Forest & Bird Magazine 375 Autumn 2020 by Forest & Bird

Forest Bird N E W Z E A L A N D ’S I N D E P E N D E N T VO I C E FO R N AT U R E • E ST. 1 92 3

TE REO O TE TAIAO

№ 375  AUTUMN 2020

WILD ABOUT

NATURE Albatross AMAZING

CLIMATE

ACTION

MARVELLOUS MARGARET ATWOOD

Contents ISSUE 375

• Autumn 2020

Editorial

Seabirds

Nature news

Profile

2 Step lightly on the planet 4–5 Letters 6 Overfishing legal action 7 Bat-tagging project success 8 Bathurst fine, data gaps,

biodiversity breakthrough, hope for Foulden Maar

12 Amazing albatross 15 Tracking toroa 16 Marvellous Margaret Atwood

Vote for nature

20 Policies for the planet

10 Whitebait protection, kiwi

Cover

Climate

avoidance, public perceptions

22 Lizard life 26 New Zealand’s blue-sky thinkers 27 Know your carbon footprint

COVER SHOT Jewelled gecko:

28 Future of coal

Forest & Bird Project 32 Rātānui reverence

Kiwi Conservation Club 35 Waste Warriors

Biodiversity

36 Wildfire extinction warning

Predator-free NZ 38 Waiheke wonders

Carey Knox

Thank you for supporting us! Forest & Bird is

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Renewal: Yellow-eyed penguin.

No new mines

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Our people

Freshwater

Going places

Research

Marine

Economy

In the field

Market place

Te ao Māori

Our partners

Parting shot

40 41 51 64

Allan Anderson obituary Making a difference Wild about nature Nature’s heroes

42 Sands of time 44 Kaumatua Kevin Prime looks forward to the future

48 Learning to love longfin eels 52 Wasp wipeout 54 Coastal care 56 CareSaver

58 Canopy Tours 60 Ghost fishing 62 Classifieds

New Zealand dotterel

Tourism

57 Nature under siege

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Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. Forest & Bird is a registered charitable entity under the Charities Act 2005. Registration No CC26943. PATRON Her Excellency The Rt Honourable Dame Patsy Reddy, Governor-General of New Zealand CHIEF EXECUTIVE Kevin Hague PRESIDENT Mark Hanger TREASURER Alan Chow BOARD MEMBERS Chris Barker, Kate Graeme, Richard

Hursthouse, Monica Peters, Te Atarangi Sayers, Ines Stäger CONSERVATION AMBASSADORS Sir Alan Mark, Gerry McSweeney, Craig Potton DISTINGUISHED LIFE MEMBERS Graham Bellamy, Ken Catt, Linda Conning, Audrey Eagle, Alan Edmonds, Gordon Ell, Philip Hart, Joan Leckie, Hon. Sandra Lee-Vercoe, Carole Long, Peter Maddison, Sir Alan Mark, Gerry McSweeney, Craig Potton, Fraser Ross, Eugenie Sage, Guy Salmon, Lesley Shand

EDITORIAL

STEP LIGHTLY ON THE PLANET

have been thinking a lot about my personal carbon footprint as I recently became a besotted grandfather (yes, she is wonderful!). But my now eight-month-old grand-daughter lives in Sydney, and it’s quite possibly that she and her parents will move to the UK before she starts school. Therein lies my dilemma. Do I get on that plane, while knowing my actions are directly contributing to making the world a more hostile place for my grand-daughter and the rest of her generation? Or do I not fly and miss out on seeing her grow up and develop? Flying regularly across the globe to visit family and friends or for work, when the world is facing an imminent ecological crisis, is a “wicked problem”. Whatever we humans do – as individuals at work, at recreation, or in our personal lives – we produce environmental impacts, which means we are all contributing to the climate crisis. It’s not possible for most of us to change our entire way of life overnight, but each of us can make step-bystep changes and try to bring entire communities along on the journey. Which brings me to the subject of carbon offsetting. A healthy forest in Aotearoa – with low numbers of introduced browsing mammals – can capture 2.5 tonnes of carbon per hectare each year. Fully offsetting a flight from Dunedin to Auckland would enable 2ha of forest to be fully managed for possums, thereby absorbing up to an additional 2.4 tonnes of carbon a year, Heavy browsing by possums can reduce the leaf area in any given area of forest by 50%. Eradicating possums,

or managing them to a very low level, would enable these deforested areas to absorb an additional 1.2 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year. Offsetting a year’s running cost of an average car would enable more than 3ha of possum-free bush to absorb an additional 3.6 tonnes. Young climate activists like Greta Thunberg and our own Sophie Handford are justifiably furious at the “boomer” generation for helping create an imminent catastrophe. Full carbon offsetting does not solve the problem of the climate crisis. Nor does it absolve a person’s responsibilities. But it can help people of all ages act in a positive way. If individuals and companies can’t – or won’t – reduce their carbon footprint, they can at least offset it. These schemes provide an avenue for people to offset important travel in a meaningful and environmentally positive way. Next time you travel, consider fully offsetting your trip. And watch this space as there are exciting plans afoot for Forest & Bird to be active in this area.

Mark Hanger Forest & Bird President Perehitini, Te Reo o te Taiao

Kahurangi National Park Shellie Evans

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

LETTERS YOUR FEEDBACK Forest & Bird welcomes your thoughts on conservation topics. Please email letters up to 200 words, with your name, home address, and phone number to editor@ forestandbird.org.nz, or by post to the Editor, Forest & Bird magazine, 205 Victoria Street, Wellington 6011, by 1 May 2020. We don’t always have space to publish all letters or use them in full.

WRITE AND WIN The best contribution to the Letters page will receive a copy of New Zealand Seaweeds: An Illustrated Guide by Wendy Nelson, Te Papa Press, RRP $65. A definitive guide to our marine algae with 500 illustrations by New Zealand’s leading seaweed expert.

Know your carbon footprint

Maria Island memories

We are very supportive Forest & Bird members and enjoy your magazine. We care about the environment and especially about climate change. We founded the charitable Carbon Neutral NZ Trust to raise awareness about the issue. Prof James Renwick is one of our supportive idols – he has talked at our events and provided relevant research materials. His advice (Summer 2019) is spot on – everybody needs to do something to mitigate climate change. While the Zero Carbon Bill is guiding the “big boys”, simple behavioural change by all individuals will amount to many small contributions which will become large as a sum. The first useful step is to find out one’s own carbon footprint, and for that purpose we have developed free and easy-to-use carbon calculators for households and small businesses. We also recommend watching the documentary 2040 based on The Drawdown Project by Paul Hawken. It is informative and uplifting rather than depressing.

Thanks for the Maria Island article (Summer 2019). Very enlightening. I visited there and laid rat baits with Don Merton. I was not aware that others had also been doing that work and our published data attributes the eradication to Don. Possibly because other published material at that time did not have a name for the Forest & Bird youth section leader Alistair McDonald. Our first published reference to this work was Moors 1985, which does include reference to Forest & Bird. I was also part of the team that did the first translocations from Taukihepa/Big South Cape Island. I can assure you that we did no rat control work on that expedition. We went to the southernmost parts of the island where there were no rats at that time. The rats were there when Brian Bell and others returned the next year and rat bait may have been used then.

Rolf Mueller-Glodde & Inge Bremer Kerikeri

Do we need a game animal council?

BEST LETTER WINNER

Editor’s note: See page 27 for more on how to measure your own carbon footprint.

Heart-warming story I was touched by the lovely story on page 36 of Issue 374 – “Cradle of Predator-Free”. The smile on Alistair McDonald’s face was so special and seemed to indicate his delight at his actions so many years ago [with the help of his junior Forest & Bird group and beloved rat dog Pip] at eradicating rats on Maria Island. It was great to read that you had “found” Alistair after five years of trying and that at 87 years of age he could receive recognition in the magazine. Heather Hay Dunedin

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Dick Veitch Papakura

In “Game Animal Council Vacancies 2020” (The Dominion Post, 18 December 2019), the Department of Conservation stated that the Minister of Conservation seeks nominations for membership of the council. Can the existence of this quango be justified? It imposes costs on taxpayers. It does not advocate for elimination of pest animals. It has been estimated that circa 250,000 feral deer infest our native forests – fallow, red, rusa, sambar, sika, and white-tailed deer. In addition, thousands of tahr, chamois, goats, pigs, wallabies, possums, hares, rabbits, and feral stock ravage our native forests and alpine plant communities. These grim statistics indicate that, no matter how vigorous the efforts of DOC, Land Information NZ, Pāmu/Landcorp, regional, district, and city councils, and private hunters to cull pest animals, it will be decades, even centuries, before no wild animals remain. The hunting lobby cannot demand any hint of protection for the multitudes of introduced pests. The taonga of our native plant communities is under siege from the pest animal plague. DOC’s primary mandate is

to protect our indigenous ecosystems. Thus, if the Game Animal Council is to continue to exist, its mandate must be rewritten to promote the progressive elimination of pest animals from the wild. Chris Horne Wellington

No Trojan horses I was surprised to read the letter by Mr Parker (Spring 2019), incensed that New Zealand was exercising the precautionary principal by not embracing genetic modification for pest control. We have hard-won comprehensive legislation restricting the use and release of genetically modified/edited organisms precisely because the public does not want GMOs in the environment. Pest-free 2050 should not be used as a Trojan horse to push and promote technologies that, while looking great in the imaginations of some scientists, have the innate potential to cause unintended catastrophic and irreversible consequences if unleashed. Here in New Zealand, many genetically modified cattle and goats at AgResearch have been subject to deformities, chronic illnesses, early cancers, abortions, and death (see www.gefree.org.nz) This information isn’t documented on the Royal Society website in any way. Contrary to Mr Parker’s scathing assertions of GE Free NZ, it provides comprehensive and current information which is very well referenced. Michelle Androu Auckland

Ethical investing Prompted by the article in the magazine (Summer 2019), we set out to review our investments with Kiwibank KiwiWealth. We were quite horrified to find significant investments in fossil fuels and that these investments also included no less than three entities

READER COMPETITION We are giving away two copies of Lost Gold: Ornithology of the subantarctic Auckland Islands edited by Colin Miskelly and Craig Symes, Te Papa Press, RRP $55. Written by expert contributors, this is the first book about the incredible birdlife of these remote isles. To enter, email your entry to draw@forestandbird. org. nz, put GOLD in the subject line, and include your name and address in the email. Or write your name and address on the back of an envelope and post to GOLD draw, Forest & Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington 6140. Entries close 1 May 2020. The winner of the tūī painting donated by Laura Layton (RRP $600) was Lynette Tulloch, of Hamilton. The winners of Dragonflies & Damselflies of New Zealand were Lindsay Cuthbertson, of Wellington, and Richard George, of Asburton. The winners of South Canterbury Limestone were Vaana Langdon, of Auckland, and Lauren Ferriss, of Auckland. The winners of 50 Best Birdwatching Sites were Ilse Corkery, of Whangarei, and Ashley Conland, of Wanaka.

involved in mining tar sands in Canada. I don’t think you can do much worse! After some communication with the investment management team, they basically responded with greenwash statements straight from the industry. So, needless to say, we have pulled all our investments out and found Mindful Money a most useful resource. Thanks again for the prompting us to review our investments and we only recommend that other members do likewise. Eric Burger Lower Hutt

SEA LION SUNBATHERS Patti and her newborn pup enjoying Aramoana beach on New Year’s Eve. When mum headed out to sea, a team of human volunteers guarded her pup from people and dogs. Thanks to volunteers from the Aramoana Conservation Trust and NZ Sea Lion Trust who have been braving all weathers to “mind” sea lions this summer. Janet Ledingham

Autumn 2020

NATURE NEWS OVERFISHING NOT OK

Tarakihi

orest & Bird is seeking a judicial review of tarakihi catch limits – the first time we have taken legal action to try to stop over fishing in New Zealand’s waters. It follows last September’s decision by Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash to allow tarakihi stocks to remain overfished for the next 25 years. Forest & Bird doesn’t believe this is environmentally sustainable and is seeking a judicial review of the Minister’s decision. The East Coast tarakihi stock has been seriously overfished. In 2018, Fisheries NZ determined that the species had been depleted to only 15% of natural (unfished) abundance. “Tarakihi is an important coastal fish, so it is very concerning it has been overfished to this extent,” says Forest & Bird chief executive Kevin Hague. “This is a critically low level. There is clear government policy that says any overfished fish stocks to this extent must be rebuilt. In the case of tarakihi, this should happen within a maximum of 10 years.”

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

In 2018, Minister Nash rightly decided that a 10-year rebuild time frame was appropriate and that a 55% cut in commercial fishing would be needed to achieve that rebuild. He decided to take a phased approach to the rebuild, making an initial 20% cut to commercial fishing catch limits. But then, in his 2019 decision, the Minister announced the commercial catch limit would only be reduced by 10%, which means it will now take 25 years for the stock to rebuild. To make matters worse, Fisheries NZ’s own modelling shows there is only a 50% likelihood of the tarakihi stocks recovering in that 25-year time frame. “The Fisheries Act is far from perfect, and Forest & Bird believes it needs a significant overhaul to bring fisheries management into the 21st century,” adds Kevin. “But, even under the current system, fish stocks should be managed sustainably. This decision should

Darryl Torckler

be a concern to anyone who makes their living from the sea and to recreational fishers and tangata whenua because it is simply not sustainable fishing. “Forest & Bird considers that the Minister has been incorrectly advised and has come to a decision that does not meet the legal requirements under the Fisheries Act for New Zealand’s East Coast tarakihi population.” Forest & Bird is also concerned the Minister relied on a voluntary plan provided by the fishing industry on how it would help tarakihi stocks recover. The Industry Rebuild Plan includes a promise that commercial fishing boats would temporarily move from an area if they are catching too many undersized fish. We say this non-enforceable plan shouldn’t replace an appropriate catch limit.

“BELLADONNA” THE BAT LEADS TO ROOST The year 2020 is off to a fantastic start for Forest & Bird’s Top of the South Te Hoiere/Pelorus Bat Recovery Project – with the discovery of nine roost trees! All of the roosts are within the area where our trappers work tirelessly to reduce the rats, stoat, and possum populations. The volunteer trapping team, led by bat ecologist Dr Gillian Dennis, succeded in catching and radiotracking their first long-tailed bat “Belladonna” at the Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve, Marlborough, in early January. Gillian attached a tiny radio transmitter to the back of the breeding female, and the team then used tracking gear to follow the signal – and the bat – back to

her roost. The transmitter, weighing less than a gramme, falls off after about a week and does no harm to the bat. Using a harp trap placed in front of the roost entrance, they captured 56 bats, mostly mums and their offspring. A further 21 bats of unknown age were seen avoiding the trap and escaping into the night. The team went on to attach transmitters to another two pregnant females they called “Boronia” and “Brenda”, leading to the discovery of a further eight roost trees within the managed area of the reserve. Volunteers Nick Eade, Jenny Easton, and Catriona Gower were amazed to see so many bats at once after so many years of seeing just a few flitting around above the Pelorus carpark and street lights at dusk.

Previous attempts to catch bats in the reserve have been unsuccessful, but a new acoustic lure has provided a breakthrough.

One of the tracked longtailed bats. Nick Eade

NATURE NEWS BATHURST FINED FOR POLLUTING MUDFISH HABITAT Bathurst Resources has been fined $18,000 after pleading guilty to polluting the habitat of New Zealand’s most endangered freshwater fish, the Canterbury mudfish. The mining company had previously received 27 abatement notices from Environment Canterbury.

In the sentencing decision, the judge commented that “the offending took place in a vulnerable environment which is a highly important habitat of a nationally threatened species” and that “there is a high degree of culpability on Bathurst”. The company is planning to expand its operations on the Buller Plateau and currently holds a number of Overseas Kōwaro or Canterbury mudfish are slipping Investment Office (OIO) towards extinction. Angus McIntosh/University of Canterbury approvals to own sensitive land. “Bathurst Resources has shown a callous disregard for New Zealand’s environment,” says Forest & Bird’s Canterbury and West Coast regional manager Nicky Snoyink. “It is appalling they

are allowed to continue digging for coal anywhere, let alone near New Zealand’s most fragile environments, including the Denniston Plateau.” The Department of Conservation raised serious concerns about Bathurst’s likely impact on Canterbury mudfish habitat. Yet this advice, along with Bathurst’s history of environmental offending, was ignored by the OIO, which decided to give them permission to expand their activities. “The government should be demanding answers from the OIO and making sure Bathurst is never again allowed to destroy what New Zealanders most love about our country – our environment,” adds Nicky.

→ The future of coal mining, see page 28

HUGE DATA GAPS IMPACT E-REPORTING We don’t know enough about the state of our environment because of “huge” gaps in data and knowledge, according to Environment Commissioner Simon Upton. The Commissioner says data gaps, along with inconsistent data collection and analysis, make it hard to construct a clear national picture of whether our environment is getting better or worse. Upton is calling for concerted government action to fix the problem, so decision-makers have access to more timely, accurate, and comprehensive information for environmental policy making. “Huge gaps in environmental data and knowledge bedevil our understanding. This is in stark

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

contrast with our economy, where we are much more reliably informed,” says Simon Upton. “In addition, the entire system is fragmented – multiple pieces of legislation create a mosaic of requirements with unclear responsibilities across organisations.” The Commissioner released a detailed review of how well New Zealand reports on the state of its environment last November. His report, Focusing Aotearoa New Zealand’s Environmental Reporting System, outlines steps the government needs to take to improve the “clearly inadequate” system. “For example, the last national

survey of land cover was taken in 2012 – how can policymakers make decisions using seven-year-old data?” he said. “Every year we delay the collection of data identified as a significant gap, we commit New Zealand to flying blind in that area.” You can read Simon Upton’s report here http://bit. ly/3btmx28

Focusing Aotearoa New Zealand’s environmental reporting system November 2019

BIODIVERSITY BREAKTHROUGH Thank you to the many thousands of you who made a submission on the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity – a breakthrough environmental policy that has the power to transform nature protection in New Zealand. The policy statement aims to provide some muchneeded clarity about how councils should protect native plants and animals on public and private land. The draft NPS was produced by a collaborative process involving stakeholders as diverse as Forest & Bird, Federated Farmers, and electricity generators. The submission period closed on 14 March. “This was a unique opportunity to hear the other side’s perspectives and come up with policy that everyone felt they could live with,” says Forest & Bird conservation advocacy manager Jennifer Miller. “As a result, the draft policy statement strikes a balance where farming and other existing activities can generally continue without too much oversight, but new activities that would destroy certain native plants or habitats generally can’t. It also makes sure the processes are fair. “The policy recognises that having conversations with landowners about their land is critical to the success of the whole process – they are often best placed to know what they’ve got and why it’s special.”

The Ministry for the Environment will now go through all the submissions before publishing a final NPS for Indigenous Biodiversity. You can read Forest & Bird’s fact sheet about the policy here http://bit.ly/2SXSOqL. Kākāpō “Stella-2-B-19” on Pukenui/Anchor Island, Fiordland. Jake Osborne

HOPE FOR FOULDEN MAAR The future of a priceless fossil record at Foulden Maar is looking up after Dunedin City Council announced it was moving to buy the land and legally protect the site. Mayor Aaron Hawkins said public opposition from the Save Foulden Maar campaign – led by former Forest & Bird staffer Kimberley Collins – and the views of scientific experts from the University of Otago had persuaded the council to act. A volcanic eruption near Middlemarch, in Otago, 23 million years ago formed a crater lake filled with diatomite – layers of silica-shelled algae (diatoms) and exceptional fossils of plants, fishes, spiders, and insects from the surrounding subtropical Miocene forest. As the only known maar of its kind in the southern hemisphere, it is one of New Zealand’s most important fossil sites. Foreign-owned mining company Plaman Resources wanted to mine the ancient volcanic crater and turn the fossil-rich soils into pig food. Following the

Foulden Maar panorama.

public backlash to its plans, which required Overseas Investment Office approval, the company was placed in receivership and voluntary liquidation in June 2019. In November last year, the city council issued “notices of desire” to buy the land under the Public Works Act. The council will get a valuation on the land and negotiate in good faith with the owner. If they can’t agree on a price, the council will go to the Land Valuation Tribunal and one will be determined. If they still can’t agree, the council will have one year to decide whether to proceed with a compulsory purchase. “As well as 23-million-year-old fossils, there’s a climate record unique to the southern hemisphere dating back hundreds of thousands of years. In the face of climate change and global biodiversity loss, it’s critical the council protects something that could teach us so much more about how to fix these global and important issues,” says Kimberley Collins, chair of Save Foulden Maar campaign.

Flickr/Kimberley Collins

Autumn 2020

NATURE NEWS

TIME TO PUT WHITEBAIT FIRST Forest & Bird’s believes the Department of Conservation’s proposed changes to whitebait management, released for consultation in mid-January, don’t go far enough to protect our threatened native fish. Whitebait is made up of the juveniles of six native fish species, four of which are at risk of extinction. We have been campaigning to get some basic fishery management tools back on the agenda for whitebait – namely a fishing licence, catch limit, and data collection, so we can better understand the impact of whitebaiting on native

fish populations. Simple fishing rules can be implemented now to help relieve the pressure on these declining fish. This will give New Zealand some time to rebuild damaged and destroyed freshwater habitat for whitebait to grow up into thriving adult fish populations. “All other species commercially fished in New Zealand have a catch limit. We think whitebait should be treated the same way,” says Forest & Bird’s freshwater advocate Annabeth Cohen. “We would like to see the introduction of a whitebait fishing

licence, catch limit, and data collection. These should be the minimum rules for managing a fishery that includes endangered native fish, some of which are found nowhere else in the world.” Better whitebait management rules are long overdue – the current regulations haven’t changed for more than 20 years. Thank you to the more than 7500 people who used our public submission page to send a message to DOC asking for stronger rules to manage whitebait fishing. This show of public support makes a big difference.

PĀMU’S KIWI AVOIDANCE TRAINING Farming giant Pāmu has introduced a programme on its Northland farms to help protect kiwi from farm dogs.

Peter Eagles (pictured) is farm manager on Pāmu’s Mangatoa farm, one of the trial sites for the kiwi avoidance training.

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Following a successful pilot programme on two of its farms, state-owned Pāmu, formerly Landcorp, has introduced a kiwi avoidance training policy for dogs residing on all its Northland farms that have kiwi. The farms involved are Kapiro, Takou Bay Dairy Unit, Puketotara, Mangatoa, and Takakuri. All of their dogs will receive training to reduce the risk that they will attack a kiwi. Pāmu Environment Manager Gordon Williams says, “Kiwi are especially attractive to dogs because they have a strong, distinctive smell. Kiwi find it hard to escape a persistent dog because they are, of course, famously nonflying birds. “This initiative will help ensure that our iconic national bird

continues to thrive within our farm operations.” Gordon says that, although there is no guarantee a dog will not attack a kiwi, the avoidance training will make a difference and it’s incumbent on Pāmu to do everything it can to ensure its protection. The policy has been endorsed by Kiwis for Kiwi, the national charity that supports communityled kiwi conservation initiatives. “It oversees the Kiwi Avoidance Training programme and has endorsed our pro-active approach,” adds Gordon. Forest & Bird signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Pāmu in 2018 to work together to promote best environmental practice in New Zealand’s farming sector.

PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS SURVEY New Zealanders are still perceiving nature to be in better shape than it actually is, according to Lincoln University academics who have released the findings of its 9th Public Perceptions of New Zealand’s Environment survey. The 2019 survey found that, on average, New Zealanders perceive the state of the country’s natural environment to be adequate or good, and people consider themselves to have a good knowledge about it. However, concern about climate change has increased dramatically in the past three years. “Around 70% of respondents considered the condition of New Zealand’s native plants and animals to be adequate or good, yet State of the Environment reports from organisations such as Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand and the Department of

Conservation suggest otherwise, and significantly so,” says Professor Ken Hughey, one of the report’s authors. “Ongoing survey results suggest that, while the majority of respondents are adopting some environment-enhancing activities, such as recycling household waste, relatively few people seem to involve themselves with activities outside the home. Only 15–30% of respondents said they took part in restoration or replanting or participated in environmental organisations, hearings, or consent processes. However, there is evidence of increased participation in some of these activities over time.” Māori respondents had more negative perceptions of the state of the New Zealand environment and were significantly more likely to participate in pro-environmental

activities, such as restoration or replanting projects. The survey, which remains the only long-running study of its kind in the world, assesses public perceptions on environmental pressures, the state of the environment, and the adequacy of resource management responses.

TOURS DESIGNED FOR THE WILDLIFE AND NATURE ENTHUSIAST… Since 2003 Jill Worrall has taken more than 1200 people to countries and regions all over the globe. One of New Zealand’s most successful travel writers and a geographer since school days, she loves designing and leading tours and has an impressive number of return clients. Jill’s good friend, Costa Rican German Rojas, has been guiding and managing tours for 20 years and has worked with Jill on many tours. He has a special passion for nature guiding and photography and a total commitment to his travellers. Wildlife of Brazil – August 2020 My first tour to Brazil in August 2019 sold out nearly a year in advance and it certainly lived up to expectations! We recorded at least 250 species, including amazing encounters with jaguar and giant river otters and then there were the spectacular birds, including hyacinth macaws and toucans. Wildlife of Uganda – September 2021 If seeing rare and highly endangered mountain gorillas in their home habitat is on your bucket list, this is the tour for you. But the gorillas are not the only animals we’ll encounter on this adventure - we plan to see chimpanzees as well and go on to safari in search of lions, elephant, buffalo and many more species. For more information please contact Moray on 03 0341-3900 or morayj@hot.co.nz. Visit Jill on jillworrall.com for her tour schedule to some inspiring destinations and follow her on tour via Facebook Testimonial from traveller on Brazil August 2019 tour “I need some time to reflect look at my photos and put the trip into context. The verdict is that the trip was outstanding and much more than I had expected (and my expectations can be quite high). We were surprised that a trip to the Pantanal that is such an amazing wilderness could be so free of crowds and that our group could feel that we were (almost) the only people there. I had not expected to see more than a glimpse of a Jaguar hidden deep in foliage, but to have five long encounters so close and so clear was unforgettable. The trip continued on this vein and swimming with the dolphins was an experience like no other. A wonderful trip and exceptional experiences and we were well looked after.”

BET TE R TOGETHE R

1 3 8 R I C CARTO N R D I 0 3 3 41 39 0 0 I R I C CARTO N @ H OT.C O. N Z

Autumn 2020

SEABIRDS

My heart soars when I watch these graceful giants elegantly skimming the waves. I marvel that their chicks I see on the hill will probably travel nearly 200,000km before I am likely to see them again.

AMAZING ALBATROSS

Forest & Bird is supporting World Albatross Day on 19 June. Please help us raise awareness of these incredible birds and the risks they face. Caroline Wood.

Photo: Wandering albatross

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Kimball Chen

staggering 90% of New Zealand’s seabirds, including albatrosses, petrels, and penguins, are at risk of extinction. In recognition of their vulnerability to fishing impacts, climate change, and introduced mammalian predators, Forest & Bird has declared 2020 to be the Year of the Seabird. We have 12 albatross species breeding in New Zealand. Nine are at risk from fishing, with four species in serious trouble. This is one reason why Forest & Bird is supporting a global call to better protect these incredible ocean wanderers. Thousands of albatross and petrels die every year as a result of fisheries operations in New Zealand and around the world, especially by longline and trawl vessels. Getting caught on hooks and in fishing gear is one of the biggest threats to seabirds as they’re attracted to the bait and caught fish, and the equipment can injure, trap, or kill them. New Zealand, like most other countries in the world, is yet to fully adopt best-practice mitigation standards. Most fleets are poorly observed, so no-one really knows what happens at sea. There is a lack of enforcement of existing regulation, which is often voluntary and not mandated. The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), the international body charged with looking after these special species, says there is an “urgent conservation crisis” for albatross. It has declared the first “World Albatross Day” on 19 June 2020. The theme of the inaugural event is the eradication of predators from their remote island breeding grounds. Forest & Bird is inviting bird lovers from all over the country to help us celebrate World Albatross Day. “As kaitiaki or guardians of half the world’s albatross species, we need to do more to protect and restore these majestic seabirds, the largest birds on the planet,” says Forest & Bird’s seabird spokesperson Sue Maturin, who has been working on New Zealand’s draft National Plan of Action on Seabirds. “As well as showcasing these epic ocean wanderers, the inaugural World Albatross Day is an opportunity for us to draw attention to their plight and urge governments and fishing operators in Aotearoa and around the world to do what some other countries have already done and adopt a goal of zero bycatch deaths.”

Forest & BIrd’s Sue Maturin with whitecapped albatrosses off the Otago Peninsula.

New Zealand’s albatross nurseries Aotearoa plays a critical role in albatross conservation, with half of the world’s 24 albatross species travelling vast distances to breed here – more than any other place on Earth. The remote islands in New Zealand’s Southern Ocean are important hotspots for albatross chickrearing, with some islands supporting multiple species – for example, the Snares (three species), Antipodes Islands (four species), Auckland Islands (four species), and Campbell Island (six species). Dunedin’s Taiaroa Head has the privilege of being the only mainland northern royal albatross breeding colony in the world. There are also albatross colonies on Manawatāwhi/ Three Kings Islands north of Cape Reinga (northern Buller’s), Hautere/the Solander Islands in the Foveaux Strait (Buller’s), and the Chatham Islands (Chatham Island albatross, northern royal albatross, northern Buller’s). Albatrosses fly incredible distances seeking food and can be spotted near the coast in many of New Zealand’s seabird hotspots, including the Hauraki Gulf, Tolaga Bay, Cook Strait, Kaikōura, the Otago Peninsula, Rakiura/Stewart Island, and the Foveaux Strait. Seeing one of these gentle giants is an experience never to be forgotten. Sue Maturin lives in Dunedin, just an hour from Taiaroa Head, where she is lucky enough to occasionally encounter a northern royal albatross – the world’s largest seabird. “Sometimes when we are kayaking at sea just beyond their clifftop colony, a pair of these magnificent creatures will land close to our small kayaks, and if we are lucky they will cackle to each other,” says Sue. “My heart soars when I watch these graceful giants elegantly skimming the waves. I marvel that their chicks I see on the hill will probably travel nearly 200,000km before I am likely to see them again.” Known as toroa by local Māori, northern royal albatross (Diomedea sanfordi) is particularly at risk

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Autumn 2020

→ from habitat loss through storms and climate change.

Since the mid-1970s, both the Taiaroa Head and Chatham Islands colonies have experienced a warming and drying of their habitats. Non-breeding toroa are also caught by longline fisheries in the Humboldt Current, off the west coast of South America, and on the Patagonian Shelf, off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of South America. “Fifteen of the world’s albatross species are considered critically endangered, endangered, or vulnerable, according to the IUCN’s Red List,” says Sue. “It’s devastating to think of these ocean wanderers

being so unnecessarily caught on a hook or tangled in nets and fishing gear.” Over the past year, Forest & Bird has been working to persuade the government to adopt a zero bycatch goal for all of New Zealand’s commercial fishing fleet. We recently made a detailed submission calling for stronger rules to prevent seabird deaths in the government’s draft National Plan of Action for Seabirds. Thanks to everyone who also made a submission via our website and to the 10,000+ people who signed our zero bycatch petition.

RESTORING ISLAND BREEDING COLONIES Once hundreds of thousands of albatrosses, petrels, and shearwaters would have flown all the way from the coastlines of South America to breed on Aotearoa’s grassy clifftops, sandy headlands, and remote offshore islands. Today we are lucky if we see a few dozen pairs of birds returning to breed in a mainland colony, and their eggs and chicks are often the target of a myriad of introduced predators, including possums, rats, stoats, hedgehogs, mice, and feral cats. Last April, for example, a single ferret wiped out all of the sooty shearwater chicks in Forest & Bird’s seabird restoration project at Sandymount on the Otago peninsula. But conservationists are fighting back. From the world’s first intended rat eradication in 1960 on Maria Island (led by Forest & Bird) in the Hauraki Gulf to the Department of Conservation’s current work trying to rid Auckland Island of mice, feral cats, and pigs (see Spring 2019), New Zealand is a world leader in island eradications. Remote habitat restoration specialist and helicopter pilot Peter Garden, of Wanaka, is supporting World Albatross Day on 19 June and hopes others will join him. “Albatrosses frequent the uninhabited places of the globe, but even here their very survival is affected by human activity,” he said.

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New Zealand conservationists are supporting World Albatross Day. Pictured are ornithologists Graham Parker, Kalinka Rexer-Huber, and Paul Sagar with some of the Salvin’s albatross on New Zealand’s remote Bounty Islands.

HOW YOU CAN HELP n 19

Organise an albatross awareness event to mark World Albatross Day on 19 June 2020 at your local branch, school, or community group. We can help publicise your event on our Facebook page – email editor@forestandbird.org.nz with details.

Write to the Minister of Fisheries Stuart Nash s.nash@ministers.govt.nz and ask him to do more to protect our albatrosses and petrels – including urgently implementing a zero bycatch goal for New Zealand’s fishing fleets, a full suite of enforceable mitigation methods, and 100% observer/camera coverage.

Make a gift to Forest & Bird to help fund our albatross and petrel protection work, including our practical seabird conservation projects – see www.forestandbird.org.nz/donate.

TRACKING TOROA William Gibson is one of a team of scientists at Fisheries New Zealand working on reducing the risk that some of our most vulnerable seabird species face from fishing. Last summer, 82 Antipodean and Gibson’s albatrosses were tagged in a joint survey between Fisheries New Zealand and the Department of Conservation (DOC). They are following the birds’ movements to see where they go when they leave their breeding colonies on the Antipodes and Auckland Islands, south of New Zealand. The tracking tags weigh less than a lightbulb and are attached to the flight feathers. They last for about a year before the birds begin to moult and the tag falls off. These albatross can stay out at sea for years at a time and travel as far as the west coast of South America, bringing them into contact with fishing vessels from New Zealand and the many nations fishing on the high seas. The Antipodean albatross, which only breeds on New Zealand’s Antipodes Island in the Southern Ocean, is one of the world’s most at-risk seabird species. Researchers Kath Walker and Graeme Elliot have documented a catastrophic population decline over the past 15 years, and the species could soon become extinct without human help. The cause of their decline is unknown but includes Many albatrosses live for 40 years, making them some of the longest-living birds on Earth. Photo: Antipodean albatrosses Kath Walker

fisheries mortality and possibly a warming ocean. “The current Antipodean albatross population is around 40% of what it was 15 years ago, and it’s not completely known why,” says William. “Knowing where these birds forage on the high seas will help us investigate when and where they are coming into contact with human activity and what the result of this might be. “While managing fishing interactions is important, it is scientifically unlikely that fishing alone accounts for the total observed decline. “There are likely some other compounding factors in the mix such as changes in environmental conditions or seabird behaviour,” he adds. Data from the project is part of ongoing work to map Antipodean albatross and its subspecies, the Gibson’s albatross. The results will feed into risk assessment models that in turn will inform the government’s new National Plan of Action on Seabirds to reduce the incidental catch of seabirds in New Zealand fisheries. William is keen to share the data he and others have been collecting. You can follow the birds’ flight paths on the project’s albatross tracking app – see https:// docnewzealand.shinyapps.io/albatrosstracker/.

India’s dawn chorus Join us for a fully escorted, small-group, bird-lovers and wildlife tour in north India. 20 days, departing 11 October 2020. India’s diversity of habitat types and altitudes give it a rich bird life. It has over 1200 bird species including 70 raptors, 30 duck and geese species, and 8 stork varieties. We visit 5 magnificent National Parks: in the Himalayas, the Ganges Plains and on the Deccan Plateau. In this season we will also see masses of migratory birds from north Asia. And wildlife, including tigers, is a bonus.

Contact: colourindia.co.nz | info@colourindia.co.nz 09 422 0144 | 021 138 4911

Autumn 2020

PROFILE

ON BIRDS, BOOKS, & HOPE Award-winning writer Margaret Atwood explains why she is supporting Forest & Bird’s conservation work. Caroline Wood.

uring a five-hour walk around Wellington’s Zealandia Eco Sanctuary, not one person recognises the world-famous author and environmental activist Margaret Atwood in the company of four Forest & Bird staffers and her agent Alex Fane. Atwood is a big twitcher, not of the “aww, isn’t it cute” variety, but because, she explains, birds tell us how the planet is doing. “Birds are an indication of the health of the planet, partly because they fly here and there, and stop along the way,” says Atwood. “So, if a species is declining, you should probably find out why, because whatever is causing it to decline will doubtless hit human populations shortly.” The bad stuff is coming faster than we think, she

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warns. The biggest issue for both nature and humans is climate change. We can see its impacts happening right now, she says, citing the recent devastating Australian bush fires. In Atwood’s home country of Canada, one in four birds is at risk, and she says climate impacts are their biggest threat. She has been actively involved in nature conservation and environmental activism for many years. I ask her when she became a lover of nature, and she replies (as quick as a whip), “I don’t love nature. I want to look after nature because we humans need it. It’s fundamentally vital to our survival.” And she uses her not inconsiderable public profile (Twitter followers: 1.9 million) and interviews with the world’s media to repeatedly highlight this and

other important conservation messages. She says her independence, and lack of an employer, means she can say what she likes without fear of “being sacked”. Atwood travelled around New Zealand during February promoting her latest best-selling novel The Testaments. The BirdLife International ambassador offered to support Forest & Bird’s conservation work while she was in the country. In return, she asked us to take her birdwatching. In between seeing takahē, kākā, tīeke (saddleback), toutouwai (North Island robin), and a myriad of other birds at Zealandia, Atwood fires questions at Forest & Bird conservation staff Kevin Hackwell and Karen Evans: “What’s the geology of this valley?”, “Do you have leaf-cutting ants in New Zealand?”, “What are the politics involved in restoring freshwater health?” She stops at every sign to read about the flora and fauna. This isn’t polite chit-chat. She really wants to know, and you can see her absorbing every scrap of information, storing it away to be used at some point in the future. A well-known polymath, Atwood regales us with interesting observations on life, in her soft-spoken Canadian tones, as we eat a picnic lunch shaded by lush regenerating forest. We explain how Forest & Bird’s Wellington branch came up with the idea of building the country’s first all-species predator-proof fence to create an eco sanctuary in the heart of the capital city. That was more than 30 years ago, and, over time, Jim Lynch’s dream to bring back the birds has become today’s much-loved Zealandia. Atwood is no stranger to volunteer-led nature restoration projects. In 2003, she and her late husband, the novelist and passionate conservationist Graeme Gibson, co-founded the Pelee Island Bird Observatory in Lake Eyrie, south of Toronto. Atwood regularly donates money to environmental and other charitable causes, including all of her Booker prize money.

Forest & Bird’s chief conservation advisor Kevin Hackwell (left) and Lower North Island regional manager Karen Evans with Margaret Atwood and her agent Alex Fane in Zealandia.

WORLD’S SECRET LIBRARY Margaret Atwood was the first writer to contribute to the Future Library Project – knowing her manuscript won’t be read by anyone for 100 years. Conceived by Scottish artist Kate Paterson, the Future Library Project aims to collect an original work by a popular writer every year from 2014. The works will remain in a special vault, unread and unpublished, until 2114. One thousand trees have been specially planted in the Nordmarka forest, in Norway, and the 100 manuscripts will be printed in limitededition anthologies using paper from the trees. Atwood’s submission is called Scribbler Moon, but she is sworn to secrecy and can’t reveal anything about her contribution. She travelled to Norway to hand over her manuscript, wrapped in blue ribbon, in 2015. Taking part in the project was about having faith in the future. “It’s a very hopeful project,” she says. “Think of all the hopeful things – there will still be people, they will still be able to read, they will still be interested in reading, there will still be books, and trees will have grown, there will still be a library in Oslo.” Kristin von Hirsch/ Future Library Project

“How strange it is to think of my own voice — silent by then for a long time — suddenly being awakened, after a hundred years. What is the first thing that voice will say, as a not-yet-embodied hand draws it out of its container and opens it to the first page?” Margaret Atwood.

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Atwood fans Kate Langdon, Pamela Lim, and Anna Lim with Margaret in Christchurch.

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A week after our Zealandia trip, Atwood spends the afternoon meeting some of Forest & Bird’s donors and bequesters during a small “in conversation with” fundraising event at Riccarton House, in Christchurch. We sit down to talk about her life, childhood, and environmental activism. As a child, Atwood would roam the northern Ontario wilderness spending spring, summer, and autumn in the Canadian woods with her family, and only going to school in the winter. In fact, she says, she didn’t attend school full-time until she was 12 years old. Atwood’s interest in birds and conservation was perhaps inherited from her parents, both early Sierra Club supporters. Her father Carl Atwood was an entomologist and deeply committed conservationist. He managed to stop the Canadian government from clear-cutting mature forest on the northern shore of Lake Superior during World War II. The forest remains intact to this day.

It’s not worth trying to save the planet unless we have hope. “We’ve known for a long time what would happen if we didn’t look after nature. It’s not new,” she says. “My father was an entomologist, a biologist, and the biologists knew all of this back in the 50s. It was dinner table conversation ... so I heard it all my life.” At the age of seven, Atwood was already writing – morality plays, poems, and comic books, and she had started a novel. By 16, she had decided to commit to writing full-time – although her first work wouldn’t be published until 10 years later. Now 80, Atwood is the author of more than 50 books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. Her 1985 dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale recently reentered the bestseller lists (global sales: eight million) on the back of a successful TV adaptation. She is also a cartoonist, illlustrator, librettist, playwright, teacher, and inventor of the LongPen. Back in Christchurch, Atwood reads her harrowing poem Midway Island Albatross Carcase about an 18

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albatross with plastic in its stomach. She talks about the urgent need to fix the world’s plastic problem and better protect our seas for both humans and nature because “when the oceans die, so do we”. “I was very happy to hear Forest & Bird is working to increase marine-protected areas, which is important not just for the health of the ocean but also for the increase in fish stocks,” she says. Nature conservation and the climate are woven into many of Atwood’s works, and she believes in the power of engaging children with the issues so they can “persuade their parents to do the right thing”. She tells us about her first graphic novel Angel Catbird, which was published in 2016 and features a superhero who is part-cat, part-bird. She coordinated the book’s publication with a campaign by Nature Canada to encourage pet owners to keep their cats indoors (with the encouragement of their kids). There are plans afoot to make it into a musical. Atwood’s wry humour and light-hearted side shine through our one-hour conversation and subsequent questions from the audience. I had heard she could do an excellent loon impression, and at the end of our conversation I risk asking her to share it. Atwood does not one but two different kinds of loon calls, much to the delight of everyone there, and one-ups this feat with a wonderfully eerie barn owl impression. Many of her novels warn of an apocalyptic future, including the slow-motion disaster of climate change and rapidly evolving bio-technologies. But she is adamant she can’t “predict” the future. Her work is influenced by what is happening around her, and it’s up to people to make the future they want. “Humans have created this mess. Can we also undo it, or is it too late?” I ask. Atwood says we shouldn’t give in to despair because, if we do, “the other side has won”. She believes there is still time to act and talks about the need for hope. “It’s not worth trying to save the planet unless we have hope,” she says. “Otherwise, we should all just go out and have a big party. “Pick something small that you can do. If everyone did that, we’d be done.”

Margaret Atwood with her first Italian publisher Mario Monti in Milan, 1976, for the Italian translation of The Edible Woman. Wikipedia

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Autumn 2020

VOTE FOR

NATURE

POLICIES FOR THE PLANET Forest & Bird has published a three-year plan for nature ahead of September’s general election.

South Island tomtit.

ew Zealanders love nature and want to protect it. It is part of our identity, the foundation of our economy, and what makes this country special. In fact, nature is at the heart of everything we do. But it has also reached breaking point. More than 4000 of New Zealand’s species are threatened with extinction, the oceans are depleted of life, once-mighty rivers are sick, and introduced predators are destroying New Zealand’s priceless taonga – our unique birds, bats, ancient frogs, and lizards. The climate crisis will make things worse. It will speed up biodiversity loss and put our livelihoods at risk. The future is already here with unprecedented wildfires in Australia and damaging storms in the UK. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We know investing in conservation works, and the decline can be reversed. If we look after nature, it will look after us. For example, healthy predator-free forests can help New Zealand become carbon positive and reduce global warming. Concern about climate change tipped 50% for the first time in Colmar Brunton’s Better Futures research last year. The top worry for New Zealanders was the build-up of plastic in the environment (72%), while 64% were concerned about pollution in our rivers and oceans. It’s clear voters want better climate policies, a fairer economy, cleaner fresh water, more predator control, and stronger ocean protection. Forest & Bird has drafted a practical and ambitious three-year plan for the next Parliament that will deliver on all of these priorities and more. It sets out a raft of

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Craig McKenzie

key policies in five domains (see right). If implemented by the next government, these transformative policies will bring fresh hope for nature and set our economy on a genuinely sustainable course. Over the next few months, chief executive Kevin Hague will travel around the country sharing Forest & Bird’s policy priorities with the public during a series of Forest & Bird roadshows. “This is the year to take urgent action to protect and restore what we love, now, before it is too late,” says Kevin. “In the run-up to the last election, the proportion of voters who said they would be taking into account the state of the environment when voting rose more than five-fold to 11%, and that was enough to have a significant impact on the subsequent new government’s environmental policies. “Today, that figure has risen to one in three voters, and we want politicians of all parties to reflect this groundswell of concern in their 2020 election policies. Forest & Bird is independent of any political party. We’d like to see all of them putting the environment first.” Progress has been made. Since 2017, the coalition government has given more funding for the Department of Conservation, passed the Zero Carbon Act, proposed freshwater reform (ongoing), and banned plastic bags. But there is still so much more to do. Our country needs a bold and ambitious plan that puts nature first.

TIME TO PUT NATURE FIRST

A taste of what is in Policies for the Planet, Forest & Bird’s three-year plan for nature.

KEY PRIORITY

WHAT?

EXAMPLE POLICIES

A safe climate for all life on Earth

Delivering a bold nature-first response to the climate crisis with everyone playing their part to help make this happen.

• Change the Climate Change Response Act to recognise the role of nature in New Zealand’s response and include measures to reduce ocean acidification. • Ensure carbon stocks are protected and enhanced through effective pest control on all public land within three years.

A kinder economy that serves nature and not the other way around.

Building a society that values nature for its intrinsic and life-giving values and recognises our economy is dependent on a healthy environment.

• Ensure businesses are required to reduce their environmental impact. • Tackle plastic pollution by adopting national reduction targets, banning avoidable plastics, and introducing a plastic pollution levy.

Natural landscapes are properly looked after, and government agencies have sufficient funds to protect vanishing species.

Implementing an ambitious plan to protect terrestrial landscapes and ecosystems – so native animals and plants can return to their natural abundance.

• Adopt a National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity that ends habitat loss and provides for restoration back to healthy ecosystems. • Significantly increase funding for the Department of Conservation by giving it 1% of Crown revenue so it can protect biodiversity throughout New Zealand.

Everyone – nature and humans – can enjoy healthy rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands.

Taking urgent action to restore our sick rivers and streams so they run clean and are teeming with life.

• Adopt/retain robust national standards on freshwater quality and quantity. • Increase oversight of regional government to ensure it is adequately protecting rivers, lakes, and wetlands.

Oceans are restored back to health so they can support marine and human life.

Overhauling our outdated marine protection laws and improved monitoring to help bring depleted oceans back to life.

• Introduce ecosystem-based fisheries management by reforming the Fisheries Act. • Protect 30% of New Zealand’s ocean environment by 2030 with a network of representative and meaningful marine reserves.

HOW YOU CAN HELP 1 Read Forest & Bird’s Policies for the Planet and share it with friends and family. 2 Enrol to vote, and encourage all your friends and family to do the same – go to https://vote.nz 3 Talk to your local MP about the policies you’d like to see their party adopt. 4 Organise a branch “Meet the candidates” event. 5 Suggest your local school runs a mock general election – see http://bit.ly/2uOaqMP 6 Donate to support our Vote for Nature advocacy at www.forestandbird.org.nz/donate. 7 Vote for nature in the September 2020 general election!

Download and share Forest & Bird’s Policies for the Planet at www.forestandbird.org.nz/votefornature. Autumn 2020

COVER

LIZARD LIFE

How much do we need to worry about poaching and other threats to New Zealandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unique geckos and skinks? Ellen Ozarka

Jewelled geckos like this one are prized by overseas collectors. They are found in small isolated populations from Canterbury to Southland. Carey Knox

ou may remember a dramatic lizard poaching incident in 2009, when German man Hans Kubus was caught at the airport with 44 geckos and skinks in his undies. It filled the news with amusing headlines and garnered international interest. Three years later, in 2012, another German reptile smuggler Andreas Hahn was caught and jailed for four months after pleading guilty to hunting and possessing

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four jewelled geckos discovered hidden in his socks. Our lizards are pretty cool, and unfortunately that makes them popular in the illegal international pet trade, where they can be sold for a hefty price tag. New Zealand is home to about 120 native species of lizard, and they are all endemic, meaning they are only found here. And new ones are being discovered all the time.

But with three-quarters of them at risk of extinction, our unique geckos and skinks are just as threatened as many of our iconic bird species. Unlike geckos in other parts of the world, New Zealand’s varieties are active during the day, very long lived compared with other geckos, and give birth to live young. They’re also exceedingly pretty, with one bright green species earning the name “jewelled gecko” in English, or “moko kākāriki” in Māori. But is lizard smuggling really as big a problem we think it is, or does it just garner the most media attention? “I’m worried about it for certain species and certain local sites,” says Otago herpetologist Carey Knox. “The poachers generally go for geckos rather than skinks. And they go for the pretty ones – like the jewelled gecko, of which we’ve had quite a number of instances of smuggling here on the Otago Peninsula.” Lizard poaching and other wildlife crimes used to be enforced by a joint task force called the Wildlife Enforcement Group (WEG), made up of staff from the former Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Customs, and the Department of Conservation. Between 2009 and 2012, DOC brought four successful prosecutions against seven foreign nationals for capturing and attempting to smuggle 68 protected native lizards out of New Zealand. However, between 2012 and 2014, WEG was disbanded for unknown reasons. Instead, wildlife crime enforcement responsibilities were divided between the then newly formed Ministry for Primary Industries and a compliance group within DOC. MPI’s biosecurity unit prevents exotic species from entering the country, and DOC’s compliance group works to stop New Zealand’s native species from leaving. At the time, this move was heavily criticised in the media, because WEG was highly effective and worked with international wildlife crimes agencies to stop lizard poaching before it happened, resulting in the capture of the two German smugglers, Kubus and Hahn, in 2009 and 2012 respectively. So what has been happening since 2012? It seems unlikely that, since then, poachers have hung up their undies and gone looking for geckos in other countries instead of New Zealand. DOC declined to give specific figures to Forest & Bird about how incidences of lizard poaching have been tracking over the past decade, saying that releasing the information would harm ongoing investigative work. There have been no lizard smuggling prosecutions in at least the last four years, since 2016, according to Forest & Bird’s check of court records. But does this mean that there’s been less poaching or that the bad guys are getting away with it following the disbanding of WEG?

DOC says it is aware of other alleged instances of smuggling since 2012 and also aware of attempts to break into protected areas to steal reptiles. “We have worked with border agencies to help identify high-risk persons of interest before they enter New Zealand,” says a DOC spokesperson. “To that effect, three people have been denied entry to New Zealand because of the risk they presented. “The department has also conducted surveillance on other persons of interest while they have been in-country. However, there have been no further prosecutions as a result.” In 2017, the government introduced much tougher penalties for smuggling lizards out of the country, and some experts think this may have led to poachers travelling to other countries with laxer rules instead. “We haven’t noticed any increase in activity locally. If anything, there’s been less activity in the last five years than there was in the five years before that,” says Carey Knox.

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A 30-year-old green gecko called Graham was taken from his terrarium outside a DOC visitor centre in 2017. His whereabouts are currently unknown. A Wellington green gecko. Leon Berard Autumn 2020

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“That could be because in 2017 the punishment for poaching increased to five years in prison or a fine of $300,000. “Of course, it’s a bit hard to estimate the amount of poaching, because it’s an illegal activity and a lot of it is underground.” The increase in penalties three years ago has certainly had an effect on the way in which smugglers look to illegally obtain our reptiles, along with the changing of smuggling methods, says DOC’s Principal Compliance Officer Dylan Swain. “Having said that, there will always be an element who are prepared to take the risk to obtain our taonga species, and we are prepared to deal with smuggling, or attempted smuggling, if and when it occurs.” In 2017, the much-loved Graham, a 30-year-old Marlborough green gecko, was stolen from his terrarium outside the Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre. While he was taken by persons unknown, there is no evidence Graham has been smuggled out of the country, says DOC. On 11 August 2017, a duct-taped closed lunchbox with dozens of native lizards jammed inside was discovered in the Christchurch Gardens, in a story uncovered by Newsroom’s Farah Hancock. Of the 58 geckos and skinks inside, only four were alive.

One theory is the lizards were collected by poachers to be smuggled overseas, wrote Farah at the time. Someone panicked and dumped them, or a courier organised to transport them did not show up and the lizards died. Dylan Swain says both cases remain open and enquiries are continuing. “The lunchbox of lizards in Christchurch is still very much an active investigation, and we are following strong leads,” he said. “The Fiordland DOC Visitor Centre matter is open, and we welcome any information in relation to it. “We encourage anyone with information to come forward or ring 0800 DOC HOT if they see anything suspicious.” More than 76% of New Zealand’s lizard species face the risk of extinction through habitat loss and introduced predators. While the numbers of geckos and skinks stolen is relatively small, it can have a huge impact on remnant populations of lizards that are already in big trouble in the wild. For example, in 2011, it was estimated that 100–200 jewelled geckos may have been illegally taken from the Otago Peninsula in the preceding years from a population of less than 1500. “Reptile smuggling poses a serious additional threat to wild gecko populations, as many of New Zealand’s lizard species’ populations are small and fragmented,

A Russian couple was suspected of coming to New Zealand in 2014 to illegally smuggle harlequin geckos like this one from Rakiura Stewart Island. Carey Knox

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with a restricted geographic range,” DOC experts said in a written report to the Environment Committee considering the Wildlife (Powers) Amendment Bill in June 2016. “Even low levels of illegal take can have significant effects on a population’s long-term survival in the wild, as geckos are very slow to recover from losses as they breed slowly – females can take up to eight years before they breed and produce two offspring a year at most. Poachers tend to target pregnant females.” In some good news, DOC says there will be an increase in capacity for the department during 2020 with “dedicated compliance staff recruited to help combat the illegal trade in native species”. So smuggling is still happening, and that’s a concern. But the biggest way Forest & Bird members can help their local lizards is to protect their habitat and eradicate mammalian predators. “We encourage people to keep an eye out for suspicious activity and report it, but we have to remember that there are other threats that we need to consider as well,” says Carey Knox. “Since we have limited funding to help lizards, we need to keep the issue in perspective and make sure we are also protecting them from introduced predators and restoring habitats, rather than spending it all on chasing poachers.”

Yellow-lipped green gecko

Euan Brook

REPORT SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY Most lizard poaching occurs from November until April/May when the lizards are most active. The compliance team at DOC is tasked with preventing and catching poachers, but they can’t be everywhere at once. When you’re out tramping, keep an eye out for any suspicious behaviour. If you are concerned about someone’s actions – perhaps they are lifting rocks, disturbing habitat, or rummaging in bushes – take note of the location, a description of the person(s), and their vehicle registration number and call the DOC hotline 1-800 DOC HOT as soon as you can.

Young hedgehog found on the track outside the pest exclusion fence of the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary. Tony Willis Wikipedia

HEDGEHOGS BIGGER THREAT THAN POACHERS The two biggest threats for New Zealand’s lizards don’t include dodgy Germans with speciallysewn compartments in their undies. They are the same two issues that threaten our native birds – predation by introduced mammals and habitat loss. “We probably lose more jewelled geckos to hedgehogs than we do to smuggling, but hedgehogs aren’t in the media for eating geckos,” explains herpetologist Carey Knox. “Rats would take many times more jewelled gecko than poachers do every year.” Habitat loss is an issue too. Lizards love messy gardens – long grass, craggy rocks, and tangled up shrubs like matagouri, matakoura, mānuka, kānuka, and coprosma. Unfortunately, when landowners tidy up these scrubby areas, it can be a devastating loss of habitat for lizards. We might call it ugly, but lizards would call it home. If you want to have a more lizard-friendly garden, plant dense shrubs and pile rocks with lots of hiding places. If you notice that lizards like basking in a certain spot, protect them from predators by attaching some chicken wire over top. You can also help lizards by keeping an eye out for them when you’re tramping and hiking, especially in Alpine areas, as there is still a lot to learn about our alpine lizard fauna. It’s illegal to disturb lizards and their habitat, but if you come across one take a photo and submit it to DOC or iNaturalist. It will help scientists to better understand what our lizards are up to in these hard-to-access areas. Autumn 2020

C L I M AT E

BLUE SKY THINKERS

Meet the New Zealanders dreaming up environmental technologies with the power to transform the way we live and use resources on a global scale.*

BioFab NZ, Auckland Traditional packaging/building materials use toxic materials, release large amounts of CO2 during manufacturing, and make up more than 30% of global landfill waste. The team at BioFab is creating packaging and building materials out of New Zealandgrown mushroom mycelium and wood chip. The biomaterial can be as light as polystyrene or as rigid and strong as plywood.

OneBin, Hamilton New Zealand sends 2.5 million tonnes of waste to landfill every year, but a quarter of this landfill is actually recyclable. OneBin is a smart waste bin that uses artificial intelligence and sensor technology to automatically separate all categories of recyclables from waste. It can be installed in shopping malls, airports, and offices and on pavements.

Radius Robotics, Christchurch Soil, and its critical ability to store carbon, is being depleted faster now than at any other point in history. Radius Robotics is building a robotic polyculture farming system with machine-learning software that will automate most grower tasks. This will eliminate harmful chemical use, regenerate soil, maximise carbon capture, and diversify yields.

EcoTex, Christchurch Only 3% of textile waste is recycled responsibly worldwide. EcoTexâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s LessCut innovation is looking to create a circular economy in the industry by turning textile offcut waste into warm homes. Its patentable process will repurpose synthetic fibres into insulation materials.

Compost Made Smart, Auckland More than a third of waste going to landfill is actually compostable. Compost Made Smart makes it easier for people to responsibly dispose of their organic waste with a compost-sensing device linked to an app with convenient, simple directions.

Zincovery, Christchurch Thousands of tonnes of zinc and acid is released into landfill and wastewater every year through the steel galvanising process. With its demonstration plant, Zincovery aims to recycle the industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spent acid and zinc for reuse within the galvanizing industry. The aim is to offer the service at a cost less than what these businesses pay to dispose of it.

*These innovators were among the finalists in the C-Prize challenge, run by Callaghan Innovation. Pictured clockwise from top left: Nakia Randell, James Ferrier, and Michael Khuwattanasenee; Dale Corlett, Ali Alqassab, Dr Mostafa Seifan, Carl Lickfold, and Dr Hedayati; Henry Bersani, Daniel Morris, and Rob Swatton; Jonathan Ring and Aaron Marshall; Sam Mcgerthy and Oscar Zhong; Carli Davis, Georgie Northcoat, and Andre Ayer. 26

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KNOW YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT We talk to a couple who have have created a carbon positive business and are keen to help others do the same.

orest & Bird members Rolf Mueller-Glodde and Inge Bremer co-founded the charitable Carbon Neutral New Zealand Trust in 2018 to raise awareness about climate change and the environment. They are keen to help people work out their own carbon footprint, and their website offers a free calculator for individuals and small business. Rolf and Inge run the popular Ora Ora Eco Retreat, in Kerikeri, Northland. Their business covers 5104m2, and they have a personal carbon footprint of minus 85,406kg of carbon! This is made up of 7461kg of emissions for two people less 92,867kg of carbon sequestration by their property’s trees, compost, and land. “While the Zero Carbon Bill is guiding big business, simple behavioural change by all individuals will amount to many small contributions that will become large as a sum,” says Rolf. “The first useful step is to find out one’s own carbon footprint. We have developed free and easy-to-use carbon calculators for households and small businesses. “You can calculate your energy, transport, travel, food, and waste emissions – and uniquely the sequestering of carbon by land size, trees, and compost is considered in your overall net-carbon footprint.” Forest & Bird Editor Caroline Wood tried out the calculator to work out her family of four’s carbon emissions. The questionnaire allows people to see the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions they are responsible for over a 12-month period.

It was easy to use, although she had to guess the number of trees of different sizes in her garden. “Despite having a garden filled with trees, two e-bikes, solar panels, a worm farm, and high-veggie diet, our carbon footprint is 5082kg a year,” says Caroline. “The biggest shock was that our food is responsible for the highest proportion of emissions – even more than travel. While I’m vegetarian, my husband and kids eat meat. “Flying was another issue for us as we have family in the UK and Australia, and offsetting already expensive flights is an added expense. But it’s something I’m going to look into for our next overseas trip.” Once you get the results, the calculator provides a handy list of actions you can take to reduce your emissions and increase your carbon sequestration. The website saves your data so it’s easy to work out the impact of making a change, like trading in a diesel car for an electric one. The calculator is a great starting point and will likely spark some lively family conversations about how we can all do our bit to reduce our carbon footprint. Why not try it out for yourself at https://www.carbonneutraltrust. org.nz/.

Autumn 2020

C L I M AT E

A WICKED PROBLEM

The time is right for New Zealand to turn its back on coal mining but will it? Jane Young

ar from quietly fading into the sunset, New Zealand’s coal industry has survived drastic restructuring, rollercoaster prices, and dogged opposition from environmentalists. We continue to mine, burn, and export coal, even though, globally, coal is the single biggest contributor to ocean acidification and climate chaos. To understand how we got here, we need to look back into the past of this boom-and-bust industry. The first recorded coal mine in New Zealand was a private affair, which started production in 1849 at Saddle Hill, Dunedin. By the end of the century, there were 163 coal mines in New Zealand – today there are just 18. Importantly, the government had also joined the party and state-run enterprises started digging coal out of the hole. By the 1950s, New Zealand State Coal Mines was producing more than half the country’s mined coal, and the workforce numbered about 5000. In the 1980s, with a big push for state-owned businesses to earn their keep, Coal Corporation was born, and later

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metamorphosed into Solid Energy. The new company performed well during the first decade of the 21st century, but then it started to dream big dreams, take on big debts, and ended up shedding big numbers of jobs. By 2012, Solid Energy was on the ropes. Then it went into a spectacular collapse, although it managed to avoid insolvency. Four years later, Bathurst Resources, a small Australian-born company, became the main benefactor from the fire sale of Solid Energy’s assets. Bathurst also had big dreams but, unlike Solid Energy, had managed to hang on by its fingertips until luck turned its way. A sizable chunk of that good fortune came from a most unlikely source. Talley’s Group is a long-established family food business whose website, bearing the slogan “Bringing you the best of New Zealand”, makes no mention that Talley’s is now the largest New Zealand investor in coal mining. Not only does Talley’s have a one-third stake in BT Mining, its joint venture with Bathurst, but it also

Bathurst’s Takitimu (formerly Nightcaps) Mine, in Southland. David Russell

holds 12% of Bathurst’s shares. Talley’s isn’t the only homegrown company set to benefit from any resurgence of the New Zealand coal industry. Birchfield Coal Mines, for example, is another familyowned company that has seized opportunities arising from Solid Energy’s demise. It has gambled on being able to resurrect shuttered mines such as Strongman, near Reefton, where underground mining ended in 2004, but which has now been brought back into business as an opencast operation. In January 2012, protesters had raised their “Keep the Coal in the Hole” banner over a chilly Southland sheep paddock not far from Solid Energy’s New Vale lignite mine. They would have found it hard to imagine that, just six years later, the New Zealand government would no longer own a single coal mine and that overseas investors would have a one-third stake in the industry. CURRENT PLANS FOR EXPANSION During the last three years, New Zealand coal production has been lower than at any time since 1998. But environmental activists shouldn’t throw away their banners just yet – between 2017 and 2018, there was an uptick in production of more than 10%. Exploration and mining permit applications currently lodged with the government’s New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals department don’t make for

encouraging reading either. There are plans to extend existing mines such as Echo near Reefton (Francis Mining) or Rotowaro near Huntly (BT Mining), and it’s apparent that Bathurst’s grandiose West Coast Buller project, which includes Whareatea West, on the Denniston Plateau, is still very much on the drawing board. Bathurst also holds exploration permits in Canterbury and, last September, was granted Overseas Investment Office approval to buy farmland near its existing mine at Coalgate, which largely supplies the dairy industry. The South Island dairy industry threw a lifeline to Bathurst during the years of uncertainty that preceded the formation of BT Mining and still plays a major role in keeping the company afloat. At present, there are no new coal mines consentedup and ready to go. The somewhat farcical attempts of the Sampson brothers to mine the Panirau Plateau, in Ohura, North Taranaki, appear to have subsided. But there are still uneasy question marks over the future of the proposed Te Kuha mine near Westport. Here Forest & Bird’s legal battle looked to take on the dimensions of the Escarpment saga, but then there was a major blow to Stevenson and Rangitira Developments’ plans when Ministers Sage and Woods refused to allow mining to go ahead on conservation land. The current situation is complicated, and it’s possible that the stately minuet of appeal and counterappeal will continue for some time to come. Autumn 2020

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AND THE FUTURE? Unanswered questions abound. Will the Zero Carbon Bill sprout teeth? Will the Resource Management Act be amended so that climate change can be taken into account when decisions are made? No legislation has been introduced to stop new mines on conservation land – will the policy survive a change in government? And so on. There are industries and communities with longstanding links to coal – breaking these ties won’t be easy. Nevertheless, in a world where both emissions and temperatures continue to rise, there are no excuses for inaction. In fact, for a whole raft of reasons, this is the ideal moment for New Zealand to escape from coal: • The country is beginning to grapple with the need to move away from fossil fuels and to develop alternative energy sources for heat production and electricity generation. • There are no new coal mines currently under construction, and the number of coal mining jobs is already at a two-decade low. • Coal workers have a wide variety of skills – it just requires the political will to develop industries in appropriate locations that will use those skills. • The government receives very little return from royalties, and a huge slice of any profits will now go to overseas investors rather than stay in New Zealand. • Coal prices are no more predictable than they have ever been and are affected largely by forces quite beyond our control.

• The divestment movement is gaining momentum

worldwide – coal mining will lead to stranded assets rather than to long-term economic gains. • New Zealand has committed to reducing its carbon emissions – this must include those produced by mining and burning coal. I have spent much of my time over the past five years researching the New Zealand coal industry for my new book. After a gestation period far exceeding that of the blue whale, my gigabytes of coal information were finally transmuted into Fuelling Dissension, which was published at the end of last year. But I can’t help feeling I’m no closer to being able to predict the future of coal and coal mining in New Zealand than when I started. That’s not really surprising. Any aspect of tackling the climate emergency is liable to be a “wicked problem” – one that is difficult or impossible to solve because it involves incomplete or contradictory knowledge, large numbers of people and opinions, and/or complex links with other problems. But we mustn’t let ourselves become paralysed by complexity. Ultimately, we have to do something very simple. Keep the coal in the hole. Jane Young’s Fuelling Dissension is available from Forest & Bird’s online shop – see https://shop.forestandbird.org.nz.

Glenbrook Steel, south of Auckland, uses about 800,000 tonnes of coal to manufacture 650,000 tonnes of steel each year, mostly for domestic use. Logan Voss

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Stunning landscapes at Whareatea on the Denniston Plateau are in Bathurstâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sights for a new open-cast coal mine. Mt Rochfort with Whareatea West in the foreground and right. Neil Silverwood.

GIVEAWAY We have two copies of Jane Youngâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fuelling Dissension (RRP $40) to give away. Jane examines the long-running battle between coal mining and conservation. She explains the historical, political, social, economic, and environmental aspects of the industry in New Zealand and asks how best we can sever our ties with this most polluting of fossil fuels. To enter, email your entry to draw@ forestandbird.org.nz, put COAL in the subject line, and include your name and address in the email. Or write your name and address on the back of an envelope and post to COAL draw, Forest & Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington 6140. Entries close 1 May 2020.

The proposed Whareatea West site is on public conservation land and has high biodiversity values. Kevin Hackwell

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+64 9 337 0997 | c2cpartners.co.nz

Leaders in sustainable & responsible investment advice since 1999

Autumn 2020

FOREST & BIRD PROJECT

RĀTĀNUI

REVERENCE

This 1000-year-old northern rātā in Forest & Bird’s Bushy Park Tarapuruhi sanctuary is the only New Zealand tree to feature in an international writing project called 26 Trees. Known locally as Rātānui, the ancient tree inspired writer Jayne Workman to question how it has survived so long in a landscape dominated by human activities. Lamp Studio

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

WITHIN Fern’s filigree, looping lianes, wintry light through waving leaves. Dappled, wild-beaten, generous bark, tīekes’ flutter-dance around. Giant roots in earthbound fuse, thick-skinned, craggy, centuries’ crease. Sunlit sway far above, distant rustle, distant blue. Plunder, clearance, roar and scream, thunderous crash, gnawing teeth, eyes-shut sigh as millennia fall, ghosts in the hollow of your slow embrace. Rātānui. Here. Still. JAYNE WORKMAN | Northern Rātā | New Zealand

biting 3°C start to a June morning, the coldest of the year, gives way to a brilliant day, exuberant, cloudless, blue. Opening the gate into Bushy Park Tarapuruhi, I wander wondrous forest galleries – lianes twining into perfect archways, intricate ferns fountaining overhead, palms lining the pathway’s curve. As I begin the gentle descent to Rātānui (Big Rātā in te reo Māori), sun filters through its ravaged canopy, creating a pool of light in the dense green. Flanked by kawakawa, ponga, and sapling sentries, the vast, swarming trunk is greyed and cracked, bark rough, peeling, scarred. Epiphytes, bursts of bearded green, perch in its craggy creases. Above, a leafy breeze. Here, just the flutter of rare tīekes around me. Rātānui is a northern rātā, a slow-growing native hardwood known for its stature and scarlet summer flowers. As a tiny seed, it drifts from the forest canopy, taking root on a mature tree. Vines reach downwards, twisting then gradually fusing around it, leaving a hollow in its shape when it dies, memorial to another time. As Rātānui’s life started, the first people arrived in Aotearoa. Māori built settlements, healing rheumatic joints and ringworm with steeped rātā bark, making little impact on the native forests still covering 80% of New Zealand. Centuries later, with the advent of Pākehā, logging accelerated. Woodsmoke from clearance fires hung in the air and the rasp of giant twoman crosscut saws sounded through the trees. In a grim turn, rātā, prized for durability, became axe handles, sawmills, tramways transporting logs out of the bush. Somehow, Rātānui survived. Searching the archives, I found an extraordinary document, on vellum, transferring 966 acres from Uru Te Angina to James Moore for £483 in 1880. Within Moore’s huge estate, famed for cattle and horse-breeding, 245 acres were spared, today’s Bushy Park. Crucially, in 1962, his son Frank left the rainforest and Edwardian homestead to conservation organisation Forest & Bird. By the 70s, rātā, and iconic cousin, pōhutukawa, faced extinction. Now, Rātānui, although severely damaged, is protected, along with its ancient community of native birds and trees by a predatorproof fence against rats, stoats, and possums that could destroy it in two years. Driving away, I see the pastured countryside with different eyes. The fields seem bereft, the trees, lonely. Behind it, I notice the invisible hand of human intent. I understand more clearly what’s missing – but, also, what we still have. In places. We should go there, all of us, whenever we can, I found myself thinking as I left. Jayne Workman is a UK writer living in Whanganui who was invited to write for the 26 Trees project (see overleaf). She recently joined Forest & Bird after her inspiring visit to the ancient forest at Bushy Park Tarapuru. Autumn 2020

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The 26 Trees project is being run in partnership with the UK’s Woodland Trust. The trust gave 26 British writers a specific species of tree to write about, and another 26 international writers, including Jayne Workman, were given the freedom to write about their own choice of tree. Their brief was to write a sestude about a specific

TRIBUTE TO ALLAN ANDERSON The previous page’s article is dedicated to Bushy Park Tarapuruhi stalwart Allan Anderson, who died on 21 October 2019, aged 79. The Brunswick sheep farmer, conservationist, and former district councillor was a member of Forest & Bird for more than 60 years and dedicated much of his time to developing Bushy Park Tarapuruhi sanctuary, including chairing its executive committee for 12 years until 2008. Under his leadership, the 100ha native forest reserve, which is 25km north-west of Whanganui, was transformed into a predator-free bird sanctuary. Following the installation of the 4.8km predatorproof fence, Allan was instrumental in the successful

50 years ago

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tree with a companion piece of 400 words. All the sestudes have been published in a 26 Trees book called The Understory. You can read about all the featured trees at https://26project.org.uk/26trees/. The 26 organisation is a not-for-profit that works to inspire a love of language in business and in life. Based in London, it has previously partnered with London Underground and the V&A Museum, to run innovative writing projects.

reintroductions of toutouwai (North Island robin), hihi (stitchbird), and tīeke (North Island saddleback). Allan received a Queen’s Service Medal for services to conservation and the community in 2009, and in 2015 he won the national Pride of New Zealand environment award. The latter’s nomination said Allan had given 30 hours per week of unpaid voluntary work to the park since 1996 and was “the driving force in the creation of one of New Zealand’s premier fenced sanctuaries for rare native birds … Allan single-handedly raised the $1 million, which saw the project opened on time, within budget and paid for.” Allan was was delighted with five new sugar-water hihi feeders that were installed in October 2018 after two years of testing and development. He sponsored the cost of the feeders alongside the TSB Bank and Biodiversity Protection. In 1962, Allan joined Forest & Bird and started volunteering at Bushy Park. His efforts that year included baking 400 scones for the park’s first open day! Autumn is a wonderful time to visit Bushy Park – see www.bushyparksanctuary.org.nz.

Is Manapouri to be ravaged for dollars and cents? People who stand firm when national treasures are threatened by clamour or greed for a few dollars and say “hands off” to the exploiters, be they financial barons or parliamentarians in power for a short term, are people of character, whose children and their children will have no cause to be ashamed of their forebears in years to come. Forest & Bird magazine, February 1970

KCC

Building a better world

Three Wellington kids are making a difference by helping others reduce, reuse, and refuse to accept unnecessary waste.

lla is hoping she and her sisters will have a better world to live in when she’s older. It’s one reason why the Hutt Valley High School student helped establish Forest & Bird’s new Waste Warriors award scheme. “It’s about making people feel like they can do something no matter what age they are. It’s made me more hopeful that in the future I’ll have a better world to live in and also for my sisters,” she says. Waste Warriors is the brainchild of Ella Magnusson, 15, Olivia Turley, 13, and Charlotte Parker, 12. Last year, our Kiwi Conservation Club (KCC) challenged them to brainstorm a conservation problem or solution and think about what they could do about it. They had a common interest in waste and a love of the oceans, so they came up with a scheme to help minimise the amount of New Zealand’s rubbish ending up in the sea or in landfills. Olivia, from Porirua, explains: “There’s a lot of rubbish in the ocean, and we found it very upsetting, especially how it impacted on the animals both in the water and on land. “A lot of kids aren’t being taught what to do about waste. I think it’s great we can help other people to care about the environment. “Some people think it doesn’t matter, but we believe it really does. We wanted to come up with a way for people to do something about it and form better habits.” Charlotte, from Wellington, adds: “We did a lot of thinking. It’s really exciting that we get the chance to do this. I like knowing that we’re making a difference.” Forest & Bird’s KCC and Youth advisor Rebecca Hatch takes up the story. “We wanted to trial a different kind of model,

something that was child-led and would lead to behavioural change, as well as being a stepping stone for older KCC members to transition to Forest & Bird Youth. “It’s about encouraging kids to form better habits around waste for our oceans, waterways, and landscapes – and the animals and plants who call them home.” Last year’s successful pilot project in Wellington is due to be rolled out nationally during 2020. To find out more and download the materials, see www.kcc.org.nz/waste-warriors.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

To become a Waste Warrior, children are encouraged to take up and practice: n Picking up litter in their community n Refusing unnecessary items n Reducing their use of single-use plastics n Reusing as many items as they can n Rehoming items they no longer need or want n Managing their waste by recycling and composting, and encouraging others to do the same. Kids show their effort and progress by getting their actions marked off by an adult or another child in their Waste Warrior Work Booklet. They receive a certificate on completion. Those who want to do more can undertake an Extra for Experts action. Children who have excelled can also be nominated for the Super Waste Warrior prize draw each term. Autumn 2020

BIODIVERSITY

Wildfire extinction warning Uncontrolled bush fires like this one at Woy Woy Bay, New South Wales, can lead to already endangered birds and animals becoming locally extinct. Martin Snicer Flickr

he devastating fires ravaging Australia this year are at a level we have never seen before. The sad reality is that we have little idea about the true damage they will cause or the full extent of their ecological legacy, says evolutionary biologist Professor Ben Garrod, of the University of East Anglia. “The Australian bushfires are an international tragedy but more importantly are symbolic for us all. If we are seeing this level of death, destruction, and loss now, what will our planet look like when global temperatures rise by another 2–3˚C? We need to act as an international community and, if not now, when?” he said. There is debate about whether half a billion or a billion animals have been affected, but, by the time we include invertebrates as well as mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds, the total will conceivably be in the trillions. “With approximately 85% of vascular plants and 80% of mammals found nowhere else on the planet, the importance of Australia’s endemic flora and fauna cannot be overemphasised,

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meaning its loss cannot be downplayed,” adds Professor Garrod. “With habitat loss, reduced food availability, and possible increased predation, the full effects of these fires will not be felt for months or years to come but will certainly cause the extinction for some of Australia’s most iconic, fragile, and

The once abundant regent honeyeater was critically endangered even before the recent Australian wildfires. Illustration: Max Fulcher Flickr.

beautiful inhabitants.” Birdlife Australia is worried about the loss of the country’s unique rare birds. Woodland species have been particularly hard hit by the recent wildfires. “We are still trying to process all that has gone on with the horrendous fires,” says Sean Hurrell, editor of Birdlife Australia’s magazine. “On top of the human misery, so many millions of hectares of bird habitat have been lost. “The scale of these fires is so enormous that we will likely lose some species forever, and other once relatively common birds will suddenly be ratcheted up along the path to extinction. “Even before the most recent fires, we had lost much of the critical habitat in New South Wales for our key project species – regent honeyeater and swift parrot.” BirdLife Australia has been working with local communities to protect birds since 1901 and, like Forest & Bird, is part of BirdLife International, one of the most extensive conservation partnerships in the world.

A SAFE CLIMATE FOR ALL Extreme weather events, hotter temperatures, rising sea levels, and increasing ocean acidity will fundamentally change the conditions our native species have evolved to live in. Sadly, many of them will not be able to survive and adapt, as the recent Australian wildfires have shown. But nature can help repair our broken climate. One of Forest & Bird’s key priorities this year is campaigning for government policies that recognise the role of nature-based solutions in New Zealand’s response to the climate crisis. With strong pest control to increase carbon sequestration, better protection for mangroves, and more marine protected areas, we can mitigate climate change impacts and protect nature. It’s a win-win situation – for humankind, for the future of our planet, and the survival of the wildlife you love.

Please help protect the nature you love by making a gift to fund climate action today – www.forestandbird.org.nz/climate-action.

TAX REBATE

Tuatara have been around for 200 million years, but researchers have disovered that eggs exposed to warmer temperatures produce more male hatchlings. Jake Osborne

Did you know you can claim 33% of the total amount you donate to approved charitable causes? It’s easy and quick to do, and donations made to Forest & Bird qualify for this tax relief. You can apply for a rebate going back four years – see www.ird.govt.nz and search “Tax credit for donations”.

Specialists in Nature Tours since 1986

• • • •

Informative naturalist leaders Small groups (6 – 12 participants) Private charters available Fully accommodated & camping tours

Pilbara Reef and Ranges Tours NEW TOUR 13 Day Accommodated Expedition

Perth to Newman, 8th May – 20th May 2020

14 Day Easy Camping Tour Expedition

Perth to Broome, 27th May – 9th June 2020 Head north of Perth for sea birding colonies on coral islands, marine life, coral reefs and Karijini’s gorges. Highlights include the Abrolhos Islands, Shark Bay, Ningaloo Reef and Karijini NP.

Lake Eyre Basin and Flinders Ranges Expedition

11 Day Small Group Camping Tour – Departs Adelaide 16th May 2020 This tour covers some of South Australia’s most historic outback locations in the Lake Eyre Basin and both the North and South Flinders Ranges. Both the Flinders and the arid lake Eyre basin offer vastly different examples of our great country and provide an opportunity for a wide range of arid zone flora & fauna sightings.

Kimberley Encounters

NEW TOUR Central Australian Expedition

12 Day Small Group Camping Tour – Departs Kununurra 18th July 2020 A different twist on the Kimberley, we include the best of the Gibb River Road but add a visit to the Mitchell Plateau. On the plateau experience the spectacular Mitchell and Mertons Falls plus great examples ancient rock art along with the regions wonderful flora and fauna.

Kimberley Discovery

15 Day Camping Tour – Departs Broome 8th August 2020 Join us as we head to the very remote, harsh, yet beautiful Rudall River National Park. Experience the wildlife that the Karlamilyi National Park has to offer. Situated approximately 400 Km east of Newman in Western Australia’s Great Sandy Desert this is truly one of the most remote wilderness areas in the world.

12 Day Small Group Camping Tour – Departs Alice Springs 6th June2020 Join us as we explore many Northern Territory and South Australian desert highlights and gorges. Highlights include Mac Clark Conservation Reserve, Dalhousie Springs, Finke Gorge National Park, Palm Valley, West MacDonnell Ranges and Glen Helen. 15 Day Easy Camping Tour – Departs Broome 20th June 2020 Enjoy a wonderful outback experience as we discover the Kimberley’s wildlife, spectacular outback scenery, and many wonderfully refreshing waterholes as we explore Purnululu N.P, the many gorges of the Gibb River Rd, Home Valley and Mornington Stations.

Karlamilyi (Rudall River) Expedition

Easy Camping Returns in 2020 A Coates’ support crew will travel ahead and have your camp set up when you arrive. No more erecting tents, stretcher beds or packing and un-packing camping equipment. This will all be done for you. Just pick up your bag and either spend time exploring the campsite or freshen up and relax before dinner.

For our full 2020 tour program: • Free Call: 1800 676 016 • Web: www.coateswildlifetours.com.au • Email: coates@iinet.net.au

Autumn 2020

P R E D AT O R - F R E E N E W Z E A L A N D

Waiheke WONDERS Rose Davis finds out how Forest & Bird members are working to get rid of rats and other introduced predators from Waiheke Island.

PĹ?hutukawa trees at Forest & Birdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Onetangi reserve. Hue Ross

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he prehistoric-sounding screech of a kākā pierces through the hush of the bush in Forest & Bird’s Onetangi Reserve on Waiheke Island. Hearing the call above the tree tops, a nearby kākā chick squawks in reply. Local Forest & Bird branch secretary Hue Ross points excitedly at a pūriri branch above our heads. Finally, spotting the carefully camouflaged kākā chick, I stared in silent awe. It was one of two babies from the first recorded successful breeding on the island. Our Hauraki Gulf branch celebrated the arrival of the kākā chicks in 2016 as a sign that years of predator control had helped create a safer habitat for native wildlife. Kākā have not only winged their way back to the Waiheke from surrounding areas over the past five or six years but have also decided the island makes a good home. “If it wasn’t for our animal pest management, we wouldn’t be having such a spill-over of species from our reserves at Onetangi and Te Matuku,” says Hue. “That’s contributing a huge amount to the birdlife we’re seeing on the island.” Rat baiting has been carried out by Forest & Bird members on Waiheke from the time the branch was formed in 1961 – and earlier when schoolteacher Alistair McDonald and his youth members pioneered rat control on Waiheke and nearby Maria Island (see Summer 2019). Over the past four years, Hue has been involved in creating 100m by 50m grids of rat bait stations in Forest & Bird’s three bush reserves on the island. There are now hundreds of multi-bait stations over the three reserves, which total 110ha. About 30 stoat traps are set in areas where “taonga species”, such as kākā, kororā (little blue penguin), and kuia (grey-faced petrels) are found. The branch is also involved in predator control in two Department of Conservation reserves covering

Kāka’s habit of ground-feeding puts it at risk of predation. Tara Swan/swanphotography.co.nz

about 70ha beside Forest & Bird’s 35ha Goodwin-Te Haahi Reserve in Te Matuku Bay. This work protects forest birds, such as riroriro (grey warbler) and ruru (morepork), an adjoining estuary where moho pererū (banded rails) and pūweto (spotless crakes) live, and a sandspit teeming with sea and shorebirds, including tūturiwhatu (New Zealand dotterels) and kuaka (bar-tailed godwits). Killing rats, stoats, and other predators is one of the most important things people can do to protect native flora and fauna, says Hue. “Living on Waiheke, you’re cheek to jowl with wildlife and you’ve got to take that seriously. We all have a responsibility to protect those communities that can’t look after themselves. “Doing predator control is basically providing shelter for ecological communities like our bird species and our insects and reptiles. And it increases forest regeneration when rats aren’t eating the seeds of native trees.”

RAT CONTROL HELPS NATIVE FISH LIFE Earlier this year, the island’s control of rats, mice, and stoats began to focus on protecting a native freshwater fish, the giant kōkopu, as well as birds and lizards. Giant kōkopu have disappeared from 25 streams where they had previously been recorded in Auckland, but Waiheke is a recently discovered stronghold for the fish. Auckland Council’s biodiversity team is working with Forest & Bird to improve pest management around two Waiheke streams where giant kōkopu have been found. Council freshwater ecologist Matthew Bloxham says pest control is especially important when the fish are spawning. “The eggs are like caviar to many animals – mice, rats, hedgehogs, everything eats them,” he says.

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Autumn 2020

P R E D AT O R - F R E E N E W Z E A L A N D

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PROTECTING WAIHEKE’S WILD PLACES Forest & Bird Hauraki Gulf branch chairperson Shirin Brown says the branch is experiencing a resurgence, with about 160 members picking up on a long history of conservation work on the island. “Our members have always been involved in providing a voice for nature at the political table, as well as working in the bush,” she says. “Over our history, some stalwarts were really active in district planning discussions, so we’ve been able to protect the natural environment better. “The members continue to be active in fighting marinas on Waiheke that would harm the marine environment.” In 1993, branch members started clearing invasive weeds and planting native vegetation on the bare, badly eroded hillside of Forest & Bird’s Te Atawhai Whenua Reserve at Matiatia. The name means a kindness towards the land – an apt name as 40,000 trees and plants have transformed the overgrazed hillside into regenerating forest, rich in everything from pūriri moths to kererū. These days, volunteers from various organisations gain skills and connect with nature as they continue the tree planting and weed removal started at Te Atawhai Whenua decades ago. Forest & Bird was also a key initiator of Te Korowai o Waiheke, which last year received $5.9m for the Towards Predator Free Waiheke Project. Auckland Council, Predator Free 2050, and Foundation North are providing the bulk of the funding for the project, which will run for five to seven years. The project is starting stoat eradication over the entire 9200ha island early next year, followed by a rat eradication pilot later in 2020. Waiheke is already free of possums. With a permanent population of about 9000 and 1.3 million visitors a year, pest eradication is an ambitious plan – but one that could bring flocks of exciting feathered rewards. Some island conservationists are keen to reintroduce charismatic species that once lived on the island, such as kiwi. Hue’s dream is to see kōkako brought back to the island. “If you’ve ever been in a forest at dawn when there are kōkako calling, you know you’re somewhere pretty special,” he says.

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We discovered this photo when digitising our archives for the Forest & Bird history project.

PROUD PAST

Forest & Bird’s purchase of 48ha of native bush in Onetangi led to a meeting in December 1961 chaired by Donald Bruce, who was chairman of the Waiheke Road Board at the time. The group decided to form a Waiheke section of the society. Mr WT Slater, chairman of the Auckland branch, spoke of the society’s aims and hope that this new Waiheke Forest & Bird Sanctuary would ultimately be covered by native bush. The group’s first chairman was Mr WT Peet, and the secretary was EC Davies. At some point, the Waiheke section stopped operating, but we don’t know when or why. Former branch chair Mike Lee takes up the story in May 1982 when he says: “The late Mrs Joy St Paul and myself convened a meeting in the Ostend Hall which resolved to form a Waiheke section, with myself elected chair and Joy elected secretary. It rapidly expanded in numbers to over 100 members. In 1986, this became the Hauraki Islands branch.” It later changed its name to the Hauraki Gulf Forest & Bird branch. If you know any more about the history of Forest & Bird’s activities on Waiheke Island, please contact Caroline Wood at c.wood@forestandbird.org.nz.

OUR PEOPLE

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

ew Zealander Masako Nagle has a hectic New York-based marketing career in mergers and acquisitions – but her roots remain firmly planted in New Zealand and its nature. Last year, Masako made a $1000 donation to Forest & Bird and topped that by asking her boss to add her $5000 bonus as well! Masako’s parents Bill and Corinne Nagle are committed conservationists and Forest & Bird members living in Central Otago. When she returns home, Masako tries to fit in a conservation-related trip. A recent five-day tramp over Fiordland’s Hump Ridge track with family and friends included checking and rebaiting more than 100 predator traps along the way. “I’ve been incredibly lucky with work opportunities, colleagues I’ve met along the way, and mentors who have guided me, so it only felt right to give back to the country that provided my foundation,” says Masako. “When people visit New Zealand, I want them to be

Masako Nagle (second right) with family and friends on a tramping trip on the Hump Ridge track in Fiordland National Park.

able to experience this wonderful country in the same way I did when I was growing up.” Masako’s first introduction to New York, when her parents moved there during her high school years, was a “wild ride”, swapping a solar-powered house on a large Central Otago property for skyscrapers and nonstop noise. Her latest New York stint has lasted 10 years, but she keeps in touch with home. “The early awareness I learned from my parents means I stay up to date with Forest & Bird and its conservation work.” Maskao is one of hundreds of Forest & Bird members and supporters living in 22 different countries who continue to care deeply about New Zealand’s natural environment and wildlife. “Making a donation to Forest & Bird is one way expats can ensure the places and species they love are protected and restored,” says relationships manager Jo Prestwood.

GAME SET & MATCH A big shout out to our friends at Babich Wines who donated $2,000 to Forest & Bird. As official wine of the ASB Classic in January, they invited French tennis player Adrian Mannarino (world number 43) and musicians Jupiter Project to serve up some tennis entertainment during a charity match in aid of New Zealand’s number one conservation organisation! Like Forest & Bird, Babich has been operating for a long time (more than 90 years), and it is proud to hold the title of being the country’s first sustainable vineyard, helping pioneer wines that minimise their environmental impact.

Autumn 2020

ECONOMY

Sands of time We need an economy that puts nature first. There are signs of change, but we have a long way to go. Seabourne Rust

hen the visionary EF Schumacher wrote his thought-provoking book Small is Beautiful in 1973, he produced what was to become a key work in the growing awareness of ecological thought and environmental economics. I have a worn and somewhat tattered paperback copy on my bookshelf, sandwiched between several much larger, glossy publications, yet this little gem continues to speak to me, shouting simple yet profound messages that equally apply to the social problems of today. The issues of relative scale and how we see the world and how to manage its finite resources – one wonders what have we learnt in the last five decades? These thoughts bounced around my head as our boat bobbed across the swift outgoing tide. It ran aground gently with a hush onto the northern beach of Hokianga Harbour. One by one, our party leapt ashore from the bow, our feet sinking rapidly into the wet sand. Once

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we had struggled out of reach of the incoming waves, I called the high school geography students together to share some thoughts. I have always tried to listen to the landscape. This (and every) place on which we stand is special, unique, some would say sacred. Indeed, each single point on this Earth consists of layer on layer of stories rooted in the very depths of time. Depending on how you look at your subject, different stories will reveal themselves. What one may see, another misses completely. William Blake wrote “to see the world in a grain of sand...”, and those deep words provided my impetus. I asked my students to reach down and touch the ground, hold a handful of the grains that made up the golden dunes that stretched beyond us, spanning from azure ocean to cerulean sky. We could feel the individual grains between our fingers and, on closer inspection, make out tiny orbs of translucent yellow and white.

Each one of these billion grains is on a journey, one that has brought them to this moment, this place in space and time. We delved deeper. If one had a microscope handy (such a powerful tool to open new worlds of scale), each grain of sand would shine like a gem, its surface smooth and rounded. I knew each grain contained mostly quartz, a common mineral, silica dioxide, clear, tough, and durable, used to make glass. Yet where did these come from? I asked the students, who had trouble thinking of any local sources. To answer this, we must go back thousands of years and travel hundreds of kilometres to the fiery volcanic centre of Te Ika-a-Maui, where those powerful forces exploded forth from deep within our world, producing huge amounts of silica-rich pumice and ignimbrite from Taupō, Tongariro, Taranaki – fallout from eruptions that covered much of the North Island in ash. Through the relentless efforts of water and wind, these rocks were eroded and particles transported down rivers to the sea. Eventually each miniature crystal was abraded shiny and smooth. The further they travelled, I explained, those denser or less resistant grains were left behind, a sorting of sorts.

North Island and phosphate on the Chatham Rise to the east of the South Island. It is difficult to convey the potential impacts on a submarine landscape most of us will never see or even dream about. Like those islands that always existed beyond the horizon, yet remained unknown to explorers before those first boats – these so-called “extreme environments” and their inhabitants, perhaps better-termed refuges, actually exist and have done for millennia. Yet does that warrant their exploitation? I and many local people believe we should tread carefully and with caution in these often fragile ecosystems. Environmental groups such as Forest & Bird are helping to raise awareness of these unique natural refuges, opposing the feverish and relentless pursuit of economic riches at the expense of some of the last untouched places on Earth. Humanity has perhaps not yet reached its fullest potential – surely to do that we must broaden our vision to encompass all scales, and value all life, even on landscapes beyond the horizon in space and time. We boarded the boat just as the tide was turning.

A holistic ecological world view is often abandoned in the pursuit of the all-powerful dollar.

When it comes to managing the world’s finite resources, our political decision-makers need to put nature first because without a healthy environment we are all doomed.

Ocean currents and longshore drift brought these tiny voyagers up the coast to Hokianga, and some will continue on, northwards to the place of departing, Te Rerenga Wairua, and beyond. The students nodded, as if to acknowledge the journeys we all must take. I felt encouraged. Someone made a wisecrack, quoting the Chordettes’ song, “Mr Sandman, bring me a dream”, and we all laughed. Returning to EF Schumacher, we find in today’s consumerist world the race is still very much on to own and gain control of the world’s remaining resources and assets. Losing sight of the bigger picture, a holistic ecological world view is often abandoned in the pursuit of the all-powerful dollar. This inevitably feeds competition and conflict, between consumers and companies, neighbours and nations. Schumacher pleaded for study of “economics as if people mattered”, and there are signs of change, but we have a long way to go. Could we just step back for a moment and see the trees for the wood? The real gold in the hills (rather than “fool’s” gold), or find the true treasure in the sand perhaps? At the time of writing, there are bids to mine the sea floor – for iron-rich sand off the western coast of the

Geography students visiting Hokianga Harbour to learn about the world in a “grain of sand”. Supplied

Autumn 2020

NOT YET PAST HIS

PRIME

Northland kaumatua Kevin Prime on saving kūkupa and his vision for a positive inclusive conservation future. Harry Broad. Michelle Hyslop

gāti Hine kaumatua Kevin Prime is something of a national treasure who has made an enormous contribution to conservation, Māori health, and the regeneration of Northland. There is genuine respect and a real affection for Kevin among all those who have dealt with him, and, while his past and whakapapa mean everything to him, it’s the future and the ability to make changes that really motivate him. He has an inclusive vision and sees a New Zealand where everybody can find a place for their feet to stand, although probably he hopes they come on their own two feet, because a fierce selfreliance is a defining part of his character. Recently, I travelled to Motatau, south-west of Kawakawa, to meet and interview Kevin about his life’s work. He’s a humble man with a real warmth about him.

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A man who is always keen to learn more, with a hugely inquiring mind that is never satisfied with the status quo. He’s not above tossing the odd hand grenade into the fireplace when he thinks it’s needed and challenging both Pākehā and Māori orthodoxy. So what stimulated his interest in the natural world?’ “It was always there. I mean, as a little kid, you would get a hiding from your dad for breaking off bits of young kahikatea to whip your horse to make it go faster, and you learned pretty quickly not to go pissing into water. You appreciate later that, if you can inculcate these beliefs early, then you do it naturally.” He tells me about how he started serving on conservation boards, and every Thursday a really thick envelope would arrive that was full of science papers. He was always an avid reader and could read fast.

Kaumatua Kevin Prime of Ngāti Hine Ngapuhi, Ngāti Whatua, and Tainui Iwi stands next to a waterfall on his land at Motatau, Northland. Michelle Hyslop

Kevin remembers the shock of reading a paper by scientist Ray Pierce in which he predicted that kūkupa (New Zealand’s native pigeon) were going to be extinct by the year 2000 in Northland, and Kevin thought, “Gee, that’s not far away.” “This was in the early 1990s, so that’s when I decided to start this native pigeon recovery programme with Manaaki Whenua and DOC. “I learned from my health work that government only gives you money if you have data which tells you what the problem is, then you have to show how you are going to solve the problem. It was the same thing for the native forests – showing how many pigeons there are and the other birds and other flora and fauna, what the pest problem was – so we did that with Landcare Research.” After planning and pest control using 1080 and brodifacoum, they could pronounce the pigeon recovery work a success on Kevin’s farm Motatau, but

he laments that it didn’t spread through Northland. “Well, it never took off any wider because we got hung up on defining what was a pest. Did it include cats, for example, and what about dogs, so it never took over on a broader scale. We tried to encourage others to do their own, and that would have been great, but it never really happened.” One of Kevin’s major contributions to national conservation work has been his nearly 30 years as a foundation member of Ngā Whenua Rāhui (the Māori equivalent of the QEII National Trust – see the Spring 2015 issue). “I find it a real breeze being involved with Ngā Whenua Rāhui, and it’s really refreshing, because it’s away from a lot of the other things I seem to be involved with and a lot easier than, say, tribal politics. I think our komiti members have similar objectives at the end of the day. It’s really about conservation, and we are actually doing something about it. We are not just

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Autumn 2020

own land in accordance with tikanga Māori and as kaitiaki, as guardians. If we could achieve that, if we can just get people to see what is possible in managing your own land at a profit but still retaining that mana and culturally managing it as kaitiaki, then we will be, in the best sense, redundant.”

There is something about the mauri, the sensorial aspect, the smell of the forest, the smell of the fresh air, the sound of the birds, and the noise of the water running and the wind. Kevin Prime standing among kauri, Motatau forest, Northland.

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philosophising and talking about it – we have an active governance role.” One of their main achievements, he feels, is that “we are actually helping to implement Wai 262 in practice by assisting Māori to be in charge of their own land. That is one of the main things, to stamp their own authority and to reconnect with it. They are establishing their mana with practical pest control to reinforce it. Māori often talk about establishing their own whakapapa to the land. I don’t know how many people actually understand that, but it actually goes way back to creation, about the gods and creation, and coming right through our tupuna.” While achieving 272 kawenata (covenants) with Māori landowners is an impressive achievement, Kevin has a much broader view of success. “Success for me would be that, regardless of Ngā Whenua Rāhui, every Māori landowner manages their

Kevin is proud of the fact that his grandmother was a gum digger in the early part of last century and was able to pay the then huge sum of £397 to get her Māori-owned block of 150 acres surveyed and returned to her. Over time, the family has bought back most of the land that was legally acquired by dubious means, so they now have a productive farm forestry property of over 1067ha at Motatau. The long-term plan is to convert the pine forests to native forests and natural landscape over four pine rotations of 120 years each, starting with mānuka plantings to provide the cash flow and transition into native forests. The eventual aim is to sustainably harvest native forests in 750 years’ time. Kevin’s son Peter now does the mahi.

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In terms of Forest & Bird’s current forest collapse campaign in Northland, which aims to restore native forests back to health and bring back abundant birdlife, Kevin feels he has a good relationship with our northern advocate Dean Baigent-Mercer and has openly supported the use of 1080. “I think there has been a greater understanding by Forest & Bird members of the Māori natural world, and I have been part of that, in how they came to me to seek out some of the Māori views, because we do differ. I used to say that you are wanting to preserve the pigeons just to look at, but what if they got to such numbers that they are a pest and they are eating all the people’s kiwifruit, whereas Māori want to have them to eat but replenish on a sustainable basis.” As a person who walks easily in both worlds, one of Kevin’s major contributions to conservation has been his ability to explain the Māori world. “I personally think we have been far better informed by Pākehā. Were it not for reading all those reports by

Kevin Prime teaching children about protecting kūkupa in the early 1990s. Forest & Bird awarded him an Old Blue award in 1994 in recognition of his conservation work. Forest & Bird

the scientists, we wouldn’t have known about a lot of these things and wouldn’t have done a lot of the things that we are doing. I suppose where it relates is that I have been around long enough to have remembered what my aunties and my grandmother used to say: ‘Kaua e tūraki nga rakau i nga tahataha o ngā wai’ – don’t fell any trees along the waterways. “What happened was the roller crusher goes down, and the driver can’t see the bottom, and by the time he does it has pushed everything into the creek and that’s how a lot of things happened. It was found when they were doing bush surveys that a lot of the fish were disappearing because of the lack of shelter.” Kevin once explained it was more of a “nourish and take” philosophy for Māori in the natural world rather than the protection philosophies of many Pākehā. “Yes, that is probably the main difference – that Māori were doing conservation more for sustainable use rather than for any other reason. There were a lot of habits that just came naturally – for example, you only took what you needed. Like when I went eeling, I would go down to the creek and spear for about two minutes and get two or three eels. That was enough to feed the family, so you didn’t need to get anymore. “I remember my old neighbour down the road telling me about how furious my grandmother was with Pākehā coming in and shooting 40 pigeons and her saying, ‘This is not hunger; this is greed,’ and telling them not to come back again. So Māori still believe you are preserving if you take what you need rather than just to look at it.” And the spiritual dimensions of the whenua and its associations are very important to him. “I apply them all the time, every day. Taha Wairua to me is another part. There is one place where I go to clear my head. There is a waterfall there, and when water is bouncing off your head you can feel worries

starting to disappear, and after a few little minutes it is gone. “It is a difficult phenomenon to explain because sometimes it is almost surreal, and you wonder why you haven’t done it a long time ago, whereas you get too caught up sometimes in the turmoil of the world and you can end up losing your own sanity sometimes. I am so busy on so many committees that I love coming back here and just walking through the bush. “You can be very tired, absolutely buggered, and yet you go for a walk in the bush and feel energised. When you go to the gym, you feel tired when you’re finished, but when you go for a run in the forest you feel energised. There is something about the mauri, the sensorial aspect, the smell of the forest, the smell of the fresh air, the sound of the birds, and the noise of the water running and the wind.”

Michelle Hyslop travelled to Motatau, in Northland, to photograph Kevin Prime as part of a personal photography project on kauri dieback, see michellehyslop.com.

BE NATURE-INSPIRED ON KĀPITI ISLAND! Day tours or overnight kiwi spotting tours Fantastic birdlife Incredible bush & coastal walks Cabins & luxury tents

TO BOOK: 0800 527 484

kapitiisland.com Autumn 2020

F R E S H WAT E R

love

LEARNING TO

LONGFIN EELS Erin Maessen gets up close and personal with our largest freshwater residents and discovers some of the threats tuna face in the wild.

n oversized waders, I stumble down steps cut into the bank, using a length of rope to make my descent into the stream slightly more dignified. Sloshing towards the middle, I turn back to take a bucket and a long-handled metal spoon. Down at my feet are the huge velvety black bodies of longfin eels, come for their midday meal. Pūkaha Mount Bruce, in the Wairarapa, has been a sanctuary for native wildlife since 2001. It is well known for Manukura, the pure white kiwi born there in 2011, and for the large flock of kākā that fly in for feeding every afternoon at the “kākā circus”. Less well known is a group of equally precious creatures generally hidden away under the banks of this tiny stream. They emerge each day when a pair of excited visitors descend into the water to feed them from the end of a spoon. Having recently been one of those lucky feeders, I can set to rights the idea that longfin eels are slimy

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to touch, like the rest of the fish species they are classed with. When I reached my hand down to run it along the back of one especially large individual, it was soft, silky, and generally more mammalian in feeling than any fish I’d encountered before. There are about 40–50 eels living here. From their large size, some individuals are estimated to be 50 or 60 years old, but no one is entirely sure. The eels swim around my ankles. They rely on a combination of touch and smell to find food, as their eyesight isn’t as strong as their other senses. They bump into one another, into my boots, and into the end of the spoon holding the tasty treat. Eels typically eat live food, like insect larvae, worms, and snails when they are young and fish, crayfish, and even small birds as they grow bigger. At Pūkaha Mt Bruce, they get a minced mixture of liver, kidney, and

HUMAN IMPACTS

Longfin eel

Rod Morris

vegetables left over from what the kiwi are fed the night before. Eels are secretive in nature, generally preferring to remain hidden in the dark areas under rocks and logs or close to overhanging riverbanks. These ones, used to being handfed, were not shy at all, and as I lowered the spoon with a generous helping of the meat concoction towards the head of each one in turn, they rose out of the water to reach it. I was not a stranger to the longfin eel before this day. But standing there in the water I was reminded of how unique and beautiful these creatures are. A few individuals, identifiable by distinctive characteristics, such as a missing fin, have been known to disappear over time. Presumably they have headed off to make the long, dangerous journey to the deep ocean trenches of Tonga, and give rise to a new, much needed generation. Given the potential for added stress that climate change poses by altering ocean temperatures and current patterns, I only hope they and their descendants survive the trip and make it back to cleaner, safer waterways here in Aotearoa.

The longfin eel, Anguilla dieffenbachii, is one of two native eel species present in New Zealand’s freshwaters. Unlike the far more common native shortfin eel, which is also present in Australia and parts of the Pacific, longfins are not found in rivers anywhere else in the world except here in Aotearoa. But our longfin eels are vulnerable to human activities. According to the Department of Conservation’s latest threat classification list, they are classed as “at risk and declining”, with the qualifier that this status is “conservation dependent”. This means that, if current management were to cease, the species would be in a far worse situation. In a story that should hardly be surprising by now, human actions have been the root cause of the longfin’s decline. Threats to longfin eels are many and varied, as Forest & Bird freshwater advocate Annabeth Cohen explains: “Eel populations depend on a clean and safe path with connected rivers, lakes, wetlands, and streams. Despite being excellent climbers, our longfins are hitting sometimes dangerous blockades in rivers all over the country – from large hydro dams to overhanging pipes under roads to flood pumps draining land.” Water-based pollutants also tend to accumulate along the course of a river, meaning downstream zones closer to the sea are more polluted and therefore a less suitable habitat for eels than the cleaner waters upstream. While longfins are clearly in need of greater conservation assistance, New Zealand’s endemic freshwater fish in general haven’t traditionally

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Darryl Torckler

Autumn 2020

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received the same protection as our charismatic and endangered native birds. However, recent amendments to the Conservation Act and the Freshwater Fisheries Regulations will soon provide more protection – it will be prohibited to kill a native freshwater fish except for human food consumption. In addition, DOC’s freshwater fish management plans can take effect nationwide, which will be of particular benefit to eels because of their wide-ranging habitat. “The proposed freshwater regulation changes, due to take effect before the end of this year, would see water quality measures prioritised for fish health and the introduction of fish passage requirements at the regional level,” adds Annabeth. “While we are backing all these changes as long overdue, they are only a start to what is required for native freshwater fish.” Commercial harvesting Overfishing without controls devastated eel numbers, said Don Jellyman, of NIWA, in his report to the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment in 2012. Despite this and their “at risk” conservation status, longfin eels continue to be commercially harvested – with no distinction made between this species and the shortfin eel. While North Island allowable catch limits were reduced in 2018, many believe it is still too high given the longfin eel’s conservation status. Commercial fisheries in New Zealand have a requirement to release any eels that are less than 220g and more than 4kg, aiming to protect the younger eels and large migrating females. However, because eels only breed once in their lifetime, when they are fully mature, any eel caught will be one that never gets to breed. Restoring longfin populations will be a challenge within the current system and New Zealanders’ relationship with eel fishing. However, as Annabeth says, “We owe it to this tāonga species to keep existing waterways healthy and free flowing while we restore what has been damaged and destroyed over the last century.”

Glass eels return to river/stream Tuna grow within freshwater bodies

Offspring return on currents

TUNA LIFE CYCLE

Spawn and die

Climatic conditions trigger migration to mid-Pacific

Environment triggers bodily changes

Tuna heke

From Aotearoa to Tonga and back Eels have a unique life cycle. They are catadromous, meaning they begin and end their lives in the ocean, despite spending most of their lifetime in freshwater. After reaching sexual maturity, which occurs between 15 to 45 years for males, or 30 to 100 years for females, adult longfin eels make their way out to sea and complete an epic migration to a currently unknown region – probably in deep sea trenches near Tonga. There, far away from Aotearoa, they spawn and then die. The young eels hatch and swim back to New Zealand on the south Equatorial current, a journey of about 18 months. By the time they arrive, the young have developed into “glass eels”, a transparent and far smaller version of their adult selves. These travel upriver, managing vertical climbs up waterfalls and even travelling over land at times, making their way much farther upstream than any other eel species. Eventually, they settle in suitable deep pools where they feed and grow for many years until they reach maturity. Tuna are incredibly significant to Māori. Stories of longfin eel are interwoven into whakapapa (ancestry) and creation stories, and carvings alongside tūpuna (ancestors) are found in marae around the country, further denoting their deep-rooted significance. Erin Maessen is a freelance science writer, based in New Plymouth, Taranaki. The former Kiwi Conservation Club member studied New Zealanders’ attitudes to eels for her Science in Society Masters at Victoria University.

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Wild

nature about

Dr Judy Nicholson talks to Helen Ward about her deep love for nature and why she supports Forest & Bird.

knock at the door of her Auckland home came at just the right time for Dr Judy Nicholson. “I had wanted to support Forest & Bird for some time but hadn’t got around to it,” she says. After talking with a friendly member of Forest & Bird’s Nature’s Future team, Judy joined a growing number of New Zealanders who give a monthly financial gift for nature. Judy has had a long connection with the environment – both personal and professional – and becoming a Nature’s Future supporter was a natural next step in that journey. “People are busy, and there are a lot of people out there like me who want to do something worthwhile to make change. I see Nature’s Future regular support and volunteering as great ways of doing that,” she says. Judy’s deep love of nature began while she was growing up on the West Coast and strengthened in the early 1960s, when she started her undergraduate studies at Canterbury University majoring in zoology and botany. Now in her mid-70s with a doctorate in microbiology, Judy is a senior lecturer in environmental and animal sciences at Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland, where she has taught and researched for nearly 30 years. Judy teaches about human, animal, and environmental health. She has researched carcinogens and how human interference in ecology can diminish the health of other organisms. “In my research and teaching, I’ve come to believe the Māori world view of a whakapapa that demands

respect and guardianship over all the environment is the right one,” she says. She is also a keen tramper and a volunteer nature guide on Tiritiri Matangi Island, the world-renowned nature sanctuary 30km north-east of central Auckland. “I have been guiding for two years now as time allows. I meet all sorts of different people from all over the world and collect examples and stories to bring back to my teaching,” she says. Judy is also part of a team monitoring the unassisted regeneration on Motu Kaikoura, a relatively new sanctuary close to Great Barrier Island. “Tiritiri Matangi and Motu Kaikoura have become very special places to me – to see how nature can flourish with and without human assistance,” she explains. Judy is positive about the future but is worried about the current exploitation of nature. “We need to stop the needless destruction of pristine areas – particularly just for financial gain. “As a nation we need to ask ourselves what is enough? Why do we keep wanting more?”

Nature’s Future is Forest & Bird’s regular giving programme. As New Zealand’s largest independent conservation organisation, we don’t receive any government funding and our annual budget is 100% funded by supporter donations, bequests, grants, and volunteers. With a regular monthly gift, you can help us be an even more powerful voice for nature – see http://bit.ly/2uHNVsS or call 0800 200 064.

Nature’s Future Supporter Autumn 2020

RESEARCH

What if getting rid of pest wasp species was as easy as planting trees and letting them grow? Jake Osborne

WASP WIPEOUT

Lush forest cover and low human habitation lead to fewer invasive wasps, according to a new study. Rose Davis

hD student Julia Schmack gazes intently at the grass, pausing to check out insects, as we cross a field discussing her research. Her study of four exotic wasp species – part of a doctorate in ecology at Auckland University – has led to some fascinating findings. Julia travelled to 36 islands from the Cavalli group, located off the east coast of the North Island, trying to find drivers in the ecosystem that push up the numbers of four introduced species – Australian paper wasps, Asian paper wasps, common wasps, and German wasps. She found exotic wasps on 35 of the islands, including the otherwise “predator-free” Tiritiri Matangi, Little Barrier, Great Mercury, Moutohora, and Burgess Islands. Her study found low numbers of invasive wasps on islands with Australian paper better forest wasps have cover. In contrast, only infested there were the north of the significantly North Island. higher numbers of all four species on islands where farming is a

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major activity and where The common wasp arrived in New Zealand by boat from high densities of exotic the UK. It was first observed weeds and plants have in 1921 and became replaced native forest. established in the 1970s. “Farms and grasslands that resemble exotic habitat appear to attract exotic pests, while undisturbed native bush seems to deter them,” Julia explains. “Sunlight helps them to warm up and stay active, so areas that are shaded by canopy are not favourable for them whereas open areas of pastureland are. “Also, the first plants that grow in areas where forest has been cut down are often exotic weeds, and we think some of these may provide better food resources for invasive wasps than native plants.” The highest mean abundance of common and German wasps – 78 wasps per five minute count – were found on Great Mercury Island, off the Coromandel Peninsula, and the highest mean abundance of paper wasps – 33 per five minute count – on Rotoroa Island, in the Hauraki Gulf. Exotic wasps kill live prey, including huge numbers of native insects, such as butterflies, moths, and spiders, some of which are endangered. They also compete with native birds, lizards, and insects.

Australian and Asian paper wasps build nests in trees, while common and German wasps (pictured left) create nests underground.

Julia says the study provides new and important insights that may help control invasive wasps in New Zealand, particularly on offshore islands with endemic wildlife. She believes having more intact forests would likely reduce wasp numbers and re-planting with native trees is an obvious strategy. “It’s important to look at the whole ecosystem and the influence humans have on it to better understand invasive wasps,” she says. While most wasp control techniques, such as toxins, have adverse effects somewhere down the line, planting native trees has no downsides. “A more holistic approach to managing invasive species is also likely to be more sustainable in terms of resource use and conservation gains,” adds Julia. An exception to the study’s findings were in beech and kānuka forests infested with high densities of native scale insects that produce honeydew. Wasp numbers rose when honeydew was present in the forest. Honeydew is a vital food for many native species, but wasps consume large amounts of it, to the detriment of native birds and lizards. During the study, Julia pioneered a new method to see what the wasps eat – she collected 64 wasp nests and examined faeces from the cells. Next, she wants to find out more about how they live on the islands. “Now we know where they are and what influences their numbers, I want to know what their effect is – what they’re doing on the islands. I want to compare different

Julia Schmack.

Supplied

species to see if they have niches or feed on different things,” she says. Julia’s research also involved scientists from the University of Auckland, Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research, and the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Frankfurt, Germany. The study’s findings were published in Diversity and Distributions. New Zealand has several thousand native wasp species, including this golden hunting wasp. All wasp images Bryce McQuillan

Asian paper wasps are found in the North Island and at the top of the South Island. Autumn 2020

IN THE FIELD View over sand dunes and spinifex grass, Karekare Beach, near Auckland. Beate Flickr

COASTAL CARE Nearly 90% of New Zealand’s sand dunes have been destroyed, but they can be restored if we work with nature. Ann Graeme.

e humans like to think we are in charge on planet Earth. We are mistaken. Now, as climate change threatens to change our world and our lives, we are coming to realise that we need to work with nature, not against it. Nowhere is this better shown than in our attitude to the coast. We used to try to control the sea with walls. Walls are ugly and expensive, they block access, and they are increasingly useless in the face of rising sea levels and bigger and more frequent storms. In the long term, it is inevitable that the land will retreat, and so must we. But in the short term, in the coming months and years, we can delay the sea’s advance by restoring nature’s natural defences – the sand dunes. This is the best, most effective, and cheapest way to buy time on the beaches. And restoring the sand dunes and the fore-dune community buys us more than just a shield from the sea. It recreates a beautiful ecosystem of unique plants and animals, an ecosystem that is currently seriously endangered. Almost 90% of New Zealand’s sand dunes have been destroyed. What is left, about 21,300ha, has been damaged and depleted. Dunes have been burnt, grazed by stock, nibbled by rabbits, obliterated by bulldozers,

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trampled underfoot, and crushed by vehicles. In many places, we have forgotten that they ever existed. Thirty years ago, the beach front at Mount Maunganui was a bank covered in African kikuyu grass. It eroded in every storm and sand blew across Marine Parade and into the houses. Then, in 1996, when dune restoration was in its infancy, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council organised a dune planting by Coast Care volunteers. Today, the same beachfront is unrecognisable. As the plants trap the blowing sand, the carpet of golden pīngao and silvery spinifex or kōwhangatara has advanced down the beach. Walkways provide access to the sand and sea. In this garden by the sea lives a community of native insects, lizards, and spiders. The plants are a refuge for dotterel chicks when black-back gulls wheel overhead or variable oyster catchers menace their smaller neighbours. This is the essence of working with nature. It shows what can and should be achieved on vulnerable beaches all around the country. For too long, we have neglected and misused the sand dunes. Now it is time to restore them, both for their own sake and for ours.

BEFORE: Coast Care Volunteers restoring the sand dunes at Mount Maunganui in 1996. Coast Care, Bay of Plenty Regional Council

Coastline kings

Two native plants dominate the sand dunes. They are pīngao, the golden sedge, and kōwhangatara or spinifex. Few plants could survive their life on the sand dunes. It’s hot and dry, there is no shade, and the wind carries sand and salt-laden spray. The shifting sand offers little anchorage or nutrients. But pīngao and spinifex thrive in these conditions. The golden leaves of pīngao are tough and waxed to withstand the sun. Spinifex’s narrow leaves are covered with silvery hairs, which reduce water loss. Both can survive being buried in sand and drenched with saltwater. Sometimes, a storm will drag sand from beneath the pīngao’s roots, but soon new runners will snake out and bind the wounded dunes. The waves will dump sand and bury the spinifex, but within weeks it will emerge. It is this capacity to trap new sand that can build and extend the dune and give it greater resilience and stability.

AFTER: The same stretch of beachfront in 2020.

Ann Graeme

How to restore a sand dune

Three elements are needed – the place, the plants, and the people. The place: Restoration must begin on a clean site. It may seem perverse, but pīngao and spinifex, which can grow in such harsh conditions, cannot cope with competition. Soil and weeds must go. Sometimes even a bulldozer – that dreaded machine that has destroyed so many dunes – can be used to bury the accumulated dirt and weeds, cover it with sand, and recontour a dune. The plants: Over the decades, better and better planting techniques have been worked out, and the rate of successful plantings has increased. Even so, in the first years, newly planted dunes are particularly vulnerable, and an entire planting may be lost to storm or drought or rabbits. Dune restoration needs perseverance.

Forest & Bird volunteers removing lupin seedlings from a Catlins beach in 1990. Fergus Sutherland

The people: Volunteers are the backbone of dune restoration work. While regional councils do the planning, prepare the site, and source the plants, it is volunteers who plant and tend them. Equally important, it is the volunteers who are the minders, learning about the dunes, enjoying the beauty and the protection they provide, and spreading the word, educating beach goers and encouraging more Coast Care groups to tend long-neglected beaches. Pīngao (Ficinia spiralis, golden sand sedge), at Tauperikaka Point, West Coast, New Zealand.

With thanks to Paul Greenshields and Greg Jenks for their assistance with this article. Autumn 2020

O U R PA R T N E R S

Tōtara seedling. Rob Suisted

Ethical

INVESTING

CareSaver is a new ethical KiwiSaver plan that makes it easy to invest in environmentally friendly businesses. David Brooks.

aking ethical choices with your retirement savings doesn’t mean having to accept lower returns, says John Berry, the chief executive of CareSaver, an ethical KiwiSaver plan established last year. “There’s plenty of research showing ethical investment can give you better returns than the market and with lower volatility. When the market falls, companies with higher environmental, social, and governance measures fall by less because they’re more resilient,” says John. CareSaver takes its ethical investing philosophy further by supporting Forest & Bird and 16 other New Zealand charities. New clients choose an organisation, and CareSaver donates 20% of its management fees. Forest & Bird has so far been the charity chosen most often by investors. The CareSaver fund was established by Pathfinder Asset Management, a company founded by John and chief investment officer Paul Brownsey in 2009.

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Pathfinder runs a suite of ethically based investment funds, including specialised ones for water and property, as well as broader-based funds. “Setting up our KiwiSaver funds makes ethical investment available for everyone in New Zealand, using the investment methodology we’ve built up over the last nine years,” John says. Since August 2019, CareSaver has attracted nearly $20 million in investment funds. Its growth fund has been a top performer in its first six months, outperforming the main banks’ KiwiSavers by 2% or more after fees (although this is not necessarily a guide to future performance). CareSaver also has balanced and conservative funds for investors with a lower appetite for risk. John says the establishment of CareSaver was prompted by concerns about the future, especially the impacts of climate change. “We’ve got kids, and we’re really concerned about the state of the planet we’re leaving for our children and grandchildren. For Paul and me, founding CareSaver is our way of contributing to a healthier planet and stronger communities,” he says. CareSaver doesn’t invest in harmful industries such as tobacco, fossil fuels, and factory farming or in companies engaging in animal testing or with environmental or human rights issues. It won’t invest in New Zealand companies that exclude women from their boards, and its fund managers actively focus on each company’s environmental, social, and governance impacts before putting investors’ money into them. Investments are also evaluated through the lens of long-term sustainability, for example whether companies are generating their own renewable energy and using water efficiently. CareSaver uses the voting power from its shareholdings to encourage improvements in corporate behaviour. For instance, it has voted for US companies to disclose their political lobbying activities. John says New Zealanders’ investment choices can make a difference to improving the world – even if they only have a small amount of money in a fund. “KiwiSaver funds total $60 billion for all New Zealanders, so it doesn’t matter if your balance is $1000 or $100,000, you’re part of that $60 billion collective. “At CareSaver, we believe New Zealanders should be using that money as a force to effect positive change.” To find out more, see https://caresaver.co.nz. You should seek advice, or do your own research, before making major financial decisions.

TOURISM

International visitor numbers are expected to explode in the future – rising from four million to 10–13 million annually by 2050. The popular Tongariro Crossing walk is already under pressure. Supplied

NATURE UNDER SIEGE H ow many tourist are too many, and when will their combined impact start to erode the very attributes that make New Zealand such an attractive country to visit? These were two of the thorny questions that the new Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Simon Upton, set out to answer in his first substantial report. The Commissioner says that tourist numbers are already straining popular tourist spots and that this will get worse if we continue with a business-as-usual approach. International visitor numbers are approaching four million and could rise to an incredible 10–13 million annually by 2050. “The sheer numbers of people are eroding the sense of isolation, tranquillity, and access to nature that many overseas tourists seek when visiting New Zealand,” Upton said. “And while we tend to focus on overseas visitors, the lion’s share of tourist activity actually involves New Zealanders taking a break. “We need to ask: are we in danger of killing the goose that laid the golden egg?” He released his report Pristine, Popular… Imperilled? The Environmental Consequences of Projected Tourism Growth, last December. It addresses the environmental and cultural impacts of tourism and what projected growth could mean for the environment and the

vulnerability of the tourism sector. It also examines the role successive governments have played in supporting and regulating the tourism industry and looks at how the industry – and the environmental pressures it generates – could evolve in the future. “Tourism is often seen as an environmentally benign form of economic development. This, together with it being so closely interwoven with the wider economy, has probably shielded it from the scrutiny attached to other industries such as agriculture,” says Upton. “We didn’t get to where we are overnight. The phenomenon of crowded sites, crowded skies, and crowded parking lots is the result of more than a century’s worth of promotional taxpayer subsidy. “What will another three decades of more of the same mean?” he asked. The report finds that, despite a long-standing emphasis on sustainability, the existing policy mix is unlikely to prevent a worsening of tourism’s environmental burden and that a different approach will be needed to head off that future. Last month, Forest & Bird submitted a detailed submission in response to the commissioner’s report. “We want to see the government prioritising nature protection in its tourism legislation and policy, including more funding for the Department of Conservation,” says Nicky Snoyink, regional manager for Canterbury and the West Coast. “In particular, we want to see a centralised oversight of tourism and the redirection of tourism infrastructure away from public conservation land.” The Commissioner has decided not to make recommendations yet. He plans to gauge feedback before following up with a second report with some policy options. Autumn 2020

GOING PLACES

FLYING HIGH Sue Hoffart visits Rotorua’s Canopy Tours for a bird’s-eye view of the forest.

f all the endangered species savvy enough to make their home in Dansey Reserve, Robbie the Robin must be among the smartest. The fat little toutouwai (North Island Robin) has figured out exactly where to wait for the many hands that eagerly feed him a prescribed number of mealworms each day, ensuring he maintains a starring role in Rotorua’s muchlauded Canopy Tours tourism venture. This is no exploitative caged bird show – Robbie is free as a bird to perch where he likes in a regenerating native forest made safer by the very people who pay to

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fly through his habitat on a harness and wire zipline. When domestic and international tourists buy their thrill-seeking “eco adventure” ticket, they help fund an ongoing predator-trapping programme that aims to restore the forest to its former glory. The tour incorporates deftly presented conservation messages. Visitors are taught to identify a ponga and a rimu, and to replicate bird calls. They also learn exactly how a carbon dioxide-powered trap punches a hole through the skull of a rat, killing it instantly. English tourist Emma Sayer, a trustee of the oldest British national park in the Peak District, is intrigued by the traps. She and husband Tim have taken their young daughter Imogen out of school for three months of travel and carefully researched outdoor adventures and educational stops. Canopy Tours was a shoo-in on the itinerary, she explains, thanks to the thrills it offered their speedfreak daughter, as well as the company’s safety record and sound eco-credentials.

“I was keen to support an environmentally focused ziplining operator if possible,” Emma says. “I already knew there was a problem with rats and possums in New Zealand before the tour but had no idea how vast an issue it is. And I’d no idea there was a government-level pledge to be predator free by 2050. It seems an enormous task.” Our shared three-hour adventure begins in a nondescript office on the northern outskirts of Rotorua. Two Kiwi guides shepherd nine strangers who are weighed and kitted out with harnesses and helmets before being transported to the Dansey Road Scenic Reserve, on the Mamaku Plateau. The party includes two Australian women and their daughters, who have travelled from Queensland. One of the mothers is scared of heights, and her teenage daughter, it transpires, is even more terrified than she is. But, with some quiet encouragement and practice, they are soon enjoying the nature experience as much as everyone. The zipline concept started in

Costa Rica as a way for scientists to access and study trees at canopy level. This New Zealand version is designed to ensure the platform frames expand with their timber hosts. Care is also taken to ensure neither guides nor visitors walk below the trees and disturb roots. On the first few zipline runs, we focus on our guides’ safety messages and instructions to “lean this way” to avoid smacking into a tree trunk. Then, suddenly, we are seven storeys above the forest floor, roughly halfway up a rimu that has stood for close to 1000 years. It’s an unusually privileged perspective, to see the forest and this magnificent tree from such a high-level vantage point.

AWARD-WINNING ECO-TOURISM

There is plenty of time to marvel at the moss and lichen and epiphytes that cling to the tree’s upper branches, to stroke bark as gnarled and age spotted as an ancient aunt’s hand. Young Imogen can’t get enough of the treetop views. She is fearless, barrelling between the high wooden platforms like a small blonde cannonball. At the tour’s end, the beaming six-year-old declares her canopy trip “the best three hours of my life”.

See https://www.canopytours.co.nz for more information.

Far below, the ground disappears as we gaze down onto ponga crowns fanning out like starfish in a leafy green ocean. The view is a far cry from the way this forest used to look. When Canopy Tours opened in August 2012, the forest was peppered with the tell-tale brown of dead, possum-ravaged treetops. The number of predators, and absence of native birdsong, made founder James Fitzgerald realise the 280ha forest he was leasing was very sick and needed human help. He set a few experimental predator traps. In those early days, 800 predators were trapped during a single week. Over the past six years, the Canopy Tours team has trapped an astounding 10,000 rats and 1100 possums. Today, the tourism operator monitors about 700 traps and has spent about $350,000 on its pest-eradication programme. The predator-control work is making a difference. The regenerating ecosystem is home to at least 11 species of native birds, including kererū and long-tailed cuckoo, while insect life is unusually rich courtesy of the low pest numbers. The forest is also home to the rare Pittisporum kiirki shrub and the brilliant blue mushroom Entoloma hochstetteri, known to Māori as werewere kōkako. General manager Paul Button says looking after the forest is win-win – they are helping to restore a once-sick forest and the healthy forest contributes to the economic success of their business. “We want it to be the most celebrated conservation forest in the country,” he says. “And we want to inspire others. Tourism operators are seeing the attention we’re getting. They can see that what started as a genuine conservation programme has turned into a competitive advantage. “As tourism operators, we’re in a position to influence change. New Zealanders who do the tour are more likely to put a trap in their backyard, and they bring their friends and family back to do the tour.”

Autumn 2020

MARINE

LET’S

STAMP OUT SEA LITTER

GHOST FISHING

Kathryn Curzon heads underwater to help the Ghost Fishing New Zealand crew clean up Wellington Harbour.

escending into the Taputeranga marine reserve off Island Bay, Wellington, on a sunny day, I was astounded by the volume and diversity of ocean life this muchloved dive spot supports. Inquisitive blue cod didn’t hesitate to come within inches of my dive mask, the rock pinnacles were covered in healthy kelp beds, and it was easy to spot a large resident conger eel hiding from the sun. Sitting on the doorstep of our capital city, this popular marine reserve stretches across 8.5 square kilometres and is positively thriving.

But the same can’t be said for other underwater areas around Wellington, which are struggling against a continual tide of pollution from our shores. Diving with Rob Wilson of Ghost Fishing New Zealand, I discovered the scale of the issue and the inspiring work it is doing to improve Wellington’s underwater environment before it’s too late. The organisation is the New Zealand branch of a worldwide organisation that removes lost or “ghost” fishing gear from the oceans, protecting marine life from net entanglement, and removing waste so that marine life can

Kathryn Curzon diving in warmer climes. Cuttlefish and blue cod in Wellington Harbour.

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recover and thrive. The team at Ghost Fishing NZ has taken this concept to heart and is working hard to clean up Wellington’s waters. They remove not only ghost nets but also plastic waste, tyres, cones, batteries, shopping trolleys, angling gear, and more. All of this is collected during volunteer-led clean-ups both underwater and along the shoreline. The first time Rob and a sixperson team organised a clean-up dive at Wellington’s Clyde Quay, they removed about 1200 glass bottles and three tonnes of waste in just one 80-minute-long dive! Another clean up in 2019 at the

Kathryn Curzon.

Ghost Fishing NZ founder Rob Wilson.

same site removed an additional 1735 glass bottles. “If we did it again now, we could probably find another layer of bottles,” says Rob, Founder and President of Ghost Fishing NZ. The Ghost Fishing NZ team, which is based in the capital, does a clean-up in the Wellington area once a month and sometimes heads further afield, with a recent trip to remove rubbish in Auckland’s Okahu Bay. “We’re talking hundreds of kilos of rubbish being pulled out every trip,” adds co-founder Serena Cox. The extent of the problem is staggering. The seabed opposite popular Frank Kitts park is littered with plastic cups from waterfront markets and events, blown from overflowing litter bins into the ocean. As layers of waste accumulate on the seabed, marine life simply ceases to exist in places badly affected by sea litter, including Clyde Quay. These patches of “dead ocean” ultimately limit the fish stocks we love to catch and eat. ‘It’s so devoid of life. It’s such a massive blanket of junk [at Clyde Quay]. The sediment beneath the waste is just black mud; nothing can live in it,” says Rob. There is, however, something to be hopeful about thanks to Rob and Serena’s tireless hard work. Their focus on removing waste from Wellington’s Frank Kitts lagoon has seen the return of numerous eagle rays and stingrays, which are a source of local pride and are often featured on social media. After toxic rubbish, such as tyres,

car batteries, and scooters, was removed from the lagoon, the rays have gone from zero to flourishing. Rob has also seen the return of large brood stock snapper to the area. “I have never seen snapper that big anywhere in the whole Wellington region. They’re just massive,” says Rob, clearly delighted. While the challenges of sites needing repeated clean-ups and Wellington’s unpredictable dive conditions must no doubt take their toll, Rob and Serena’s commitment and enthusiasm remain undiminished. Their passionate “de-critter crews” return any living marine life found on waste they’ve collected back to the ocean. Data collected during cleanups is used to identify long-term waste hotspots, and Ghost Fishing NZ works closely with councils to improve waste management practices.

The couple is also busy with outreach and education work, and you can see why Rob and Serena won Wellingtonians of the Year in 2017 and were invited to deliver a TEDx Wellington talk in 2019. “It’s full on – it really is. But then you do a clean-up and pull out all that rubbish, and you’re like ‘Yeah, that’s why we’re doing it.’” Drifting between one of Taputeranga’s crevasses, Rob’s passion for his work is clearly evident. He points out the underwater treasures around him, including carpets of vibrant jewel anemones in every shade of pink and purple imaginable. Watching him work, I realise how important these efforts are for the wellbeing of humans as well as marine life. The Ghost Fishing NZ team is changing the face of Wellington’s underwater landscapes for the benefit of us all.

How can you get involved? Everybody can join Ghost Fishing NZ’s clean-up events, and you don’t need to be a diver to help. You can also become a member and take part in their pool diving sessions, annual quizzes, and more. Details of membership and events can be found at www.ghostfishing.co.nz and on Facebook @GhostfishingNZ.

Autumn 2020

MARKET PLACE

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Ruapehu Lodge Whakapapa Village, Tongariro National Park Sleeps 32 office@forestandbird.org.nz 04 385 7374

Mangarākau Swamp Lodge North-west Nelson Sleeps 10 mangarakauswamp@gmail.com 03 524 8266 http://www.mangarakauswamp.com

Piha, West Auckland Sleeps 5+4 hop0018@slingshot.co.nz 09 812 8064

Waiheke Island Cottage Onetangi Sleeps 8 hauraki.branch@forestandbird.org.nz 021 141 0183

Matiu/Somes Island House Wellington Harbour Sleeps 8 bookings@doc.govt.nz 04 384 7770

Tautuku Forest Cabins Owaka, Otago Sleeps 16 diana-keith@yrless.co.nz 03 415 8024

To find our more about our lodges, see www.forestandbird.org.nz/what-we-do/lodges.

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New Zealand Birdsong Clock

Invasive Predators in New Zealand

New Improved, now in stock 12 NZ native bird calls heard, one each hour, on the hour. Auto off in the dark. Wood surround with glass face 3 x AAA batteries required

Disaster on Four Small Paws A new ebook by Carolyn King

Comprehensive background for anyone interested in Predator-Free NZ 2050 Full chapter summaries plus order forms for print or e-copies at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32138-3. Email cmking@waikato.ac.nz

Price $125 incl. GST and Postage Send delivery details and credit card payment via www.vikingsevenseas.co.nz. Cheque payment please to Viking Sevenseas NZ Ltd., P.O. Box 152, Paraparaumu 5254. Tel: 04 902 8240. Email: vikingsevenseas@gmail.com

PHILPROOF

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SHOP New instore this month, this striking pure cotton tūī t-shirt, featuring a high quality reproduction of one of Forest & Bird’s historic NZ Railways posters. ($45+p&p).

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Advertise to Forest & Bird readers here Please contact Karen Condon PHONE 0275 420 338 EMAIL karenc@mpm.nz

We have lots of other nature-inspired gifts in our online shop. Every dollar goes towards Forest & Bird’s conservation work. See https://shop. forestandbird.org.nz.

Autumn 2020

OUR PEOPLE

NATURE’S HEROES Congratulations to the following recipients of New Years Honours 2020. We appreciate your amazing conservation achievements as part of the Forest & Bird whānau. Bill Kerrison (Bay of Plenty) – New Zealand Order of Merit

Rod Brown (Bay of Islands) – The Queen’s Service Medal

For services to river and wildlife conservation

For services to conservation

Bill, who was awarded an Old Blue in 2017, made a huge contribution to river restoration and freshwater species conservation for 35 years. In particular, he promoted, protected, and enhanced the survival of tuna, especially the threatened native longfin eels in the Rangitaiki River. From 1991, he provided a “catch and release” service in the Bay of Plenty to help eels get over hydro dams. It is estimated that he helped relocate an incredible 30 million tuna in his lifetime. *Bill Kerrison passed away in January 2020.

Rod is the Vice-Chair of Guardians of the Bay of Islands, which he helped to establish in 2006, and a committee member of Far North Forest & Bird. Guardians of the Bay of Islands lead Project Island Song, the ecological restoration of seven pest-free islands in the eastern Bay of Islands. Rod, who won an Old Blue in 2015, has helped the Guardians reintroduce tīeke (North Island saddleback), kākāriki, and pōpokotea (whitehead). He has coordinated the planting of about 38,000 trees on the islands.

Dr George Mason (Taranaki) – New Zealand Order of Merit

Andrew John (Marlborough) – The Queen’s Service Medal

For services to conservation, philanthropy, and the community

George founded and has been a Trustee of the George Mason Charitable Trust since 1995, which has distributed more than $630,000 of scholarships, educational funding, and grants to young New Zealanders. He has been involved with Forest & Bird’s Taranaki branch since its inception in the 1950s and received an Old Blue in 2013. He has personally contributed to Forest & Bird international projects and has actively promoted interest and research on New Zealand’s native flora and fauna.

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

For services to conservation and education

Andrew is a secondary teacher who volunteers for many environmental organisations and has helped educate Marlborough students about conservation. He has been an active committee member for Marlborough Forest & Bird since 2001, serving as Chair for the last 15 years. Andrew is actively involved with bird conservation through Birding New Zealand and marine issues through Sound Fish and Marlborough Marine Futures Forums.

Parting shot These three New Zealand dotterel chicks have learned that sticking their heads under mother is the best way to avoid wind-blasted sand on the sandspit at Matarangi, in the Coromandel. Freshly hatched chicks often hide under mum but rarely do such big chicks share this space! There was no sand blowing on the day I took this photo, so mother was going beyond the call of duty by allowing them to hide there. Alison Stanes

PHOTO COMPETITION How to enter: Share your photos of native birds, trees, flowers, insects, lizards, marine mammals, fish, or natural landscapes, and be in to win. Send your high-res digital file and brief details about your photo to Caroline Wood at editor@forestandbird.org.nz. The best entry will be published in the next issue of Forest & Bird magazine.

The prize: The winner will receive a Kiwi Camping Weka 2 Hiker Tent (RRP $299). This two-person single room tent is ideal for tramping or hiking. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s extra lightweight and compact, easily compressing down to fit in a backpack. The double entrances with vestibules mean you can come and go regardless of the weather direction and can keep packs and wet boots separate and dry. Made from double-coated polyester with 4000mm aqua rating, it will stand up to rigours of the outdoors, all year round. The prize is courtesy of Kiwi Camping. For more details see www.kiwicamping.co.nz

we ARE tramping

Tramping on Mt Howitt, Hooker Range, high above the Landsborough Valley Photo: Mark Watson / Highluxphoto

Whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a day trip with the family or a multi-day adventure deep into the wilderness, Bivouac has the best gear, from the top brands, to keep you safe, comfortable, warm and dry. Our friendly staff are happy to provide expert advice, ensuring you get the right equipment and the right fit. If you need it for tramping, we have it, because at Bivouac Outdoor we ARE tramping.

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