Forest & Bird Magazine 329 August 2008

FOREST&BIRD Number 329 • AUGUST 2008

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Inside: your lift-out election guide

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Sunrise, Richmond Forest Park, Marlborough Shaun Barnett/Black Robin Photography

Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. General Manager: Mike Britton Communications Manager: Helen Bain Advocacy Manager: Kevin Hackwell Services Manager: Julie Watson North Island Conservation Manager: Mark Bellingham South Island Conservation Manager: Chris Todd Central Office: Level 1, 90 Ghuznee St, Wellington.

PO Box 631, Wellington 6140.

Tel: (04) 385-7374, Fax: (04) 385-7373 Email: office@forestandbird.org.nz Web: www.forestandbird.org.nz Auckland Office: 34A Charlotte Street, Eden Terrace, Auckland PO Box 108 055, Symonds St, Auckland 1150.

Tel: (09) 302 0203, Fax: (09) 303 4548 Email: n.beveridge@forestandbird.org.nz Christchurch Office: 190-192 Hereford Street, Christchurch PO Box 2516, Christchurch 8140.

Tel: (03) 366 4190 Fax: (03) 365 0788 Email: c.todd@forestandbird.org.nz KCC Coordinator: Ann Graeme 53 Princess Rd, Tauranga 3110.

Tel: (07) 576-5593 Fax: (07) 576-5109 Email: a.graeme@forestandbird.org.nz

Number 329 • AUGUST 2008 www.forestandbird.org.nz

Regulars

Features

2 Comment

10 One-stop shop in the bush

Forest & Bird … and Ocean & Fish?

by Peter Maddison 50 Years Ago in Forest & Bird

3 Conservation Briefs Giant leap for Hector’s dolphins, Letters, Anton Oliver, Karori Sanctuary, Trade Me supports Forest & Bird and Kiwis for Kiwi, Kokako booming, A dolphin among sharks, Inspired by nature, Plight of the petrels.

26 Soapbox Our rivers are not renewable, Chris Todd says

37 Rangatahi Jenny Lynch meets green teens fighting back against plastic

38 Going Places Shaun Barnett visits Mount Richmond Forest Park

Advertising: Vanessa Clegg, Tel: 0275 420 337 Email: vanclegg@xtra.co.nz Karen Condon Tel 0275-420 338 Email: mack.cons@xtra.co.nz w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

Tui De Roy describes a wandering albatross’s incredible mastery of the Southern Ocean

18 Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve Jenny and Tony Enderby explore the flourishing marine reserve 10 years after it was established

22 Mimiwhangata – a marine emergency Roger Grace, Shane Wright and Mark Bellingham put the case for a marine reserve at Mimiwhangata

24 Kuaka in Korea

42 In the Field Don’t say “Oooooh!” Say “Wow!” Ann Graeme looks back at 20 years of KCC

27 Envirovote – lift-out election guide

44 Itinerant Ecologist

Political parties respond to the 20 most urgent conservation questions in election 2008

46 Branching Out

Designer: Dave Kent Design dave@idiom.co.nz Prepress/Printing: Astra Print

14 Spirit of the oceans

David Edwards reports on the threats to this long-distance stop-over point for the godwits

Geoff Park ponders the winds of change

Editor: Helen Bain PO Box 631, Wellington.

Tel: (04) 801-2763 Fax: (04) 385-7373 h.bain@forestandbird.org.nz Deputy editor: Marina Skinner Tel: (04) 801-2761 Fax: (04) 385-7373 m.skinner@forestandbird.org.nz

Marina Skinner investigates traditional Maori use of plants

Mana Island, Rangitikei tackles old man’s beard, Pestbusters, Tuhua trip, Earthlings, Native namesake, Photo competition, Leica D-Lux 3 camera reviewed, Bat box breakthrough, Home comforts for penguins, Wetland winner, Jim Gower obituary, AGM report, Old Blue Award winners

31 The real price of milk Marina Skinner looks at the environmental impact of dairy farming

34 Waitutu – forest under threat Sue Maturin investigates what needs to be done to save Waitutu and its kaka

COVER: Pair of young adult Laysan albatrosses. This small, black-and-white plumaged albatross ranges across the North Pacific, especially north of the Hawaiian Islands, and is listed as vulnerable. While it is estimated that more than 10,000 Laysan albatross were killed each year in long-line and driftnet fisheries, a worldwide industrial driftnet ban and more recent long-line by-catch reduction techniques have significantly reduced the number of deaths of this species.

Forest & Bird takes an active role in BirdLife International’s Save the Albatross campaign to raise awareness of the plight of albatrosses worldwide.

Photo by Tui De Roy from Albatross, their world, their ways.

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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Comment

50 Years Ago in

Forest & Bird … and Ocean & Fish?

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UR name, Forest & Bird, can sometimes feel like one of our greatest strengths and at the same time a source of confusion.

While our name has a long and honourable history, and is widely respected among New Zealanders, I am surprised by how often people take it somewhat at face value, believing that our concerns lie literally with protection of forests and birds.

Of course Forest & Bird’s “watch” covers far more than that. Though our organisation began as the Bird Protection Society of New Zealand, through the concerns of founder Val Sanderson over this country’s declining native birdlife, we have, in the 85 years since, widened our scope to encompass much, much more.

With the early recognition that protecting our birdlife necessarily meant also protecting our forests, we soon became the Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society – more simply known as Forest & Bird.

In 1969 Forest & Bird officially broadened its aims to include the protection of all New Zealand native flora, fauna and natural features, though the name Forest & Bird remained.

Protection of forests and birds remained a major focus of the Society – as they still do today – but more and more issues of wider environmental protection became part of what we represent.

Forest & Bird became increasingly vocal on a wide range of conservation issues, species and habitats: our rivers, lakes and wetlands; a variety of plant and animal species, from frogs to fungi; our alpine and coastal areas, and concerns over pollution, energy generation, and exploitation of our natural resources.

Just as importantly, the connections between the myriad parts of our environment began to be more widely appreciated.

Increasing use of terms such as ecology,

ecosystem and habitat reflected the growing understanding of the need to protect the whole environment, not just isolated parts.

One area where our conservation efforts have gained an increasingly high profile is protection of our marine environment.

As inhabitants of an island nation, most New Zealanders live on or near the coast, and have a strong attachment to the sea.

The waters of our Exclusive Economic Zone cover 4 million square kilometres – vastly bigger than our mere 167,000 square kilometres of land mass.

Protection of our oceans and the rich diversity of marine life they hold is just as important as protection of habitats and species on land. Indeed, some of our unique marine species are just as critically endangered as any of our terrestrial species. The Maui’s dolphin, for example, is on a par with the kakapo in terms of risk of extinction. Yet, while about one third of our land is protected in the conservation estate, less than one per cent of our marine area comes under equivalent protection.

In this issue of Forest & Bird you can read about one of the foremost marine issues confronting us today: the urgent need to establish a network of marine reserves in New Zealand waters.

If we can achieve this, in 20, 50 or 100 years’ time, future generations will look back on the protection of our marine environment in the same way that we today look back on the establishment of New Zealand’s many national parks and reserves on land. I only hope we succeed.

Forest&Bird

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EW Zealand flora, the finest known cover to prevent floods and erosion, evolved in the absence of browsing and rooting animals, and does not need them now to aid in regeneration – indeed the only real need at this moment to ensure complete regeneration of this indigenous vegetation is the complete removal of all such animal pests.

At the very least the continued presence of browsing and grazing animals in our bush and on our steep slopes inevitably means a complete change in the character of our flora, the extermination of many lovely and interesting species found nowhere else in the world. It also means tremendously accelerated runoff of rainfall, more and heavier floods, erosion with inevitable harm to our wellbeing, the loss of some of our finest native birds …

This is the price we are expected to pay so that we can keep populations of deer for local enthusiasts and overseas tourists to shoot …

We brought the animals to New Zealand, not understanding that here they would drastically upset the balance of nature and disrupt nature’s own plan. We did not know the terrible price we would have to pay in the destruction of our magnificent heritage of bush and bird life.

It is ours to enjoy, but not to destroy, and as trustees we are bound to do all we can to rectify the errors of the past in order to pass on that heritage unspoiled to those who follow on. Only the elimination of noxious animals in our forests can ensure this.

From Forest & Bird editorial, August 1958

Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. (Founded 1923) Registered Office at Level One, 90 Ghuznee Street, Wellington.

PATRON: His Excellency the Hon. Anand Satyanand, Governor-General of New Zealand NATIONAL PRESIDENT: Peter Maddison DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Barry Wards NATIONAL TREASURER: Graham Bellamy EXECUTIVE COUNCILLORS: Anne Fenn, Mark Fort, Alan Hemmings, Joan Leckie, Donald Kerr, Janet Ledingham, Suzi Phillips, Craig Potton, Gerry McSweeney, Jon Wenham.

DISTINGUISHED LIFE MEMBERS: Bill Ballantine, Stan Butcher, Ken Catt, Audrey Eagle, Alan Edmonds, Gordon Ell, Philip Hart, Hon. Sandra Lee-Vercoe, Stewart Gray, Les Henderson, Joan Leckie, Alan Mark, Gerry McSweeney, Geoff Moon, John Morton, Margaret Peace, Guy Salmon, Lesley Shand, Gordon Stephenson, David Underwood.

Forest & Bird is published every February, May, August and November by the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society Inc. The Society's objectives are to preserve and protect the indigenous flora and fauna and natural features and landscapes of New Zealand for their intrinsic worth and for the benefit of all people. Forest & Bird is a member of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the New Zealand Partner of BirdLife International. The opinions of contributors to Forest & Bird are not necessarily those of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, nor its editor. Forest & Bird is printed on Novatech, an elemental chlorine-free (ECF) paper which is made from wood fibre sourced from sustainably managed forests. * Registered at PO Headquarters, Wellington, as a magazine. ISSN 0015-7384. © Copyright. All rights reserved.

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Giant leap for Hector’s dolphins

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HE outlook for Hector’s dolphins brightened significantly in May when the Government announced measures to protect the endangered species.

The measures were a response to the overwhelming public support for effective protection of Hector’s dolphins, and are the culmination of 10 years’ lobbying by Forest & Bird.

Over the last 40 years the number of Hector’s dolphins has been cut by up to 70 per cent. Today, fewer than 8000 dolphins remain and they are listed as endangered by the IUCN (World Conservation Union), meaning they are at serious risk of extinction.

Maui’s dolphin – a subspecies of Hector’s now found only off the north-west coast of the North Island – is recognised as the world’s rarest marine dolphin, with an estimated 111 individuals remaining, and is

listed as critically endangered.

Fishing is responsible for 70 per cent of Hector’s dolphin deaths where the cause of death is determined. Set netting accounts for 63 per cent and trawling 7 per cent.

A recent study by NIWA, with the Ministry of Fisheries, fishing industry and academic researchers, shows an estimated 110-150 Hector’s dolphins are killed in commercial set nets every year.

The new measures recognise that set net fishing is the greatest threat to the dolphins.

In most regions the set net bans are consistent, making them easy to implement and enforce. With a few exceptions, commercial and recreational set netting is banned in the dolphins’ main habitat in waters out to 4 nautical miles offshore.

Trawling, which also poses a threat, is banned in waters out to 2 nautical miles.

Steve Dawson, New Zealand Whale and Dolphin Trust

conservationbriefs

An extra $6 million over the next three years will fund observers on all commercial fishing boats, including those within the dolphins’ range.

There are plans to establish four new marine mammal sanctuaries on the south and east coast of the South Island and the west coast of the North Island. The Banks Peninsula sanctuary will be extended.

While the measures are a significant step forward they will probably only halt the decline of Hector’s dolphins, rather than quickly restore their

numbers. To guarantee the dolphins’ future, even more protection is needed.

The new measures fail to protect the dolphins throughout their range. For example, around Banks Peninsula Hector’s dolphins inhabit waters up to 100 metres deep and up to 20 nautical miles from the coast.

Dolphins moving offshore into these deeper waters during winter will still be at risk.

Forest & Bird Marine Conservation Advocate Kirstie Knowles

NATURE’S TREASURES NEED YOUR HELP New Zealand’s breathtaking natural landscapes and beautiful native animal and plant life are precious treasures to us all. They are part of our identity as New Zealanders.

But with so many of our natural treasures threatened with extinction, it is vital that we continue to protect them for future generations to experience and enjoy.

The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Incorporated is the leading independent voice for conservation. Our vital conservation work couldn’t continue without the generous gifts we receive from supporters.

By leaving a gift in your Will to Forest & Bird you will help ensure our vital conservation work continues to make a difference. w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

Forest & Bird is not funded by the government. We rely on the generosity of Kiwis through donations, subscriptions and bequests.

Bequests can be made to the “Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Incorporated”.

For a copy of our bequest brochure or to discuss leaving a gift in your Will to Forest & Bird please contact Kerin Welford on Freephone 0800 200 064.

Kerin Welford, Senior Fundraiser Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Incorporated, PO Box 631, Wellington 6140.

Email: k.welford@forestandbird.org.nz www.forestandbird.org.nz 3

Photos: Steve Dawson, DOC, Don Geddes, HenkF Haazen, O R E SPeter T &Morris, B I RRod D Morris, • A UBrent G U Stephenson, S T 2 0 0 8Kim Westerskov

letters to the editor

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orest & Bird welcomes readers’ letters and photographs on conservation topics. Letters must be no longer than 200 words and must include the writer’s name (no pseudonyms please), residential address and daytime contact phone number (not for publication.) High-resolution digital photographs are preferred. Due to space limitations, we are not able to publish all contributions.

The best contribution will win a copy of Ghosts of Gondwana by George Gibbs (Craig Potton Publishing, $49.99) Please sent letters to: Editor, Forest & Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington, or email to h.bain@forestandbird.org.nz

From Manapouri to Mokihinui AS a Forest & Bird member for 54 years I have watched many sad and mainly exciting events during my years in the Society.

Whilst in the Invercargill Branch the Save Manapouri campaign arose. Ron McLean was the first person to awaken us to the danger to one of our most beautiful lakes, and I was one of the campaigners for saving it. My father David Bathgate even went to the Prime Minister at Parliament to oppose the scheme, and told him the Maori meaning of Manapouri was “Lake of the Sorrowing Heart.”

Your article (Manapouri: A Green Awakening) brought it all back to me.

Although I am now in my eighties I will battle on till I have no more years and am taking Meridian Energy to task on their idea of damming the unique Mokihinui River Gorge.

Shirley Bathgate-Hunt Havelock North

Conservation to provide national park staff during the early years of the parks’ establishment in the 1970’s.

He also built numerous tree nurseries to counter deafforestation near the Himalayan tree line.

Back home my grandfather, Jim Rose, gave Te Waha Point at the northern end of Piha beach on Auckland’s wild west coast to the Centennial Park so that the people of New Zealand could Ed and Peter enjoy it. Jim was also on the Hillary and conservation Tongariro National Park WHILE it is well known that my father, Sir board for many years during my childhood.

Edmund Hillary, was the first man to climb My mother, Louise, delighted in the Mt Everest and he did charitable work build- natural world and as much as we three ing schools and hospitals around the foot of children had to love her infectious love of this great mountain, it is not so well known nature too. what a conservationist he was; nor indeed And, for what it is worth, I have climbed other members of my extended family.

Everest and work with the schools and hosMy father was instrumental in the estab- pitals in Nepal too and I am a proud Forest lishment of Sagarmatha National Park (Mt & Bird member.

Everest NP) in Nepal and helped with the Peter Hillary, involvement of our own Department of Auckland

Genetic engineering

Rock wren workers

OUR magazine performs a valuable service by compiling (May 2008) “20 Conservation questions that really count this election.”

Some of the questions are well known but deserve more political prominence.

Others are little known; if members spotlight MPs’ ignorance of them, conservation will be assisted.

However, it is disappointing that Forest and Bird does not rank anywhere in the top 20 the threats from gene-tampering (commonly called genetic engineering).

Gene-tampering is viewed by many knowledgeable scientists as a major threat to the biosphere. It is a great shame that our current Executive and now our “top 20” political questions fail to reflect this concern.

Just as Forest & Bird came to oppose nuclear power, so too the organisation must take a vigorous stand against genetic engineering.

Robert Mann, Tarihunga Point

FURTHER to Ann Graeme’s article “A change in the weather” in your May issue, and in particular her piece on the rock wren: we would like to highlight the work Marian and Alec Milne are doing with their very enthusiastic and intrepid group for these very vulnerable birds.

“This team of volunteers who mind a group of rock wrens which live along the Peel Range” doesn’t do justice to the work this group does. It is a day’s tramp just to reach the area they protect. It is a very isolated mountainous basin area, and that they do this regularly is a testament to their dedication. We have nothing but admiration for this group.

Maryann Ewers and Bill Rooke, Motueka

Taffy Parry was delighted to see this kaka feeding in his Kapiti Coast garden. He guesses it must have flown across from either Kapiti or Mana Island – or even from as far away as Mt Bruce wildlife centre in northern Wairarapa.

He’s also getting lots of other native birdlife visiting. “It really is a great reward for planting the garden with native flora over the past 30 years and in a small way supporting conservation,” he says.

(Taffy’s photo is the winner of New Zealand’s Wilderness Heritage by Craig Potton and Les Molloy)

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Forest & Bird member Athol Lonsdale of Taupo photographed this pair of kea spotted on the Kepler Track showing their strikingly coloured plumage. w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

Otago Daily Times

conservationbriefs

From penalties to petrels

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OUGH, dependable and committed, Former All Black Anton Oliver was always known as a good man to have on your side in the thick of a scrum.

Now Oliver is turning his attention from scrums to seabirds, as he leaves a 13-year professional rugby career and takes on a new “life” in conservation.

His new career path will take him to the vastly different worlds of the scholarly halls of Oxford University – where the 32-year-old will begin study for a MSc in biodiversity, conservation and management – and the tropical wilds of Fiji, where he will be involved in field work protecting rare seabirds in collaboration with BirdLife International.

Oliver is excited about living and working in Fiji – and not at all fazed by the prospect of roughing it on its most remote and tiny islands.

“The chance to live with subsistence communities for three weeks really appeals to me – I wish it were longer.”

BirdLife International is letting Oliver “tag along” on its predation programme protecting seabirds on the Ringgold Islands, a remote group of volcanic atolls in northern Fiji that are among the most beautiful and untouched islands in the South Pacific.

It’s a great chance for Oliver to learn the ropes in environmental science in a challenging environment, and w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

one that means a lot to him on a personal level.

Previous visits to Fiji have been a wonderful mix of enjoying its stunning natural environment, and interacting with the rugby-mad locals who are always enthusiastic about having an international rugby star in their midst.

Environmentalism is no passing whim of Oliver’s – this is a long-term commitment to a career in environmental work. His passion has already been evident in his involvement in environmental concerns back in New Zealand, such as opposition to the construction of the Project Hayes windfarm in environmentally sensitive tussocklands of Central Otago, and support for the Yelloweyed Penguin Trust.

He plans to work in the environmental sector after he finishes his studies, with a focus on improving responsiveness to key environmental issues in New Zealand and neighbouring regions.

BirdLife Global Seabird Scientist Susan Waugh, who is based at Forest & Bird in New Zealand, says Oliver is the perfect “ambassador” for seabird conservation.

“New Zealand is the world centre of seabird biodiversity, so we’ve really got something to make a noise about. It’s exciting to have someone as enthusiastic and energetic as Anton to work with on this programme.”

Waugh says seabird conser-

vation is a great “flagship” for generating public awareness of how to look after the wider environment better.

“Albatrosses and petrels are species that people can really relate to, they are truly magnificent – and knowing that they can make a difference in helping protect these species really appeals to people.”

The BirdLife International programme on the Ringgold Islands involves working with local communities to conserve important seabird sites, and in the longer term generating revenue for the community, for example through eco-tourism.

BirdLife International’s Global Seabird Programme Scientist based in Fiji, Steve Cranwell, says the organisation has been preparing the terrain for a rat-eradication programme at the Ringgold islands for the last two years. But he says the programme is not just about a technical “fix.”

“It’s not just removing the rats which creates a good environment for seabirds

to recolonise. To make this work really stick we need to run these programmes in partnership with local people, to ensure that once the rats are removed, they stay gone forever, and that other threats don’t replace them.”

Once an improved habitat for threatened species is established, birds such as the rare Fiji petrel will have a better chance of survival.

The Fiji petrel is so rare that it is not even known where it breeds. This small, dark chocolate-coloured bird with blue patches on its feet was originally known from just one specimen found by a naturalist in 1855, and it was only rediscovered in 1983.

This unique seabird is clearly held in high regard by Fijians – it features on a Fijian banknote and is protected under Fijian law. Now, hopefully, with Anton Oliver and dedicated Fijians and international conservationists on its side, this rare and precious bird may have a brighter future.

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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Photo supplied

conservationbriefs

Karori sanctuary builds on its success

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ELLINGTON’S flourishing Karori Wildlife Sanctuary has marked another milestone with a blessing ceremony for its $16 million visitor and education centre.

Prime Minister Helen Clark was among VIPs who turned the first sod for the building.

She said the urban sanctuary was a world leader. “We can showcase the biodiversity of New Zealand right here. Karori Sanctuary is an oasis in our urban jungle. We can see how New Zealand once was.”

Funds for the visitor centre have come from the

Artist’s impression of how the new centre will look

Government – after gutsy lobbying from Wellington Central MP Marian Hobbs – and Wellington City Council. The centre should be open in late 2009.

Sanctuary Trust Chairman Richard Bentley said the centre would be interactive and tell the New Zealand conservation story

with a sound and light show.

Since the sanctuary was established in 1995 and a predator-proof fence built, rare and endangered species, including little spotted kiwi, tuatara and Cook Strait giant weta have been released and are now thriving.

Tricks of the trade

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EOPLE selling items on online auction site Trade Me can now donate part of their success fee to Forest & Bird’s Kiwis For Kiwi Campaign.

Trade Me sellers have been able to round their success fee up to the nearest dollar and donate the difference to help kiwi.

The partnership, launched on World Environment Day, is part of Trade Me’s growing commitment to the environment. The website has a new environment section and last year it launched New Zealand’s first public carbon trading marketplace.

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“Thousands of Forest & Bird members put in many hours in the bush every year eradicating introduced predators by checking traps and bait stations, and planting native plants to create safe habitats for kiwi,” Forest & Bird General Manager Mike Britton says. “We are thrilled that Trade Me has chosen to support our work.”

Mike O’Donnell, Trade Me’s Head of Commercial, points out that Kevin the Kiwi is in the Trade Me logo. “It’s hard to think of a more apt sponsorship for us.”

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conservationbriefs

Kokako numbers booming OKAKO recovery is going much better than expected, with the national population swelling to about 1650 at June.

The Kokako Recovery Group reports 747 recorded pairs of kokako in June – a jump of more than 100 from the same time last year.

The Kokako Recovery Group, which includes Forest & Bird and the Department of Conservation, had aimed to have about 1000 pairs of kokako by 2020, but is set to raise the target because numbers are increasing more rapidly than expected.

Forest & Bird and Kokako Recovery Group member

© Simon Fordham/NaturePix

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Mike Graham says better pest control and new techniques to encourage birds to stay in protected areas have played a

big part in the success. Kokako calls are broadcast from iPods tucked into trees, which attract real birds.

Thriving: the kokako

For more information go to www.kokakorecovery.org.nz

Nelson member wins Loder Cup

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ELSON Forest & Bird member Shannel Courtney has won the prestigious Loder Cup for his conservation work. The Nelson branch praised him as the leading botanical authority on the Nelson-Marlborough region in its nomination.

“This award recognises Shannel’s personal and professional commitment to protecting and restoring threatened indigenous plant

life, particularly in the Nelson and Marlborough regions,” Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick said.

After more than 20 years’ work with the Department of Conservation, Shannel has built up a full species list for most of the top of the South Island.

Shannel rates his restoration lists of plants originally in the Nelson-Tasman area as his most significant professional

project so far. The 30 lists show the plants originally found in different parts of the district, and are guides to help people replant.

Shannel leads the South Island Threatened Broom Recovery Group and since 1991 has been a member of the national panel of botanists reviewing the threat status of New Zealand indigenous flora.

In his own time, Shannel

has restored his 6.5-hectare, QEII-covenant block in Golden Bay. He rates it his most rewarding conservation project. “It’s amazing to see how it’s responded to pest management.”

The Loder Cup – donated by English botanist Gerald Loder in 1926 – will be presented to Shannel during Conservation Week in early September.

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FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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conservationbriefs Forest & Bird reader survey

Helen Bain

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A dolphin among sharks

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NVIRONMENTAL lawyer Felicity Heffernan has won a prestigious award for her contribution to the community – and has donated her prize money to the Kiwi Conservation Club.

Ms Heffernan, who works as a solicitor for the Department of Conservation, won the Corporate Lawyers Association of NZ/Wigley & Company Community Contribution

Mike Britton accepts the $7000 cheque from Michael Wigley and Felicity Heffernan.

Award, which is awarded to an in-house lawyer who has made an outstanding contribution to the community.

She was awarded the honour in recognition of her work helping Forest & Bird hold its Art for Conservation charity art auction last year, which raised $90,000 for the protection of Hector’s and Maui’s dolphin and high country environments.

The $7,000 award is paid

to the winner’s chosen cause – Ms Heffernan has donated her prize to Forest & Bird’s children’s project, Kiwi Conservation Club.

Senior partner of Wigley & Company, Michael Wigley, said Ms Heffernan’s work was a great example of how lawyers could make a valuable contribution to their communities. “She’s a dolphin among sharks.”

HANKS to the hundreds of you who sent in your responses to our reader survey It’s great to know that most of you are enjoying Forest & Bird magazine nine out of 10 of you rated it either “excellent” (54%) or “very good” (36%), and only two readers rated it as poor.

Things you like most about the magazine are the photographs and feature-length articles, and your favourite topics – perhaps not surprisingly – are forests and birds, followed closely by lakes and rivers and the high country.

Your feedback will help us continue to make improvements to the magazine – you may notice some changes already in this issue, which we hope will meet your approval.

And the winner of the draw to receive Rare Birds Yearbook 2008 is Ann Limpus of Kapiti.

Inspired by nature

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EST Coast artist Mark Neilson is donating 10% of the proceeds of his natureinspired exhibition to preserving the coast’s wetlands.

The donation will go to help Friends of Shearer Swamp protect the 135-hectare Shearer Swamp, 5km south of the gold-mining town of Ross, which is the second largest intact swamp on the West

Coast, and is home to many rare plants and animals such as kotuku (white heron) and giant kokopu (native trout/whitebait).

Mark was invited on a Department of Conservation field trip to Shearer Swamp earlier this year and was fascinated by its rich diversity of plant and animal life.

His exhibition opens on October 31 at Ross Art Studio

PARAMATA LODGE West Coast • South Island • New Zealand 8 FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

in Hokitika, then at the Art Centre, Christchurch, on January 27.

“The West Coast has to be one of the most beautiful places on the planet,” Mark says. “I feel very privileged to be surrounded by waterways and wetlands that hold such a wealth of fauna and flora that provides the inspiration for my paintings and drawings.”

Luxury accommodation with forest and wetland tours stay@paramatalodge.co.nz www.paramatalodge.co.nz

Mobile: 0064 27 367 2699 Hosts: Kathy Gilbert, Neil Ensor w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

Plight of the petrels OREST & Bird is backing a new group working to protect endangered gadfly petrels in New Zealand and other parts of the Southern Hemisphere.

Twelve species of the nocturnal birds are found in New Zealand, with the Chatham petrel and the magenta petrel, or taiko, critically endangered.

Globally there are 34 species of this little-known group.

Thousands of kilometres away in the Indian Ocean on the island of La Reunion, the Mascarene petrel and Barau’s petrel are also threatened species, and islanders are working hard to save them from extinction.

Most gadfly petrels are suffering the same problems of habitat loss and predation.

In La Reunion the chicks die when they are attracted to lights and fly into buildings or get grounded in built-up areas, where they can be eaten by domestic animals or simply can’t find a good place to take off from. The birds nest in long

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burrows, and are easily dug up or eaten by rats, cats, pigs and other predators.

BirdLife International and its Global Seabird Programme are setting up a Pterodroma and Pseudobulweria Conservation Group to study the gadfly petrels and improve conservation action. “Nobody knows much about them. They are a bit of an enigma,” Global Seabird Programme scientist Susan Waugh, based at Forest & Bird, says.

Forest & Bird is setting up a network for seabird enthusiasts and researchers around New Zealand, and will be working with BirdLife International partners in La Reunion, Fiji and Britain on the problems facing this group of birds.

More information: www.birdlife.org Susan Waugh

F

conservationbriefs

La Reunion conservationist Marc Salamolard with an endangered Barau’s petrel.

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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DOC

ONE-STOP SHOP in the bush Marina Skinner investigates traditional Maori use of our native plants and finds a surprising diversity of uses.

C. Rudge/DOC

Kawakawa

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B

DOC

Karaka

DOC

Tawa Tawa

Hīnau

DOC

EFORE chemist shops there was the New Zealand bush.

Before pharmacists, doctors and specialists there were tohunga. Tane’s forest was also the supermarket, the mall and the hardware store.

Mäori used native plants for medicine, food, clothing, dyes, shelter, waka, weapons and beauty products. Most plants were unfamiliar when Mäori arrived in Aotearoa but they brought from other Pacific islands an understanding of how to put plants to work. The new arrivals were used to soaking and baking fruits and nuts to remove poisons before eating them.

Kümara travelled across the Pacific Ocean in the voyaging waka and were cultivated as a staple food. But Mäori gathered and grew many other plants to add a little variety – and nutrients – to their diet. Bracken fern, or aruhe, was an important carbohydrate.

The rhizomes have a starchy meal that was extracted after a long process of drying, soaking and roasting.

Berries were gathered from tawa, hïnau and karaka. Ripe orange karaka berries were collected in late summer and the flesh was eaten raw. The kernels took more work to extract anything edible. After cooking and long soaking, the toxic raw kernels became a valued source of protein.

Clothing, containers, ropes and fishing lines were made from harakeke, or flax. The harakeke was carefully gathered then scraped with a mussel shell, soaked, beaten, twisted, dyed and woven to create cloaks, belts, baskets, mats and shoes. To add colour, the harakeke was tinted with dyes made from the bark of several plants.

Harakeke also has some surprising contemporary uses, including a surfboard recently made in New Zealand from harakeke fibre, synthetic resins and foams.

In traditional Mäori medicine – known as rongoa Mäori – prevention was as important as treatment of ailments, and the patient’s spiritual and emotional wellbeing was as important as their physical health. Plants were used for first aid, tonics and to treat illnesses.

Rod Morris

NZ Flax (Phormium tenax) in wetland. Mahinapua, Westland

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FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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Trees were felled for waka, or canoes. The most important timbers were tötara and kauri, and the trunks were trimmed and hollowed out, shaped and decorated. Sails were woven from harakeke, raupo or kiekie.

Adze handles were crafted from branches of tawhero, tawa, mataï, tötara and rimu, and sometimes other timbers. Stone adze heads were tied to the shafts, and the adzes were used for agriculture and woodworking.

For hunting birds, long spears, or here, were made from the sapwood of tawa and from other trees including mänuka.

Fire sticks came from kaikömako trees. A dry stick was sharpened and rubbed against another stick, creating wood dust. “It is this dust that is kindled by the heat produced by the

energetic use of the rubbing-stick,” ethnographer Elsdon Best described in The Mäori in 1924. “Under favourable conditions an expert will kindle a fire in a very few minutes.”

Musical instruments were carved from tänekaha, poroporo and tutu wood, and ornamental and spiritual artefacts were crafted from other woods.

To survive in New Zealand’s cool and rainy climate, weatherproof whare and pätaka, or storehouses, were built with tötara framing and roofs thatched with fronds of nikau or tree ferns or raupö.

And purple-flowered koromiko, or Hebe speciosa, and käka beak were planted around the pä purely for their good looks.

A Healing tradition

R

ONGOA MÄORI, or Mäori medicine, takes a holistic approach to good health. Rob McGowan, who shares his knowledge on Mäori Television’s Kiwi Maara gardening show, says the concept of interconnectedness is fundamental to traditional medicine.

“A person is unhealthy if the connections are disrupted. When a person is sick, you don’t just look at physical symptoms on their own.”

Plants played an important part in the wellbeing of preEuropean Mäori, and they are of increasing significance today for Mäori and Päkehä seeking treatments that complement Western medicines.

Christchurch rongoa Mäori practitioner Heeni Phillips’ Nga Rau Räkau o te Ora Clinic sees 1300 patients a year. Heeni prescribes a traditional blend of kümarahou, kawakawa and mäwe

Maori medicine treats body and soul.

to relieve pain and halt the growth of tumours for cancer sufferers.

Her patients often combine Western and rongoa Mäori treatments.

Finding a supply of healthy plants can be tricky – Heeni gathers hers from Hinewai Reserve in Akaroa. Rob says plant-based medications have fewer side effects than their pharmaceutical counterparts. But pharmaceutical companies have shied away from looking at the commercial potential of native plants because of uncertainty over the “Wai 262” Treaty of Waitangi claim, in which Mäori sovereignty over the knowledge of native plants, wildlife and other natural taonga is asserted.

Rob – a Forest & Bird member – is a Tauranga rongoa Mäori practitioner and teacher, and holds a wide knowledge of the medicinal uses of plants. Take, for example, his rongoa Mäori first aid tip for sunburn: pick a young mamaku tree fern shoot, cut it in thin slices and rub the slimy sap on your skin to soothe the burn.

KAWAKAWA TONIC To help liver and kidney function and maintain good health: Pick 12-24 kawakawa (Macropiper excelsum or pepper tree) leaves.

• Choose leaves that get morning sun and have caterpillar holes.

• Gather them from 9am-11am.

• In a stainless steel or enamel saucepan place leaves and two litres of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes with the lid on.

• Pour out half a cup, top up with hot water and drink at breakfast.

Kawakawa

The tonic will keep for 8-10 days. When the taste changes, throw out and make a new batch.

Tutu

Dick Veitch/DOC

• Leave to cool and transfer to a glass container. Keep in the fridge.

WHAT’S YOUR POISON?

DOC

The intensely toxic tutu (Coriaria arborea) plant was public enemy number one last autumn after several people became ill through eating honey tainted by bees collecting honeydew from leaf hoppers that were feeding on tutu.

But a superficially poisonous plant didn’t deter Mäori, who would crush the bracts around the seeds, filter the juice through a finely woven kete or toetoe heads and drink the delicious liquid.

Cheers!

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Dick Veitch/DOC

PLANTS PUT TO GOOD USE

Rod Morris

Rod Morris

Kawakawa or pepper tree (Macropiper excelsum)

Harakeke or NZ flax (Phormium tenax)

DOC

DOC

Leaf fibre was used for weaving clothes, containers, fishing nets, rope and bandages. Gel at the base of the leaves is an antiseptic.

Roots were boiled to make a purgative.

Leaves were chewed to ease toothache and are used in steam baths for rheumatism and arthritis. Kawakawa tea was a tonic for coughs and colds. Leaves were strewn around kümara patches and burnt so the smoke killed plant pests. Leaves were used in birth and death rituals.

Bracken fern or aruhe (Pteridium esculentum)

Kowhai (Sophora)

Bark was boiled and the decoction was applied to heal wounds.

Terry Greene/DOC

P Anderson/DOC

Roots were dried, soaked, dried again then roasted and beaten to extract a meal high in carbohydrate. Beware: the shoots and raw roots are carcinogenic.

Poroporo (Solanum) Leaves were boiled for healing skin diseases. In modern times poroporo has also been trialled for contraceptive use.

Mānuka (Leptospermum scoparium) Seed capsules helped treat diarrhoea. They were crushed and eaten or boiled to make a concentrate. Branches were made into spears and canoe paddles.

Kaikoura, Albatross capital of the world.

Enjoy close at hand an array of Albatross, Petrels, Shearwaters, Terns, Gulls and many more.

Trips 3 times daily.

Bookings essential. www.oceanwings.co.nz

96 Esplanade, Kaikoura Call Free 0800 733 365 Ph 03-319 6777 www.encounterkaikoura.co.nz

w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

Encounter Kaikoura is a Green Globe certified business

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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Spirit of the oceans A Salvin’s albatross swoops in to land at the Bounty Islands – 97% of the Salvin’s albatross population breeds on this isolated group of small, rocky islands south-east of New Zealand. Photo Tui De Roy.

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The albatross is a creature of legend, of poetry and of dreams. It is the ultimate nomad whose sailplane wings – the longest of any living bird – harness the shrieking winds of the oceans as it glides around the globe.

I

T may live as long as we do, and often mates for life. It commutes with unerring accuracy over thousands of miles of ocean. And with the advent of DNA “fingerprinting” we are discovering that there may not be just 13 albatross species but between 21 and 25 distinct types, living from the fringes of Antarctica to the icy North Pacific.

However, albatrosses are victims of many human-induced threats, particularly the threat of being killed as “by-catch” in fisheries. Almost 90% of all albatross species are declining or otherwise at risk of extinction, making them the most threatened of any bird family.

Awareness of the problem is growing, and many people and organisations around the world – including Forest & Bird and BirdLife International’s Save the Albatross campaign – are working to reverse this alarming trend.

In New Zealand, tougher fisheries regulations on “mitigation measures” have been recently introduced and are likely to dramatically reduce by-catch deaths in New Zealand waters.

Albatross – their world, their ways by Tui De Roy, Mark Jones and Julian Fitter (published by Bateman) features more than 400 of world-renowned wildlife photographer De Roy’s breath-taking photographs.

The 240-page book also features essays from leading experts on the latest research and detailed information on each albatross species – and the international effort to save these ocean nomads from the threat of extinction.

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Tui De Roy

Storm riders of the Southern Ocean

In an excerpt from Albatross – their world, their ways, internationally renowned wildlife photographer Tui De Roy is awestruck by a wandering albatross’s mastery of the Southern Ocean.

T

HROUGH the roaring wind and lashing salt spray I strain to keep my eyes on a white speck rising and falling in rhythmic arcs over the blurred horizon.

Tracing a see-sawing path, yet travelling towards a fixed goal through the punishing South Atlantic gale, the speck soon draws near.

A splendid male wandering albatross, recognisable by the heavy set of his pink bill, draws abreast of the pitching icebreaker labouring through the giant swells.

Riding on immaculate, rigid wings spanning well over three metres, his mastery of the elements is absolute.

All around, the maelstrom rages. Huge swells curl and break. Waves crash and collide, spume torn from their breasts.

The air is thick with droplets of stinging seawater flung high by shrieking gusts.

In contrast with this bewildering tumult, the great bird is completely serene as he passes. Where everything around him is chaos, he seems to hang almost motionless for long instants, wings taut, feathers smooth and streamlined, his entire body a perfection of aerodynamics.

I seek relief from the elements by cowering behind the bridge of the ship, 16 FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

while the albatross cruises steadily by. His dark eye scrutinises me briefly, then his sailplane wings tip imperceptibly and he plunges towards the next wave trough, gaining speed.

He is practising that marvel of flight: harnessing the combined forces of gravity and wind to ride along with minimum energy expenditure of his own, a process known as dynamic soaring.

Strong solar-powered winds, circulating freely around the Southern Ocean, where they meet no land in their easterly rush, whip up jagged waves that roll along like liquid mobile mountains.

This creates sufficient turbulence along the sea-air interface that the drag effectively slows the lower air layers even while the wind continues to travel at full speed higher up.

The art in the albatross’s flight is to extract lift from the airflow differentials.

At first he glides smoothly in the trough of the wave, closely hugging the face of the oncoming swell until he begins to lose momentum.

Then, suddenly, with only the smallest of steering adjustments, he veers upwards over the top of the crest, rising sharply into the teeth of the wind.

With taut wings reaching a nearly vertical plane, he gains a sudden velocity boost as he climbs steeply into the fastest air lanes 10-15m above the sea. Here he levels off, briefly embracing the air on arched wings before plunging once more downwind towards the sea.

For a few moments he follows the contour of the wave so closely his quivering wingtip may trace a thin,

An adult Laysan albatross with two chicks. While the adult lays a single egg, chicks sometimes stray into neighbouring nests, and the parent doesn’t distinguish the visitor from its own chick.

evanescent line on the surface before taking another ride down the trough, then up again, repeating the performance in one contiguous, fluid sweep.

Never does a feather move or flutter out of place and the wing adjustments are so precise they are imperceptible to the human eye. Only his head tilts apace with his yo-yo flight so that his gaze remains steady with the horizon.

Incredibly, researchers have found that albatrosses engaged in dynamic soaring expend no more energy than paddling on the sea surface.

The epitome of freedom and exuding utter control in one of the harshest environments on Earth, this magnificent ocean traveller easily overtakes the ship and continues on his way.

He rises and falls, rises and falls, with such cadence that he creates through my sense of vision an impression similar to that which a gentle waltz would impart through sound.

Every time his wings veer upright I remind myself incredulously that a tall basketball player with arms outstretched would barely reach the same span.

This regal bird seems to be on a mission, cruising an exceptionally steady course. For what seems like a long while I continue to watch him in the distance but in fact he takes only a few minutes to vanish over the opposite horizon from whence he came. w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

Tui De Roy

Light-mantled albatross gliding along the cliff edge of Enderby Island in the Auckland Islands group. Light-mantled albatrosses breed on the sub-Antarctic islands, where the total breeding population is estimated at19,000-24,000 pairs.

Masses of Salvin’s albatrosses return from the sea to the Bounty Islands. The absence of soil and vegetation on the Bounty Islands makes nest construction a challenge: building materials include spilt food, excrement, bones, feathers and fur seal hair cemented to the granite bedrock.

albatross – their world, their ways will be launched at An Hour with Tui De Roy:

Dunedin: August 26. 5.30pm, Otago Museum. Contact Sue Maturin: s.maturin@forestandbird.org.nz, 03 477 9677 Christchurch: August 27, 5.30pm, Heritage Travel Centre, 53B Montreal St. Contact Chris Todd: c.todd@forestandbird.org.nz, 03 366 6317 Wellington: 5.30pm, September 8, DOC Head Office, 18-32 Manners St. Contact Mike Britton: s.partidge@forestandbird.org.nz, 04 801 2762 Admission: minimum $5 donation at the door, with proceeds going to Birdlife International albatross campaign.

Tui De Roy

Albatross – their world, their ways is published by Bateman, $69.99

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FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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Malcolm Francis

Jewel anemone (Corynactis australis)

Poor Knights Islands Marine

Malcolm Francis

Yellow moray (Gymnothorax prasinus)

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Malcolm Francis

Gorgonian

Reserve – 10 years on Pelagia noctiluca

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DELICATELY striped fish with an extended snout hovers above the encrusted boulders at the bottom of Middle Archway at the Poor Knights Islands. It doesn’t move away as we descend alongside it and before we get close we can see it is a long-finned boarfish.

All our previous encounters with these fish have been below 25 metres depth, but this one hovers at 14m, considerably above its usual habitat over the sand and deeper sponge gardens.

This encounter at the Poor Knights mirrors those with related giant boarfish, best known from 20m depths, which now appear in less than 5m in the marine reserve at Goat Island, north of Auckland. Is protection of marine reserves allowing these fish to return to the shallower depths they perhaps once inhabited? We can only guess.

The Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve, off the east coast of Northland, was created in 1977, but only two small

parts of the southern of the two main islands, Aorangi, had total no-take status – under which all fishing and taking of marine life is banned.

Aorangi received total protection in October 1997, and the northern island of Tawhiti Rahi, the Pinnacles and the Sugarloaf Islands to the south became totally protected a year later. Finally one of New Zealand’s most special marine habitats had the protection it deserved.

An increase in sightings of snapper was almost immediate once full protection was in place. Within a year we saw large numbers of snapper in schools that included both small and very large fish.

Unlike the timid fish we had occasionally seen in the previous two small protected areas, these snapper moved in close and followed us. A decade on, snapper are now prolific everywhere around the islands and we see them every time we dive. A marked increase in the numbers of small snapper in the wider

Malcolm Francis

Jenny and Tony Enderby explore the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve and discover how 10 years of total protection has brought dramatic changes in restoring its unique marine life.

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Malcolm Francis

Short-tail stingrays (Dasyatis brevicaudatus)

Malcolm Francis

Golden snapper (Centroberyx affinus)

Malcolm Francis

Pink maomao (Caprodon longimanus)

Hauraki Gulf over the past few years could be partly attributed to the large schools of breeding snapper at the Poor Knights.

Several of the more scarce moray eel species also increased and spectacular mosaic and speckled moray eels are now seen more regularly.

The influence of the sub-tropical East Auckland current makes the Poor Knights reserve and its marine life so special. This clear, warm oceanic water brings with it sub-tropical marine species and their larvae, and the Poor Knights are home to many species that are rarely found elsewhere in New Zealand.

Probably the best-known fish that arrived this way is the yellow-and-blackstriped Lord Howe coralfish, which is now thought to be breeding as far south as White Island. Other fish recorded at the Poor Knights include yellow and single spot demoiselles, knifefish, lizardfish, rainbowfish, pufferfish and even a tropical lionfish.

Nudibranchs or sea slugs are some of the most spectacular species carried to the Poor Knights as larvae – among the most colourful are the shockingly bright yellow and blue Verco’s nudibranch and the green and yellow striped affinis nudibranch.

Early divers at the Poor Knights saw massive schools of trevally feeding on the surface, large kingfish and the occasional bronze whaler shark close to the islands.

Around the time the original marine reserve was established most of the trevally schools vanished, kingfish had also gradually diminished in school size and number, and sharks were hardly ever reported.

The number of bronze whaler sharks seen has increased in the last few years, and schools of more than a dozen of these magnificent fish occur at the

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Malcolm Francis

A banded wrasse lurks among the kelp

Malcolm Francis

Malcolm Francis

Cream Garden on the north-east side of the islands, with other sightings around Northern Archway. Perhaps the increase in the school fish they feed on has brought them back.

Tourism at the Poor Knights Islands has also grown. The largest tourism operator, Dive Tutukaka, has seen its customer numbers increase from fewer than 9000 divers, snorkellers and sightseers each year to around 12,000 today. When the no-take marine reserve was created its critics predicted a downturn in visitor numbers but the reverse seems to be true and the islands are acclaimed as one of New Zealand’s top diving attractions.

But foremost is the marine reserve’s success in protecting the diverse marine life of the Poor Knights – without such protection the islands would have continued to diminish as a unique habitat.

The stage is set for future generations to see the Poor Knights Islands as they once were, rather than the depleted reefs that surround many other islands off New Zealand. It will be fascinating to observe what further changes the next 10 years of total protection in the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve will bring.

Red pigfish (Bodianus unimaculatus)

A scorpion fish (Scorpaenus cardinalis) between sponges

Win a trip for two to see Sirocco the kakapo on Ulva Island!

Enter online at www.southlandnz.com Competition closes 31st August 2008 One entry per person; terms and conditions apply.

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FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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Malcolm Francis

E K Cameron

Mimiwhangata – a marine emergency Mimiwhangata in Northland is in urgent need of protection as a marine reserve, Roger Grace, Shane Wright and Mark Bellingham report.

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YING at the centre of a warm subtropical coastal strand on the eastern Northland mainland is Mimiwhangata, a site that could one day be the jewel in the crown of New Zealand’s marine reserve system.

On the eastern horizon are the Poor Knights Islands, the location of one of our best offshore marine reserves. At Mimiwhangata, rich subtropical marine life which is the equal of that of the Poor Knights is found inshore in an easily accessible mainland setting – a place where all New Zealanders could more readily experience its natural wonders. Yet without the full protection of a marine reserve, Mimiwhangata’s marine life is suffering serious decline.

Both Mimiwhangata and the Poor Knights are sheltered under the lee of the Northland Peninsula, where they receive warm currents from the tropical Pacific.

These two national treasures provide habitat for a greater diversity of warm, temperate and subtropical marine life than 22 FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

Mimiwhangata

occurs in the cooler waters of southern New Zealand.

For example, in warm years surgeonfish (like Dory in the movie Finding Nemo) from the tropical reefs of equatorial latitudes can be found at Mimiwhangata.

Although Mimiwhangata is surrounded by an increasingly developed coastline, the area is comparatively undeveloped as the land is protected as a large Department of Conservation farm park.

Unlike the steep cliffs of the Poor Knights, Mimiwhangata has a diverse array of shallow and deeper water marine habitats, including long white sand beaches, entirely untrammeled by coastal development, and a great variety and complexity of rocky shores.

In the early 1970s marine scientists Wade Doak, Bill Ballantine and Roger Grace were commissioned by Mimiwhangata’s then landowners, New Zealand Breweries, to survey and report on the marine life there.

They described an area “beautiful, rich and varied to a degree probably unsurpassed anywhere in New Zealand.”

The scientists found an area teeming with an extraordinary array of marine life. On the eastern shore of Rimariki Island they discovered a fish community of unmatched richness and abundance and every imaginable hue: sandagers, wrass, spotties, red pigfish, green, orange

Feather stars and soft corals

and banded parrotfish, black angelfish, leatherjackets, red moki, kelpfish, marblefish and the greatest density of grandfather hapuku they had ever seen inshore.

More than three decades later much of this diversity has gone.

Monitoring has found severe depletion of crayfish and snapper, which prey on sea urchins or kina. Their absence has allowed the kina to proliferate, creating extensive “kina barrens” where the large numbers of kina “graze” the kelp forests to destruction.

Recreational fishing has also wiped out most of the subtropical fish and their temperate cousins.

This decline has occurred despite Mimiwhangata’s partial protection as a marine park since 1984. The marine park rules ban all commercial fishing, but recreational fishing and gathering of marine life is permitted.

Inside the marine park, which extends 1km offshore, recreational fishers can use only unweighted, single-hooked lines, trolling, spearing or hand-picking.

Potting for rock lobsters is also allowed, limited to one pot per person, group or boat, and only species from a “permitted species” list can be taken. Unfortunately these restrictions are not enough to stop depletion of marine life.

However, we know that this harm can still be repaired if the area receives the full protection of a marine reserve – the recovery of the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve after 10 years of full protection is a heartening example of what could be achieved at Mimiwhangata.

In 2004 a discussion document on the possibility of setting up a marine reserve, w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

Malcolm Francis

Rock lobster

Malcolm Francis

Snapper

Spotted black groper

©Simon Fordham/NaturePix

Kakapo Encounter 2008: Sirocco the Kakapo returns

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Malcolm Francis

where all fishing and taking of marine life is banned, was met with overwhelming support.

However, a formal application for a marine reserve was put on the back burner when the Government’s Marine Protected Areas Policy and Implementation Plan was released in 2006. This joint policy between DOC and the Ministry of Fisheries seeks to create a network of marine protected areas, of which marine reserves would be just one type.

Any applications for marine reserves now have to come under this new process – which means that the Mimiwhangata proposal is not likely to be acted on for several years, when it would be considered along with the rest of the Northland coast and offshore islands.

In the meantime its valuable treasures continue to be eroded in what can only be described as a tragedy of coastal and marine mismanagement. We know that partial protection does not work, and the total protection of a no-take marine reserve is urgently required at Mimiwhangata.

Malcolm Francis

Kelp forest

Back by popular demand, New Zealand’s rare endemic night parrot will be available for viewing by interested public from Sept 8 – October 22 on Ulva Island off Stewart Island in Southern New Zealand.

Warm, roomy and comfortable Rakiura Retreat Motels offers a special price to Forest and Bird members to stay during the duration of the Kakapo encounter. Our units sleep up to 6 people for $200 and 4 people for $180. We can cater for up to 22 people.

We can also arrange your flight/ferry bookings, arrange your transfers and book your tickets to Ulva to view Sirocco.

Visit our website www.rakiuraretreat.co.nz and make your enquiries through the website or email Lorraine info@rakiuraretreat.co.nz Rakiura Retreat Motels is a member of Forest and Bird and has hosted many Birders from around the world. Visited also by kiwis, kakas, wekas and many others. Ph 03 2191 096 FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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© Simon Fordham/NaturePix

Kuaka in Korea David Edwards visits Korea and finds that industrial development and pollution are taking their toll on some long-distance travellers from New Zealand: the godwits.

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Jan van de Kam /Birds Korea

N March this year hundreds of people gathered at the Miranda Shorebird Centre on the Firth of Thames, at Manawatu Estuary and at Southshore Spit in Christchurch, to bid farewell to the bartailed godwits departing on their annual migration.

These remarkable birds have received international news coverage for making the furthest non-stop flight of any bird. In 2007 a satellite-transmitter-tagged female known as “E7” was recorded travelling a 28,248-kilometre round trip from New Zealand to Alaska and back.

The bar-tailed godwits (Limosa

24 FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

lapponica) or kuaka, fly for 10-11 days non-stop, without food or sleep, from New Zealand to the Yellow Sea, which lies between China and the Korean Peninsula.

The Yellow Sea eco-region has historically had about 20,000 square kilometres of tidal flats – an environment rich in plant and animal life such as seaweed, worms, crustaceans, shellfish and fish. It is a vital resting point for bar-tailed godwits and 35 other shorebird species that migrate from Southeast Asia or Australia.

However the tidal flats are also situated in perhaps the most densely populated and heavily industrialised part of the world.

South Korea has 493 people per square kilometre, while the eastern provinces of China have 700 or more. By comparison, New Zealand has less than 15 people per km2.

While in New Zealand the biggest threat to our native flora and fauna is introduced pests, in the Yellow Sea region the main dangers are pollution and habitat loss from development.

In December 2007 Korea experienced its worst oil spill, when 10,800 tonnes of oil spilled into the Yellow Sea after a crane barge crashed into the carrier Hebei Spirit near the port of Daesan. Tens of thousands of birds were affected, decades of damage done to the ecosystem, and the area’s fishing and tourism industries ruined.

The Saemangeum Estuary, on the western coast, was until 2006 the single most important shorebird site in the region, with at least 19 species found in internationally important concentrations (more than 1% of their world population).

However, a 33km seawall was built to allow development of the land.

A three-year Saemangeum Shorebird Monitoring Program to measure the effects of the seawall closure is now being

The wasteland left behind after construction of a seawall. w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

Jan van de Kam /Birds Korea

completed by Birds Korea, a small but increasingly respected non-government conservation group with about 300 local and 450 international members, with the help of volunteer bird-counters from 12 countries, including New Zealand.

Birds Korea director and ornithologist Nial Moores has lived in South Korea for the past 10 years. I visited Saemangeum with him at the conclusion of the 2008 bird counting.

The sight was shocking: a 44,100-hectare wasteland of dying ecosystem, littered with dead worms and shellfish, and shallow pools of stagnant water surrounded by brown algae.

“This area supported in a single day the food needs of 200,000 shorebirds and 25,000 people – incredible productivity and biomass,” Moores says. “But when you prevent the tidal exchange, the amount of nutrient in the water becomes excessive and the system basically chokes.”

The monitoring data from 2008 is now being finalised, and seems set to show a continuing trend of species decline, as well as rebutting the Korean Government’s arguments that birds would simply move to other locations. The 2007 report shows that the great knot, which also migrates from New Zealand and Australia, suffered the most severe decline.

Miranda Trust chairman David Lawrie says the number of birds returning to New Zealand in springtime also appears to be declining. The data from bird counts is still being analysed but it looks like there has been a decline of about 3% per year, for reasons not yet known.

Though probably not the sole cause, the

The Saemangeum Estuary – an important shorebird site degraded by construction of a seawall.

rapid industrial development in the Yellow Sea region seems to be a strong factor in the birds’ decline.

Lawrie believes migratory birds deserve greater priority for protection. “The official line is that they deserve less priority because they are here for only part of their life cycle, which is clearly a bad reason.”

Most of the research on migratory birds has been undertaken by volunteers, mainly through Miranda – Government agencies which have signed international agreements on the protection of species need to take greater responsibility, Lawrie says.

Rakhyun Kim, a Korean graduate student in environmental law at Auckland University, and a Birds Korea advisor, says Korean and New Zealand environmental laws are at the opposite ends of a spectrum

but Asians in New Zealand are no less conservation-minded than other New Zealanders.

He says New Zealand’s environment is protected relatively well because of its economic dependency on its clean and green image, but in China and South Korea the economy depends on shipbuilding and manufacturing – protection of the environment has been a lower priority than economic growth.

The triennial Ramsar conference on wetland conservation, on the theme “Healthy Wetlands, Healthy People,” will be held in Changwon, South Korea from October 28 – November 4 this year, an encouraging sign of growing interest in environmental matters among Koreans – particularly the wetlands and species in their own “backyard.”

The bar-tailed godwit/kuaka (Limosa Lapponica) is a long-billed wader found on estuaries around New Zealand.

These birds make the longest annual migration of any bird species, travelling from their breeding grounds in Alaska to New Zealand, stopping en route in Asia.

About 70,000 bar-tailed godwits visit New Zealand each year, arriving here in September and leaving in March-April, but numbers coming here have declined.

Jan van de Kam /Birds Korea

The Yellow Sea supports nearly all the godwits on the northward migration from New Zealand.

Estimates suggest that close to 50% of tidal flats have been reclaimed in South Korea and China, raising serious concerns about the impact on the godwits and other species.

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FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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Our rivers are not renewable

Mokihinui River

So-called renewable energy can have a serious impact on the environment. Forest & Bird South Island Conservation Manager Chris Todd says we need to make sure power generation is truly renewable and responsible.

O

Helen Bain

UR wild rivers are threatened by climate change and runaway power consumption.

Electricity demand is predicted to keep growing at 1.3% - 2% or an extra 150-200 megawatts of generating capacity every year. That extra demand is equivalent to the generation produced by damming two rivers the size of the Hurunui and the Mohaka every year.

To curb greenhouse gas emissions from coal and oil-fired power stations, the government has boldly committed New Zealand to producing 90% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025, up from about 70% now. That means mainly hydro, geothermal and wind generation, with other technologies like tide-driven turbines under development.

“Renewable” energy is touted as environmentally preferable to energy generated by burning fossil fuels, but hydro development involves the destruction of our rivers’ natural and scenic values, ecosystems and recreation. Development of wind farms in inappropriate settings can also have adverse effects on the surrounding environment, landscape and local communities.

If we used hydro-electricity to meet just 40% of predicted electricity demand by 2025, we would need to dam or divert

26

Craig Potton

Helen Bain

soapbox

the Waitaki, Clutha, Ngaruroro, Wairau, Whanganui, Hurunui, Mohaka, Mokihinui, Grey, both Waiau Rivers, the Taieri, Rangitaiki, Rangitikei, Waiaou, Raukokore, Waikato, Patea, Waimea, Ruamahanga, Awatere, Wairoa, Manawatu, Tukituki, Whakatane, Pelorus, Ashburton and Tarawera Rivers. What then?

We must not be panicked into destroying our heritage, only to find that we are in exactly the same position in terms of meeting demand for generation in 2025, minus our rivers.

There is no simple answer, but a range of ideas have worked well elsewhere and, used together, could create a much more sustainable future for energy.

It is more cost-effective to invest in reducing electricity demand than to increase electricity generation capacity. This “virtual generation,” sometimes called “negawatt power,” improves electricity supply by improving efficiency, rather than by building new power stations.

A market can be created to trade negawatts: an electricity company with additional demand that it could not meet through existing generation could pay its customers to reduce their power use, rather than pay more to develop new generation.

There are thousands of ways to reduce electricity demand, ranging from changing to energy-efficient light bulbs and insulating houses, to converting dairy sheds to use biogas generated from cow effluent.

We need to decentralize and diversify electricity supply to encourage households and communities to set up their own smallscale generation close to where the supply is needed.

If power companies were obliged to buy power back from their consumers, we would see huge private investment in micro-hydro, wind and solar cells. For example, just one wind turbine could power a small community – and any excess power could be sold.

When we produce more electricity, it needs to be done responsibly, not as a knee-jerk response to perceived threats of black-outs.

Responsible renewable projects would not target the nation’s pristine wild and scenic rivers (such as Meridian’s current proposal to dam the West Coast’s Mokihinui gorge and its large surrounding area of pristine rainforest.) Neither would they target the nation’s most beloved landscapes.

Forest & Bird is working with the Wind Energy Association to develop industry codes of practice that will guide truly renewable and responsible generation. It is high time our power companies moved in the same direction.

Forest & Bird’s Election Guide – helping you make an informed choice that counts for conservation

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OREST & Bird asked all the parties in Parliament for their responses to the 20 most urgent conservation questions facing New Zealand.

The following parties responded: Labour National NZ First United Future Green Party Maori Party We hope their answers will help you make your decision this election, based on their level of commitment to delivering strong policy and action to deal with key conservation issues. Your vote this year is a vote for conservation and a vote for the future.

PESTS/ CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT 1 • Introduced pests, such as deer, thar, chamois and wild pigs, inflict significant damage to our natural environment, yet some among the hunting lobby want the law changed to see them “managed” as a “resource.”

Will you uphold existing legislation and policy that supports control of these species and allows continued access for hunters to the conservation estate?

L Yes. While hunters have a role to play in helping control numbers of wild animals, legislative change is not appropriate. A recent Ministerial Panel on control of Deer, Tahr, Chamois and Pigs concluded that greater co-ordination of hunting interests is required and we are looking at ways to achieve this.

N Will allow hunters greater responsibility in pest management, including establishment of hunter-managed recreation areas on conservation land.

NZF Yes, absolutely.

UF Existing DOC policy of exterminating these recreationally-valued wild animals w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

has failed to achieve its conservation or recreational objectives. A policy of managing these animals on a case-by-case and/or region-by-region basis through greater involvement of the recreational community is far more practical.

MP Yes, if alternative methods to 1080 are used.

G Yes. Conservation land must be managed primarily to protect natural values. Hunting is a subsidiary activity.

We would remove or eradicate, where possible, introduced pests. Hunters can contribute.

Will you commit to funding pest eradication on the Auckland Islands?

MP The Maori Party supports existing legislation that prioritises conservation of indigenous flora and fauna, while also allowing hunters access to kai.

2 • Introduced pests are not controlled over a large proportion of the conservation estate, and threaten native species such as kiwi.

Will your party commit to expanding regular pest control to at least 30% of the conservation estate within three years (focusing on key areas of most urgent concern: Kaimai-Mamaku, Ruahine, Waitutu, Puketi-Omahutu)?

L Nearly $50 million a year is spent on pest control. However, we cannot do everything and our approach is to target highest priority areas where native species are threatened.

N Real funding for pest control has declined under the current Government and we commit to ongoing increases above the rate of inflation.

NZF Yes, NZ has not expanded resources for pest control in proportion to the increase in the conservation estate.

UF Yes, more time and money should be allocated for this important task after thorough consultation with community and recreational groups.

G Yes. The Greens will increase funding for pest control significantly above current levels. Focussing on key areas is essential.

3 • Pest-free offshore islands provide vital havens for some of our most critically endangered species.

L The Labour-led Government has consistently funded island pest eradication programmes where feasible – the Auckland Islands will be considered alongside other priority locations for similar work.

N The Auckland Islands are an attractive prospect for pest eradication. National would want to consider technical advice on the viability of eradication before firmly committing.

NZF Yes UF Yes, UnitedFuture sees offshore islands as important refuges for endangered species.

G Yes. It is an important step in restoring the integrity of the World Heritage Area.

MP Before agreeing we would want to ensure survival of birds of prey.

4 • The Department of Conservation is responsible for protecting a land area covering nearly 30% of New Zealand’s land mass that is habitat for much of our unique biodiversity, yet is not adequately resourced to carry out this guardianship role.

Will you adequately resource DOC so it can fulfil its core biodiversity protection responsibilities?

L We have given DOC resources to do much more, with total funding for conservation now over $200 million more per year than in 1999. We will continue to heavily invest in the protection of our country’s unique heritage.

N An incentive framework will provide greater opportunity for community and private organisations to take on conserva-

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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tion roles, funded through a Sustainable Investment Fund of $1b over 10 years.

for properties with special conservation and biodiversity values?

NZF Yes

L Every tenure review proposal is carefully scrutinised to ensure that any important conservation, biodiversity and other inherent values are protected.

UF Yes, while also providing muchneeded resources for DOC to fulfil its obligations as an advocate for outdoor recreation. We envisage DOC being rebranded into a Department of Conservation and Outdoor Recreation.

G Absolutely. DOC needs to be adequately funded to undertake its vast conservation role.

MP Yes, alongside adequately resourcing hapu and community initiatives for biodiversity protection. The Maori Party would be interested in exploring the possibility of DOC transferring the kaitiakitanga role back to tangata whenua.

HIGH COUNTRY

5 • Forest & Bird has advocated for a network of conservation parks to protect our vulnerable South Island high country.

Does your party support the creation of further high country parks, including the nomination of the Ashburton lakes as a World Heritage Site?

L Yes. Labour aims to establish a network of about 20 high country parks.

The merits of enhanced status for any of these parks would be considered at an appropriate time – in the case of Hakatere once more land has been added to this park.

N Yes, there is a need for more recreational opportunities and conservation in the high country. We would want to consult the community on the Ashburton Lakes proposal.

NZF Yes UF Yes, to a certain extent. The extension of the conservation estate must be underpinned by a resource package that makes it possible for DOC to effectively manage the newly acquired land.

G Yes. MP Consultation with tangata whenua and local communities would be required before a position could be advanced.

6 • South Island high country lakes and their surrounds form some of New Zealand’s most iconic landscapes.

Recently lakeside pastoral leases were excluded from tenure review because of their special scenic values.

Will you also support similar protection

28 FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

N National is concerned about the failings of tenure review and sees potential for a more flexible model. We await the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s report to provide a better way forward.

NZF Yes UF Yes, on a case-by-case basis.

G Yes, the initial Government announcement indicated that properties would be withdrawn for both iconic and biodiversity reasons, but the latter was ignored in the final decision.

MP Yes, and there should be no freeholding of Crown leased land to lessees.

FRESHWATER 7

• The Mokihinui River Valley on the West Coast is clad in pristine native forest, including rimu, kahikatea and beech, and is important habitat for native birds, including kiwi. However, the valley would be flooded if a proposal by power company Meridian to build an 80-metre-high dam across the river valley goes ahead.

Will your party stop the proposal to dam the Mokihinui River?

L We will allow a Resource Management Act decision for the project to be made in the normal way.

N National would provide a balanced framework for decisions on projects like Mokihinui, but would leave the final decision on resource consents to the Environment Court.

NZF Yes UF UnitedFuture favours a precautionary approach until adequate information is gained on the environmental and recreational impact of any major infrastructure project affecting our waterways. We support development of hydro schemes only as long as they do not have an adverse affect on the environment and recreational opportunities.

G Definitely. The conservation values are far too high to be sacrificed, and this dam would set a precedent that leaves no river safe.

MP The Maori Party does not support the proposal to dam the Mokihinui River.

8 • Canterbury is already suffering environmental damage due to intensification of agriculture, especially dairy farming. However the Central Plains Water Scheme is progressing before major strategic studies on the region’s water use can be completed.

Will your party withdraw the Central Plains Water Scheme requiring authority and call a moratorium on all other major water takes till the studies are completed?

L No, however it is important that the agriculture sector contributes to improving environmental outcomes. The proposed National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management and National Environmental Standard on Ecological Flows and Water Levels will improve environmental outcomes.

N National shares the concerns of many over the way the Government granted requiring authority status. We would require careful legal advice though before reversing this.

NZF Yes UF see answer to previous question.

G Yes. The Greens have already called for a moratorium.

MP The Maori Party will investigate all schemes which have a negative impact on the environment, and supports moratoriums ahead of completion of research.

9

• The outstanding conservation and recreational values of our braided rivers, and the many endangered plants and animals they support, merit protection.

Is your party committed to reversing the decline of the indigenous biodiversity of our braided rivers?

L The Labour-led Government is working actively to reverse the decline of indigenous biodiversity on braided rivers and they will continue to be a high priority.

N Legal minimum environmental flows will be established for all waterways.

NZF Yes UF Yes, definitely. UnitedFuture is concerned by the impact of intensive farming in many parts of NZ. G Yes. Halting the continued desecration of these rivers and their unique biodiversity is a priority.

MP Yes. It is critical that local and regional councils are prepared to change their behaviours also.

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MARINE 10 • Hector’s dolphins are in decline and under serious threat, most significantly from set nets.

Does your party support a ban on set nets throughout the dolphins’ range?

MP No, because there are a host of factors affecting their survival which could be addressed without establishing a sanctuary. Rather than a marine mammal sanctuary, the Maori Party supports the establishment of mätaitai reserves.

12 • The practice of shark finning

in consultation with the relevant hapu and iwi.

14 • Nearly a third of New Zealand’s land mass is protected in the conservation estate, but just 0.3% of our coastal waters and EEZ are protected.

Will your party commit to establishing a comprehensive network of no-take marine reserves covering at least 10% of the EEZ by 2010?

L The Labour-led Government is adopting the strongest-ever package of measures to protect Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins, including a variety of regional bans and other restrictions on set netting, trawling and drift netting in the coastal waters where the dolphins are found.

– cutting fins off sharks and throwing away their bodies – is contributing to the decline of shark populations and is banned in many countries.

N Further deterioration of Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins must be halted. National will rely on scientific advice for determining the measures to ensure their survival.

If it is a choice between fishers’ rights and dolphins’ survival, the dolphins must come first.

L Live finning is already banned.

Dumping carcases in New Zealand is discouraged by the Quota Management System, which ensures that when a shark is caught, whether the fins or the body is retained, the entire weight of the shark counts towards a fisher’s quota.

NZF Yes

N No formal policy position but conservation spokesperson Nick Smith finds the practise abhorrent and would be open to proposals to prevent it.

UF No, marine reserves should only comprise one component of a graduated comprehensive plan to protect the sustainability of the entire marine environment.

NZF Yes

G Yes.

G Yes. New protection measures are insufficient to allow recovery of dolphin populations. A complete set net ban is still required.

UF We oppose any inhumane practice.

MP We support a ban on set nets in those waters inhabited by the dolphins, but not in those areas where they have never been sighted.

13 • Significant numbers of the

MP Not within customary fishing areas.

The Maori Party would support the establishment of mataitai reserves which allows for local bylaws and catch rather than a no-take policy.

11 • Maui’s dolphins are the world’s

Does your party support extending the marine mammal sanctuary around the main breeding colony on the Auckland Islands to waters up to 500m deep to provide more adequate protection?

UF No. UnitedFuture believes practical measures can be taken to adequately protect dolphin populations while still allowing recreational set-netting.

rarest marine dolphin, with just 111 individuals remaining.

Do you support the establishment of the marine mammal sanctuary proposed by Forest & Bird to protect Maui’s dolphins from risk of extinction?

L The Labour-led Government is currently establishing a series of marine mammal sanctuaries that are designed to ensure that Maui’s dolphin are protected from key threats.

N – see answer to Q10 NZF – Yes, but not the proposed size (it is too big) UF – Yes, although UnitedFuture believes marine sanctuaries should only comprise one part of a graduated comprehensive plan to protect and ensure the sustainability of the entire marine environment.

G Yes. Without blanket protection, Maui’s dolphins still teeter on the edge.

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Does your party support a requirement for fishers to land whole sharks, rather than take only the fins, to discourage this practice?

G Yes. MP Yes endangered New Zealand sea lion are killed each year as by-catch in the southern squid fishery.

L Each year a cap is set on the total acceptable amount of sea lions to be caught, after which the squid fishery is closed. The Marine Protected Areas Policy process will look at protection for all biodiversity around the Auckland Islands.

N The decision on extending the marine mammal sanctuary needs to be made on the basis of marine science advice about the best ways to safeguard the sea lions but still enable the fisheries to be harvested.

NZF No UF UnitedFuture does not have a specific policy but will look at it on a case-by-case basis.

G Absolutely.

MP This would need to be determined

L The Labour-led Government is committed to its goal of protecting 10% of our marine environment by 2010.

N The process for establishing new marine reserves must be streamlined and stakeholders given a greater role in decisions about where reserves are created.

NZF No, we prefer a ban on commercial fishing but to allow recreational fishing.

15 • Many of New Zealand’s fisheries are over-fished and/or cause damage to marine environments, yet current law does not allow the Minister of Fisheries to take a cautious approach to setting catch limits when fish stocks are in decline.

Do you support amendments to the Fisheries Act that would ensure that fisheries management takes a precautionary approach towards environmental sustainability?

L Labour supports a precautionary approach to setting catch limits.

Beginning this year we will review the Fisheries Act to comprehensively consider amendments to ensure sustainability of fisheries.

N An over-arching framework must be put in place to manage NZ’s ocean resources by completing the Oceans Policy review, including rewriting relevant legislation.

NZF Yes UF Yes, UnitedFuture will amend the Fisheries Act to give recreational fishers a priority right over commercial fishing to

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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unrestricted access to a reasonable daily bag-limit. We will substantially increase funding for robust scientific monitoring of the impact of fishing on fish populations and the marine environment.

G – Yes. The precautionary principle is fundamental to Green Party policy on fisheries management.

MP – Any amendments to the Fisheries Act would need to be determined in consultation with Maori fisheries interests, including hapu and iwi.

ENERGY 16

• The Upper Waimangaroa Valley north of Westport contains untouched and spectacular landscapes that are home to many endangered and threatened species.

Will your party protect this important conservation area from threat of mining by directing State-owned Solid Energy to exclude the upper Waimangaroa Valley from mining?

L Any mining licence granted would have to be obtained through RMA processes and we have full confidence in the Act to deliver on our expectations of the management of environmental impact.

N Resource consent decisions over where Solid Energy can and cannot mine will be left to the Environment Court.

NZF Yes UF It is our policy to favour a precautionary approach until adequate information and knowledge is gained on the environmental and recreational impact of any major infrastructure project such as this.

G The Green Party has fought alongside NGOs to save the upper Waimangaroa for many years, and will continue to do so.

MP Yes

17 • The proposed emissions trading scheme and afforestation grant scheme don’t include incentives to protect areas of native vegetation (and may even encourage its destruction).

Do you support a scheme which would also recognise the carbon-storing value of native vegetation?

L Those who plant or assist new areas of indigenous forest to regenerate are eligible to receive cash grants under the Afforestation Grant Scheme, including funding dedicated to lower sequestration rate species such as indigenous species.

They may also take responsibility for

30 FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

the units under the Emissions Trading Scheme or Permanent Forest Sink Initiative.

N Support (tradable) emission permits which can be earned by establishing permanent forests to store carbon.

NZF Yes UF Yes G Yes MP Yes

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• New Zealand is one of the least efficient users of electricity in the OECD, which contributes to demand for environmentally damaging electricity generation, such as new hydro schemes.

N National has committed to a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2050. A 30% reduction by 2020 is not achievable.

NZF No, it is unattainable on the evidence of present science.

UF Yes, the IPCC target agreed to at Bali seems a reasonable medium-term goal that NZ should aspire to.

G Yes. A 30% reduction will be a massive challenge, so we need to start urgently.

MP Yes. For this to be possible all polluters need to change what they do – the target will be unreachable if concessions are given to the biggest polluters.

Will your party require electricity companies to invest in energy efficiency before they can invest in increasing generation?

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

L Investment in energy efficiency is a high priority. We have committed more than $184m to energy efficiency initiatives.

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N The best way to address energy efficiency is through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority programmes.

We think there is potential for smarter regulation of the energy sector to encourage energy efficiency.

NZF No UF Yes, there are major saving opportunities within the current energy generation capacity. We will boost funding for retro-fitting homes with energy saving improvements and require all new homes to be given a standardised energy efficiency rating, and will adopt a national strategy to insulate all NZ homes.

G New generation projects should be tested against sustainable alternatives prior to approval and windfall profits to State-owned generators must be invested in energy efficiency and conservation.

MP Yes

19 • Developed countries, including New Zealand, agreed at the Bali meeting to greenhouse gas reductions of 25-40%. However, within New Zealand we have yet to commit to a target within this range.

• The Resource Management Act provides a legal framework for communities to be involved in protection of biodiversity in their area. Often they must fulfil this responsibility against opposition from well-resourced developers.

Will your party commit to increasing the funds available to assist communities in their RMA advocacy?

L The Environmental Legal Assistance Fund provides not-for-profit groups with financial assistance to participate in resource management cases.

N Legal aid for community groups will be re-focused towards mediation and scientific advice, and limiting it to complex cases which will go direct to the Environment Court. Incentives to resolve conflict through negotiation.

NZF No UF UnitedFuture will commit funds to a ‘Friends of the Court’ system as the fairest means of using expert consultants to resolve Environment Court and RMA hearings.

G Yes. The Green Party established the Environmental Legal Assistance fund and will push to increase it.

MP Yes, including tangata whenua.

Does your party support a 30% reduction target by 2020?

L New Zealand’s emission target is to reduce to 1990 emission levels, to be achieved between 2008 and 2012. Our target is for the whole energy system to be carbon neutral by 2040.

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Fish & Game New Zealand

The Real Price of Milk The highest price of dairy products is in the environment, not the supermarket, Marina Skinner reports.

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BLOCK of butter is $5 and a litre of milk has broken the $2 barrier – but that’s nothing compared with the real environmental cost of dairy farming.

With rising demand for dairy products from China and India, the industry is booming. In the year to May 31, Fonterra paid a record $7.90 for each kilogram of milk solids, delivering $800,000 to the average dairy farmer. It’s no surprise that sheep and beef farmers and forestry owners are switching to dairying. The number of dairy cows in New Zealand almost doubled between 1981 and 2006 – from 2.92 million to 5.22 million.

But the intensive farming practised by many dairy farmers is not sustainable, Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell says. “The dairy industry is enjoying boom times, yet the New Zealand taxpayer is being forced to pay to clean up the industry’s environmental mess.”

The 2003 Dairying and Clean Streams Accord sets targets for dairy farmers to reduce their impact on waterways by bridging stream crossings, fencing waterways and wetlands and cutting back discharges from dairy sheds. Annual progress reports show some targets are being met but many are falling short.

Dairy farms have other environmental impacts, including soil erosion, deforestation and reduced biodiversity on the worstmanaged farms. And the expanding number of methane-belching cows is working against New Zealand efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

Water THE most obvious impacts of dairying are seen in rivers and streams. Change to more intensive farming has resulted in further reduction of water quality in lowland rivers and waterways, the Ministry for the Environment’s Environment New Zealand 2007 report says. More water is being drawn from rivers to irrigate pasture and for cleaning milk sheds, and waterways are becoming more contaminated by farm chemicals and effluent.

Increasing amounts of nitrogen are getting into waterways.

Farmers are using more nitrogen fertiliser to boost pasture growth, and cow urine is high in nitrogen – both sources of nitrogen are washed into waterways Cow manure also pollutes rivers and streams, especially when the waterways are not fenced off.

Cadmium leaching from superphosphate fertiliser is also a hidden threat, according to Massey University environmental scientist Mike Joy. Cadmium causes brain damage, and when it gets into waterways it knocks out the sensory organs of native fish.

Nutrient-rich water can cause algal blooms, which are poisonous to fish and land mammals. That’s why more rivers are out of bounds for swimming, fishing and even walking dogs, which can be killed by drinking algae-affected water.

Aquatic weeds flourish in nutrient-rich waters. Out-of-control weeds and algal blooms change the acidity of the water and lower oxygen levels, which are bad news for river life.

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Underground water – a source of drinking water – can also become contaminated by nutrients and faecal bacteria leaching through the soil, with risks to human health.

When too much water is taken out of rivers (most often for irrigation) or shading vegetation is cleared from river banks, the water temperature can rise so much it kills river plants and fish.

When river levels become very low, island habitats for birds disappear and passageways for fish and eels dwindle. And a river that’s a trickle is no fun for people who like to fish, swim, kayak or raft.

Biodiversity LUSH green dairy pasture isn’t the ideal habitat for most indigenous species. Land and wetlands cleared and drained for pasture could otherwise sustain a huge range of plants, birds and invertebrates.

The Central Plains Water scheme in Canterbury hopes to take more water from the Waimakariri and Rakaia rivers, mainly to irrigate dairy farms, which will lead to accelerated biodiversity loss on the Canterbury Plains and foothills, which are among the most threatened environments in New Zealand.

Forest & Bird told the Resource Management Act hearing considering the scheme that its serious adverse environmental effects far outweigh its claimed economic benefits.

Climate change NEW Zealand is unusual among developed nations because a huge proportion – 49 per cent – of our greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock, rather than vehicle or industrial emissions.

Dairy cows are the worst gas gurglers because they emit methane and nitrous oxide, which are far more potent greenhouse gases than better-known carbon dioxide.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, New Zealand is meant to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2012 – no easy task

given that we have 1.6 million more dairy cows now than we did in 1990. Because we cannot meet the reduction target we have to buy expensive carbon credits for emissions beyond the target.

The Government is meeting the cost of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions until January 2013, so long as the sector studies ways to reduce emissions, and several ways of cutting emissions are being explored.

The way ahead DAIRY farmers can’t hide from growing public demand that they lift their game. New Zealanders think farming is the worst polluter of waterways, and waterways top their list of environmental concerns, according to a Lincoln University survey in June.

The Sustainable Water Programme of Action was launched by the Ministry for the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in 2003, and a draft National Policy Statement on Water has been released.

The dairy sector has set voluntary targets under the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord to improve nutrient management and efficient water use. But voluntary measures tend to have limited long-term effect and may not be enough, Kevin Hackwell says.

The Clean Streams Accord progress report earlier this year did not paint an accurate picture of how dairy farms are changing.

Forest & Bird did the sums and found 44 per cent more dairy farms were in serious breach of their resource consents than indicated by the Ministry for the Environment’s figures. For the last four years, by averaging results between regions, the accord’s annual reports have understated the extent of serious consent breaches, masking the poor performance of large dairying regions like Waikato.

However, more farmers are appreciating the need to improve their environmental record. Forest & Bird and other conservation groups are working with farmers towards achieving more sustainable farming.

The good farmers Peter and Marilyn Kidd run a successful Waikato dairy farm – but not at the expense of the environment.

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HIS year they won the Ballance Nutrient Management Award and Environment Waikato Water Protection Award for their environmental care. The judges praised their low stocking rates, management and understanding of soils, updated effluent irrigation system, good production with few supplements, and interest in managing nutrients more efficiently.

On their 320-hectare farm between Mangakino and Taupo, the Kidds run 2.3 cows a hectare, compared with a typical stocking rate of 2.6 cows. They don’t irrigate and they use bore water for the dairy shed and for stock to drink.

Their farm’s free-draining pumice soil demands careful fertiliser use to stop leaching. In the past three years the Kidds have reduced their phosphate use after testing showed high residues.

Effluent from the dairy shed goes to a holding pond and is sprayed on to 85ha of pasture.

The Kidds have planted around waterways and fenced them to keep out stock. “The trees look good and provide shade,” Peter Kidd says. “The trees have slowed the water down and the streams have become wetland areas.”

32 FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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The Impact of Dairy Farming on Our Rivers Fish and eel passage blocked.

Lack of floods leaves riverbeds choked with weeds.

Milking sheds need electricity for refrigeration and other machinery and water for cleaning.

Hydro-electricity dam More dams needed to generate power for milking sheds and irrigation pumps.

Greenhouse gases from cows contribute to climate change.

Half of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions are from agriculture.

Dam for irrigation Reduced river flows dry out associated wetlands.

Nutrient run-off from farmland goes into waterways and aquifers.

Nitrogen from urine goes into ground water – can lead to blue baby syndrome.

Farm centre-pivot irrigators clear all indigenous plants within a 1km radius.

Bores tapping into aquifers reduce water levels and dry out associated springs and streams.

Reduced flows mean fewer nesting islands for birds, safe from predators, known as the “moat effect”.

Low water levels stop recreational rafting, kayaking and fishing.

More silt and nutrients in estuaries leads to algal blooms and degrades fish habitats.

Dirty water kills watercress or makes it inedible.

Too little water can block fish passage to and from the sea.

Poor quality river water can affect coastal water and estuaries, leading to algal blooms.

Photos: Rod Morrris, Fish & Game New Zealand, Dave Kent, Helen Bain

Increased use of water reduces river flows, raising water temperature, reducing oxygen, increasing algae and pest plants and degrading habitats. Fish numbers plummet.

33

Graeme Loh

Knobby, killed by a stoat

Waitutu – forest under threat

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Forest & Bird OtagoSouthland Field Officer Sue Maturin investigates what needs to be done to save Waitutu’s forest and its precious kaka.

Graeme Loh

Sue Maturin and Ian Flux radio tracking kaka at Lake Poteriteri

34

E sit quietly hidden from Kandy the kaka’s nest hole, listening to the steady pulse of her transmitter growing louder. She’s getting closer.

Kandy lands silently on a branch near the nest, looks around, then disappears inside. A few minutes later her grey head emerges, she uses her beak to pull herself over the lip of her nest, and flies off again, displaying her glorious russet-red belly.

Phew, she’s still alive – the stoats haven’t got her.

I’m in Waitutu, in Fiordland National Park, part of a small team of volunteers monitoring the fate of six kaka nests.

Kandy is one of 10 female kaka fitted with identifying bands and transmitters in 200405 to allow us to track their survival and breeding success.

Three of the 10 have since been killed by stoats while nesting, but thanks to a small group of dedicated Department of Conservation staff and volunteers, the rest are alive, and three have successfully fledged a total of 10 chicks. But the survival of Waitutu’s kaka population is still precarious.

In Waitutu males have a hard job

finding a mate. Of 90 kaka captured only 13 were females – the lowest female to male ratio known for any kaka population.

This suggests that predation of nesting females is high. Where predators are absent, sex ratios are close to equal, but in areas where there is no effective predator control more than 80% of females can be killed on their nests.

Recent monitoring of stoats revealed very high numbers in Waitutu. Stoat tracks were found in 90-100% of tracking tunnels – scientists recommend that stoat populations need to be reduced to where signs are seen in less than 5% of tracking tunnels to adequately protect kaka populations.

As recently as 1985 Waitutu had thriving populations of kaka, kakariki and mohua (yellowhead), but they have been hit hard by predators and scientists are warning that without large-scale predator control these birds could disappear.

Kaka breed successfully only in beech or podocarp mast years, when climatic conditions trigger heavy production of seeds, which are the birds’ food source.

There is a high probability that these conditions will trigger kaka breeding in the w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

saved Waitutu’s forest from logging but the equally serious threat from introduced pests remains.

DOC scientists are confident they know how to successfully protect kaka populations – large-scale and intensive pest control that reduces stoat, possum and rodent numbers to low levels is crucial.

We know what the solutions are to protect Waitutu and its precious and endangered wildlife – we just need to see the commitment and funding to deliver them.

Rod Morris

Stoat preying on kaka. Without effective predator control, 80% of femal kaka can be killed on their nests.

Possum eating native mistletoe

aur oko

FIORDLAND NATIONAL PARK

Rod Morris

2008/2009 season, but without predator control, their chances of survival are low.

Stoats aren’t the only problem: possums prey on kaka, and destroy kakas’ food supply of nectar, seeds and fruit. Possums’ voracious appetites are also ravaging the forest’s rare native mistletoes, and without possum control these once-spectacular mistletoes will probably be wiped out.

Possums are recent arrivals in Waitutu, crossing the Wairaurahiri River in the early 1970s and becoming widespread in the1990s. They are now found throughout nearly all of Waitutu and most of southern Fiordland. Possum control has been limited – and far from enough to stop their invasion.

Waitutu is renowned for its extensive lowland podocarp and mixed beech forests, cloaking a series of 13 marine terraces, which have emerged from the sea over the last million years.

Its lowland forest provides habitat for at least 29 threatened plant species and more than 25 threatened bird species, including 11 listed as nationally critical or endangered, and threatened populations of native fish and invertebrates. Waitutu is one of only a few sites where all five native large-leaved mistletoe species are found in the same place.

Despite its status as a treasure trove of lowland biodiversity, Waitutu has been allowed to become over-run with pests; its wildlife has been decimated and its once abundant biodiversity is in serious decline. Two decades of public protest

ROWALLAN FOREST

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The former Waitutu State Forest (45,000 hectares) is now stewardship land administered by DOC and is part of the South West New Zealand World Heritage Area. To the east of the Wairaurahiri River is the West Rowallan Maori land – forests largely cut-over in the 1920s and 1930s by the Port Craig Sawmilling Co. This land is not included in the recent agreement.

w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

35

Kaka Kaka (Nestor meridionalis) is an endemic New Zealand parrot, and a close relation of the kea.

We have two subspecies of kaka: the nationally endangered South Island kaka (N.m.meridionalis) is bigger and more brightly coloured than its North Island cousin (N.m septentrionalis).

Both were widespread in pre-European times but are now found in less than 20% of their former range; they number just 8000-10,000 nationally and are rare throughout most of New Zealand.

Kaka don’t breed every year, mostly breeding in years where there is plentiful food supply, when they can raise up to two broods in one year.

They nest in tree cavities, and females alone care for the eggs and nestlings, spending 3-4 months on a nest – where they are vulnerable to predators.

Rod Morris

36

Young Forest&Bird

RANGATAHI

Kiwi: Dick Veich, Ruru: Ian Gill/DOC

Plastic – Not so Fantastic

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ELSON’S Green Teens have created a campaign that has cut the use of plastic bags in their community.

In 2005, Brittany Packer, 16, and Sophie Turner, 17, went as Sir Peter Blake Ambassadors to the World Summit for the Environment in Japan, where they were introduced to a range of environmental actions taking place around the world.

Back in Nelson they were inspired to set up their own community project, and decided to build on a campaign to reduce plastic bag use that had been started by their friend and fellow Green Teen, Abby Ward, 16.

The aim of the Plastic – Not so Fantastic campaign is to reduce the use of plastic bags in Nelson by at least 20% by 2009.

Nelson people use hundreds of thousands of plastic bags every week and a 20% reduction would make a big difference to the number of plastic bags going into landfills, polluting land and waterways and having a negative impact on wildlife.

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The campaign has included a variety of initiatives to educate the public about the benefits of reducing the use of plastic bags, mainly through promoting re-usable eco bags.

The Green Teens got artists and celebrities, including golfer Michael Campbell and the band Fat Freddy’s Drop, to paint eco bags to be displayed in an exhibition in Nelson Cafes, Te Papa and museums throughout New Zealand.

So far the Green Teens have reduced plastic bag use in Nelson by 8% - a reduction of about 32,000 plastic bags each week.

They have also benefited schools, through winning native tree plantings in conjunction with Nelson supermarkets, and have donated proceeds from sales of eco bags to the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary.

The campaign has also given them the opportunity to meet like-minded teens at the United Nations’ Volvo Adventure Awards in Sweden, where the Plastic – Not so Fantastic campaign won second place.

The Green Teens are keen to see other teenagers taking up environmental

causes. Abby says young people have an advantage because adults are impressed to see young people taking action for the environment.

“Get a group of like-minded people and go ahead and start a project. It’s amazing where it can take you and it’s extremely rewarding.”

Jenny Lynch

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

37

Mount Richmond Forest Park Shaun Barnett visits one of New Zealand’s least-known forest parks

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SLAND-like peaks rise above a sea of beech forest. Stunted vegetation grows sparsely amongst broken rocks rusted to a dull red. Lively rapids separate deceptively deep pools of emerald hue.

Curious but wary weka prowl among crown fern. An endemic Celmisia mountain daisy whorls in a circle of spiky grey-green leaves.

These scenes represent just some of the variety of landforms, flora and fauna in the Richmond Range, which stretches from near St Arnaud on the shores of Lake Rotoiti in the south all the way to the

Shaun Barnett/Black Robin Photography

goingplaces

Sunrise, Richmond Range from near Johnson Peak

Marlborough Sounds in the north.

Almost all of the range is protected as the 166,000-hectare Mount Richmond Forest Park, the second largest forest park in New Zealand. Mount Richmond Forest Park also boasts 28 huts, the majority of them kept in immaculate condition, and a large network of tracks that provide many opportunities for tramping, walking, camping, hunting and mountain biking.

Given these attributes you might think that the park would draw many visitors, but most regular users are locals from Nelson and Blenheim, plus a smattering of

Wellingtonians who venture across Cook Strait. The reason for the park’s relative obscurity may be the competition it faces from such popular neighbours as Nelson Lakes, Abel Tasman and Kahurangi National Parks, and the Marlborough Sounds.

Mount Richmond Forest Park was established by the former New Zealand Forest Service in 1977 and it has been managed by the Department of Conservation since 1987.

While the park cannot match the geological diversity of neighbouring Kahurangi National Park, it certainly

Chris Maclean

Mounts Fell and Richmond

38

Shaun Barnett/Black Robin Photography

has many intriguing landforms, such as the Red Hills and Dun Mountain, areas within the Dun Mountain Ophiolite Belt.

This band of ultramafic rock (rock heavy with such metals such as iron, nickel, manganese, chromium and cobalt) cuts an S-shaped swathe through New Zealand, but only reaches the surface in a few places, including Mount Richmond Forest Park.

The aptly named Red Hills, in the park’s southwest, rise in two long ridges culminating in the park’s highest peak, Red Hill (1790m). Soils derived from these metal-rich rocks are toxic to many plants, ensuring only the hardy or specially adapted plants can survive. Some common plants like manuka have developed tolerance to the soils, as have two endemic plants – a Celmisia, and a Hebe – both yet to have formal scientific descriptions. More than 20 flowering plants are found only in the ultramafic belt.

The toxic nature of the soils derived from the ultramafic rock is so apparent in places that the boundary between beech forest and ultramafic-adapted shrubs has a sharp, knife-edge boundary, sort of like a botanical fault-line. This is nowhere more apparent than on Wooded Peak, west of Dun Mountain in the hills behind Nelson city.

In contrast to the Red Hills in the south-west, grey Marlborough schist dominates the eastern part of the park.

Bands of quartz attracted an early gold mining industry that proved relatively short-lived, but left traces like the stone huts of the Wakamarina and Cullens Creek-Waikakaho tracks.

Perhaps the park’s most characteristic landform is the chain of the island-like summits that rise above the bush-line.

Ultramafic rock, Porters Range.

Shaun Barnett/Black Robin Photography

Evening, Mount Fishtail.

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goingplaces

Frost on alpine plants, near Mount Fell.

Devils Creek, Wakamarina Valley

Coral fungi, Timms Valley

Photos: Shaun Barnett/Black Robin Photography

Frosty dawn on Richmond Range

Crown fern, beech forest, Pelorus Valley

Mount Richmond, the highest of these “island” summits, forms a distinctive pyramid when viewed from the nearby Wairau Valley. Mount Fishtail takes its name from its appearance when seen from a certain angle.

Mount Starveall, Slaty Peak, Old Man, Mt Rintoul and Purple Top scribe a semicircle of peaks south of Nelson, their summits connected by the well-hutted Alpine Route. In the east, Mount Royal, Mount Sunday and Mount Riley nose just above the bush-line, but closer to the Marlborough Sounds the crest of the Richmond Range is submerged beneath beech forest.

As the eastern extremity of the park lies no more than 60 kilometres from Wellington, it is not surprising that many of its botanical features have more in common with the North Island than other parts of the South Island. For example, Mount Richmond Forest Park has the only South Island occurrence of North Island edelweiss (Leucogenes leontopodium), and pockets of tawa, another mainly North Island species.

The park also marks the northern limit of 40

birds including kea and brown creeper.

Many of the park’s rivers are modest but delightful waterways where green pools alternate with boisterous rapids, sometimes passing through tight gorges, and only infrequently offering flats. With a good tramping track and three huts, the Pelorus is the most popular river in the park.

Lake Chalice, the only lake in the park, occupies the headwaters of the Goulter River – a tributary of the Wairau. Formed by a landslide some 2000 years ago, the lake has a subterranean outlet, ensuring it remains free from introduced trout present in the Goulter River. Instead the lake is home to a large population of the native fish koaro (Galaxias brevipinnis).

DOC’s Nelson Conservancy is currently producing a second edition of the Mount Richmond Forest Park map, first published by the Forest Service in 1985 and now long out of print. Hopefully the new map will encourage more people to visit this somewhat neglected park, which has enough to occupy a dedicated walker for several months. w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

Fact file: Mount Richmond Forest Park Mount Richmond Forest Park can be accessed from both Nelson and Blenheim. There are roads from both centres to carparks within the forest park (buses and shuttles are available) and a network of tracks.

For further information on getting to the park and what equipment to take go to www.doc.govt.nz, or Nelson Regional Visitor Centre, 79 Trafalgar St, PO Box 375 Nelson 7040, (03) 546 9339 email: nelsonvc@doc.govt.nz

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FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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in the field

Don’t say “OooOooh!”

– say “WoW!” Kiwi Conservation Club turns 20 Te Puke Kiwi Conservation Club was on a weekend camp at Otawa. The children were out in the forest at night, looking at the creatures which come out when darkness falls. They looked at the tree trunks, under loose bark and rotten logs.

“O

OOOOH – a spider!” one little girl squealed.

“Don’t say ‘Ooooh,’ say ‘Wow!’” Jenny, their leader, responded. It was just an off-the-cuff remark, but it became the catchphrase for the children. “Wow, a weta!” “Glow worms, wow!!” “A humungous slug – wow!”

Later, back in the camp kitchen, with the children washing their dishes, Jenny took her plate to the sink and found it swimming in vegetable scraps. “Ooooh! Someone didn’t scrape their plate!” she said. Quick as a flash all the children chorused, “Don’t say ‘Ooooh’, say ‘wow’!”

42 FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

“Give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man,” the Jesuits say. We hope this is true of KCC children. We hope that the experiences they encounter on KCC outings and the stories they read in their KCC magazines will give them an empathy with the natural world which will influence their adult lives.

Here’s one example. Beneath the canopy of trees the pool was inky black. A boy knelt on a mossy rock, holding a piece of meat in his outstretched fingers. Children clustered behind him on the banks. The old man tapped his walking stick on the rock and the children strained to look into the black water.

Nothing happened. He tapped again – and again.

First one, then another, then more and more dark shadows could be seen, weaving beneath the surface of the water. The children fell silent. The largest shadow approached the rock and lifted its head out of the water. It was an enormous eel. It slithered out of the pool and across the rock, took the meat from the boy’s fingers and turned and slipped back into the pool.

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Jeff McEwan

Lottie Clarke, 2, of Wellington, finds objects not usually in the bush on a KCC activity at Silverstream.

Jeff McEwan

Alisha Haydon on a KCC trip to Leigh Marine Reserve

KCC celebrates its 20th birthday.

Alan was nine years old when he went on that outing with Tauranga Kiwi Conservation Club. He would be in his twenties now but I bet he has never forgotten the thrill of feeding the enormous eel. To many children, eels are horrid, slimy creatures, hauled onto a bank to die. But KCC members know that eels are extraordinary fish which end their lives with a marathon migration to the Pacific, and which are threatened by dams and over-fishing.

Another KCC story: dusk was falling as Hastings – Havelock North KCC children gambolled along the forest path at Boundary Stream. Suddenly, high in the trees above them, there was a flapping and fluttering of wings and piercing cries of distress. Then four little birds tumbled about their feet.

A harrier hawk was attacking a tui nest and the chicks, frantic to escape, had toppled out of the nest. As the children watched, an enterprising father threw his jersey over one chick while the others scampered into the undergrowth. The thwarted hawk flapped away.

The children were very upset. Nature, red in tooth and claw, had rudely interrupted their peaceful outing. The hawk, their leader explained, was hungry. Tui chicks were on its menu and the hawk was entitled to its dinner. There are no “goodies” and “baddies” in nature.

The tui would nest again and there would be more chicks.

Indeed, if every chick lived to grow up there would be too many tui for the forest to feed them. This was a lesson the children would never forget. And there was a happy ending for the chick that was rescued – it was taken home and cared for, and released back into the forest.

There have been many stories like these in the 20 years since KCC began. In 1988 a remit to create a conservation club for children was passed unanimously at Forest & Bird’s AGM – and so the Kiwi Conservation Club was born.

Its first national coordinator Andrea Lombdal coined the name and established the structure of local clubs, linked to a national organisation – today there are 23 clubs around the country.

In 1990 Chris Wratt took Andrea’s place and in 1992 Ann Graeme was appointed as KCC’s National Coordinator, a position she has held ever since. In 2008, Jenny Lynch took up a new part-time position as KCC officer in the national office.

More than 300 coordinators have given their time, their enthusiasm and their ideas to foster the love of nature among the children. Thousands of children and their families have ventured into the natural world and been shown its wonders on hundreds of field trips.

Many of those KCC children are now grown up and are raising their own children. Some of them work as scientists and conservationists. We hope that all of them enjoy the natural world and treat it with the care and understanding that KCC showed them. We hope that they in turn pass on to their children the values that they learned with the Kiwi Conservation Club.

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Stories recalled by Raewyn Ricketts, past coordinator of Hastings – Havelock North KCC and Jenny Treloar, past coordinator of Te Puke KCC.

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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Itinerant Ecologist – Geoff Park

The Winds of Change

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The blowdown from the October 2006 windstorm in Days Bay. The pines were removed from the higher, sunlit ridge at far left.

’M LUCKY to live in one of the few places in the North Island where the forest comes down to the zone of the sea.

It’s one of those places where bach swarm has become suburb. But, unlike many of its ilk, it retains a sense of what this coast was like before the arrival of the colonising thousands who poured off the New Zealand Company’s ships, pitching camp above a stormy southerly sea at the edge of the about-to-be-burnt bush.

Run a finger around a map of the North Island coast today marking the handful of places like it where the forest and sea lie alongside each other, and the preciousness of the bay’s forest becomes evident.

One of the joys of living beside it has been discovering my childhood regard for the orchids of its old clay hills is still alive and working. You can almost mark the month and week by which orchid species is flowering, and whether or not it is ready and waiting for its insectivorous pollinators, or past their ardour.

And it is surprising how, once learned, such knowledge is never forgotten.

Through late June and into July, an orchid, the greenhood, Diplodium, is the sole native plant in flower. A colony of the wee definer-of-midwinter that I’ve watched flower through half a century inhabits the edge of the old forest grove. Over the wintry weeks dozens of flower stems emerge from its mat of tiny rosettes of leaves, elongate, and uncoil their flower.

For the best part of two months, a sudden, unplanned journey took me to utterly different landscapes, precluding greenhood watching and other surveillance of the forest’s sweep to the sea as summer slid into winter.

Just before I’d left, a fire had got away, incinerated a regrowth stand of manuka and scorched the edge of the forest grove.

Anxious to see what had grown in my absence, I went straight up there to discover thousands of young gorse seedlings covering ground that had abounded in orchids. It felt like it was latesummer still, but the little cluster of greenhoods nodding in the 44 FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

wind just beyond the reach of the flames convinced me it wasn’t.

Many of us would agree with the English nature writer Richard Mabey that our seventh sense is the living skin of the land, that “vast repository of memory of what, as a species, we have felt and done and dreamed”. As he says, “even in the wildest places we experience it through associations and allusions”.

Our discovering the Earth to be no more the centre of the universe than we were the centre of life upon it is tied to it. As is our suspicion that the climate is changing, perhaps because of us, and in ways that we haven’t experienced before.

Return to the bay brought such things to mind. But it also revealed changes in the landscape that the daily gaze of inhabitation might not have. One change was apparent immediately as I turned up from the coast road, and I was struck by how much more evident it was than when I’d left in late summer.

For some 40 years a grove of tall pines had stood high on the northernmost ridge of the bay, towering over the lower beechforested ridges and sheltering them from the nor’westerly off the harbour – until the anxiety of people living in the lee of the pines at the prospect of them plummeting in a gale eventually had them felled by the Council.

No one who was involved in the pines’ removal would have imagined the effect, or the immediacy with which it would be manifest. Only weeks after the chainsaws left, the October 2006 windstorm blew through the newly-created space, and leaping the valley below, hurtled into the first ridge of beech forest, flattening trees that up till then had been protected by the lofty pines from such forces.

Even six months after the windstorm struck, the bleak swathe of black beech trees laid low by the sudden tempest was barely discernible, other than to those like ecologists who have an eye for such phenomena. Or to locals who looked out at the beech trees lying scattered like pick-up sticks where the day before they’d seen a forest, or who had felt the felling wind, and the dread of trees w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

conservationbriefs

Popular Plants in Biosecur

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Sara McIntyre

coming crashing through their roofs.

But a droughty autumn, peeling back dark bark and exposing xylem to sun, skeletonising and whitening every tumbled trunk, had made what was a forest look more like a timber-yard after a big quake.

When the October 2006 windstorm struck, I was on the other side of the Pacific. When I got home and saw its damage the talk in the bay was that there’d been nothing quite like it before – nothing like the intensity of the rain that swept in with the fearful wind.

Along with a wetter west and drier east, an increase in the intensity of future rain events is a major feature of meteorologists’ predictions for New Zealand’s changing climate. To ecologists who can discern the evidence of environmental events in the patterns of trees and in the soil, the effects of the October 2006 windstorm, and the landslide-triggering February 2004 one before it, will be evident in the bay’s landscape for centuries.

I’m convinced the blow-down was human-induced; that had the chainsaws not been taken to the pines on the ridge, the flattened beech forest behind me would still be standing. But this disturbance is the kind of thing, like landslips, that beech forests have always lived with, and in fact thrive on. It’s just that we humans tend to see such disturbance events as anathema rather than a vital part of beech forest ecology.

Its human-induced origins notwithstanding, the blow-down at the bay is a local circumstance that powerfully puts across the big picture of change that could be fundamentally shaping the country we will live in. It has left me wondering how ecologists reading the future landscape might write about its past.

And, if they can discern the effects of this early 21st century surge of storms, how they might place it in the great procession of events that have shaped the New Zealand countryside. The landscape effects of what we are fast calling climate change could be up there with the effects of the agricultural colonisation of the late 19th century. w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

ew research into three popular garden plants has raised serious concerns about their potential to invade and take over natural ecosystems.

The three species researched by Auckland Regional Council were agapanthus, phoenix palm and English ivy. The study looked at the distances plants could spread unassisted, the range of habitats they were capable of invading, and what impacts they were having on parkland and other natural areas.

All three species were found to be invasive in a range of ecosystems, spreading into remote and inaccessible areas.

They have significant environmental impacts on the The colony of the winter flowering natural areas theyDiplodium, invade. at greenhood orchid, Days Bay, July 2008.

Jack Craw, biosecurity manager for the Auckland Regional Council, says the

10

research confirms what was already suspected in terms of agapanthus and ivy, but that the invasive capabilities of phoenix palm comes as an unwelcome wake-up call.

‘When we started looking, we found phoenix palms everywhere: half-grown palms that had self-sown into mangrove wetlands, young plants growing in thick kikuyu grass on the edges of farm paddocks, even seedlings growing alongside native nikau palm seedlings in dense bush,’ Jack Craw says.

‘These plants are being spread into some of our most remote and vulnerable habitats by birds, wind and water. All three species are becoming significantSara weeds McIntyre in natural areas.’

Jack Craw is urging developers and gardeners to consider replacing agapanthus, phoenix

FOREST & BIRD • FEBRUARY 2005

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

45

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Two of about 40 takahe on Mana.

animal life remained.

But in the last two decades more than half a million native trees and shrubs have been planted on Mana’s windswept 217 hectares. Tough species such as taupata and ngaio are paving the way for bigger species such as kahikatea that need some protection to get a foothold on this exposed island.

The plan is for a third of the island to be planted and a third to remain as grassland (the remaining third is comprised of the island’s steep cliff faces.)

Timlin says that once the stock was removed 20 years A common gecko looks out across Cook Strait. ago, the island’s grass grew rampant and the abundance of MANA Island lies just two-and-a-half kilometres from the grass seed in turn fed a plague busy urban sprawl of Wellington’s north-western suburbs, of mice – the only introduced but its wealth of threatened wildlife makes it seem a mammal that was present on whole world away. Helen Bain pays a visit. the island. Mouse eradication ISTINCTIVELY flat-topped bunkhouse as friendly as a pair in 1989-90 has now left the Mana Island is just a of chooks. These are some of island free of all introduced 10-minute boat trip from the New Zealand’s rarest species, yet pests, so its native wildlife can mainland, piloted by pinkthey are clearly thriving here. again flourish. gumbooted Department of Mana’s environment has cerSome fascinating techniques Conservation ranger Grant tainly faced its challenges over have been employed to lure Timlin. many years: human occupation back the natives. Incredibly But we can tell that life on here dates back to the 14th realistic concrete and fibreglass the island is clearly different Century, and Mana was farmed gannet decoys have been when we are greeted first by a from1832 to 1986. After installed on cliff-tops, posed in flock of dainty shore plovers at centuries of burning, hunting, typical gannet behaviours (sitthe jetty, and then two takahe clearing and grazing, little of ting, sleeping and the breeding wandering about by the DOC the island’s native plant and display of “skypointing”) in the

Miraculous Mana

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Helen Bain

Concrete and fibreglass gannet decoys, freshly painted, await the ride back to their clifftop home.

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first attempt in New Zealand to draw gannets to form a new breeding colony.

The response was immediate: two Australasian gannets landed among the decoys on the day they were installed, but so far, perhaps deterred by the unresponsiveness of their concrete “hosts,” no permanent residents have set up to start a family here.

A sound system on the island also broadcasts calls of four species of petrel (the fluttering shearwater, fairy prion, diving petrel and white-faced storm petrel) and results are promising.

Many species have also been relocated to Mana’s pest-free haven, including shore plovers, diving petrels, takahe, North Island robins, several species of skinks and geckos, yellowcrowned parakeets (kakariki), fairy prions, brown teal, fluttering shearwater and flax weevils.

The results can be easily seen by visitors to the island, and most obvious are the many takahe strolling about within a few metres of humans.

There are now about 40 takahe on Mana, which is the second-largest takahe population outside Fiordland, but breeding is disappointingly slow. Although the takahe produce about 20 eggs during a breeding season, and most hatch, many of the chicks have died within days of hatching, and only about four survive to fledging in a breeding season.

We also saw plenty of North Island robins hopping about in the denser stands of bush at the northern end of the island and constantly heard the cheerful chatter and saw the flashing green plumage of kakariki as they feasted on the w wwww. w f o. fr eo sr et as n t adnbdi rbdi .r o d r. o g r. n g z. n z

branchingout Native plants – many planted by volunteers – regenerating on Mana Island.

Helen Bain

plentiful berries of the regenerating bush.

Fairy prions released on Mana are now returning as adults, a good sign that they will achieve DOC’s goal of establishing a breeding colony here, and while brown teal are breeding well, their young have taken off for regions unknown.

Our working party planted Cook’s scurvy grass (a tasty and plentiful source of vitamin C for Cook’s scurvy-ridden men in the 1700s, but now seriously endangered) around the site of burrows set up to house 100 fluttering shearwater that were transferred here in January.

With saint-like patience volunteers from Friends of Mana Island squirted a daily diet of “sardine smoothies” down the throats of the shearwater chicks for the six weeks it took till the chicks fledged earlier this year.

Volunteer Julia White says their young charges were notably unco-operative – her hands still

bear the scars to prove it.

When we visit the shearwater burrows they aren’t at home – it’s not the right time of year – but the nests are providing handy shelter for dozens of the islands’ ubiquitous geckos.

But it is a night-time exploration that really brings home the sheer hustle and bustle of Mana Island’s wildlife. Our headlamps reflect back the glow of hundreds of tiny pairs of eyes of geckos out and

about in just about every tree, spent weeding remind us that and we spot little blue penguins miracles like this don’t happen coming ashore under cover of without a lot of hard work. darkness. We also found giant Cook Strait weta – so big you How you can help can actually hear them rustling YOU can volunteer to help in the undergrowth. the Friends of Mana Island This abundance of unique with planting, weeding and indigenous wildlife, experienced other tasks. so close to the twinkling lights Contact Brian Paget on of the mainland that we can +64 4 472 4827 or see just across the water, seems contactus@manaisland.org.nz miraculous. Only the blisters on our hands from a hard day

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LD man’s beard (clematis vitalba) is a voracious climber that has been steadily smothering Rangitikei’s native forests for years.

While Rangitikei Forest & Bird members have done great work in clearing it from their reserves, its spread through the rest of the district meant their work was constantly under threat of re-invasion by the pest plant’s wind-blown seeds.

In the late 1990s branch members joined forces with Rangitikei District Council, Horizons Regional Council, Work and Income, the Department of Conservation and local landowners to work out a joint plan of attack to control old man’s beard before it took over completely.

An ambitious control programme of aerial spraying and ground control began in 2002, and has had a noticeable effect.

Rangitikei branch member Jim Howard says half of an area along the Hautapu River w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

was sprayed in the first year, and the second half the following year. In the third year the whole area was sprayed for regrowth and remnants.

The programme is run by the Rangitikei Environment Group, which Mr Howard chairs, and has representatives from the all the groups in the joint programme.

Work and Income also provides a subsidy for the group to employ beneficiaries to work on the ground control programme.

Much of the work is being done on land owned or managed by the district council, but unfortunately the council decided not to fund work this year. However, Horizons Regional Council is providing enough funding to keep a lesser programme going, and the Rangitikei branch is funding control work on private land.

Old Man’s Beard is definitely in retreat now in the Rangitikei area, but Mr Howard says ongoing control is needed to

Rangitikei Branch

Rangitikei razor gang tackles old man’s beard

Helicopter pilot Simon Werthmuller of Rangitikei Helicopters sprays a patch of Old Man’s Beard down the steep and narrow gully of the Whareihungaru Stream in the Turakina Valley.

ensure it doesn’t return.

“I don’t anticipate that we’ll eradicate it completely, but if everyone involved, including

landowners, does their bit we can at least stop it from becoming the devastating pest it was.”

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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North Island robin

Tauranga, Taupo and Tuhua

Pohutukawa on Mayor Island

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OREST & Bird members from Tauranga and Taupo enjoyed a day trip to Mayor Bob Walkington and Rex Hartley Island (Tuhua), a natural forested volcanic island off OUTH Taranaki Branch ing reduction in introduced Tauranga. Some of the group is the inaugural winner pests has brought an increase of nearly 40 made the steep of Forest & Bird’s annual in numbers of native birds, climb to the trig at the island’s Pestbuster Award. including North Island robins highest point, while others took The mainstays of the branch’s and brown kiwi. easier paths in lower parts of pest-busting efforts are Rex “Possum and rat numbers Hartley and Bob Walkington, are nothing like they were in who between them busted 400 the blocks 15-20 years ago. rats, 64 possums, 47 hedgeNative orchids have really come hogs, 43 goats, 22 stoats, 11 away and the young native weasels, six feral cats, three trees are doing well with fewer magpies, two ferrets and one possums,” Bob says. rabbit in the last year.

Their secret weapon? Reject The pair has been conductpizza cheese from Fonterra’s ing pest control on two bush Eltham plant is the perfect bait, blocks near Eltham – the result- Bob reckons.

the island. The group enjoyed bird song and glimpses of kaka, kereru and robin (toutouwai) as well as fur seals, and the island’s impressive stands of pohutakawa – including one massive tree with a trunk of 4.5 metres diameter.

Pests busted

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ARTHLINGS, a company making eco-friendly babywear, is donating $1 from the sale of each item of its birdprinted clothing range to Forest & Bird.

Co-owner Hannah Shone says the bird prints – featuring the kakapo, fantail, pukeko, morepork and Chatham Island oystercatcher are hand printed using silk screens and waterbased eco-friendly inks on 100% organic cotton.

Shone and partner Tim Thickpenny came up with the idea for the business around

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Jesse Bythell

Native namesake

Ranunculus ranceorum

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NVERCARGILL Forest & Bird members Chris and Brian Rance have been awarded one of the highest honours in botany – having a plant named after them.

A newly-described native buttercup from Fiordland has been named Ranunculus ranceorum (meaning “of the Rances”) in recognition of their dedication to conservation and the native plant life of the southern South Island.

The couple run a community nursery specialising in rare native plants and have wide involvement in research, conservation and photography of native plants.

Southland Times

Baby birds

the time their daughter was born in late 2005.

The couple was alarmed by the amount of pesticides and other chemicals used in conventional cotton farming – and the potential effects on human health, as well as the wider environmental impacts.

Shone says they were also deeply concerned by the plight of New Zealand’s threatened birds, so decided to donate some of their proceeds of their clothing line towards their protection.

“We hope that people enjoy the prints and learn more about our endangered species.

And by wearing our prints they not only protect their own children but are also supporting Forest & Bird’s work to protect New Zealand’s birdlife.”

Earthlings’ collection will be launched in September. For more information go to www. earthlings.co.nz

Grainne Simmons

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branchingout Future looks bright

OANNA Maber won the top prize in Waikato branch’s first Environment Photo Competition in April. Joanna’s beautifully lit photo of a toddler and her footprints across a beach was the overall winner in the contest, which attracted 133 entries.

Waikato nature photographer Phil Brown judged the photos, which were displayed at the branch annual meeting.

Long-time Forest & Bird member Don Horne won the best native fauna prize for a photo of a parasitic wasp.

South Canterbury Branch

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Reuben Smillie and Malcolm and Margaret McPherson check out a long-tailed bat living in one of the new bat houses.

Competition organiser Colleen Brimblecombe was impressed with the number of entries, and plans to hold another contest next year.

Leica D-Lux 3

Leica D-Lux 3

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INCE Forest & Bird received the Leica D-Lux 3 digital camera four months ago it has been out and about covering all kinds of conservation events.

Staff using the camera have found its features easy to operate – taking great shots is easy, even for the less-than-confident photographers, using either manual settings or automatic setting. Some of the resulting photos can be seen in this magazine and other Forest & Bird publications.

Communications Officer Heather Anderson used the Leica to take photos of the Manawatu River Race to raise awareness of water quality in our rivers; Communications Manager Helen Bain took the camera to Mana Island to capture the amazing range of wildlife on the island; Advocacy w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

Manager Kevin Hackwell used it to cover an event at Parliament promoting a ban on set nets to protect marine life, and Communications Officer Marina Skinner captured Prime Minister Helen Clark at a ceremony at Karori Wildlife Sanctuary.

The camera proved versatile in coping with a range of light and weather. Its zoom was powerful enough to cope with even the camera-shy wildlife on Mana Island – yet the macro setting was great for capturing up close the fine details of some of our most delicate native plants.

The retro styling of the camera’s brown leather case is an added bonus.

Leica D-Lux 3 $899 (not including leather case)

Bat box breakthrough!

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UALITY accommodation provided by Forest & Bird members has helped rare native bats set up home.

The recently discovery of two long-tailed bats in an artificial roost box, and signs of bats in a number of the other roost boxes installed by the South Canterbury Branch as part of its Bat Box Project, raises hopes that bat populations can be boosted even in heavily developed areas.

The South Canterbury population of long-tailed bats is the only one on the east side of the South Island between the Catlins and Nelson.

In the 1990s members hosted Richard Griffiths, who studied the bats for his master’s thesis. Using radio tracking methods he pinpointed many roost sites, and was surprised to find that there was a much higher bat population in the farmland of the Hanging Rock area than in the Peel Forest, where it was expected that the large old podocarp trees would have been preferred by the bats.

Further investigation by the Department of Conservation indicated that the South Canterbury bat population was declining by 5 -10% a year, with loss of roost sites and predation probable factors in the decline.

Most natural roosts are in old

willows and cabbage trees, but the number of these trees is declining due to intensification of land use.

The DOC studies found that the Hanging Rock tree roosts were “poor quality” and not well-suited to housing bats.

To help overcome the shortage of natural roosts, artificial roosts were trialled: a variety of home-built wooden boxes were built and installed, but no “tenants” took up residence.

South Canterbury Branch imported boxes made from “Woodcrete” (a combination of wood shavings and concrete) used by similar bats in Germany.

The branch launched a “buy a bat box” campaign, supported by members and the public, and received funding and help from the Gama Foundation, and imported 100 boxes.

The boxes were put up near known natural roosts in spring 2004, and finally a check earlier this year by South Canterbury and Ashburton members revealed that the bats find them to be of acceptable standard. Another delightful surprise is that tree weta, geckos and riflemen are also living in the boxes – so it’s not only the bats which are benefiting.

John Talbot, South Canterbury branch

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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branchingout Janet Hunt

Marina Skinner

Heather Anderson helping penguins set up home.

Home comforts for penguins

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BOUT 120 people headed to Tarakena Bay on Wellington’s south coast in June to do some home renovation for little blue penguins.

They cleaned up litter, planted 2500 native plants and built and installed 12 nesting boxes, cut by Fletcher Construction, to make the penguins feel more at home.

The Places for Penguins project – funded by the Forest & Bird’s Wellington branch and Wellington City Council – is working to reverse the decline of the little blue penguin, or korora, on the Wellington coast. At Tarakena Bay, the penguins have been ignoring the exposed sand dunes and crossing the road to the bushy

Clean and green

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LECTROLUX is offering the world’s first vaccum cleaner made of recycled plastic to

slopes where they dig burrows to nest in – which means they are often hit by cars.

Children from Strathmore Community School and Seatoun School pitched in by planting native plants at Tarakena Bay in addition to those planted on the public planting day.

“There aren’t many capital cities in the world where little blue penguins are on your doorstep,” Places for Penguins Project Co-ordinator Heather Anderson says.

“But their numbers are falling because the beaches where they like to nest have litter and few plants that provide shelter, and they are under threat from cars and uncontrolled dogs.”

Forest & Bird readers.

Fifty-five per cent of the Ultra Silencer Green’s body is made from recycled plastic, and 90% of the vacuum can be recycled at the end of its life.

It is also energy efficient, using 33% less energy than a standard 2000W vacuum, and is very quiet (71 decibels.)

To go into the draw to win a Ultra Silencer Green vacuum cleaner, write your name and postal address on the back on an envelope and post to Ultra Silencer Green competition, Forest & Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington.

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Wetland winner

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OREST & Bird member Janet Hunt has won one of New Zealand’s most prestigious literary prizes, the Montana NZ Book Awards Medal for NonFiction.

Janet’s book Wetlands of New Zealand (published by Random House) won the environment category in the Montana Book Awards and the $10,000 overall non-fiction prize.

The book tells how New Zealand’s wetlands were formed, describes the plants and animals that live in wetlands, and explains how only a

few of our wetlands remain.

Often underappreciated, and destroyed to make way for “development,” wetlands are a beautiful part of our landscape, and are important for the wellbeing of a wide range of wildlife – and humans, too.

“Wetlands are wonderful places – wild, intricate, beautiful, eternally changing, forever fascinating, and as vital for the health and diversity of our world as the smallest cog in a machine. Working on this book has been a privilege and an eye-opener,” Janet says.

Obituary – James (Jim) Gower

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ONG-TIME Forest & Bird member Jim Gower died recently, aged 96.

Jim, known affectionately to his Forest & Bird friends as “Gentleman Jim” was a staunch member who took part in many branch activities well into his nineties.

We all have our special memories of Jim: finding him taking a little snooze beside the bridge across the estuary on a field trip; counting the steps up to the East Cape lighthouse – and his beautiful copperplate handwriting.

Although he rarely spoke

about his life, sometimes visiting a place would stir memories that he would share, for example, his part in the Napier earthquake or the Tangiwai rail disaster.

For many years – till he was 94 – Jim organised and served the afternoon tea at Sunday branch meetings. He was always a gracious host and made sure that if you had a long journey home you had an extra chocolate biscuit in your pocket to stave off hunger pains. It has been a privilege to share part of his life.

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branchingout Fired up at annual conference

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The new executive. Back L-R: Jon Wenham, Donald Kerr, President Peter Maddison, Treasurer Graham Bellamy, Barry Wards, Mark Fort. Front L-R: Anne Fenn, Joan Leckie, Janet Ledingham, Alan Hemmings, Suzi Phillips.

to do but there isn’t a great push to lift it above anything new. What we need to do is to convince people that it is a necessary thing to do.”

Mr Morrison urged people to think about DOC’s work as an investment, especially as New Zealand’s Kyoto Protocol obligations kick in.

An enthusiastic group of Kiwi Conservation Club children sang Piwakawaka to celebrate the club’s 20th birthday.

A giant leaf-shaped birthday cake was demolished by the next generation of Forest & Birders, with a little help from delegates.

Conservation expert Alan Saunders spoke of community

approaches to conservation in the Sanderson Memorial Address, which followed the presentation of Old Blue awards and the inaugural Golden Rat Award to South Taranaki winning Pestbuster Rex Hartley.

Massey University environmental scientist Mike Joy gave an inspiring presentation about freshwater, outlining the continuing degradation of waterways.

Film-maker Andrew Penniket’s Fish for the Future documentary about marine reserves had its debut screening.

Forest & Bird President Peter Maddison spoke of

campaign victories during the year, including the Hector’s dolphin protection measures announced in May. Among the successful remits at the council meeting were a change to membership categories and a rise in fees, and a survey to improve youth membership of Forest & Bird.

Al Morrison

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

Jeff McEwan

HE enthusiasm of delegates at Forest & Bird’s 85th annual general meeting outweighed the bleak weather at Silverstream Retreat in Upper Hutt. Even when the lights went out in a power cut on the last day, delegates cheerfully shifted to a nearby room with natural light and a roaring fire.

More than 100 councillors, observers, Executive members and staff attended the weekend meeting, which kicked off with a political forum.

Environment Minister Trevor Mallard told delegates he was keen to see better water quality for our rivers. “There are rivers that I swam in as a kid and you can’t swim in them now, and I want my grandkids to be able to swim in them.”

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman also focused on freshwater. “We will wake in five years’ time and find our rivers have been turned into drains.

We have to have some bottom lines about water quality.”

National’s associate environment spokesperson, Nicky Wagner, attacked New Zealand’s record on climate change. “We need more clean energy,” she said. “In the past 10 years we have dropped in the amount of renewable energy we use.”

Doug Woolerton, NZ First’s spokesperson on the environment, said he wasn’t worried about the rush to convert to dairy farming. “The incentives in the near future ... will ensure they will do what is necessary to carry out responsible practices. I believe farmers will come to understand that farming at the margins is not such a good idea. Maybe growing olives is better than cows or sheep.”

Conservation Department Director-General Al Morrison told delegates that support for conservation was high but had reached a plateau, meaning the Government would not fund an increased budget.

“People like conservation – they think it’s a good thing

Jeff McEwan/Capture Photography

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IZ Slooten is honoured for her outstanding commitment to protecting Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins. She has blended scientific knowledge of the endangered species with persistent political lobbying and educating lay people to raise awareness of the dolphins’ journey to extinction.

She was a prime mover behind the Government’s announcement in May of tougher measures to protect the dolphins, and her research led to the establishment of the Banks Peninsula Marine Mammal Sanctuary in 1988.

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IWI Conservation Club National Co-ordinator Ann Graeme is recognised for her outstanding contribution to conservation, especially with children.

Since 1992 Ann has been KCC’s national leader, writing and producing the club magazine. She started with a four-page publication with a circulation of less than 5000 and has nurtured it to a 16-page magazine that comes out five times a year and goes to 20,000 children. As KCC marks its 20th birthday this year, 27 active KCC clubs are enthusiastically teaching children to understand and respect the natural world.

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EOFF Park is honoured for his significant role in shaping modern conservation in New Zealand.

Geoff pioneered several key conservation initiatives and his ecological survey work made a very important contribution to the protection of numerous lowland forests in the upper South Island and the West Coast, including the successful creation of the Paparoa National Park.

His writing, including books and the Itinerant Ecologist pages of Forest & Bird magazine have raised understanding among New Zealanders of the importance of conservation.

ILL Milne was one of the first volunteers for the Lower Hutt branch’s project to replant Matiu/Somes Island in Wellington Harbour in 1981, and he moved on to work on the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, Pauatahanui wetland, and Belmont Regional Park. His work in Rimutaka Forest Park culminated in the re-introduction of kiwi in 2006, of which he was particularly proud.

Sadly, Bill died on May 14 before he learnt about his Old Blue award.

He was chairperson of the Lower Hutt branch from 1990 to 1993 and deputy chairperson until he died. He was a founding member of the Rimutaka Forest Park Trust 20 years ago, and eight years ago helped launch the Restore the Dawn Chorus project in the Catchpool Valley.

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URIEL Fanselow (left), Rona Wark and Dorothy Wernham started the North Shore Kiwi Conservation Club in 1988, and built it into the large, successful club it is today. The retired teachers charted new territory for KCC, putting out newsletters, leading monthly field trips and organising island camping weekends.

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OHN and Pixie Marsh have been walking the trap lines of five Forest & Bird reserves in Rangitikei for 14 years, every six weeks refilling about 150 bait stations. While keeping on top of predators and pests, they’ve ripped out old man’s beard and other weeds, and repaired tracks, fences and signs.

The Marshes, who have retired to Marton, became interested in conservation when they farmed near Hunterville. They planted wetlands on their land and advised other farmers on LLAN and Glennis Sheppard native plants suited to the area have spearheaded Upper and how to get rid of weeds.

Hutt branch’s pest control at five John led fundraising for the local reserves and parks during $29,000 cost of aerial spraying ILLIAN Pollock has been an of old man’s beard in the Upper the past five years, and Allan inspirational conservation- Turakina Valley in 2002. has launched an award-winning monitoring program to measure ist in Nelson and Ashburton.

Coastal issues are a special the effects of the branch’s baitFriends of the interest of Gillian’s, and she ing and trapping.

Driving Creek was involved in the formation During the almost 20 years Wildlife Sanctuary Trust the Sheppards have belonged to of a new Coast Care group to We are raising funds to build protect the Ashburton River Forest & Bird they have helped a predator proof fence Mouth. Gillian also helped with in Coromandel. plant thousands of native Ashburton branch’s dryland plants in restoration projects Membership & donations sought. native vegetation restoration around Upper Hutt. They have DCWST, P O Box 87, Coromandel. project, and she was a member led the Hulls Creek project at 07 8668703 of the branch’s bird survey Silverstream, particularly with sanctuary@drivingcreek.co.nz team. weeding and planning.

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Wanganui Chronicle

Photos: Jeff McEwan/Capture Photography

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More information is available from the Trust, at: PO Box 10-359, Wellington

FOR SALE – MOHUA PARK Lifestyle Imagine your own native bush to manage and enjoy.

An opportunity for home and income in a peaceful corner of The Catlins Homestead, four new self-catering ecocottages on 14 hectares www.catlinsmohuapark.co.nz Fergus_Mary Sutherland Ph (03) 415 8613

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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Join, renew or make a regular monthly donation by Direct Debit Please fill out this form and the one opposite. Once completed please detach this form, fold it in four and post inside the self- assembled Freepost envelope opposite.

Direct Debit: Membership/Gift Membership/KCC Form/Sustain Programme Please complete the relevant boxes below

Please debit my account Monthly $_______(Sustain Programme $20 min)

$

Your annual membership/Sustain Programme

Annually (January)

$

Gift membership for___________________________

Twice a year (January and July)

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If you already pay your membership by Direct Debit and $ want to become a Sustain Member, please fill in the $ amount you will give, your name, address, daytime telephone number and member number, and sign and date the form.

Please return the form to us in the Freepost device opposite.

Donation (annual amount) Total annual amount (membership and donation)

If you are an existing member this authority will operate from the next date your membership becomes due for renewal.

If you join part way through the year a partial payment by direct debit may be required. Should the membership fee be increased Forest and Bird are authorised to automatically increase this amount.

Direct Debit: Bank Authority Form Bank Instructions Authority to Accept Direct Debits (Not to operate as an assignment or agreement)

NAME: (of Bank Account) Bank account from which payments are to be made:

Authorisation Code

Bank Branch Account number Suffix (Please attach an encoded deposit slip to ensure your number is loaded correctly) To: The Bank Manager

Bank:_______________________________ Branch:__________________________ Town/City:___________________________ Full name (block capitals) Address Membership no.

Daytime telephone number

I/We authorise you, until further notice, to debit my/our account with all amounts which ROYAL FOREST AND BIRD PROTECTION SOCIETY OF NEW ZEALAND INC. (hereinafter refered to as the Initiator) the registered Initiator of the above Authorisation Code, may initiate by Direct Debit.

I/We acknowledge and accept that the bank accepts this authority only upon the conditions listed below.

Information to appear on my/our bank statement Payer Particulars

Payer Code

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Your Signature/s

Approved 1035

Date / / For bank use only Original – Retain at Branch Date received:

Recorded by:

Checked by:

Bank Stamp

02 1999 Conditions of this authority The Initiator: (a) Has agreed to give written advance notice of the net amount of each direct debit and the due date of debiting at least four business days before the date when the direct debit will be initiated.

The advance notice will include the following message:- “The amount of $...... will be direct debited to your bank account on (initiating date)”. (b) May, upon the relationship which gave rise to this Authority being terminated, give notice to the bank that no further Direct Debits are to be initiated under the Authority. Upon receipt of such notice the Bank may terminate this Authority as to future payments by notice in writing to me/us.

(b) In any event this Authority is subject to any arrangement now or hereafter existing between me/us and the Bank in relation to my/our account. (c) Any dispute as to the correctness or validity of an amount debited to my/our account shall not be the concern of the Bank except in so far as the direct debit has not been paid in accordance with this Authority. Any other disputes lie between me/us and the Initiator. (d) Where the Bank has used reasonable care and skill in acting in accordance with this authority, the Bank accepts no responsibility or liability in respect of:

- The accuracy of information about Direct Debits on bank statements.

- Any variations between notices given by the Initiator and the amounts of Direct Debits.

The Customer may: (a) At any time, terminate this Authority as to future payments by giving written notice of termination to the Bank and to the Initiator.

(e) The Bank is not responsible for, or under any liability in respect of the Initiator’s failure to give written notice correctly nor for the non-receipt or late receipt of notice by me/us for any reason whatsoever. In any such situation the dispute lies between me/us and the Initiator.

(b) Stop payment of any direct debit to be initiated under this authority by the Initiator by giving written notice to the Bank prior to the direct debit being paid by the Bank.

The Bank may: (a) In its absolute discretion conclusively determine the order of priority of payment by it of any monies pursuant to this or any other authority, cheque or draft properly executed by me/us and given to or drawn on the Bank.

The Customer acknowledges that: (a) This Authority will remain in full force and effect in respect of all direct debits made from my/our account in good faith notwithstanding my/our death, bankruptcy or other revocation of this Authority until actual notice of such event is received by the bank.

(b) At any time terminate this authority as to future payments by notice in writing to me/us. (c) Charge its current fees for this service in force from time-to-time.

FOREST BIRD

FOREST BIRD

FOREST BIRD n u m b e r 3 2 8 • M AY 2 0 0 8

w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Forest & Bird Membership

Join Forest & Bird and you will receive Forest & Bird magazine, including Conservation News, and our email newletter, e-News, four times a year. You will have free entry to more than 30 Forest & Bird reserves around the country and discounted entry to the Society’s seven lodges at Ruapehu, Piha and other scenic locations. You can also take part in conservation projects and enjoy talks and field trips through our 55 branches around the country.

Sustain Programme Join Forest & Bird’s new monthly giving programme and you will receive all of the membership benefits above, our regular Sustain email update, and invitations to attend special events.

Gift Membership

Manapouri • Mokihinui • Awarua Wetlands Ulva Island • Te Ara Kakariki • Envirovote

To give a gift membership simply fill out the form below and send it in with your payment.

Kiwi Conservation Club (KCC) Membership Join KCC, our award-winning club for children, and you will receive five copies of KCC magazine a year, a membership certificate, KCC stickers and notice of activities closest to you from one of our volunteer coordinators.

Join online: www.forestandbird.org.nz • Freephone 0800 200 064

Join online at: www.forestandbird.org.nz Freephone: 0800 200 064 Membership Single or

Fold here

Forest & Bird Memberships (Prices include GST). Please print clearly.

Family (# in family ____) $52

Senior single or

Senior family (# in family____) $39

Student/School $35

KCC single $12

KCC family (# of children ____) $20

Overseas NZ$95

Sustain Programme ($20+ per month)

KCC Overseas NZ$28

First name _______________________________________ Last name________________________________________________ Address___________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Telephone_____________________________________Email________________________________________________________ Gift Membership

Please select from the categories above. If you wish to continue paying for this gift membership each year please use the Direct Debit payment option described below. (Gift donor details over page.)

Gift recipient's first name________________________________ Last name___________________________________________ Address___________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Fold here

Telephone_____________________________________Email________________________________________________________ Payment Options Yes, I would like to join Forest & Bird’s Sustain Programme and give $________ per month ($20 minimum).

Full name (block capitals) Address Membership no.

Daytime telephone number Please charge my credit card (please fill out your credit card details below).

Yes, I would like to pay my Membership / Gift Membership / KCC Membership / Sustain Programme by Direct Debit.

(Please fill out all of the Direct Debit authorisation form on the opposite page. Tear out using the perforation, fold in four and post it inside this tear-off freepost envelope. To assemble, moisten the gummed edges and fold in three before posting).

I enclose a cheque payable to Forest & Bird Please charge my credit card:

Visa

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Amex

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Expiry date__________________________ Cardholder's signature_____________________________________________________________

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Forest & Bird is New Zealand's leading independent conservation organisation This gift membership is from: First name:______________________________________ Last name_______________________________________ Address: _________________________________________________________________________________________ Phone:_________________________________ Email: ____________________________________________________ Please send the first gift pack to me for personal presentation.

Please write your gift membership message here______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________

Join online: www.forestandbird.org.nz • Freephone 0800 200 064

Forest & Bird PO Box 631 Wellington 6140

FOREST BIRD

Freepost Authority Number 669

branchdirectory

Upper North Island Central Auckland Branch: Chairperson, Anne Fenn; Secretary, Isabel Still, PO Box 1118, Shortland Street, Auckland 1140. Tel: (09) 528-3986.

Far North Branch: Chairperson, Vacant; Secretary, Michael Winch, PO Box 270, Kaeo 0448.

Tel: (09) 405-1746.

Franklin Branch: Chairperson, Keith Gardner; Secretary, Jan Butcher, PO Box 187, Tuakau 2342.

Tel: (09) 236-9722.

Hauraki Islands Branch: Chairperson, Brian Griffiths; Secretary, Sue Fitchett, 125 The Strand, Onetangi, Waiheke Island 1081. Tel: (09) 372-7600.

Hibiscus Coast Branch: Chairperson, Philip Wrigley; Secretary, Jane Bone, PO Box 310, Orewa 0946.

Tel: (09) 424-7171.

Kaipara Branch: Chairperson, Suzi Phillips; Secretary, Suzi Phillips, Private Bag 1, Helensville 0840.

Tel: 021 271 2527.

Mercury Bay Branch: Chairperson, Eve McCarthy; Secretary, Sharon Barnes, PO Box 205, Whitianga 3542.

Tel: (07) 866-5583.

Mid North Branch: Chairperson, Warwick Massey; Secretary, Raewyn Morrison, PO Box 552, Warkworth 0941. Tel: (09) 422-9123.

North Shore Branch: Chairperson, Alan Emmerson; Secretary, Jocelyn Sanders, PO Box 33873, Takapuna, North Shore City 0740. Tel: (09) 479-2107.

Northern Branch: Chairperson, Vacant; Secretary, Beverley Woods, PO Box 1375, Whangarei 0140.

Tel: (09) 432-7122.

South Auckland Branch: Chairperson, Dene Andre; Secretary, Brian Gidley, PO Box 23602, Hunters Corner, Manukau 2155. Tel: (09) 278-0185.

Thames-Hauraki Branch: Chairperson, Marcia Sowman; Secretary, Hazel Genner, PO Box 312, Thames 3540. Tel: (07) 868-9057.

Upper Coromandel Branch: Chairperson, Tina Morgan; Secretary, Jeanette McIntosh, PO Box 108, Coromandel 3543. Tel: (07) 866-7248.

Waitakere Branch: Chairperson, John Staniland; Secretary, Janie Vaughan, PO Box 60655, Titirangi, Waitakere 0642. Tel: (09) 817-9262.

Central North Island Eastern Bay of Plenty Branch: Chairperson, Mark Fort; Secretary, Vacant, C/- Ezebiz Tax, PO Box 582, Whakatane 3158. Tel: (07) 322-8245.

Gisborne Branch: Chairperson, Grant Vincent; Secretary, Vacant, 1 Dominey Street, Inner Kaiti, Gisborne 4010. Tel: (06) 868-8236.

Rotorua Branch: Chairperson, Vacant; Secretary, Margaret Dick, PO Box 1489, Rotorua 3040.

Tel: (04) 357-2024. Secretary, Ted Keeffe, PO Box 1489, Rotorua 3040. Tel: (07) 345-7807.

South Waikato Branch: Chairperson, Anne Groos; Secretary, Jack Groos, 37 Waianawa Place, Tokoroa 3420.

Tel: (07) 886-7456.

Taupo Branch: Chairperson, Ann Gallagher; Secretary, Trevor Hunt, PO Box 1105, Taupo 3351.

Tel: (07) 378-5975.

Tauranga Branch: Chairperson, Basil Graeme; Secretary, Liz Cole, PO Box 487, Seventh Avenue, Tauranga 3140. Tel: (07) 577-6412.

Te Puke Branch: Chairperson, Carole Long; Secretary, Colin Horn, PO Box 237, Te Puke 3153.

Tel: (07) 573-7345.

Waihi Section: Chairperson, Ian Bradshaw; Secretary, Krishna Buckman, 17 Reservoir Road, Waihi 3610.

Tel: (07) 863-8455.

Waikato Branch: Chairperson, Philip Hart; Secretary, Jim Macdiarmid, PO Box 11092, Hillcrest, Hamilton 3251. Tel: (07) 849-3438.

Lower North Island Central Hawkes Bay Branch: Chairperson, Max Chatfield; Secretary, Barrie & Judith Bayliss, PO Box 189, Waipukurau 4242. Tel: (06) 858-8765.

Hastings-Havelock North Branch: Chairperson, Ian Noble; Secretary, Doreen Hall, 1/805 Kennedy Road, Raureka, Hastings 4120. Tel: (06) 876-5978.

Horowhenua Branch: Chairperson, Robert Hirschberg; Secretary, Belinda McLean, 47 Te Manuao Road, Otaki 5512. Tel: (06) 364-5573.

Kapiti-Mana Branch: Chairperson, Tony Ward; Secretary, John McLachlan, 78 Langdale Avenue, Paraparaumu 5032. Tel: (04) 904-0027.

Lower Hutt Branch: Chairperson, Kevin Bateman; Secretary, Vacant, PO Box 31194, Lower Hutt 5040.

Tel: (04) 970-6457.

Manawatu Branch: Chairperson, Brent Barrett; Secretary, Anthea McClelland, PO Box 961, Palmerston North Central, Palmerston North 4440. Tel: (06) 353-6758.

Napier Branch: Chairperson, Neil Eagles; Secretary, Margaret Gwynn, 23 Clyde Road, Bluff Hill, Napier 4110. Tel: (06) 835-2122.

North Taranaki Branch: Chairperson, Carolyn Brough; Secretary, Murray Duke, PO Box 1029, Taranaki Mail Centre, New Plymouth 4340. Tel: (06) 751-2759.

Rangitikei Branch: Chairperson, Hugh & Diana Stewart; Secretary, Betty Graham, 41 Tutaenui Road, Marton 4710. Tel: (06) 327-7008.

South Taranaki Branch: Chairperson, Dave Digby; Secretary, Lynda Sutherland, 39 High Street, Eltham 4322. Tel: (06) 764-7479.

Upper Hutt Branch: Chairperson, Barry Wards;

Secretary, Vacant, PO Box 40875, Upper Hutt 5140.

Tel: (04) 97-4266.

Wairarapa Branch: Chairperson, Geoff Doring; Secretary, David Aldersley, 75 Kent Street, Carterton 5713. Tel: (06) 379-7446.

Wanganui Branch: Chairperson, Esther Williams; Secretary, Ray Hutchison, PO Box 4229, Wanganui 4541.

Tel: (06) 345-2651.

Wellington Branch: Chairperson, Donna Sherlock; Secretary, Janet Coburn, PO Box 4183, Wellington 6140.

Tel: (04) 971-8200.

South Island Ashburton Branch: Chairperson, Edith Smith; Secretary, Val Clemens, PO Box 460, Ashburton 7740.

Tel: (03) 308-5620.

Dunedin Branch: Chairperson, Janet Ledingham; Secretary, Mark Hanger, PO Box 5793, Moray Place, Dunedin 9058. Tel: (03) 489-3233.

Golden Bay Branch: Chairperson, Jenny Treloar; Secretary, Jo-Anne Vaughan, Puponga Road, RD 1, Collingwood 7073. Tel: (03) 524-8072.

Kaikoura Branch: Chairperson, Ailsa Howard; Secretary, Barry Dunnett, Pooles Road, RD 1, Kaikoura 7371. Tel: (03) 319-5086.

Marlborough Branch: Chairperson, Andrew John; Secretary, David Brinn, PO Box 896, Blenheim 7240.

Tel: (03) 577-8761.

Nelson-Tasman Branch: Chairperson, Helen Campbell; Secretary, Jocelyn Bieleski, PO Box 7126, Nelson Mail Centre, Nelson 7042. Tel: (03) 548-6803.

North Canterbury Branch: Chairperson, Lois Griffiths; Secretary, David Ellison-Smith, PO Box 2389, Christchurch Mail Centre, Christchurch 8140.

Tel: (03) 981-7037.

South Canterbury Branch: Chairperson, Marijke Bakker-Gelsing; Secretary, Margaret McPherson, 29 Mountain View Road, Glenwood, Timaru 7910.

Tel: (03) 686-1494.

South Otago Branch: Chairperson, Carol Botting; Secretary, Suzanne Schofield, 64 Frances Street, Balclutha 9230. Tel: (03) 418-4415.

Southland Branch: Chairperson, Craig Carson; Secretary, Jenny Campbell, PO Box 1155, Invercargill 9840. Tel: (03) 248-6398.

Upper Clutha Branch: Chairperson, John Turnbull; Secretary, Vacant, PO Box 38, Lake Hawea, Hawea 9345.

Tel: (03) 443-8253.

West Coast Branch: Chairperson, Vacant; Secretary, Carolyn Cox, 168 Romilly Street, Westport 7825.

Tel: (03) 789-5334.

lodgeaccommodation Arethusa Cottage An ideal place from which to explore the Far North.

Near Pukenui in wet-land reserve. 6 bunks, fully equipped kitchen, separate bathroom outside. For information and bookings, contact: John Dawn, Doves Bay Road, RD1, Kerikeri.

Tel: (09) 407-8658, Fax: (09) 407-1401.

Email: johnfd@xnet.co.nz.

Tai Haruru Lodge, Piha, West Auckland A seaside haven set in a large sheltered garden on the rugged West Coast, 38km on sealed roads from central Auckland. Close to store, bush reserves and tracks in the beautiful Waitakere Ranges. Double bedroom and 3 singles, plus large lounge with wood burner, dining area and kitchen. Self-contained unit has 4 single beds. Bring food, linen and fuel for fire and BBQ. Off peak rates apply.

Booking: Jean and Peter King, 10 La Trobe Track, Karekare, Waitakere City. Tel: (09) 812 8064.

Email: hop0018@slingshot.co.nz Waiheke Island Cottage Located next to our 49ha Wildlife Reserve, 10 mins walk to Onetangi Beach, general stores etc. Sleeps up to 8 in two bedrooms. Lounge, well-equipped kitchen, separate toilet, bathroom, shower, laundry.

Pillows, blankets provided. No pets. Ferries 35 minutes from Auckland. Enquiries with stamped addressed envelope to: Robin Griffiths, 125 The Strand, Onetangi, Waiheke Island.

Tel: (09) 372-7662. w w w. f o re s t a n d b i rd . o r g . n z

Ruapehu Lodge, Tongariro National Park Situated 600 m from Whakapapa Village, at the foot of Mount Ruapehu, this lodge is available for members and their friends. It may also be hired out to other compatible groups by special arrangement.

It is an ideal base for tramping, skiing, botanising or visiting the hotpools at Tokaanu. The lodge holds 32 people in four bunkrooms and provides all facilities except food and bedding. Bookings and inquiries to Forest and Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington.

Tel: (04) 385-7374, Fax: (04) 385-7373.

Email: office@forestandbird.org.nz

dining room, just 20 mins sailing by ferry from the centre of Wellington or 10 mins from Days Bay. Ideal place to relax in beautiful surroundings, with accommodation for 8. Bring your own food and bedding and a torch. Smoking is banned everywhere on the island, including the house. For information sheet, send stamped addressed envelope to: Accomodation Officer, PO Box 31-194, Lower Hutt.

Tel: (04) 934-0559 or (04) 569 2542.

Mangarakau Swamp Field Centre, North West Nelson Borders Kahurangi National Park and Te Tai Tapu William Hartree Memorial Lodge, Hawkes Bay Marine Reserve. New, 10 bed lodge with two Situated 48km from Napier, 8km past Patoka on the bathrooms, fully equipped kitchen. Sleeping bags, Puketitiri Rd (sealed). The lodge is set amid a 14ha towels and food required. Contact Jo-Anne Vaughan – Golden Bay Branch Secretary for details: scenic reserve and close to many walks, eg: Kaweka Range, Balls Clearing, hot springs and museum. The javn@xtra.co.nz or phone (03) 5248072. lodge accommodates up to 15 people. It has a fully Tautuku Lodge, Otago equipped kitchen including stove, refrigerator and State Highway 92, Southeast Otago. Situated on microwave plus tile fire, hot showers. Supply your Forest and Bird's 550ha Lenz Reserve 32km south own linen, sleeping bags etc. For information and of Owaka. A bush setting, and many lovely beaches bookings please send a stamped addressed envelope nearby provide a wonderful base for exploring to Mike and Linda Hay, 172 Guppy Road, Taradale, the Catlins. The lodge, the Coutts cabin and an ANapier 4112. Tel: (06) 8444651. frame sleep 10, 4 and 2 respectively. No Animals.

Email: hayhouse@clear.net.nz.

For information and rates please send a stamped addressed envelope to the caretaker: Matiu/Somes Island, Wellington Harbour Diana Noonan, Mirren St, Papatowai, Owaka, RD2.

Joint venture accommodation by Lower Hutt Tel: (03) 415-8024, fax (03) 415-8244.

Forest and Bird with DOC. A modern family Email: diana.n@clear.net.nz home with kitchen, 3 bedrooms, large lounge and FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2008

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