of Daff’s paintings made them hugely popular, and the Society reprinted them on collectable cards, Christmas cards, and notepads. In 1931, Daff joined Otago Museum as a full-time artist and remained there until her death in 1945. A colleague remarked that Daff had made New Zealand birdlife more familiar to the general public than ever before. However, her work was frequently published without proper credit and was considered popular art rather than scientific illustration. While Daff’s work was not recognised at the time for the value it brought to conservation, it did pave the way for others, such as botanical artist Audrey Eagle, another Forest & Bird stalwart, to follow.

Tui.

Lily Daff

Pérrine Moncrieff (1893–1979) Ornithologist | Wrote first comprehensive field guide to New Zealand Birds | Founding member Forest & Bird and Vice-President | New Zealand’s foremost female conservationist of her generation

P At the age of 87, Amy Hodgson finally received public recognition for her botanical research on liverworts. Massey University Archives

Amy Hodgson (1888–1983) Botanist | Plant collection held at Te Papa | Used Forest & Bird trips to collect plants | Transformed study of liverworts in Aotearoa | Donated 14,000 liverwort specimens to Massey University

espite having the “instincts of a born research scientist”, it wasn’t until after the birth of her fourth child that Eliza “Amy” Hodgson set out on a path to becoming one of the greatest female botanists of her time. Her interest in plants was sparked by her headmistress Anna Spencer at Napier Girls High School, but Hodgson’s father wouldn’t allow her to go to university to study, instead insisting she remain at home to improve her domestic skills. She married in 1912 and a decade later started sending plant specimens to her former headmistress for identification, but married life continued to curtail her botanical work. She was living on a farm in an isolated part of Hawke’s Bay and couldn’t drive. So, when Forest & Bird started running family camps in 1953 to plant-rich locations, including Waikaremoana, Ruapehu, and Mount Egmont, Hodgson jumped at the chance to join the trips and collect specimens from further afield. The first meeting of the Wairoa section of Forest & Bird was held at her home in 1961. Once allowed to follow her passion, Hodgson overcame her lack of formal training to transform the study of liverworts in New Zealand. She was 42 when she published her first research paper and went on to publish 32 more. Hodgson’s research forms the foundation of knowledge on the species in New Zealand, according to Sandra Coney in Standing in the Sunshine. In recognition of this scientific legacy, Hodgson was awarded an honorary doctorate from Massey University in 1976, Amy Hodgson. Lucy seven years before she died. Hodgson collection

érrine Moncrieff considered herself a naturalist rather than a scientist. Like her good friend Val Sanderson, Forest & Bird’s founder, she believed protecting nature could lead to the survival of native birds facing extinction. This contrasted with the views of her predecessor ornithologists who thought they were doomed, so they killed and collected rare species as specimens for posterity. Born in London to a wealthy family, the diminutive Moncrieff was a towering figure in Forest & Bird. She was a founder member in 1923, appointed a Vice-President alongside Elizabeth Gilmer in 1927, and remained an effective voice for nature until her death in 1979. Moncrieff understood the value of educating and inspiring the public, particularly children, to want to look after native birds. One of her greatest contributions was the seminal publication, in 1925, of New Zealand Birds and How to Identify Them. Her book, which was dedicated to the children of New Zealand, made it possible for amateur birdwatchers to identify native species. But it was criticised by professional male ornithologists who called the bird descriptions “imprecise, poetic, and sentimental”. This mirrored similar criticism of female botanical and bird artists at the time. But Moncrieff’s book ran for five editions and was hugely popular. She also wrote for Forest & Bird’s magazine and judged the Society’s first children’s nature essay competition. Moncrieff played a pivotal role in the creation of Abel Tasman National Park, in 1942, an achievement for which she is best known. When writer Elisabeth Easther stumbled across Moncrieff’s writings, she was astonished the conservationist wasn’t better remembered. She created a solo show A Rare Bird about Moncrieff’s audacious exploits that premiered at Hamilton Arts Festival in 2023. Pérrine Moncrieff. Nelson provincial Museum

FINDING OUR VOICE 1946–1979 Lance McCaskill (centre) receives the Loder Cup in 1953 from Forest & Bird member Ernest Corbett (right), who was Minister of Lands, Forests, and Māori Affairs. Wikimedia Commons

feeding local intelligence to the Wellington national office on risks to nature from various threats, often the loss of native habitat through huge post-war economic developments – new roads, hydroelectric dams, and housing.

A booming post-war economy brought many challenges for the men, women, and children attempting to stop the country’s fast-vanishing nature from disappearing forever.

he Society’s rising profile after the Great Depression and World War II saw a rapid growth into the regions, with 13 official “representatives” located from upper Northland to Southland. However, branches were not encouraged under Sanderson’s leadership, with just four being established in the Society’s first two decades. Following his death in 1945, members started pushing for change – they wanted to form themselves into semi-autonomous groups that could work to preserve nature in their own backyards. As branches weren’t permitted under the incorporated society’s constitution, a workaround was proposed and “sections” were allowed instead. The first was founded by Lance McCaskill in Christchurch in 1946, with Auckland and Gisborne following in 1947. Run by volunteers, the first sections advocated for

nature locally and organised various conservation activities in their local communities, including guided trips to local scenic reserves and educational talks by conservation experts. Around this time, Forest & Bird volunteers started organising themselves into groups to carry out nature restoration projects in their own backyard. Sections and branches began planting native species, weeding, and carrying out pest control in local sanctuaries and increasingly on land left to the Society by its members (see right). In 1956, the Society’s constitution was changed so sections could become official branches. Thirteen sections and branches were established in the 1950s, followed by another nine in the 1960s, and 18 more during the 1970s. As the network grew to all four corners of the country, members played a vital role as the eyes and ears of the Society,

Forest & Bird families at Dawson Falls, Egmont National Park, 1967. Forest & Bird Archives

FAMILY CAMPS

key focus for the Society since its inception in 1923 was engaging children in a love of nature. In 1949, the first school groups were established, and many families experienced positive and sometimes lifechanging experiences at a series of annual “family camps” held in national or local parks and scenic areas. The first was in Waikaremoana, Te Urewera, in January 1953 and was described as

“an unqualified success”, with 58 attending, including 14 children. The last was held at Lake Rotoiti in 1983. The driving force and organiser of the family camps initiative was Society stalwart and keen deerstalker, hunter, climber, and tramper Bernard Teague (1903–82), who attended the inaugural event and gave one of the nightly illustrated talks called “In praise of Tūhoe country”. Teague had explored the forests of Te Urewera in his 30s and Bernard Teague was one of few Pākehā to be familiar with the area. In 1959, one of the camps was held at Rewarewa Marae, Ruatoki, Te Urewera. At the time, Teague was pressing for preservation of native forest in the nearby Ruakituri catchment of Wairoa River. Two years later, in 1961, he founded Forest & Bird’s Wairoa section and won the Loder Cup in 1964. Teague was a member of the Urewera National Park Board, served on Forest & Bird’s council for many years, and was elected Vice-President in 1969. He died in 1982, aged 78, having left a huge legacy for nature.

Rewarewa Marae family camp leaders: Violet Rucroft (top left), Bessie Jarram (blue cardigan), Alfred Morris Jones (holding taiaha), and Bernard Teague (bottom right). Forest & Bird Archives

INTO THE WORLD

n 1949, Forest & Bird became a member of International Union for the Protection of Nature, with the Society’s minutes showing a £12 bank draft was sent as the first annual subscription. Seventy years later, this organisation is known as the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Forest & Bird is still a member. Based in Switzerland, there are 1400 members from more than 170 countries. The Society serves as one of seven official New Zealand members representing the interests of Oceania’s natural taonga on the international stage.

Committee. William Fraser, of Whangārei, became the Society’s first representative. McGregor was chairman of the Society’s Auckland Branch from 1950 to 1953 and 1965 to 1968. At the request of the Society, he prepared a large independent report on the effects of deer populations on New Zealand’s forests and steep mountain slopes that was presented to Parliament around 1964. McGregor, who died in 1977, will forever be remembered for having done much to preserve Waipoua, the only forest reserve set aside in perpetuity by a special Act of Parliament.

LEAVING A LEGACY

Kauri tree being felled by loggers, 1950.

WAIPOUA GIANTS

fter World War II, the Society backed the efforts of Professor “Barney” McGregor, of Auckland University, to prevent kauri logging in Waipoua Forest, Northland, that had been instigated as a war measure. Forest & Bird joined three local preservation groups for a battle that continued fiercely until 22,500 acres were declared Aotearoa New Zealand’s first kauri forest sanctuary. It was officially opened in 1953, and Forest & Bird was invited to nominate a representative to sit on the Forest Sanctuary Advisory

rom the 1950s, we see an uptick in the number of New Zealanders gifting land with high natural values to Forest & Bird. In 1951, Hugh Alexander donated land that today forms the Society’s oldest reserve, Ngaheretuku, near Clevedon, south of Auckland. It contains significant stands of regenerating kauri and kahikatea forest and abundant birdlife, and Forest & Bird volunteers have been looking after it for the past 70 years. By the Society’s 50th birthday, in 1973, branch volunteers were managing more than 800ha of nature reserves all over the country.

Fencing party at the 43ha Walter Scott Reserve, Waikato, gifted to the Society in 1963 by sisters Mary and Lilian Valder. Forest & Bird Archives

NATIONAL PARKS ACT

ne of the most significant pieces of environmental legislation ever placed on the statute books in Aotearoa New Zealand was the National Parks Act of 1952. It had the purpose of protecting in perpetuity, as national parks, for “the benefit and enjoyment of people, scenery of such distinctive quality, or natural features so unique or beautiful, that their preservation is in the national interest”.

Mount Cook National Park headquarters, 1960s. Forest & Bird Archives

At the time, there were five national parks (Tongariro, Egmont, Arthur’s Pass, Abel Tasman, and Fiordland), and the Federated Mountains Clubs, Forest & Bird, and others had long lobbied for more to be established. A breakthrough came when the first National-led government came to power in 1949. FMC and Forest & Bird worked with the new Minister of Lands Ernest Corbett to create a series of the long-awaited new parks and reserves. Corbett, a dairy farmer from Taranaki, was the first Forest & Bird member to become Minister of Lands, as well as Minister for Forests and Māori Affairs. The conservative politician made excellent use of his position, adding 500,000ha to the national park system and 147 scenic reserves. Between 1953 and 1956, he succeeded in bringing three new National Parks into the fold, all historically reserves – Mt Cook, Urewera, and Nelson Lakes. These were later followed by Westland and Mt Aspiring National Parks. 14

Maria Island today.

Neureuter Family

MAKING HISTORY ON MARIA ISLAND

n the 1950s and 60s, introduced mammalian predators were a burgeoning concern, with rats decimating birds on island nature sanctuaries, the march of introduced “opposums” northwards, and an ongoing deer menace all over the country. In 1960, a Forest & Bird junior section from Blackpool School, Waiheke Island, made history by systematically poisoning all the Norway rats that had recently swum to tiny Maria Island, in the Noises, and decimated a colony of ground-nesting white-faced petrels. They and their indomitable teacher Alistair McDonald, with the blessing of the Wildlife Service (the forerunner to DOC), laid rat bait over the island and killed all the rats. The Wildlife Service took over the project when McDonald left the island in 1961, and it was officially declared rat-free in 1964, a world first. Over the next three decades, other Forest & Bird branches in Auckland and greater Wellington would help pioneer a series of

Alistair McDonald in 2019.

Kevin Hackwell

landmark community-led island restorations at Tiritiri Matangi, Matiu Somes, and Mana Islands.

Junior members of Forest & Bird with Alistair McDonald, late 1950s.

ROYAL CHARTER

he Society received a Royal Charter from the Queen on its 40th birthday and became the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society in 1963. It had grown from a handful of members in March 1923 to 10,000 by March 1963. Around the same time, the Executive commissioned a well-known director, John O’Shea of Pacific Films, to make a documentary about New Zealand’s natural heritage and the work of the Society in protecting it. The Need for Nature was released in 1969 and shown before the main feature in cinemas all over the country during 1970. Today, the restored 16-minute colour film provides a fascinating window into the conservation concerns of the Society as it headed towards its first half century, with footage of Arthur’s Pass, the Wairarapa, Kāpiti Coast, Ruapehu, Tarapuruhi Bushy Park, and Waipoua, and shots of Forest & Bird members carrying out conservation activities.

SAFETY IN ISLANDS

ecuring suitable offshore islands to turn into bird and nature sanctuaries occupied the mind of the longest-serving President Roy Nelson, who led the Society from 1955 to 1974. He was desperately worried about fast-disappearing indigenous flora and fauna after huge swathes of habitat Roy Nelson on the mainland were cleared to make way for post-war economic developments. In 1959, Nelson sought advice from ecologist Ian Atkinson, of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, on the availability of islands to buy for conservation purposes in the Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Plenty. Atkinson produced a list of possible candidates. In 1967, Nelson Maud Island frog. Zealandia pledged a generous donation to help the government buy Mangere Island, Rēkohu, to save the Chatham Island black robin from imminent extinction. Then, in 1976, at the request of the Wildlife Service, the Society organised a fundraising appeal that smashed its targets and helped the government purchase Maud Island, in the Marlborough Sounds, to protect the endangered Maud Island frog. The rest of the money went towards the restoration of the karure kakaruia black robins’ forest habitat on Mangere Island.

Catherine Beard

Lake Manapōuri.

Jake Osborn

PIVOTAL MOMENT

ig post-war hydro-electric schemes threatened some of New Zealand’s wild rivers and freshwater lakes and led to the Save Manapōuri campaign, a turning point in New Zealand’s environmental history. Forest & Bird threw down the gauntlet in 1960 and spent the next 12 years fighting to save the lake in Fiordland National Park from being inundated as part of the Manapōuri power project, including organising what was then the largest petition in the country’s history, signed by more than 260,000 people. The cost of the fight nearly bankrupted the Society, but the campaign was won after the incoming Labour government backed away from raising the lake in the face of mass protests. Plans to raise the lake’s water level were cancelled in February 1973. The huge outpouring of public anger radicalised a new generation of conservationists who joined the “cause” of nature protection, and environmental groups sprung up, including Greenpeace in 1974 and the Native Forests Action Council (NFAC) the following year. The dawn of the modern-day conservation movement had arrived, and Forest

& Bird experienced a huge jump in membership, which hit 20,000 for the first time in 1975. The influx of new supporters brought in more donations that allowed the Society to widen its reach and impact. The stage was set for some of the most tumultuous times in New Zealand’s environmental history.

Forest & Bird President Roy Nelson delivers the Manapōuri petition to Minister Riddiford in 1970. Forest & Bird Archives

CHILDREN IN

CONSERVATION

Auckland schoolchildren planting trees for Arbor Day, 1990. New Zealand Herald

Young people have played an important but overlooked role in conservation over the past 100 years.

he early Forest & Bird prioritised children, who founder Ernest “Val” Sanderson described as possessing a “natural sympathy” for wildlife, and he made every effort to reach out to them. Others supported him in this work, including his friend and Vice-President Pérrine Moncrieff, ornithologist, conservationist, and Girl Guide leader (see page 11). The Society offered a one shilling child membership and special rates for families and schools, and campaigned for a bird day in schools. Sanderson also published bird posters and books for children, while providing written resources to teachers. One of its first child-focused publications was the poster Young New Zealanders Protect Your Native Birds! Published in 1923, it was sent to 2000 schools and is the first instance of the Society endeavouring to show children what native birds look like. A dedicated children’s page was included in its magazine from 1926, an initiative of founder member and Vice-President Arthur Messenger, a talented artist and writer. Later, the Junior Section would be written by children themselves. Perhaps the most pressing issue for the early Forest & Bird was the need to put a stop to harm to native birds by “young vandals”, including stealing eggs. It achieved this by establishing bird clubs in schools and sparking an interest in their protection. Nevertheless, there remained a few bad eggs. One newspaper article Young New Zealanders poster, 1923. Te Papa (CA000450) described a Taranaki

teacher’s horror at finding some of the boys in her class “swinging nestling birds by the head until they were decapitated” (Bay of Plenty Beacon, 1940). The teacher questioned the children, who replied that “their father had told them birds were no good”. She made 12 of the boys members of Forest & Bird and instructed them to read the quarterly magazine. The boys later became the driving force behind the protection of native birds in the district. The School Journal, which was established in 1907, always supported Forest & Bird initiatives and the conservation cause in general. In 1928, the Society established an essay competition in its magazine for children to write about their own observation of a bird and its habits. Some of the essays were published, and the winner received a £5 prize. An essay from the Chatham Islands emphasised the “shamefulness” of destroying the native pigeon, pointing out their value in seed distribution. Why did the early Society prioritise children so adamantly? The answer lies in the context of a newly settled country, which was heavily focused on breaking in the land for farming and production, making adults difficult to reach with environmental issues, according to New Zealand historian Kirsty Ross. Adults who had a sense of connectedness to the land, and a desire to save it, turned to children, who, they reasoned, were more willing to listen and learn, Ross argued. As the first generation of New Zealand-born Pākehā began to identify with indigenous nature, there was a growing sense of instilling into children a love of natural heritage as a way of ensuring they carried this patriotism into adulthood, says historian Paul Star. Sanderson’s ties to Scout groups in New Zealand and the Society’s support of planting initiatives, such as Arbor Day, were part of the movement to educate children about the environment as a form of patriotism. The New Zealand Scouts Association, which wanted

to encourage a love of nature and respect for animals among its young members, formed an early alliance with Forest & Bird. It later created a bird warden proficiency badge. Scout groups helped distribute the Society’s posters, taking them into the remote places. In 1932, Sanderson supplied them with posters and galvanised tacks so they could put them up in tramping huts and on trees where birds might be found. During his 20-year leadership of Forest & Bird, Sanderson repeatedly spoke, with a sense of urgency, of the need for adults to save New Zealand’s nature for their children. In 1938, he published a poster and advert featuring his daughter Ruth superimposed over native bush (see right). Although a bird day in Save New Zealand for Your Children poster, 1938. schools never eventuated, Alexander Turnbull Library the Society did launch Bird Month in August 1931, and it ran for 15 years, a precursor, perhaps, to Bird of the Year. Forest & Bird Vice-President Elizabeth Gilmer successfully advocated to re-establish a national Arbor Day, which had run from 1892–1914 in New Zealand, as a way of engaging children in a love of their country’s flora and fauna, and promoting responsible citizenship. Gilmer organised for a tree planting to take place at Wellington College and used her contacts to invite the Governor-General Lord Bledisloe, who popped over from Government House to attend (see below). Forest & Bird sent three representatives to the event on 1 August 1934, including Val Sanderson. Together with many enthusiastic shovel-wielding pupils, they planted the pōhutukawa trees still flourishing today in front of the school, outside Firth Hall.

Planting pōhutukawa on Arbor Day, Wellington College, August 1934. Wellington College Archives

Ann Graeme with KCC kids, Conservation Week, 1992. Forest & Bird

I CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

he suggestion for a kid’s conservation club was made in 1987 by Gordon Ell, Vice-President of the North Shore Branch, who said: “Young people are friends of the future. For tomorrow, they will be trustees of our national heritage. Forest & Bird wants to secure their interests now.” Ell’s branch remit passed, and, in 1988, Forest & Bird established the Kiwi Conservation Club, the first national children’s conservation organisation in Aotearoa, with the mission of encouraging a love for nature and the natural world. Six months later, it had 3000 members. The framework for KCC’s activities was established by Distinguished Life Member Ann Graeme together with Andrea Lomdahl, an Australian conservationist. They wanted to encourage conservation activities that could happen in children’s own backyards, such as nature walks, predator control, education, and arts and crafts. “The birth of the Kiwi Conservation Club was the single biggest contribution any environmental group has made for the benefit of children and the environment,” says Graeme, who went on to lead KCC for two decades before serving as a volunteer KCC coordinator for many years. KCC’s resources align with the National Curriculum and are useful for educators, teachers, and those who are home-schooling their children. Many professional conservationists today cut their teeth as young KCC members. In 2016, Forest & Bird’s Youth Hubs were established for 14 to 25 year olds (see page 22). These groups are run by young people for young people, and they decide for themselves what conservation priorities and campaigns to prioritise. It’s clear that, given the right support, children and young people can be powerful voices for nature in their communities. 17

DEFINING THE WILDERNESS 1980–2023

After Manapōuri, Forest & Bird became the largest environmental group in the country and had considerable political clout. Over the next four decades, the Society’s volunteers, and increasingly its paid conservation staff, responded to the loss of swathes of native habitat to forestry, fishing, farming, mining, new dams, introduced predators, and other huge threats to nature.

Logging at Whirinaki Forest.

Forest & Bird Archives

FIGHTS FOR THE FORESTS

he haunting call of the South Island kōkako had fallen silent in the 1960s, with the last confirmed sighting in 1967. In 1979, Forest & Bird’s David Collingwood appointed a young postgraduate student called Rod Hay to carry out research into the impact of logging on North Island kōkako in Pureora, central North Island. This led to his groundbreaking discovery that possums were omnivores that predated the chicks of the North Island kōkako. Hay’s research helped speed up the end of logging in Pureora. The fight for the forests was building

momentum. Conservationists working through the Native Forests Action Council (NFAC), Federated Mountain Clubs, and Forest & Bird led mass protests to stop indigenous forest being chopped down all over the motu. They saved South Ōkarito and Waikukupa State Forests from logging in 1982, followed by the remnant podocarp treasures of Pureora and Whirinaki in 1984. The signing of the West Coast Accord in 1986 provided for the protection of a large proportion of the West Coast’s publicly owned rainforests. With donations flooding in from worried New Zealanders who wanted to see their native forests saved, the Society could afford to employ highly

skilled conservation advocates, people such as Kevin Smith and Gerry McSweeney. Over the next two decades, the pair notched up countless protections for the high Kevin Smith country and used the power of Forest & Bird’s large support base to negotiate the landmark 1991 New Zealand Forest Accord. The agreement was signed by conservation groups, including Forest & Bird, and the forestry industry. Under its provisions, forest owners agreed not to clear native forests to establish plantations and to protect remnants of indigenous vegetation within their plantations. For their part, conservationists acknowledged the environmental benefits of sustainably managed plantation forests.

North Island kōkako. John Parker Maddox

WHAT’S UP, DOC!

Native Forests Action protest, Charleston, 1998. Forest & Bird Archives

ATTEMPTED MERGER

here was another fight afoot during this time – one for the heart and soul of the Society. Its leadership came under pressure from a new generation of conservationists who wanted Forest & Bird to be more radical and less cosy with government. An attempted merger between Forest & Bird and the Native Forests Action Council was narrowly avoided in the early 1980s but shook the 60-year-old society to its core. What emerged was a newly invigorated organisation, more professional and ambitious, and backed by 40,000 paid-up members. Encouraging children to become conservationists of the future was seen as a priority by the Society. In 1988, it founded Aotearoa New Zealand’s first national children’s conservation group – the Kiwi Conservation Club. It was very popular, and new groups sprang up all over the country run by volunteers, who ensured its activities and nature advocacy were child-centred (see page 17). The Society also launched Wild Things magazine, with content designed to encourage children to become wildlife champions. It is still the only locally published nature periodical for children.

he huge shake-up of New Zealand’s environmental legislation in the 1980s and 1990s led to the establishment of the Department of Conservation, Ministry for the Environment, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, the Conservation Act, and crucially the Resource Management Act enshrining the notion of “sustainability” in law. Forest & Bird’s national conservation officer Gerry McSweeney spearheaded a group of e-NGOs who worked together over several years to advocate for a national nature agency to protect nature at scale. This led to the establishment of the Department of Conservation in 1987, securing one-third of New Zealand’s land mass Gerry McSweeney in the public conservation estate. But the Society discovered large chunks of land with high natural values had been misallocated and were at risk of being sold off for farming and timber. The crisis took priority over everything else, and staff, with huge support from members and nearly every branch, worked

Conservation Week poster, 2011.

DOC

frantically for six weeks to map all the misallocations (3000 in total) and catalogue them in a 250-page report known as the Crown Land Catalogue. It was presented to Environment Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer on 16 June 1987. He accepted its findings, and 600,000ha was reallocated to the public conservation estate.

WORLD HERITAGE

orest & Bird worked in partnership with the newly established DOC and Ngāi Tahu to achieve New Zealand’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site Te Wāhipounamu in South Westland. The Society sought to win the hearts and minds of New Zealanders by publishing, in 1987, a book called Forests, Fiords & Glaciers: The Case for a South-West New Zealand World Heritage Site with stunning images supplied by its members, including the legendary landscape photographer Craig Potton. Forest & Bird West Coast author and poet Keri Hulme (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe) added a strong indigenous voice to the campaign by penning a chapter for the book. The Booker Prize-winning writer was a lifelong conservationist and long-time Forest & Bird member. Te Wāhipounamu, the “greenstone waters”, was established in 1990. It encompassed 2.6 million hectares, almost 10% of New Zealand’s total land area, including four national parks: Westland Tai Poutini, Aoraki Mount Cook, Mount Aspiring, and Fiordland. Forest & Bird followed this huge success by continuing to press for similar recognition for other areas. This advocacy would

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New Zealand Sea lion, sub-Antarctic islands. EdinWhitehead

lead to World Heritage status for the sub-Antarctic islands in 1998. The five island groups (the Snares, Bounty Islands, Antipodes Islands, Auckland Islands, and Campbell Island), in the Southern Ocean south-east of New Zealand, have a high level of bird, plant, and invertebrate endemism. They are particularly notable for the large number and diversity of pelagic seabirds and penguins that nest there. Founder Val Sanderson, who unsuccessfully lobbied for stronger protections for the Auckland Islands in 1924, would have been proud.

PROTECTING WILD RIVERS

s economic development continued to trump (and trash) nature, huge areas of land were being destroyed in New Zealand, particularly freshwater habitats. Wetlands were disappearing at a rapid pace to make way for farm pasture and once wild rivers dammed and destroyed for hydro-electric schemes. In 1988, under the inspired leadership of President Keith Chapple (1996-2001), the Society fought against the renewal of water takes for the already built Tongariro Power Scheme. Chapple managed to persuade a planning tribunal to heed Māori and conservationists’ concerns over the

proposed minimum water flows in the Whanganui and Whakapapa Rivers. His 25-year campaign to return water to both rivers included the longest Environment Court case in New Zealand’s history, with Chapple, a boiler attendant, taking on the role of Forest & Bird’s legal advocate during the hearing. He went on to mastermind the establishment of a whio blue duck trust in the early 2000s with the Department of Conservation and Genesis Energy. This led to successful projects to save whio in the Whanganui and Taranaki areas. Later, in 2011, Forest & Bird played a major role in saving the wild Mōkihinui River from being dammed for a new hydro-electricity scheme.

Keith Chapple, Whakapapa Intake, 1990. Forest & Bird Archives

SAVING THE SEAS

n 1989, Forest & Bird launched its Coastal Campaign on a Wellington beach, calling for an end to marine pollution and overfishing, more marine reserves, and controls to prevent the deaths of seals and sea lions. The following decade, Forest & Bird’s staff, branches, and supporters were increasingly drawn into a new and relatively uncharted conservation battleground – the ocean. New technology allowed fishers to go further and fish deeper, creating environmental problems – the loss of healthy habitat, less fish abundance, and seabirds and marine mammals killed as bycatch. The Society responded to this crisis with a series of ambitious policy

Coastal Campaign launch, Wellington, 1989. Paul Estcourt/NZ Herald

asks calling for large networks of marine reserves, strong protection in law for all ocean life, ecosystembased fisheries management, and an end to destructive deep-sea mining and trawling. It was also leading by example with practical conservation projects all over the country. In 1981, Forest & Bird had used bequest funds to buy land at Te Rere, in the Catlins, to protect a hoiho yellow-eyed penguin breeding colony. It was the first of several southern seabird projects managed by the Otago, Southland, and Dunedin branches. Forest & Bird’s advocacy also led to the creation of new marine reserves in Auckland, the Bay of Plenty, North Taranaki, Whangārei Harbour, Wellington, and Nelson. Campaigns to protect Māui and Hector’s dolphins, albatrosses, and penguins followed. Forest & Bird’s hugely popular Best Fish Guide was first published in 2004, with three further versions to 2017. As New Zealand’s only independent consumer guide to ecologically caught seafood, it used a simple traffic-light system to rank more than 85 commercial seafood species but was actually based on hours of painstaking fish catch data analysis.

CLIMATE ACTION

n 1991, Forest & Bird’s membership peaked at 62,000 before falling away as the great fights for the forests were won. Its leadership turned its focus to climate issues. Ahead of the 1990 general election, the Society launched its Go Easy on the Earth campaign and issued an environmental challenge to all political parties. It published a political manifesto with 10 ways to “fix the planet”. This campaign marked the start of three decades of climate-focused advocacy, and it became increasingly apparent that climate change Forest & Bird’s Go Easy would change On The Earth book. everything and Forest & Bird put huge pressure on nature. In the 2000s, Forest & Bird took on the mining industry, leading the Schedule 4 protest in 2010 that stopped the government’s plans to open up high-value public conservation land, including national parks, to mining. Two years later, it organised a bioblitz on the Denniston Plateau that led to the discovery of a new species – the Avatar moth. The aim was to show the unique biodiversity that would be lost should mining go ahead. At the start of the Covid-19 economic crisis, in 2020, our advocacy influenced the government’s response to the pandemic, leading directly to the Jobs for Nature programme, a win for the environment and thousands of young New Zealanders who

Avatar moth discovered during a Forest & Bird bioblitz. Brian Patrick

gained employment through the initiative. In January 2021, Forest & Bird sent a 68-page briefing to the government setting out why protecting nature was crucial and should no longer be “balanced” against economic considerations. Putting nature first in all policy settings can create jobs, improve economic resilience, and help make New Zealand carbon neutral by 2040, it said. Forest & Bird continues to push for a naturefirst approach in all government decisions and believes the adoption of nature-based climate solutions is key to restoring all life on Earth.

Forest & Bird has been campaiging to save the Denniston plateau for two decades. Forest & Bird

DEFENDING NATURE IN COURT

rom the early 1990s, the Society quietly pioneered a new – and very successful – conservation tactic. It advocated for stronger environmental legislation and then used the laws it had helped establish to defend nature. The Resource Management Act 1991 was hugely significant for Forest & Bird as it could be used to protect native habitat from development. The Society published an eight-volume guide to the RMA for lawyers and held seminars for branches to help them use the RMA to protect nature in their regions. Then Forest & Bird had to defend the RMA from being watered down by lobbyists who sought to redraft aspects of the

Forest & Bird lawyer Sally Gepp leading a RMA seminar 2013. Forest & Bird

legislation. In 2000, the Society decided to employ its first in-house environmental lawyer, and Kate Mitcalfe was appointed to the position. The team grew over the following two decades and became a strong voice for nature in courts and council chambers all over the country. Forest & Bird’s lawyers have won a string of important environmental legal cases, including the precedent-setting Supreme Court case that stopped the building of the Ruataniwha dam, Hawke’s Bay, in 2017. Three years later, Forest & Bird worked with hapū from Motiti Island who wanted to restore depleted fish species, such as snapper and crayfish, to the Bay of “Empty”. The Court of Appeal upheld a decision in the Mōtītī case, establishing for the first time that the RMA could be applied to coastal waters to protect indigenous habitat, a hugely significant win for coastal areas all over the country.

Motiti Rohe Moana Trustees receive Forest & Bird’s inaugural Kōtuku Award in 2018 for tiakitanga ahurei (outstanding guardianship) in recognition of their ground-breaking marine protection efforts. From left, Te Atarangi Sayers (Trust technical advisor), Chairperson Umuhuri Matehaere, Maraea Brown (Kuia), Kataraina (Bunty) Keepa (trustee), and Hugh Sayers (Trust project manager). Caroline Wood

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FOREST & BIRD YOUTH

Branch volunteers John Talbot and Ian Jefferson build the kakī fence, 1981.

Forest & Bird

ROAD TO PREDATORFREE NZ

n 1981, Forest & Bird’s South Canterbury Branch funded and built what is believed to be the first predator-free fence in the country – to protect kakī black stilts in the Mackenzie Basin. The concept of predatorfree mainland “island” refuges took off in the 1990s, allowing bird refugees on offshore islands to leap back to their former mainland homes. Species such as pōpokotea whitehead, hihi, toutouwai North Island robin, mātātā fernbird, and kōkako returned to these new mainland island sanctuaries, where they could be seen and appreciated by more New Zealanders. This prompted an outpouring of

Kāpiti Branch trapper Errol Hardy, 1996. Forest & Bird

Juvenile kakī.

Craig McKenzie

conservation efforts across the country. In 2002, working with Auckland Regional Council, Forest & Bird began Ark in the Park, a landscape-scale restoration project in 300ha of the Waitakere Ranges, west of Auckland. The local branch organised pest control, and, two years later, after a 100year absence, whiteheads were reintroduced. Kōkako followed, and the Ark celebrated its 20th birthday in 2022. The Society also played a pivotal role in establishing the Predator Free NZ concept, organising a national hui of experts in 2012 to discuss whether it was scientifically possible to achieve – and by when – at our Ruapehu Lodge. This advocacy led to the establishment of the Predator Free New Zealand 2050 goal, in 2016, which has been supported by successive governments.

In 2016, high school and university students approached the Society wanting to form their own group, and Ngā Māhuri Tiaki Forest & Bird Youth was formed. It became an official Forest & Bird network in 2017. This has been a remarkable project for the Society, as this age group has brought new perspectives, energy, and ideas. In return, Forest & Bird Youth offers young poeple a chance to grow their leadership skills and further their own environmental interests. While KCC is child-centred, Ngā Māhuri Tiaki is youth-led, with its own leadership structure, local groups, and conservation priorities. With a mission to “take action for nature as youth, with youth, for youth”, its mahi is supported administratively by Forest & Bird’s national youth network support coordinator. A network of Youth Hubs operates throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. They manage their own conservation projects and contribute to others. They also organise conservation workshops and advocacy campaigns and take part in climate marches. Those who can’t access a local hub can access virtual hubs focusing on digital campaigning, online communications, and education. In 2021, moves to formalise Youth involvement in Forest & Bird’s governance structures were agreed at June’s AGM. The Council now includes two Youth representatives, who are allowed to vote.

Forest & Bird Youth Award winner Sophie Handford (centre) at the first School Strike for the Climate, 2019. Forest & Bird

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS 1923–2023 Gaining absolute legal protection for most native birds, reptiles, amphibians, and some insects and snails. The key to this was first establishing the principle that all native birds deserved to be safeguarded with virtually no exceptions. This was enshrined in the Wildlife Act 1953 and later extended to other species, including kea.

Securing new marine reserves and stronger protections for seabirds and marine mammals. Successfully campaigning for marine protected areas from Northland to Southland, and World Heritage status for the subAntarctic islands. Reducing bycatch deaths by achieving stronger controls for endangered seabirds and marine mammals.

Developing a groundswell of public concern and involvement in conservation. Achieved through mass membership and a nationwide branch structure so every town could have its own conservation group. Managing 37 Forest & Bird nature reserves and completing hundreds of volunteer-led restoration projects.

Helping establish the Department of Conservation to manage one-third of the country’s land. Securing huge wins for nature during a shake-up of environmental legislation in the 1980s, leading to the Conservation Act 1987, the Ministry for the Environment, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, and the Resource Management Act 1991.

Demonstrating the importance of offshore islands as vital wildlife refuges. Securing new sanctuaries and spearheading efforts to protect and restore islands from the Kermadecs to the sub-Antarctics. This work saved many endangered species. Protecting native species by campaigning against unwanted pests and weeds. Successfully advocating for stronger controls on browsing mammals in 1930 that led to 1.5m deer being culled over the following 25 years. Preventing the introduction of new pests and predators and biosecurity threats, including weed plants. Securing “national parks for the people” through the National Parks Act 1952. This protected the best remaining natural heritage in perpetuity and led to the establishment Abel Tasman, Mount Aspiring, Westland, Urewera, Paparoa, and Kahurangi National Parks. Securing new conservation parks to protect the high country and tussock grasslands in Canterbury and Otago. Progressively ending logging on state-owned land. Securing the first kauri forest park at Waipoua, saving huge areas of beech and podocarp forests in both islands, negotiating three forestry agreements with industry, and leading a public campaign to establish Te Wāhipounamu South-West New Zealand World Heritage Site in 1990.

Using the new legislation to defend nature in courts and council chambers. Employing lawyers to stop the loss of more native habitats and species by taking successful legal action against councils, commercial interests, and governments. Working with Motiti Island hapū to establish a landmark ruling that regional councils can use the RMA to protect coastal conservation values.

discovering a new moth species. Winning Te Kuha coal mining legal case in the Supreme Court. Working for 100 years to rid Aotearoa New Zealand of introduced mammalian predators. Carrying out the world’s first rat eradication on Maria Island in 1959, building the country’s first predator-free fence in 1981 to protect kakī, helping create the Predator Free New Zealand concept in 2012. Showing how climate change impacts on nature. Promoting actions to mitigate global warming since 1990. Helping secure stronger international climate targets, advocating for the 2020 Jobs for Nature programme, and promoting nature-based solutions to improve community resilience and biodiversity. BEING A VOICE FOR NATURE FOR 100 YEARS & COUNTING...

Seeding future conservationists. Engaging children and families in a love of nature for a century, publishing resources for schools, and providing opportunities for families and young people to participate in conservation. Pioneering childcentred conservation by establishing Kiwi Conservation Club in 1988, followed by Forest & Bird Youth in 2016. Saving lakes, rivers, and wetlands and securing better freshwater protections. Protecting Lake Manapōuri, and the Whanganui, Mohikinui, Ruataniwha, and Ngaruroro Rivers. Supporting the case for Farewell Spit, Lake Ellesmere, and Waituna Lagoon to become Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance. Stopping government plans to allow mining on conservation land with the highest protection (Schedule 4). Raising awareness of the special nature of the Denniston Plateau, including

Wandering albatross. Kimball Chen

FOR THE

OF NATURE There are lots of ways you can make a difference with Forest & Bird. MAKE A GIFT Our conservation work is almost 100% funded by generous New Zealanders through regular donations, major gifts, and bequests. Setting up a regular donation is one of the most important things you can do to help nature. Find out more at www.forestandbird.org.nz/become-regular-giver. We’d also love to hear about any fundraising events you have planned. Go to www.forestandbird.org.nz/support-us or contact fundraising@forestandbird.org.nz. If you already help us in this way, thank you!

JOIN FOREST & BIRD For $57 a year, you can join our Forest & Bird whānau and access a range of benefits. Membership includes four Forest & Bird magazines each year, connection to your local branch, and the chance to make new friends, help with local conservation projects, and access our wilderness lodges, regional gatherings, and other Forest & Bird events. Go to www.forestandbird.org.nz/joinus.

VOLUNTEER We manage more than 100 nature restoration projects around the country. This mahi is helping return native wildlife, including birds, lizards, bats, freshwater fish, and insects,

to places it once thrived. We also welcome volunteers who want to support our national nature advocacy work. Find out more by going to www.forestandbird.org.nz, or email office@forestandbird.org.nz explaining how you would like to help.

LEAVE A LEGACY A bequest to your favourite conservation charity can help secure the kind of future you want for our wildlife and wild places. Let us know you are leaving a gift in your will, and we can help ensure the money is directed to the conservation issues that matter most to you. We have partnered with Gathered Here to offer a free online will-writing service for our supporters – see www.gatheredhere.com/nz/c/forestand-bird-nz.

GIVE A TRAP This new initiative matches donors with community-run projects around the country. You can buy a predator trap on the Give a Trap website and have it delivered directly to your chosen project. Once the group receives your gift, they’ll put it to work and send you regular updates through our platform. Check it out at giveatrap.org.nz.

FUTURE CONSERVATIONISTS Children (aged 5–13 years) and schools can join our Kiwi Conservation Club from $24 a year, which includes our popular Wild Things magazine, access to hundreds of nature activities on our kid-friendly KCC website, and volunteer-led family nature trips in many areas – see https://kcc.org.nz/ membership-options/. Forest & Bird Youth costs $45 and empowers young people aged 14–25 years to learn, lead, and network in the conservation and climate space. Membership includes a Forest & Bird magazine subscription – see www.forestandbird.org.nz/ our-community/forest-bird-youth.

Dabchick.

Bryce McQuillan

FURTHER RESOURCES For more about Forest & Bird’s current work and campaigns, see www.forestandbird.org.nz. A digital version of this publication and Forest & Bird’s magazine archive (2005–today) can be accessed at https://issuu.com/forestandbird. n See the Papers Past website for historic Forest & Bird magazines (1923–1975) at paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/forest-and-bird. n Forest & Bird’s historical archives were donated to Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, in 1973. For help in finding historical records, contact office@forestandbird.org.nz. n n

100 YEARS & COUNTING... WRITER AND EDITOR: Caroline Wood • PROOOFREADER: David Cauchi • DESIGN AND ARTWORK: Dileva Design • COVER SHOT: Bryce McQuillan • DATE OF PUBLICATION: February 2024 • CONTACT: editor@forestandbird.org.nz