Forest & Bird Magazine 361 Spring 2016

ISSUE 361 • SPRING 2016 www.forestandbird.org.nz

SOS

SAVE OUR SEAS PLUS

Restoring the forest

Predator-free 2050

What future for whitebait?

ISSUE 361

• Spring 2016

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Contents

CONTACT A STAFF MEMBER See www.forestandbird. org.nz/our-people for a full list of staff members and their contact details.

6 From

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2 Editorial 4 Letters

the Chief Executive

Conservation news 8 Canterbury’s water woes 9 Battle for our Birds 10 National Policy Statement for Biodiversity, Hōne moves on, Ruataniwha latest, Ngaruroro WCO, tūī-tastic

Cover story 12 Making smart seafood choices 14 Help save our seas 15 Avoidable albatross deaths, NZ sea lions need protection

RMA watch 17 Landfarming in Taranaki

Predator-free New Zealand 18 Predator-free 2050: What now?

Forest collapse 20 Iwi-led restoration at Warawara

Marine Forest & Bird would like to thank Honda New Zealand for its ongoing support

16 MPI agency capture 22 Otago's ocean sanctuary 24 Ocean foraging

Focus on flora 28 Exciting tree daisy discovery

Freshwater 30 Should we stop whitebaiting?

Bequest 32 Claire Falla-Meo’s bird paintings

Biodiversity 33 Moeraki marvels 34 Akatarawa antique 36 Nature Heritage Fund celebrates 25 years

Our people 38 Forest & Bird’s 2016 conservation award winners: Distinguished Life Member Craig Potton 39 Youth award winner Connor Wallace and Pestbuster Murray Gavin 40 Old Blues: Roger Grace, Neil Sutherland and Sheryl Corbett, and Laura Dawson 41 Golden Spade: Graham Falla & new board members James Muir and John Oates 50 Half a century of bird surveys, Andy Dennis obituary

In the field 42 Ocean acidification 43 Research report plans

Poetry & book reviews 44 Ode to nature II 45 Book reviews

EDITOR

Caroline Wood MAGAZINE ENQUIRIES AND LETTERS

Our partners

E editor@forestandbird.org.nz

46 Sustainable packaging

ART DIRECTOR/DESIGNER

Rob Di Leva, Dileva Design E rob@dileva.co.nz PRINTING

Printlink FOR ALL ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES

Karen Condon T 0275 420 338 E mack.cons@xtra.co.nz Membership & circulation enquiries T 0800 200 064 E membership@forestandbird.org.nz

Conservation in history 25 Hunting the last huia

Climate disruption 26 Storytelling in a changing world 27 Climate roadshow update

Going places 48 Dusky Sound cruise, Fiordland

Forest & Bird lodges 52 Te Haruru, Piha

Parting shot IBC Speargrass weevil

COVER SHOT Looking up at group of snapper/tāmure, Goat Island, near Leigh. Photo: One Shot/Darryl Torckler

Forest & Bird

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Editorial

ANDREW CUTLER

Lucky to live in Aotearoa

Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. (Founded 1923)

Undoubtedly, travel broadens the mind, but a recent visit to Europe instead reminded me how lucky we are to live in Aotearoa New Zealand and why we shouldn’t take our good luck for granted.

Europe is crammed with many wonderful things: art works and monuments, museums and architecture, the legacy of thousands of years of civilization. On the other hand, nature and wildlife is hard to find and truly wild places are almost non-existent.

In this densely populated, globalised, consumerised, and homogenised world, New Zealand’s wilderness, ocean, and wildlife are unique and exceptional. They are truly taonga – treasures to be protected and restored.

In this context, the recent government announcement supporting the goal of Predator-Free New Zealand is welcome. Like many conservation initiatives, PredatorFree New Zealand was the vision of an individual (the late Sir Paul Callaghan) and has been championed since his death by scientists, business leaders, and conservation organisations, such as Forest & Bird.

While the government’s decision to support Predator-Free New Zealand is to be commended, it was an easy decision with little political risk. What we also need is government leadership on hard decisions such as climate disruption, protection of marine mammals, and ending pollution of our freshwater ecosystems by intensive farming. Sadly, progress in these areas, so far, is inconsequential, inadequate, or glacially slow.

What the Predator-Free decision does show is that the vision, commitment, and hard work of such groups as Forest & Bird does eventually lead to change. Where the community leads, the government will usually follow.

Our challenge is to make the hard decisions easy for the government to make by building a broad and powerful consensus for the preservation and restoration of Aotearoa New Zealand’s wild places and wildlife. Our natural treasures deserve nothing less.

Registered Office at Level 1, 90 Ghuznee Street, Wellington.

His Excellency Lieutenant General the Rt Hon Sir Jerry Mateparae, Governor-General of New Zealand CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Hōne McGregor PRESIDENT

Andrew Cutler TREASURER

Graham Bellamy BOARD MEMBERS

Brent Barrett, Lindsey Britton, Kate Graeme, Mark Hanger, James Muir, John Oates, Marc Slade CONSERVATION AMBASSADORS

Sir Alan Mark, Gerry McSweeney, Craig Potton DISTINGUISHED LIFE MEMBERS:

Stan Butcher, Ken Catt, Linda Conning, Audrey Eagle, Alan Edmonds, Gordon Ell, Stewart Gray, Philip Hart, Joan Leckie, Hon. Sandra Lee-Vercoe, Carole Long, Peter Maddison, Sir Alan Mark, Gerry McSweeney, Margaret Peace, Craig Potton, Fraser Ross, Eugenie Sage, Guy Salmon, Lesley Shand, David Underwood Forest & Bird is a registered charitable entity under the Charities Act 2005.

Registration No CC26943.

Ka kite anō

Andrew Cutler Forest & Bird President Perehitini, Te Reo o te Taiao

PATRON

Venice is nice but Andrew misses New Zealand.

NORTH AND SOUTH ISLAND GATHERINGS

Forest & Bird is published quarterly by the Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. Opinions expressed by contributors in the magazine are not necessarily those of Forest & Bird.

Don’t forget about the North and South Island gatherings later in the year.

These give Forest & Bird members, branch committee representatives, board members, and staff the chance to get together to discuss conservation issues, share knowledge, and have fun.

South Island Gathering DATE: 28–30 October LOCATION: Geraldine, Canterbury

North Island Gathering DATE: 11–13 November LOCATION: Shakespear Regional Park, Auckland

For details on how to register, see www.forestandbird.org.nz.

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| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Forest & Bird is printed on elemental chlorine-free paper made from FSC® certified wood fibre and pulp sourced from responsibly managed forests.

Registered at PO Headquarters, Wellington, as a magazine.

ISSN 0015-7384. Copyright.

All rights reserved.

Letters Forest & Bird welcomes your feedback on conservation topics. Please send letters up to 200 words, with your name, home address and daytime phone number. We don’t always have space to publish all letters or publish them in full.

The best contribution to the Letters page of the next issue will win So Far, So Good by Craig Potton (Potton & Burton) RRP$49.99, the story, in words and photographs, of a threemonth traverse of the Southern Alps, from Milford Sound to Nelson Lakes.

Please send letters to Editor, Forest & Bird magazine, PO Box 631, Wellington 6140, or email editor@forestandbird.org.nz by 1 November.

Tackling big issues Congratulations Andrew Cutler for his “Tackling the big issues” editorial (Winter 2016). As he said, we need this “see no evil attitude” to change. Restoration projects on the fringes of what little is left of our natural world won’t bring about a predator-free New Zealand. The Department of Conservation restructure and “partnership” model is a disaster. It is sending a message to the public and the media that we are on the right track when in fact we are going backwards. Volunteer groups play a part but they are not the ultimate answer. Increased funding of DOC’s biodiversity wing and scientific research is desperately needed. Elaborate carbon credit schemes will not slow climate change. Downgrading our elaborate consumerdriven lifestyles would help, but that’s another evil subject.

Thanks again Andrew for raising the most important of subjects – facing reality.

Bill Rooke, Motueka Best letter winner I enjoyed Andrew Cutler’s editorial. The willingness and ability of Forest & Bird to think about and tackle the “big issues” is what makes me so proud of this organisation.

The ability to do so, though, is based on the work of the many at the grass-roots level, including the littleto-larger projects and the many members and others supporting these. People gather around these projects, often having the transforming experiences with nature that are needed as a first step to becoming “environmental warriors”. Conversations are held, frequently about the big issues. The community builds, and it is community and togetherness and numbers that give us strength. If you want to understand the big picture you start where people are at. From there you build a movement for change.

Colleen Philip, North Canterbury

Department of ...what?

Maybe it’s time for a name change from the Department of Conservation to the Department for Tourism. Or maybe it needs to be split in two – one department for tourism on the DOC estate and a separate entity for conservation work, which seems to be falling behind because of lack of funds. DOC has just approved increasing the helicopter landings on Ngapunatoru Plateau, Tutoko Valley, in Fiordland from 14 to 80 per day. This will cause extreme noise pollution for the Milford Sound area and the climbers and trampers expecting peace and solitude. There are already complaints about the helicopter noise in the Franz Josef valley, with flights at times three minutes apart. Do 4

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

we need to do the same to Fiordland? Stop selling New Zealand’s soul for the sake of tourism.

Pam Pope, Nelson

Taranaki Energy Watch Have you heard of Taranaki Energy Watch? They are a small group working right now to protect our country from the biggest climate-changing, polluting industry on the planet. The regulations being argued and established in the South Taranaki District Plan will potentially become national standards for all future onshore oil and gas development. TEW experts will be giving evidence on regulations that cover things like: the number of metres required between multi-welled fracking sites and primary schools and whether spreading petroleum industry waste on farm land should be an allowed activity throughout the district. There is a big gap between what TEW experts say is best practice internationally and what is happening in Taranaki.

Jean Kahui, Waikanae *See p17 for more on this issue.

Earth is not flat In my view, Nigel Sutton’s letter “Climate change nonsense” (Winter 2016) was aptly titled. Despite his false assertion that there “has been no warming for over 18 years” average global temperatures have continued to increase since 1998. Indeed the two warmest years on record were 2014 and 2015, records likely to be broken again in 2016. Perhaps Sutton should visit the Australian Great Barrier Reef to see first-hand the consequences of CO2-induced oceanic acidification, or Kiribati, or South Dunedin, to see the consequences of sea level rise. This modelling is not “manipulated”. No, the Earth is not flat and yes, human-induced climate disruption is very real.

George Preddey, Wellington Can I suggest that Nigel Sutton back his words with an offer to donate $1,000 per month to Forest & Bird for every month that the average world temperature is higher than the corresponding month the previous year, and receive back $1,000 per month when it’s lower. If he’s correct and it simply fluctuates, this won’t cost him a cent.

If he’s incorrect (and evidence to date indicates he is), then Forest & Bird will have a source of revenue to help fund its work ... nothing like putting your money where your mouth is, to get a more rational (and consequential!) response.

Gerard Dunne, Auckland

Dam concerns I read the article about concerns over the Wairarapa dam plan with interest (Winter 2016). Resource consent was granted for the construction of the Ruataniwha Dam, in April 2014, by a Board of Inquiry, chaired by retired High Court Judge Lester Chisholm. It seems that Councillor Deborah Hewitt owns land adjoining the dam. She should have stood down as a Hawke’s Bay regional councillor, when this project was first discussed. It beggars belief that she didn't. Judge Chisholm would be appalled at the twists and turns this project has taken. Now it’s more like an Oxbow Lake!

Brian Collins, Wellington *See p9 for more on this story.

Climate solutions Thank you to Allen Cookson for your views on climate solutions (Winter 2016). I especially agree with clauses 2, 3, and 4. How many other like-minded people are out there?

Do write in support. Population control is a lot harder to deal with, but there is no doubt that poor old Gaia (the earth) is being smothered. I can almost hear her gasping.

Riro Marett, Auckland

Predator-weed free There is great news here in Taranaki, Egmont National Park will be totally pest free by 1 April 2026. Both animal control and vegetation eradication is under way after the Department of Conservation in Taranaki was given a grant of $24m over the next 10 years by the NEXT Foundation for Project Taranaki Mounga. This would make it the first national park in New Zealand to be predator-weed free.

The local community is still awaiting with interest how the department plans to tackle this, in particular how the staff are going to get the rabbit and hare population eradicated from the sub-alpine and alpine vegetation.

WIN A BOOK Forest & Bird is giving away two copies of 1,000 Butterflies by Adrian Hoskins (New Holland) RRP$49.99. This illustrated guide covers 1,000 species from every corner of the globe.

To enter the draw, email your entry to draw@ forestandbird.org.nz. Please put Butterflies in the subject line and include your name and address in the email. Or put your name and address on the back of an envelope and post to Butterflies draw, Forest & Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington 6140. Entries close 1 November.

The winners of the Stone Arrow Jewellery draw were: Margaret Jeune, of Levin, Christine Whitta, of Auckland, and Tessa Hill, of Rangiora. The winners of Ultimate Wildlife Destinations were: PA Jones, of Geraldine, and Don MacPhail, of New Plymouth. The winner of the Feather spotting competition was Selena Brown, of Opotiki. And the answers were (from top) kākāpō, little blue penguin and tūī.

Garden office I have just joined your organisation, congratulations on the work you do. I thought you might like these to see some of the elegant birds, who visit my office here in Nelson from time to time. We have recently formed a QE2 covenant on a small area out in the Marlborough Sounds and I will be photographing and documenting the birds there when I can.

Richard McBride, Nelson

Ian McAlpine, Stratford

50 years ago

Do wekas portend bad weather?

Somewhere, sometime, I have picked up the saying, “When wekas call at night, then rain and storm ere light”.... I was inclined to dismiss the saying as founded on scant evidence, but the weather on Easter Sunday of this year made me change my mind.

I was camped among the stunted snow beeches of the Bryant Range [Nelson district] at 4,500ft. When I went to bed, the sky was clear ... Then the wekas began to call, and though it is not usual to hear them up there after dark, I was pleased at their presence, for their numbers are decreasing along the whole range.

At 3 o’clock Saturday morning it began to blow and rain...it was the worst storm I had ever experienced in this area, which I have known since 1928. One swallow does not make a summer, and the calling of some wekas one night does not necessarily make a storm. However, in future I will pay more attention and note what happens. I wonder if any other reader has had a similar experience?

C.C Meikle, Forest & Bird, August 1966

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From the Chief Executive HŌNE MCGREGOR

Kaiwhakahaere Matua Te Reo o te Taiao

In good shape

T

his will be my last column as Forest & Bird Chief Executive. Although leaving is tinged with sadness that I won’t be working alongside my exceptional and dedicated Forest & Bird colleagues any more, I also leave with a sense of pride at what our organisation has achieved during the past three years.

There have been some big wins for conservation during that time, not least the announcement last month that the Government is adopting the goal of a predator-free New Zealand by 2050. Forest & Bird has long been working towards eliminating the predators that have decimated our native wildlife, and we have played an important role in getting recognition of a predator-free New Zealand as a realistic goal.

Last year, we adopted the goal of a predator-free New Zealand by 2040 as part of our Strategic Plan and, although the Government’s goal is to eradicate these introduced pests a decade later, its embrace of the vision is an important step.

Another important conservation win was the announcement by the Government last year of the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary, something Forest & Bird had been working towards for seven years with Pew Charitable Trusts and WWF-New Zealand.

Looking forward, I’m also proud of the efforts we have made to make Forest & Bird stronger so it will continue to be New Zealand’s leading independent conservation organisation. This will ensure we are better able to achieve more ambitious conservation goals. Our youth forum at the annual conference showed our inter-generational plan in action, and meeting some of our future conservation leaders gave us great heart.

Our Strategic Plan lists some of those ambitious goals – minimising the impact of climate disruption on nature and our way of life, ensuring we have healthy oceans and clean rivers, and bringing back nature to our urban areas.

Visiting the Lake Heron area, Ashburton Lakes, Canterbury

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The Strategic Plan shows us where we are headed and how to get there.

To achieve these goals, we need to be strong, united, and focused. We’ve strengthened our finances, increased our income, and improved the alignment of our staff structure to our goals and future growth. As part of this, I’m pleased to have started our operating model review to ensure we are as effective as possible.

We’ve been able to hire a number of new staff, and we’ve put some money back into branches to support grassroots conservation. More volunteers are being recruited, and we now have more regular givers to make the voice of nature louder. Another significant endowment has shown that we are an organisation people trust with their investments in conservation.

My Te Ātiawa and Ngāti Rārua descent distinguishes me from past Forest & Bird chief executives. New Zealand’s changing political, economic, and social landscape means we need to get closer to iwi Māori, to younger New Zealanders, and to business. As the number of conservation groups grows, we will also need to work with them to speak with a united voice.

I am confident Forest & Bird is in good shape to create the future we want for Aotearoa New Zealand. This confidence comes from meeting dedicated volunteers in our branches during the last three years and from working with our dedicated staff. Congratulations to everyone in Forest & Bird, and let’s continue to be Te Reo o te Taiao – the Voice for Nature in New Zealand.

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Conservation news

Giant pivot irrigator on the Canterbury Plains. Photo: David Brooks

Canterbury’s

water woes

Forest & Bird is calling on ECan to take stronger action against water theft from Canterbury’s rivers and aquifers. By Megan Hubscher.

C

anterbury is entering its third year of drought. Rivers and streams have run dry. The region’s renowned aquifers have dropped to record levels. Environment Canterbury (ECan) has warned that water restrictions this summer are likely to take effect earlier and apply for longer.

Canterbury has always been subject to dry periods.

What’s changed is how the region’s land and water is being used. In the 10 years to 2015, the regional population of dairy cows nearly tripled to over a million animals. It takes about 10,000 litres of water to create a single kilo of milk solids, and in the 2013/14 season, another drought year, Canterbury produced 352 million kilos of milk solids, requiring more than 3.5 trillion litres of water.

In addition to the legal use of these vast volumes of water, a Forest & Bird investigation in June also revealed that irrigators were illegally taking billions of litres of water from rivers and aquifers.

Nearly one in five monitored irrigators were significantly breaking the rules of their water consents, according to ECan’s Compliance Monitoring Annual Report (July 2014June 2015), which was published in March.

When Forest & Bird examined the details behind ECan’s report we discovered 372 farmers who’d been classified as “significantly non-compliant”. Many were helping themselves to large quantities of water, some for years on end. Even worse, hundreds didn’t have functioning water meters, which meant they could take as much water as they liked without anyone knowing. But no fine or prosecution was pursued by ECan in these cases.

Using ECan’s data, Forest & Bird staff calculated that over two billion litres of water had been illegally taken from Canterbury’s waterways. This is the equivalent of five years of Christchurch City’s drinking water and, given the lack of functioning water meters, is likely to be a fraction of the actual volume.

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One serious repeat offender was noted by ECan as “continuously overusing” water “throughout the season and for the last three seasons”. This person received an abatement notice.

Another farmer was found to have illegally uplifted 31 million litres of water from the Manuka Creek over 42 separate days. Forty of those days were during low flow restrictions, when rivers were already at their most parched. This person also received an abatement notice.

We asked why Ecan hadn't taken tougher enforcement action despite farmers repeatedly breaking the rules. The maximum penalty under the Resource Management Act for not complying with irrigation consent conditions is a $600,000 fine or a five-year prison sentence.

Following widespread media interest in our findings, ECan Chief Executive Bill Bayfield held a press conference.

Bayfield, to his credit, accepted Forest & Bird’s findings and even thanked us for drawing the “strength of public feeling” to ECan’s attention.

He promised they’d got the message, and the days of regulatory leniency were over. We will be watching closely to see if his actions will speak as boldly as his words.

Freshwater Facebook group Decades of neglect and abuse have badly damaged our rivers, lakes, and streams, and our new Freshwater 111 Facebook group gives you the chance to highlight and report freshwater problems in your area.

Forest & Bird wants to know about the water issues affecting your community – stock in the local stream, rivers running dry, or pollutants seeping into waterways.

Post it to Freshwater 111, and let’s take action to protect our precious freshwater.

Battle for our Birds 2016 This year’s Battle for our Birds predator control began its operations in Fiordland last month with aerial 1080 drops in the Arthur Valley.

So far, five sites in Fiordland National Park have been confirmed as part of the Department of Conservation’s national Battle for our Birds programme, which was announced by Conservation Minister Maggie Barry in July.

The confirmed Fiordland areas are among 19 Battle for our Birds sites nationwide, covering more than 720,000ha to protect priority populations of native species.

Other sites include Kahurangi National Park, Murchison Mountains, Southland, Makarora, Otago, Mokhihinui and Haast Range, West Coast and Taranaki.

Predator control in Fiordland is aimed at protecting populations of mohua/yellowhead, kākā, kea, whio/blue duck, Fiordland tokoeka, kiwi, and two bat species.

Monitoring has shown rat numbers have now reached trigger levels, fuelled by a heavy autumn beech seedfall.

Aerial 1080 predator control will target rats and possums, with stoats killed as they eat poisoned rodents.

DOC Te Anau Operations Manager Greg Lind says pest control is timed to prevent increased predator attacks on nesting birds and roosting bats, so more offspring will survive to increase their populations.

“Research has shown that well timed pest control improves the survival and breeding success of our most

Forest & Bird

vulnerable native species.”

Monitoring has shown that mohua and whio, among other species, have greater nesting success after 1080 treatment than without. Long- and short-tailed bat populations have been shown to steadily increase as a result of pest control in the Eglinton valley, which included aerial 1080 in 2014.

An additional 10 national priority sites covering about 200,000ha are on close watch for pest control if rodent levels reach damaging levels. DOC has a map of all Battle for our Birds sites on its website www.doc.govt.nz.

Arthur Valley, in Fiordland, is one of 19 Battle for our Bird sites nationwide. Photo: DOC/Graham Dainty

Forest & Bird

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Forest & Bird

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Conservation news

Biodiversity protection hope Forest & Bird is cautiously optimistic that the development of a National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity will help New Zealand’s struggling native wildlife and streamline the process of protecting the environment.

Last month, the Minister for the Environment, Nick Smith, announced that core stakeholders have been invited to meet over the next 18 months and work together on a National Policy Statement (NPS) for Indigenous Biodiversity.

Forest & Bird will be one of the stakeholders in the process, which it is intended to lead to a statutory document that guides the contents of regional and district plans. Previous government-led attempts in 2001 and 2011 have failed to deliver.

“We have been pushing for the development of an NPS to protect biodiversity for many years,” says Forest & Bird lawyer Sally Gepp, who believes it will improve environmental outcomes and make the process of defending nature under the Resource

The West Coast green gecko is only found at Lewis Pass, Rahu, Reefton, and northern Westland, in the South Island.

Management Act more efficient for conservationists, landowners and local government.

She said: “A strong NPS is crucial to achieving better outcomes for biodiversity under the Act. We have seen real improvements in policies and rules for the coastal environment since councils started implementing the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement, which is similar to a NPS. “Apart from coastal land, there is currently little incentive on councils to protect significant native habitat and maintain indigenous biodiversity, especially on private land.”

Other stakeholders in the process include the Forest Owners Association, Federated Farmers, representatives of iwi and infrastructure interests, and the Environmental Defence Society.

Forest & Bird plans to set up an internal reference group, including branch representatives, so that policy content can be tested as it’s developed.

Hōne McGregor moves on Forest & Bird President Andrew Cutler paid tribute to Hōne MgGregor, who left the organisation last month.

“Since Hōne took up the position of Chief Executive Officer at Forest & Bird in 2013, he has made a very significant contribution. Among his many achievements are strong financial performance, helping develop and initiate a new strategic plan, and guiding significant improvements to our business and planning processes.

“With these achievements in place, and with the organisation in a very strong position for the next stage of development, Hōne has decided it is time to start a new chapter with new challenges in his professional career.”

Hōne moves on to continue his work with Wakatu Inc, Kono Foods, the hapu-based wetlands trust Manawatu Kuku Tauaki Ngati Henemata, and his family lands in the Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu regions.

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Hōne says “I’ve had the privilege of working with a team of committed and high-performing staff. Forest & Bird is a formidable organisation with a strong strategic direction. Now is a good time for new leadership to take the organisation through the next phase of development.”

The Board is in the process of appointing a new leader, and Mike Kotlyar has been appointed acting CEO in the interim.

KCC gathering Funds raised from our Real Journey’s Cruise for a Cause fundraiser will be used to provide training and resources for Kiwi Conservation Club coordinators, who are meeting in Auckland on 14–16 October for skills workshops and visits. Activities include tips for event planning and risk assessment. There will also be opportunities for KCOs to share their expertise and ideas with other volunteers. There will also be visits to Ark in The Park, Arataki Visitor’s Centre, and Auckland Botanical Gardens. Please get in touch with Sarah (s.satterthwaite@ forestandbird.org.nz) or Mel (m.dash@forestandbird.org. nz) if you would like to know more.

Ruataniwha conflict of interest The Auditor-General has given a special dispensation to a Hawke’s Bay regional councillor to vote on the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme – despite her having a pecuniary interest in the proposed project.

Councillor Deborah Hewitt owns property within the area that could benefit from water supplied by the proposed Ruataniwha Dam and the value of this land is expected to increase if the scheme goes ahead.

Forest & Bird lawyer Sally Gepp said: “The documents we have seen show that councillor Hewitt should have known from at least October last year that this irrigation zone would include her property. She should have declared her interest and stood aside from decision-making from that time.”

Councillor Hewitt asked for an exemption in May so she could continue to participate in discussions and vote on significant decisions relating to the councils’ investment in the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme.

Forest & Bird urged the AuditorGeneral not to grant councillor Hewitt an exemption, saying the benefits would not outweigh the risk that her participation would be regarded as tainting such decisions.

The Auditor-General’s office initially advised Hawke’s Bay Regional Council it would not grant her an exemption.

But after receiving further information from the council, it changed its mind.

This allowed Councillor Hewitt to discuss and vote on whether the council should put $80m of its own

Orcon auction

money into the $330m scheme.

The Auditor-General’s office said the “the benefits of allowing her to participate outweigh the risk that her pecuniary interest could be seen to unduly influence the outcome.”

But Sally Gepp commented: “It is disappointing that further information was only sought from Councillor Hewitt, and that the views of Forest & Bird and other parties who had raised this complaint with the AuditorGeneral were not sought.

“Natural justice requires that both sides get to put their views. We would have liked to have the opportunity to consider and refute the councillor’s arguments about why she should get to vote despite the established conflict. This is yet another dubious step in the sorry saga of the Ruataniwha Dam.” Certain conditions must be satisfied before the regional council can sign off the dam proposal. These include finding a major investor. If it is not signed off by the October elections, then whoever wins the regional council seats will be crucial to whether the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme goes ahead. *At the time of writing Forest & Bird was waiting for the Court of Appeal’s judgement on the Department of Conservation’s precedent-setting Ruahine Forest Park land swap decision. DOC wants to swap specially protected conservation land adjoining the Makaroro River in Ruahine Forest Park to pave the way for the dam to be built.

Telecomms company Orcon raised more than $5,000 for Forest & Bird by organising a charity auction of five original artworks they used to turn the humble modem into a work of art. Artists Otis Frizzell, Flox, Anna Leyland, Askew One, and Andrew J. Steel supported the initiative.

You can see their designs at www.orcon.net.nz.

TŪĪ-TASTIC Dunedin photographer and last year’s Old Blue winner Craig McKenzie recently shared a tūī picture on Facebook. It got a lot of engagement (more than 4000 likes), and people asked if they could buy prints. Craig agreed, but only if Forest & Bird benefited. We expected to sell three or four...

Well, the prints flew out of the door and Craig sold more than 60, making $3,000 for Forest & Bird. A big thank you to Craig and everyone who bought one.

Ngaruroro River WCO Forest & Bird is applying for a water conservation order to protect the natural values of the Ngaruroro River in Hawke’s Bay. The river is home to 44 native bird species, 27 of which are classified as threatened or at risk of extinction in the wild.

We have joined with Fish & Game, Whitewater New Zealand, Jet Boating New Zealand, and Ngāti Hori ki Kohupātiki in seeking the order and have launched a fundraising appeal to help pay for expert witnesses to support the WCO. Please consider making a donation at http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/ ngaruroroWCO.

Don’t forget to vote for nature and the environment in the upcoming local elections.

You can cast your vote up until 8 October.

Forest & Bird

| 11

Cover story

BEST FISH GUIDE 2017

Making smart seafood choices

A collection of New Zealand fish. Image: Darryl Torckler

(and why it matters)

Forest & Bird wants commercial fishers to improve their practices and you can help, as Jolene Williams explains.

Y

ou know your peaches are grown in Hawke’s Bay. Your cage-free eggs are farmed in Waikato, and your sauvignon blanc vinted in Marlborough. But what do you know about your seafood? For many New Zealanders, the answer is not a lot. And, unfortunately, a lack of consumer information means many of those same New Zealanders are unaware that some of the seafood they’re buying is caught or farmed in conditions that are harming our environment and killing our seabirds and sea mammals, such as the New Zealand sea lion.

This is why, since 2003, Forest & Bird has produced the Best Fish Guide, an ecological assessment of all seafood fished or farmed in our waters.

Like the previous six editions, the soon-to-be-published guide will not rank species into “good” or “bad” choices.

Instead, it uses a graduated traffic light system – so when you’re in supermarket with orange roughy in one hand and tarakihi in the other, you know which one is better choice.

The 2017 Best Fish Guide, which will be released as an 12

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

app this November, will contain more fish species than ever before, including for the first time native freshwater fish – whitebait and short and longfin eels.

Another significant new feature will be regionalisation, says Katrina Goddard, Forest & Bird’s marine conservation advocate, who is leading the project.

“Where possible, we’ve differentiated species according to regions, when geography alters the species’ ecological ranking. We’ve also broken them down by fishing method, as some species can be caught by multiple methods, with some more environmentally friendly than others.

“This creates the potential to have a species fished in one area by one method, like long-lining, rank higher than the same species fished in the same area but by a different method like bottom trawling.

“Not only does it allow Best Fish Guide-aware Kiwis to fully enjoy seafood that could otherwise sit in the red category, it’s also an important acknowledgement of fishers who are performing well.

“We want to acknowledge those fisheries owning up to their responsibility to fish sustainably. We also hope it’ll encourage under-performing fisheries to follow suit.”

What’s the science behind it?

Our previous Best Fish Guide, published in 2013, found that found 32 to 42 percent of the 78 assessed fisheries had over-fished or contributed to a substantial decline in stocks.

On top of that, half to 71 percent of the fisheries caught too many seabirds and marine mammals as bycatch.

In November, we will find out how those fisheries are performing in 2016.

Kat explains why the Best Fish Guide has to be updated regularly: “Some species have experienced population decline due to overfishing, others have risen in the ranks as improved fishing methods means fewer seabirds and marine mammals are being caught by mistake.”

Forest & Bird continues to use an independently reviewed methodology that takes in the whole ecological picture when ranking species. It will feature the latest and best available data, rigorously tested by external scientists.

The Best Fish Guide is unique in that the ecological assessment system ranks each species according to multiple factors, including bycatch of protected species, fishing methods, habitat damage, and each species’ biological characteristics. In wild fisheries, for example, whether a species is long living and slow to reproduce or matures at a young age will factor into its overall ranking, as well as the status and sustainability of catch.

The criteria for aquaculture species is equally

New Zealanders have always been able to enjoy the high quality seafood in our waters.

If we want to keep that tradition going for future generations, we absolutely need to eat seafood mindfully. multifaceted and, likewise, examines the wider ecological effects of the fisheries. For instance, with farmed salmon that are fed fish meal, the Best Fish Guide considers the ecological factors of that fish meal, in addition to biosecurity threats, source of spat or larvae, the ecological sensitivity of the farm’s location, and the effects of the marine farm on water quality and seabed.

Seabirds at most risk of bycatch (across all fisheries) n

VERY HIGH RISK

n n n n

Black petrel Salvin’s albatross Gibson’s albatross Flesh-footed shearwater New Zealand whitecapped albatross Chatham Island albatross Antipodean albatross Westland petrel Northern Buller’s albatross

n n n n n

n

HIGH RISK

n

MEDIUM RISK

n Campbell blackbrowed albatross

n White-chinned petrel n Yellow-eyed penguin (mainland) NZ king shag Northern giant petrel Spotted shag Northern royal albatross n Pied shag

n n n n

Source: Ministry for Primary Industries

Marine Spatial Plan, which has an entire section focused on our fisheries. And we’ll spend the next few years working with the government and other stakeholders to deliver the plan.”

And Forest & Bird’s Seabird Conservation Advocate Karen Baird has been working closely with the Black Petrel Working Group – which includes Ministry for Primary Industries, commercial fisheries, and environmental groups (see panel).

These are just two of the many ways Forest & Bird can and does advocate for change, Katrina says.

“We also need ordinary New Zealanders to show their support for sustainable seafood to really drive fishers and authorities to want to make this change. And the most effective way to do that is by creating a groundswell from consumers, using the power of their wallets to show they care about the sustainability of their seafood.

“That public support will send a strong message to the retailers about what customers want, and this filters back to the industry who’ll be incentivised to use more sustainable fishing practices.”

Our advocacy Forest & Bird isn’t against commercial fishing. We’re pushing for industry-wide use of sustainable fishing methods and mitigation measures so Kiwis can keep enjoying seafood for generations to come. We also work closely with central and local government agencies and stakeholder groups to change regulations and improve marine protection.

“We always get involved with other groups whenever the opportunity presents,” says Katrina.

“For example, we’ve spent the last three years working with stakeholders and officials to write the Hauraki Gulf Forest & Bird

| 13

Cover story What can consumers do to help?

Whether you’re in a supermarket, the local fish shop, restaurant, or sushi cart, there are three key questions you should ask: 1 Where does my seafood come from?

2 How was it caught?

3 Can I choose a more sustainable option?

If you can answer the first two, the Best Food Guide app will give you the rest of the information so you can decide how ecologically friendly that seafood really is.

“New Zealanders have always been able to enjoy the high quality seafood in our waters. If we want to keep that tradition going for future generations, we absolutely need to eat seafood mindfully,” says Katrina.

“It’s a big change, but an achievable one. Those dayto-day decisions in the supermarket and in the restaurant, that’s going to help encourage the fishing industry to operate in a way that doesn’t harm seabirds, marine mammals and the wider environment.”

Many fisheries already recognise the economic benefits from cleaning up New Zealand’s fishing industry and improving our international reputation.

Last year, for example, Aquaculture New Zealand launched the joint industry-government A+ Framework of environmental standards. This provides the industry with the resources to continually improve its environmental performance and measure it against internationally accepted best practices.

Aquaculture NZ’s Environmental Manager Rebecca Clarkson said: “Its primary goal is to enable open and meaningful conversations about what we are doing well in terms of our marine stewardship role and where we can focus future improvements.

“This has direct benefits in-market, in terms of niche market access as well as generally enhancing the New Zealand Story of kaitiaki (guardianship), integrity, and resourcefulness.”

To date, about 500 aquaculture farms have signed up to the A+ Framework.

While there certainly is some support for sustainable fishing, Katrina says the sheer amount of species likely to be ranked in the red zone in the upcoming 2017 Best Fish Guide tells us we still have a long way to go. And it’s not an issue we can ignore.

Top chefs support Best Fish Guide This year’s guide, which will be released in November, comes exclusively as a free mobile app. It’s the quickest and most convenient way to ensure the Best Fish Guide is always at hand.

The app will include alternative green “good choice” fish options to substitute for the red “at risk” fish. We will also have a brand new collection of recipes from top New Zealand chefs, to inspire some delicious fish-friendly meals.

Celebrity chef, food writer and TV presenter Annabel Langbein said: “I’m thrilled to support the Best Fish Guide because the world’s seafood resources are so precious and we need to protect them. The world views New Zealand as such a sustainably focussed environment – it’s really important that we walk the talk.

“I believe the entire culinary community can play an important part in safeguarding the future of our oceans – by raising awareness of the vulnerability of many of our seafoods, helping people make oceanfriendly choices and sharing ideas about how to cook lesser-known species.

“I’d really encourage seafood lovers to try new things like kahawai, piper and paddle crabs. Rather than thinking you’re missing out on the old favourites, you’ll discover these less popular species are actually really delicious!” *You can be among the first to download the Best Fish Guide app when it’s release this November, go to www.bestfishguide.org.nz and sign up to receive notification of when it’s published.

HELP SAVE OUR SEAS

A strong connection with the sea that surrounds us is part of being Kiwi. Our seas are largely at risk of exploitation, and that has a high price for nature.

For example, Maui’s dolphins are in danger. There are only 55 Maui’s dolphins aged over one year old left. For the second time in just a few years, the International Whaling Commission has identified that New Zealand is failing Maui’s dolphin. It has urged our government to take immediate measures to protect them.

Your donation will help us create a brighter future for our unique marine life, including Maui's dolphin, the New Zealand sea lion and our majestic albatross (see right).

Saving our seas is an integral part of the work Forest & Bird does. Whether its publishing a Best Fish Guide, advocating for more marine reserves, or working with partners on species protection, your donation is helping us safeguard New Zealand’s ocean life.

Help us Save our Seas, please donate today at www.forestandbird.org.nz/saveourseas.

Otago’s marine sanctuary, p22

Should we ban whitebaiting?, p30

Ocean acidification, p42

Avoidable albatross deaths E

arlier this year, an observer from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) reported seeing 38 albatrosses caught by a long-line bluefin tuna fishing vessel off the West Coast. The Ministry alleges the fisher failed to use a tori line, a mandatory device that scares seabirds away.

The commercial fisherman faces prosecution for an offence under the Fisheries Regulations and a maximum $10,000 fine. Such prosecutions are rare. The last one was in the early 2000s.

Forest & Bird says the long-line fishing industry must be better regulated to prevent the deaths of many more threatened and critically endangered birds.

“Most of our albatrosses only breed in New Zealand and are at risk in this fishery. We suspect that, if there had not been an observer on board this particular vessel, the deaths of these birds would have gone unreported,” says Forest & Bird’s seabird advocate Karen Baird.

“Critically endangered species such as the Antipodean albatross are likely to have been included in the deaths, one of many of our albatross species regularly killed in this fishery.

“Forest & Bird has been concerned for some time that the very low level of observer coverage in the domestic surface long-line fishing fleet has hidden the potential for extremely poor practice for avoiding seabird deaths.”

The fact this fisher was caught by an on-board MPI observer confirms the critical need to have much higher levels of observer coverage of the domestic surface long-line fishing fleet. MPI also needs to rapidly deploy electronic monitoring throughout the fishing industry to keep fishers honest.

Other highly by-caught albatross species in the long-line fishery are the southern Buller’s albatross, the southern royal albatross, Gibson’s albatross, New Zealand whitecapped albatross, and Campbell albatross.

“We welcome MPI’s move to make weighting of the lines mandatory, which is long overdue. However, we urge them to go further and adopt recognised international best practice by requiring all three mitigation methods of line weighting, tori lines, and night-time fishing, together, says Karen.

“Without full commitment from MPI to properly regulate and monitor this industry, we expect that the annual sea bird carnage will continue, but most of it will go unreported and undetected, something these majestic ocean-going birds cannot afford.”

In a good news story, bottom long-line fishers who fish for snapper in the Hauraki Gulf are working collaboratively with Forest & Bird and other stakeholders to reduce the unsustainable bycatch of black petrel and flesh-footed shearwater in their fishery.

There has been substantial progress with seabird management plans for every vessel and much greater understanding of the importance of using best practice mitigation on their vessels through skipper training programmes run by Southern Seabird Solutions Trust.

Once electronic monitoring (video cameras) are installed on every vessel, as planned this summer, we hope to verify that this good work is paying off by substantial reductions in bycatch.

Regulatory capture: see over.

Sea lion protection inadequate

T

he New Zealand sea lion was once common around our coast, but now is mostly confined to the sub-Antarctic islands. It has the same threat status as the kākāpō. Why then does the Government’s latest plan to reverse the slide towards extinction of the world’s rarest sea lion offer little more than research and monitoring over the next 20 years and no firm funding commitment?

The main human threat to the sea lion population is the squid trawl fishery in the Auckland Islands, which operates during the same months female sea lions are hunting at sea to feed dependent pups on shore. Many will also be pregnant, so if a female sea lion is killed in fishing nets two other sea lion lives may be lost.

Fishing boats scoop up squid using massive nets. The Ministry of Primary Industries allows up to 68 sea lions to be accidentally killed by fishing vessels each season as bycatch in the Auckland Island fisheries. In recent years, it has more than doubled the fishing activity allowed there.

There were an estimated 1322 sea lion deaths in the squid fishery between 1992 and 2009. The industry claims there has been only six recorded deaths in the past four

years. But we can put little faith in these figures because we don’t know how many sea lions are killed, or badly injured to die later, before being ejected from sea lion exclusion devices SLEDS. Forest & Bird believes there is insufficient focus in the proposed policy on the effect of commercial fishing on the sea lions, especially given fishing can be more easily managed than disease and other natural hazards.

The allowable quota of 68 sea lion deaths annually in the squid fishery should be reduced to zero. Alternative fishing methods that don’t kill sea lions should be introduced. Jigging with hooks on lines has previously been used to catch squid in the Auckland Islands and is much safer for sea lions.

Forest & Bird wants to see a government plan that sets New Zealand sea lions on a clear path to non-threatened status.

Read more at www.forestandbird.org.nz/ saveoursealions.

Forest & Bird

| 15

Marine

Captured – is MPI in the fishing industry’s net?

By Kevin Hackwell, Campaigns and Advocacy Manager.

F

orest & Bird is calling on the Ministry for Primary Industries to do its job properly and regulate the fishing industry for the public and environmental good.

The fishing industry’s catching methods are constantly improving, so maybe it should be no surprise that it appears to have caught the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) in its net.

Agency capture occurs when government agencies established to regulate industries become influenced and controlled by those industries. Recent revelations of a lack of enforcement by MPI, despite clear video evidence of gross under-reporting of fishing catches, raises the question of whether the ministry has been captured.

The ministry is supposed to regulate our fisheries in the public interest, ensuring fish stocks and the marine environment remain healthy and endangered species are protected. But recent reports and MPI’s response to them indicate the ministry may be more interested in protecting the narrow interests of the industry.

Earlier this year, researchers from Auckland, Oxford, and British Columbia universities found the fishing industry had taken 2.7 times more fish since 1950 than official figures showed and that dumping of unwanted fish was widespread. The ministry responded by claiming the report was biased, adding that it prosecuted whenever there was evidence of fish dumping.

Three MPI reports then emerged showing large volumes of fish dumping and evidence of an unreported Hector’s dolphin death and of the ministry’s unwillingness to prosecute offenders.

One of these, the 2013 Operation Achilles report by an MPI investigator, revealed that cameras on six fishing vessels showed illegal dumping of between 20 percent and 100 percent of some quota species. Often this was to get rid of small or damaged fish to maximise income from the landed catch.

Operation Achilles just scratched the surface. Only 31 of the 273 trawls filmed were examined in detail, but in that small sample 30 different offences were detected.

The MPI investigator determined that offences met prosecution guidelines, but none of the fishers were prosecuted. The investigator said the ministry had ignored previous dumping seen by observers because assurances had been given to the vessels that all offending would be disregarded and no prosecution action taken.

Last year, the government awarded a contract to provide monitoring cameras on fishing boats to a company owned by fishing companies. Would the police allow drivers to be responsible for providing evidence of their own speeding offences?

Such arrangements are not so surprising given MPI has agreed a series of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with the fishing industry since 2006. As part of these MOUs, the ministry and the industry operate joint management forums to decide on a range of MPI’s responsibilities, including science research, compliance issues, and management measures.

Under the MOU, the industry had a central role in deciding the ministry’s management measures for developing and monitoring sea lion exclusion devices (SLEDs), intended to cut the high numbers of critically endangered New Zealand sea lions being trapped and killed in squid fishing nets around the Auckland Islands.

It is an open question whether this lack of independent oversight is one reason we still don’t have a clear understanding of how many sea lions are being killed or badly injured by SLEDs before being ejected from the nets.

Now a proposed 20-year sea lion threat management plan – drawn up by MPI and the Department of Conservation – offers no action to cut the toll from commercial fishing.

All we ask of MPI is that it does the job it was set up to do – to regulate the industry for the public good and for the welfare of the marine environment. There are many good people working at MPI, but the culture needs to change from one where the ministry appears to have swallowed the fishing industry's world view hook, line, and sinker.

Photo: File/Ministry of Fisheries

16

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

RMA watch

Trouble down on the landfarm Forest & Bird is concerned about the controversial practice of landfarming in South Taranaki. By Catherine Cheung.

Forest & Bird has objected to a district council’s proposal that landfarming – the spreading of petroleum wastes on farms – be a “permitted” activity in the rural zone.

At the public hearings on the proposed South Taranaki District Plan in late June, Forest & Bird suggested that it should be at least “restricted discretionary”.

Taranaki is currently the only place in New Zealand to allow “landfarming”, where waste from oil and gas drilling is spread on the soil. The area is heavily disturbed by the process, with topsoil scraped off, wastes spread, topsoil returned, then fertilised and sown with grass or crop for livestock.

Although the government and industry claim the practice is safe, in 2013, Fonterra refused to take milk from new landfarms. And in 2014, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment made her concerns about the practice known.

Forest & Bird is worried about the effect of petroleum waste on the health of local waterways and wants to see more regulation and monitoring of their effects.

General Counsel Peter Anderson said: “Forest & Bird opposes spreading hydrocarbons over land due to the harm that the possible leaching of petroleum waste could do to waterways. These effects have not been considered adequately, particularly in the porous coastal environment where it may compromise aquatic biodiversity.

“Current landfarming practices demonstrate a lack of adequate regulation and monitoring. The long-term impact on soil resilience and the potential use of these areas for farming or other activities in the future has not been adequately assessed.”

Other submitters were also concerned. Climate Justice Taranaki pointed out that eight landfarms are located within South Taranaki’s sandy coastal environment, three of which were consented since 2009, after the designation of the Coastal Protection Area in 2004.

The proposed district plan has halved the total extent of the Coastal Protection Area to just over 5000ha. Six landfarms are now (entirely or largely) outside the Coastal Protection Area as a result of its inland boundary being moved to just 100m from cliff tops along the coastal edge.

The council’s rationale behind the excision of part of one landfarm (pictured right) was that the coastal environment has been “extensively modified by consented land farming and no longer reflects significant coastal process, influences and qualities apparent in adjoining dune areas”.

But Forest & Bird lawyer Ruby Haazen said the effect of changing the boundary would be significant because the landfarm would no longer be subject to the stricter rules of the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement.

This post-hoc planning approach is counter to the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement under the Resource

One of ten landfarms in Taranaki. Photo: Climate Justice Taranaki

Management Act, which requires councils to adopt a precautionary approach to use and management of coastal resources potentially vulnerable to effects from climate change, preserve and protect the natural character of the coastal environment, and restore or rehabilitate degraded or contaminated areas. Taranaki Energy Watch is preparing to legally challenge the proposed district plan on this and other grounds.

There are eight landfarms in South Taranaki and two in New Plymouth district, which also has two worm composting sites that take petroleum wastes.

Taranaki Regional Council is responsible for monitoring the discharge activities and effects of all landfarms.

But landfarms don’t have to be mapped or registered as contaminated on the Hazardous Activities and Industries List (HAIL) held by the regional council.

Forest & Bird

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Predator-free New Zealand Forest & Bird started the predator-free ball rolling at Maria Island, in the Hauraki Gulf.

Photo: Raewyn Peart

Shoot the moon The announcement that New Zealand would be predator free by 2050 garnered worldwide attention. But how will we get there? By Caroline Wood

F

orest & Bird led New Zealand’s first predator-free success story when Auckland branch member, Mr. A. McDonald, from Waiheke Island, used a £5 government grant to systematically lay warfarin rat bait across Maria Island, in the Hauraki Gulf, in 1960. Rats had reached the tiny island and were decimating the whitefaced storm petrels that bred there.

Two years later the branch returned to the island with more bait to repeat the control, but found no obvious sign of rats. And in 1964, Maria Island and the nearby David Rocks, were declared the first islands in the world to have rodents permanently eradicated from them.

Fast forward to early 2012, and Forest & Bird was again at the vanguard when we gathered 20 pest control experts

Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, is virtually rat free after a long-term rodent-control programme initiated in the early 1970s.

18

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

to meet at our Ruapehu Lodge to discuss whether a predator-free New Zealand was a concept that could work.

“We got together in February 2012 and fleshed out the idea that Predator-Free NZ was achievable – and it was do-able by 2050,” says Advocacy and Campaigns Manager Kevin Hackwell.

A month later, having been briefed about the outcome from the Ruapehu workshop, the late physicist Sir Paul Callaghan in his last public speech called for an “Apollo programme” for New Zealand ridding the country of predators.

A lot of the groundwork has been done since then, and in July the government formally adopted the policy and committed $28 million of new money.

The reaction was quick and global when Prime Minister John Key announced the country would be free of the triple threat of possums, rats and stoats by 2050. The story was picked up internationally, with The Guardian, BBC, Al Jazeera and other media outlets contacting Forest & Bird for reaction.

Back home, the focus has turned to how can we accomplish such a task? Will there be secure funding for the next 30 years? And who will develop a much-needed national predator-free strategy?

The Government plans to form a joint-venture company called Predator Free New Zealand (PFNZ) Ltd that it will use to spearhead pest eradication efforts. It will work with communities, attract co-investors, invest in scientific research, and accelerate the scale of pest control.

PFNZ will be a Crown entity, and one of its jobs will be to attract $2 of private sector and local government

funding for every $1 of government funding. This would turn the Governments $28 million “seed money” into $84 million – or $21 million per year for the next four years.

“I’m a little bit sceptical about that,” says Kevin Hackwell. “There is a lot of hype that the private sector and businesses are going to flood into biodiversity and fund predator control. It would be lovely to think they could, but New Zealand is a small place. I can’t see the private sector putting tens of millions of dollars into conservation.

“The worry is that everything is predicated on getting this money but if it doesn’t materialise, will the government come through with the extra money?”

Then there is the question of how much of the funding will be spent on finding new predator-control techniques.

“There is a lot of talk about developing innovative new technologies. While new techniques will useful, we mustn’t waste too much time and effort in devising alternatives to existing tried and true methods,” says Kevin.

“From Maria Island to the current Battle for Our Birds, the best technique is still putting a bait in front of a hungry pest.

“If we find a silver bullet we will want to use it, no question. But the good news is that achieving the 2050 predator-free goal doesn’t require us to find it, as we already have the tools to achieve the goal. Any new technology will be the icing on the cake, and will help us achieve the goal sooner and at less overall cost.”

The Norway or brown rat is commonly found in urban areas.

Photo: Luc Hoogenstein

What’s Forest & Bird’s role?

Forest & Bird started the predator-free ball rolling in 1960, and for many years our branches have been bringing back our native species by doing local pestcontrol work and supporting DOC in making islands predator free.

Kevin says it is vital that predators are eradicated in our urban areas if the country is going to be truly predator-free, and Forest & Bird can play a key role.

“Most of our members live in cities and provincial towns, so we will play a very important role, not only in doing the predator-control work but also by leading local conversations on its benefits.”

Glimpse of the future? See p33.

Forest & Bird

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Forest collapse Haami Piripi, previous Chairman of Te Rūnanga o te Rarawa stands on Warawara and re-instates a rāhui on kīwī and kūkupa. Photo: Dean Baigent-Mercer

Saving the

northern rifleman A ground-breaking hapū-led partnership has stopped the freefall collapse of the last northern stronghold of the tiny rifleman, as our northern advocate Dean BaigentMercer explains.

T

e Warawara is a steep-sided block of mountains on the northern side of the legendary Hokianga Harbour.

To the west, the mountains face the Tasman Sea and, to the north, the Whangape Harbour. Ten marae belonging to Te Rarawa iwi encircle Te Warawara.

The native forest here contains large areas of unlogged kauri forest – one of the last two remaining such sites in the world.

This forest is the last refuge of tītī pounamu, or rifleman.

These tiny birds used to be nationally common but today Warawara is the only place on the mainland north of Waikato where they remain.

Te Rarawa’s recent Treaty settlement legally recognised the mana of hapū for the 6500ha of mountaintops to be co-managed as public conservation land in partnership with the Department of Conservation.

Much of the steep Te Warawara is the last refuge of tītī pounamu/ rifleman north of Wiakato.

Photo: David Hallett

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| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

mountain terrain remains in its original Māori ownership.

In total, 13,000ha of native forest was collapsing under the burden of rampant pest populations, and previous work hadn’t been able to hold back this tsunami. Dead and dying northern rātā, tōwai, taraire, pūriri, and rewarewa could be plainly seen all over Warawara and barely a bird was seen or heard.

In short, much of the forest was in freefall collapse, and it was likely that the last rifleman of Northland would soon disappear, just as other native birds already had.

An initial partnership between Te Rarawa and Ngā Whenua Rahui led to the forming of a Komiti Kaitiaki.

Representatives of each marae around Warawara stepped up to the task of understanding the forest collapse and the pros and cons of different methods of multi-species pest control. The Northland Regional Council committed to assisting hapū create a Community Pest Control Area.

Enter Reconnecting Northland, a visionary programme facilitating regional-scale ecological restoration, focused on seeing the land and people flourishing together.

Not only did Reconnecting Northland help facilitate this ground-breaking collaborative partnership with DOC, funders, and community groups, including Forest & Bird, but the programme was also able to contribute some vital early funding to the project to get the ball rolling with further resourcing.

As Reconnecting Northland’s David Mules reflects, “This situation was calling out for an innovative approach, recognising the mana of these communities in relation to Warawara, and coordinating the combined efforts of Te Rarawa and the other partners to each bring their own special contribution to enable a project of this scale and complexity to become a reality.”

The Environmental Coordinator for Te Rūnanga o Te Rarawa, Rongo Bentson, says that any decision about an aerial 1080 operation required “everybody’s buy-in, taking ownership and responsibility over what’s happening”. There was an underlying philosophy in investigating options, which was, “If you’re going to criticise, be constructive.”

The Komiti Kaitiaki held five consultation hui and two Kiwi Awareness Days where information, especially on 1080, was provided.

Eventually, a mix of predator control methods had been agreed that included an aerial 1080 operation across the top of the mountains and a mix of traps and hand-laid 1080 baits in more than 600 bait stations throughout the surrounding private lands, aimed at consolidating the gains achieved within the forest while minimising reinvasion. The decision-making process resulted in a successful, protestfree aerial 1080 operation in October 2015.

It was a huge collaborative effort, involving a lot of hard work for all involved. Local school tamariki even made signs about the imminent 1080 operation to get the message home to keep dogs and horses away from areas where they

might come into contact with 1080 until an “all clear” was given. Local people were also involved in water testing and in providing security on the day of the aerial operation.

This was the first stage of the Warawara Whakaora Ake Restoration Project.

Monitoring showed that rats, previously at 51 percent, were knocked down to 0.5 percent after the aerial 1080 operation. Finally, native birds got to nest in peace.

Rongo says, “Everybody was working together.

Everybody played a part and can share in the success.

Mahi tahi.”

As Rongo explained, six months after the start of the large-scale predator control operations, and with the benefit of the wettest summer in many years, “There were visual signs of more active birdlife and there was rātā in bloom, and fresh growth on many trees that would probably have otherwise been attacked by possums.”

Now plans are being developed for special attention to be given to 400ha of Warawara mountaintop, which includes a key rifleman area, through ongoing intensive pest control. With the assistance of Kiwis for Kiwi, it is also hoped that this area will double as the nucleus of a kīwī stronghold into the future.

The hapū land surrounding the mountain has a fiveyear funding commitment as a Community Pest Control Area from the Northland Regional Council, with additional funding secured for labour for the first three years. However, as with many predator control projects, it’s a big concern that future funding to embed the ecological benefits and growth in kaitiakitanga achieved to date is still uncertain.

But in the meantime, the action taken has halted the collapse. *At this year’s Tai Tokerau Maori Business Awards, Te Rūnanga O Te Rarawa was the winner of the Excellence in Environmental Management and Awareness Award for the Warawara Forest Project, and Reconnecting Northland won a Green Ribbon Award in the Philanthropy and Partnership category.

Native forest collapse on the slopes of Warawara before the aerial 1080 operation in 2015. Photo: Dean Baigent-Mercer

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Forest & Bird

| 21

Marine

New Zealand sea lions lounge on a beach on the Otago Peninsula. This critically endangered animal is part of what makes this area so unique. Photo: Lucy Dickie

Otago’s ocean sanctuary The south-east ocean is home to an array of amazing ecosystems and it may, at last, be about to receive the marine protection it deserves, as Lucy Dickie explains.

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here can you find marine canyons, sponge gardens, estuarine sea grass beds, rich kelp forests, and habitats for whales, sea lions, dolphins, and seabirds such as the yellow-eyed penguin?

All of these marine wonders can be found on the southeast coast of the South Island.

Despite its rich marine biodiversity and importance for sea mammals and seabirds, this stretch of coastline doesn’t have any marine reserves. But that is about to change, says our Otago/Southland regional manager Sue Maturin.

Proposals are being considered for a network of marine reserves and marine protected areas from Timaru to Waipapa Point, in the Catlins.

Sue is the environment sector’s representative on the 14-member South-East Marine Protection Forum set up by the Government 18 months ago. The Forum’s job is to consult with the public and marine experts and recommend to the government what sites are deserving of marine protection and what type of marine protection the sites need.

“We are working to establish a network of marine reserves and marine protected areas in this special part of the world. Part of our mandate is to make sure all the habitats and ecosystem types, from Timaru to Waipapa Point in the Catlins, are represented in ‘No Take’ marine reserves, and outstanding, rare distinctive and important marine habitats and ecosystems are protected in the network either in marine reserves or MPAs,” Sue explains.

“Marine reserves have been shown, many times, to increase the abundance, size and diversity of species.

They can be beneficial to both conservation and fishing.

Marine reserves help depleted fish populations recover thus allowing for larger, healthier fish stocks to be present inside the reserves, with excess fish and larvae spilling over into unprotected areas.”

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The time is almost here to have your say about a SouthEast Marine Protected Area (SEMPA).

In early October, the forum will release a consultation document identifying potential areas for protection to the public and accepting submissions during a two-month consultation period.

After submissions, the forum members will do their best to reach a consensus on the final network of reserves and Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to include in their final recommendations to government on 28 April 2017.

For more information, see www.forestandbird.org.nz/ SEMPA.

Map showing the South-East Marine Protection Planning Forum Area.

Detailed plans will be released in October for public consultation.

What is a Marine Protected Area?

A Marine Protected Area (MPA) is an umbrella term that embraces different forms of marine protection from areas of the ocean where bottom trawling and large-scale extraction methods are prohibited all the way up to strict no-take marine reserves. Ideally, the area in question will hold a network of marine reserves and partially protected areas. But creating a successful network of MPAs requires several key considerations: Size When it comes to marine reserves, size definitely matters.

It’s generally believed to be better to protect fewer larger areas than multiple smaller areas. The home ranges of the local species need to be taken into consideration – a large home range would mean larger reserves are needed.

Experience from New Zealand and abroad indicates marine reserves should have a minimum coastline length of 5–10 km, and preferably 10–20km, and they should extend from the intertidal zone to deeper offshore waters, preferably out to 12 nautical miles.

Representation The government’s MPA policy directs that a marine reserve will be established to protect at least one sample of each habitat or ecosystem type in the network. Having a range of habitats represented would allow a greater amount of biodiversity protection and would ensure it’s not just the hotspots that are being considered.

Replication Heard the phrase “don’t put all your eggs in one basket?”

Well, it’s the same for marine reserves. Each represented habitat should have at least two replications in the MPA. This means that, if one of these areas is destroyed, there remains a similar protected habitat that can resupply that area.

Connectivity This is one of the main reasons why a network of MPAs is often more successful than individual marine reserves.

Connectivity between reserves is crucial. It will mean that a species could potentially be protected through all their life stages – from an egg or larvae through to a juvenile and an adult. A network of smaller marine reserves 10–30km apart may benefit paua, but, for other species, including fish and crayfish, the reserves need to be bigger. To allow larval dispersal to occur, they should be within 50–100km of each other.

How can you help? n n n n n n n

Organise a branch talk about SEMPA Use social media to raise awareness Submit a Letter to the Editor and talk to your local MP Combine beach clean-up with a BBQ and talk Organise a marine field trip Create a media opportunity Organise a potluck dinner/submission evening.

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OUR KIDS ARE REALLY INSPIRED BY NATURE.

So sign up yours to Forest & Bird’s Kiwi Conservation Club and give them the opportunity to explore, engage and develop a passion for nature.

Visit kcc.org.nz and join the club.

Forest & Bird

| 23

Marine The rocky shoreline of the Otago Peninsula.

Ocean foraging From bull kelp to bryozoan beds, Otago’s coast needs more marine protection. By Lucy Dickie.

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eaweed is generally not the most noticed thing in the ocean, but around the Otago coastline there may be an exception. Dark green and tangled together like spaghetti, the sheer quantity of the bull kelp in this region has a striking effect on both locals and tourists. It’s an incredibly fast-growing plant and is completely unique to our coastline.

That bulky bull kelp alone is responsible for so much.

It’s a multi-purpose ecosystem – absorbing excess nutrient runoff from the land and acting as the base of the food web. Along with the bull kelp there are also forests of giant kelp located offshore. Culturally giant kelp is extremely significant as it sustains species such as crayfish, finfish and paua. In fact without it, many of these fisheries would probably collapse. Who knew seaweed was so important?

I consider myself to be a bit of a forager as I’m sure many of the Otago locals do. It’s often shellfish galore around here with them so easily attained in our intertidal areas. All us foragers have secret spots where we know the mussels grow thick or where there is an abundance of pipis and cockles. We’re lucky to have these areas so close to the city and even luckier that it’s free for the taking, a

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supermarket of goodness right on our doorstep. So isn’t it about time Otago's food basket got its own fair share of protection? Two hundred years ago the fish caught in the harbor would have been incredible in size and abundance.

Today the likes of hapuka can only be found far offshore and it would be rare to find a decent sized crayfish in the Dunedin harbour.

And back in the 1930s the iconic yellow-eyed penguins were under threat from people who were constantly stealing or smashing their eggs. In one instance, 40 penguins were killed with a pea rifle in a single day. Sixty years later and these penguins are in trouble again but now because of what’s happening out in the ocean. A marine reserve could help protect some of their critical foraging zones.

We’ve already lost so much diversity in our south-east ocean but there is so much to be discovered. Take the tiny bryozoans for example. These lacy organisms average only half a millimetre in size but despite being small they are an incredibly important part of our marine ecosystem.

Bryozoans are habitat creators – their role can be seen as similar to that of coral reefs.

Enormous bryozoan thickets have been found off the coast of the Otago Peninsula, Karitane and Oamaru. These provide habitat for multiple organisms, including the prized blue cod. It is highly likely that there are far more bryozoan thickets out there, just waiting to be discovered. And they need protection. Bryozoans are just as fragile as their tropical counterparts. Trawling and fishing have all been found to destroy these delicate habitats and, with that, many of the species they support.

Let’s act now and help protect the south-east ocean’s diverse and connected ecosystems. *Lucy Dickie is a Forest & Bird intern. She has BSc in marine biology and ecology and is doing a masters in Science Communication at Otago University.

Pink anenomes are part of the marine invertebrate communities in the south-east ocean. Images: Lucy Dickie

Conservation in history

Hunting the last huia An archival project has uncovered a possible “new” record of a huia being spotted 17 years after the last confirmed sighting. By Caroline Wood.

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cologist Nikki McArthur recently came across an to be a later expedition that was carried out on 20–21 intriguing hand-written note while documenting September 1924, following up on the sightings by the historical bird records collected by RHD Stidolph, unnamed shepherd near Whareroa Farm. This later one of the founding members of Birds New Zealand. expedition consisted of himself, Captain Sanderson, and It is a second-hand report of a male huia spotted near someone named Birch. the boundary of Whareroa Farm, on the Kapiti Coast, in Sanderson set up the The Native Bird Protection Society mid-1924. According to Stidolph’s records, a shepherd (later Forest & Bird) in 1923 after despairing at the loss of spotted the bird when it was attracted by his whistling (he birds such as the huia and their forest home. was calling for his dogs).

“Unfortunately none of these expeditions were He reported the sighting to Forest & Bird founder successful at confirming the persistence of huia in the Captain Val Sanderson, who passed it on to Stidolph, Akatarawa area. How different things may have been if who recorded it in his diary (see right). Whareroa Farm they had!” says Nikki. is now a recreation reserve between Paekakariki and the Akatarawa Forest, north of Wellington.

The last confirmed sighting of a huia was on 28 December 1907 in the Tararua Ranges, also north of Wellington. It’s likely a few stragglers persisted into the 1920s, according to New Zealand Birds Online.

Stidolph’s huia diary entry from 1924.

“This [shepherd] sighting appears to be a ‘new’, unconfirmed record Bird observer extraordinaire as I can’t find any mention RHD (Bob) Stidolph was a founding member of Birds of it published elsewhere,” NZ (the Ornithological Society of New Zealand) and was says Nikki, who is the a meticulous and prolific Wellington Regional recorder of bird observations Huia, Heteralocha acutirostris, by Recorder for Birds NZ. between the 1920s and JG Keulemans from WL Buller’s Nikki says the best Birds of New Zealand (1888).

1970s. After his death, his source of information daughter, Diana Stidolph, about post-1907 sightings donated his diaries (and of huia is WJ Phillipp’s The Book of the Huia. In it, he hundreds of bird photos) to mentions that Captain Sanderson was actively following up the Wairarapa Archives. huia sightings during the early 1920s and made a couple of Nikki has been working expeditions into the Akatarawa Forest to try to confirm the with Forest & Bird Wairarapa persistence of huia there. committee member Joanna A Mr CWG Betts made several reports in late 1923/ McVeagh and Gareth early 1924 of huia he’d encountered in the Akatarawa River Winters, from the Wairarapa valley. This triggered an expedition party that spent several Archives, to digitise RHD days searching in the area in February 1924.

Stidolph’s Ornithological Mr Betts went as a guide, and the expedition members Diaries and enter his 50 included our own Captain Sanderson, Stan Wilkinson years of bird observations (Kapiti Island ranger and Stidolph’s brother-in-law), Harold into eBird, an open-access Hamilton (Dominion Museum), and JG Myers (Department bird observational database of Agriculture).

RHD (Bob) Stidolph: Photo: Wairarapa Archive supported by Birds NZ. Phillipp’s book suggests that this was “perhaps the last major official expedition in search of the huia”. *Akatarawa antique: In search of a giant northern rātā, see p34.

However, Stidolph records details of what appears Forest & Bird

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Climate disruption

world

Our changing

American poet and activist Devi Lockwood spent 12 months cycling around New Zealand collecting stories for her global 1001 climate change and water project.

I

arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand via Auckland, my bicycle packaged in a cardboard box. I cycled south along the west coast of the North Island, following back roads, some of which were unsealed.

In Raglan, I learned how to bodysurf. In New Plymouth, I attended a climate justice hui at Muru Rupatu Marae with activists from across Aoteaora. In Whanganui, I fell in love with a river. I was incredi-bull-y astounded at the propensity of puns in Bulls. Walking in Wellington’s hills fuelled my hunger for Auntie Mena’s vegetarian laksa.

I boarded the rumbly Blue Bridge to Picton, passed through Nelson in a blur, ate fresh fruit in Westport, ogled at Pancake Rocks, climbed an indoor climbing wall in Greymouth, pushed my way over Arthur’s Pass, learned about permaculture in Geraldine, confronted my past at Mt Cook, posed in front of the iconic yellow sign in Bluff, and met a beautiful Steiner school family in Dunedin.

As a poet and a solo female touring cyclist, words are what sustain me. Stories – and the kindness of people I meet along the way – keep me alive. Listening gives me the energy to keep on going in a world where climate change is terrifying, and some people from my own country reject the validity of climate science.

In Manakau, Dr Mike Joy told me a story about

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agriculture in Aotearoa. There are 6.5 million dairy cows in New Zealand. Each cow produces as much waste as 14 humans, which equates to a population of 90 million people living in a country the size of the UK. Some of this animal waste is not treated and goes directly into waterways. Intensification of farming has made rivers unswimmable and lakes polluted.

More than 50 percent of NZ greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, and the plan to double dairy production will make this number increase even more. Most importantly, this is not a linear change, but an exponential change in environmental impact.

“New Zealand trades on a clean green image,” Mike told me, “but in reality the country has trashed an amazingly unique and diverse ecosystem in the name of producing a low value commodity that is traded globally: milk powder. Of the milk that is traded in the world, more than 35 percent of it comes from New Zealand. New Zealand has the highest proportion globally of threatened species overall, and highest proportion of threatened and extinct native fish. The clean green image is not the reality, but it should be.”

A few weeks later, I met Lily Li, a public policy student, at the Backpacker’s Bar in Wellington. Lily believes that

water in New Zealand should not be commoditised because it is a life force. “Is it really okay for people to make money out of water?” she asked.

Lily told me that, in New Zealand, local councils make district plans that hold for 10–15 years. These decisions affect air quality, water quality, and waste. Lily worries that, because these plans are not holistic in their approach, they won’t address what happens to resources in the long run.

There’s a lack of oversight, of long-term planning. And long-term planning is exactly what we need in the face of climate change.

I met limnologist Anna Evans at a local food festival at the Sustainability Trust in Wellington. In 1990, she was contracted to the government to study whether there were any malaria mosquitos in New Zealand.

“If malaria mosquitos arrive in New Zealand,” she said, “we have a very susceptible population.

We are sitting ducks.”

Malaria mosquitos cannot tolerate a temperature below 20 degrees. Anna and her team of government health inspectors gathered and studied mosquitos in the North Island from Raglan to Tauranga. At the time, Anna was the only person in New Zealand who could identify malaria mosquitos. She didn’t find any at the time. As long as 26 years ago, the New Zealand government health department knew that climate change was coming and developing. They could see the implications. Why has so little action been taken?

“The warm temperature line from Tauranga to Raglan in the north of the North Island is going to come lower and lower and lower as the world warms up,” Anna told me.

“This means that malaria mosquitos, if they get to New Zealand, will cover more and more of the country, so it’s a big hazard of climate change. We are very vulnerable.”

I learned about another aspect of climate vulnerability from Christina Riesselman, a paleo-oceanographer working at the University of Otago in Dunedin. Christina studies how the Antarctic ice system has responded during past intervals of climate that are analogous to what we might see in the coming century.

“To find an atmospheric CO2 concentration of about 400 parts per million (the threshold we passed in May 2013),” Christina told me, “you have to look back three million years into the past.”

In an unstable climate state, like the one we expect for the future, there will be big changes in the West Antarctic

Climate roadshow update Forest & Bird’s national climate roadshow launched in July with our advocate Geoff Keey visiting Levin, Christchurch and Westport, where sea-level rise, pests, and forest restoration were on the agenda.

Cutting emissions and building natural resilience in communities around New Zealand are themes for the roadshows. Some of the projects and issues discussed so far included forest restoration near Levin, coastal erosion in Punakaiki, and mining on the Denniston Plateau. *The roadshow series continues for the rest of the year.

Keep an eye on Forest & Bird’s website for an event near you: www.forestandbird.org.nz/climateroadshow.

and probably the East Antarctic ice sheets. We might expect to see, in the order of 3000–4000-year time scales, complete collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet. Within the last six months of Christina telling me this story, a couple of papers were published suggesting that that collapse is already under way.

Climate change issues affect all places, Aotearoa New Zealand included. We need to listen to the stories of those around us in order to make informed decisions about how to act and proceed. We need direct action now; our bodies of water need it; the planet needs it.

Devi’s story For the last two years, I have been riding my bicycle around the world to collect 1001 stories from people I meet about climate change and water. My journey began with the 21 September 2014 People’s Climate March in New York City. Since then, I have collected over 500 stories (audio recordings) in the USA, Fiji, Tuvalu, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Qatar.

I’m working to create a map on a website where you can click on a point and listen to a story someone has told me from that place. By telling these stories, I hope people will listen to what is happening around the world and make changes and reduce their impact. In November, I will attend COP22, the UN climate talks in Morocco, as a youth delegate for SustainUS.

Focus on flora

Rare plant discovery

Tom Stiven

Forest & Bird volunteers launched into action following the exciting discovery of a new population of a very rare plant Olearia gardneri. By Tania Seward.

This time in 2013, New Zealand’s population of Olearia gardneri (Gardner’s tree daisy) was thought to be about as rare as the kākāpō. Only 160 plants were known to exist in the wild, and the species had been classified as threatened (nationally critical).

The Department of Conservation was well aware of the issue, and efforts had been made to increase numbers by moving specimens to new locations. Unfortunately, inbreeding and the resultant loss of genetic diversity meant that there was a possibility that Olearia gardneri would join New Zealand’s growing list of extinct species.

Salvation came in the form of Wairarapa farmers Jane McKay and her son Tom Stiven, who approached the QEII National Trust about covenanting a small remnant of native bush on their land.

Wairarapa branch member and QEII’s local representative Trevor Thompson was familiar with the wider Wairarapa area, having served on the local Forest & Bird branch committee for 15 years. He agreed to survey the bush remnant to see whether it would fit the criteria for covenanting.

Although the site didn’t look remarkable from a distance, Trevor soon discovered that the small bush remnant was a treasure trove of genetic diversity for Olearia gardneri.

A staggering number – 379 specimens – were found in 28

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

the Stiven’s patch of bush, more than tripling the known population of the species overnight. The specimens included very young seedlings and mature trees with trunks in excess of 300mm in diameter.

While Trevor was beyond delighted about what had been discovered, he was at a loss to explain how a thriving population of a threatened species ended up where it did.

“Up until now it’s only been found in very low numbers and in scattered pockets, mostly around Taihape,” he explains. “I doubt very much if we will ever find another pocket with these sort of numbers. It really broke all laws of probability to find this sort of numbers, which more than tripled the population.”

A covenant over the area has been finalised, and a management plan is in place to ensure the long-term viability of the newly discovered population.

“There’s a real vulnerability in this awesome site,” Trevor explains. “It could be that a fire goes through and wipes the whole lot out, so we have to have some insurance there.”

An insurance population of 30 plants were planted by Mauriceville school students at a nearby covenanted site with similar soil and geology. A further 30 specimens have been prepared for translocation to another site that has a single Olearia gardneri already established.

“There’s a real groundswell of interest in native plants.

It would be relatively easy for any Forest & Bird branch to adopt a local rare plant, get it back into an ecosystem that suits it, and in doing so change its whole status.”

Olearia gardneri is a member of the tree daisy family.

It is only found in the North Island of New Zealand – in Wairarapa, Rangitikei, and formerly Hawke’s Bay. It supports at least nine moth species, five of which are tree daisy specialists.

Trevor could barely believe he had found 374 specimens of Olearia gardneri – more than tripling the known population of the species overnight.

Trevor says the protection work would not have happened without the help of local Forest & Bird members.

“Forest & Bird volunteers played a huge part in helping change the status of this and other critically endangered species,” he says. “They’ve helped me plant out specimens and manage some of the sites. It’s some very important work that they’ve done.”

Another 100 plants will soon be planted back into the source population by Forest & Bird volunteers. Seed collection will continue each year to produce nursery grown plants for returning to the wild.

Forest & Bird’s Fensham Reserve A 48ha reserve west of Carterton has benefited hugely from the efforts of Forest & Bird’s Wairarapa branch for nearly four decades.

Fensham Reserve has been a regular on the branch’s field trip calendar for 38 years. The reserve is home to a remnant kahikatea swamp forest, as well as a population of nationally vulnerable mudfish.

Up to 16 people regularly attend field trips organised by the branch. Volunteers monitor the resident mudfish population, remove weeds, plant native trees and shrubs, and trap pests, including ferrets and hedgehogs.

The branch is also working to protect a population of rengarenga (native lily) near Cape Palliser and other rare species once common on the Wairarapa coast. Trevor has also planted a small insurance population of Alepis Flavida mistletoe in the reserve.

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Freshwater Whitebait fishing at Waikanae River Estuary, Kapiti Coast, north of Wellington. Photo: Rob Suisted

SHOULD WE STOP

WHITEBAITING? W

hitebait season is again upon us, and many are wondering if it will be a bumper year or a fizzer.

The size of the catch depends on a mysterious combination of the weather now, the weather a few months ago, ocean currents, and the lure of supply and demand.

Even a hundred years ago, there was huge fluctuation in the catch. Catch records are notoriously unreliable, but the data doesn’t show any overall trend throughout the years. It is common now to hear people saying that the whitebait run is nothing like it used to be. Certainly, stories of catching them by the cartload and using them for fertiliser are long gone. But then a bumper season comes along, and people assume that everything is ok with the whitebait. But is it?

Since the whitebait catch fluctuates so wildly in relation to so many external influences, the catch itself is not a reliable measure of how the adult populations are doing.

We need to look at the adult fish to understand whether whitebait are really declining or not.

Unfortunately, the adult populations show a clear pattern: whitebait are in serious trouble. Four of the five adult species are threatened. Predictions based on different models show that all four of these species will be extinct by 2050, including the most common species in the whitebait catch: the īnanga.

In January, I created an infographic with photos of all five adult whitebait, along with their names and threat status. When I shared this on my Facebook page “New Zealand Native Fish”, it immediately went viral. One week later, it had been seen by more than 700,000 people, received more than 2600 likes, and been shared 6000 times. But it was the hundreds of comments that were the most enlightening.

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By Stella McQueen

Most people were shocked. They had no idea that whitebait – which can be legally harvested and sold – are actually under threat of extinction. Some vowed never to buy or eat it again. Some said they would stop fishing for them or would fish less. But many people wanted to place the responsibility for the declining whitebait at someone else’s feet. Anyone else’s. As long as it wasn’t their fault or require them to change.

Some people blamed the commercial whitebaiters or the recreational whitebaiters or all whitebaiters. Some said it has nothing to do with whitebaiting but what people are doing to the waterways. They blamed the farmers or the townies or industries.

Unfortunately, the real answer isn’t as simple as that.

If we ban whitebaiting tomorrow, these four species will still decline to extinction. It just might take a little longer. !

WHITEBAIT! !

TIME TO GIVE IT A REST?!

Stella’s infographic that went viral in January, see www.facebook. com/nznativefish/.

Although whitebaiting removes thousands of juvenile fish and is one cause of their decline, our degraded waterways are a much bigger limitation on the size of the adult populations.

We have stripped the forests from the land, which has resulted in bigger, more sudden, and more frequent floods. As the denuded land erodes, silt fills the spaces between the stones that our nocturnal fish need for daytime cover. Without shade from the trees, the water grows warmer and holds less oxygen. Invisible nutrients from farms and towns fuel algal blooms, also robbing the water of oxygen. The dense bankside vegetation that adult whitebait need for spawning has been mowed, concreted, grazed, eroded, or buried under flood debris. And this is just the start of a very long list.

So if banning whitebaiting won’t turn around the decline, can we save the fish by focusing on fixing our waterways?

Fixing the waterways will take strong political and community will, and an acknowledgement that we need to change our behaviour now to enjoy a healthier and more economically prosperous future – a future where whitebait still swim up the rivers each spring.

Whitebaiters huts and jetties lining the Mokau River, in Waikato, a high yield river for whitebait fishing. Photo: Rob Suisted

Fritter ingredients – many people don’t realise whitebait is the young of five native galaxiid species.

However, fixing the waterways will take a lot of effort and a lot of time. Look at the lengthy political arguing over whether waterways should aim for a standard of “swimmable” or “wadeable”. Waterways of mere “wadeable” water quality are not going to sustain whitebait long term. Even if there was a national commitment to fix this problem, we have abused and neglected our waterways for decades, so it will take a long time for them to start to recover.

Unfortunately, time is simply not something that the whitebait have. By the time the waterways have improved enough to make a difference for the whitebait, they would probably already be extinct.

If banning whitebaiting won’t work and fixing the waterways won’t work, then how can we save the whitebait? We do both.

By stopping whitebaiting for now, we buy the whitebait some time. We know it won’t fix the whole problem, but it is a fast and easy way to make an immediate difference for the whitebait. We can then use that time to repair our

waterways. In the future, when the whitebait populations are expanding, we can resume whitebaiting in a way that is sustainable.

Think about it this way: four of the five whitebait species are in decline and will likely be extinct by 2050. Long before then, whitebaiting will become pointless or be banned anyway as the decline becomes more obvious. Continuing to catch and eat whitebait, knowing that they are in dire straits, is like sitting on the branch that you are sawing off.

Others will see the lack of political and social will to change our behaviour and fix the waterways, or think the problem is too big to be fixed. They ask, why bother trying? If they are going to go extinct, why not savour every last mouthful?

We try to fix this, because if we don’t we are like the people who deliberately killed the last few huia, so that they could own a few feathers before the birds went extinct. *Stella McQueen is a native fish specialist, author, and field worker.

What are the rules?

There are no catch limits for whitebait, which is the only New Zealand fishery managed by the Department of Conservation. DOC sets the season dates and the method by which whitebait can be caught but otherwise there is little regulation.

Forest & Bird’s marine advocate Kat Goddard says there is no way of knowing how much whitebait is being taken during the season or how much the populations can withstand before there are significant ecological impacts.

Kiwis should be concerned and the upcoming Best Fish Guide will highlight these issues for consumers.

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Bequest

Claire’s legacy A recent bequest to Forest & Bird links one of New Zealand’s greatest ornithologists and his conservationist family with a bird-loving artist for the Lord of the Rings films, as David Brooks discovered.

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laire Falla-Meo died earlier this year and generously left eight bird paintings by Kapiti Coast artist Ken Hunt to Forest & Bird. In the last decade of her life, Claire became good friends with Ken and his wife Selina after they met at a park near her Days Bay home on Wellington Harbour.

Ken told Claire when they first met that he painted birds. She replied that her father had been an ornithologist and her mother had also painted birds. “My wife and I both blurted out together, ‘you’re not Molly Falla’s daughter are you?’ and she said ‘yes’,” he says.

Ken’s work has focused mainly on birds and portraits, including portraits of film director Peter Jackson and his wife Fran Walsh dressed as hobbits for a set used in the The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films. Ken is also well known for his copies of C.F. Goldie and Old Master paintings.

Claire’s father was renowned ornithologist Sir Robert Falla, who was also director of the Dominion Museum – now Te Papa – from 1947 to 1966. Her mother Molly was a talented artist and writer who produced well-known

Graham Falla and one of his sister Claire's donated paintings.

Photo: David Brooks

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Claire Falla-Meo. Photo: supplied

children’s books A Kea on my Bed and A Pocketful of Penguins, as well as A Sketchbook of New Zealand Birds.

Claire’s brother Graham remembers that the Falla home in Days Bay became a refuge for sick and injured birds that Falla brought home from his expeditions, including oiled penguins and a kiwi with a broken leg. He has also retained close links to nature and was awarded a Forest & Bird Old Blue in 1999 and the Golden Spade this year for leading native habitat restoration for Forest & Bird’s South Auckland branch during the last 40 years.

The three-week-old kea that became the subject of Molly’s book was found on an abandoned nest in the South Island. “It was a bit like bringing up a puppy really, but it was much more self-reliant than a dog. Once it had fledged, it had its freedom and would fly around the area during the day, visiting various (human) friends,” Graham said.

“We’d go to the edge of the bush at night and call it home. It would fly down onto the roof of the house at first and then down onto somebody’s shoulder. We used to put it into a large packing case at night with chicken wire on the front of it.”

Claire never lost her connection with birds. In the 1960s and 1970s, she designed and made innovative native bird and animal soft toys, including moreporks, kiwi, bellbirds, seals, and penguins. Te Papa has examples of her baby seals and penguins in its collection.

Jess Winchester, Forest & Bird’s bequests manager, said Claire had wanted the paintings to be sold to raise funds for conservation. “The paintings are beautiful, and someone who loves birds as much as Claire did will really appreciate them. We will keep one of the paintings as a reminder of Claire’s generosity and her very thoughtful gift to nature.”

If you would like to buy one of the paintings or discuss including a gift in your will to Forest & Bird, please call Jess on 04 8012219 or email legacy@forestandbird.org.nz.

Include a Charity Week: 5–11 September 2016

Biodiversity

Moeraki marvels Kimberley Collins visited South Westland and discovered what a predator-free New Zealand might look like.

Yellow-crowned kākāriki.

Photo: Simon Hayward

I meet Forest & Bird ambassador Gerry McSweeney at his Wilderness Lodge near Lake Moeraki, in South Westland. Gerry’s land, and that surrounding it, is the largest area of extensive pest control in New Zealand. It covers 500,000ha of lowland forest where 1080 drops have been taking place since 1989.

The impacts on the local flora and fauna have been phenomenal.

While stopped on the side of the road to look at a large rātā tree, we saw a pair of yellow-crowned kākāriki hopping and calling among the branches. And the predator control has benefited many other species.

Fo example, southern crested grebes bred in Lake Moeraki for the first time this year.

In 1988 when kākā were surveyed in the valley surrounding the lodge, they found that 91 percent were male

Forest & Bird conservation ambassadors Gerry McSweeney (right) with Craig Potton at Moeraki.

because the females were being knocked out by predators while they were sitting on their nests. After 20 years of continuous aerial 1080, kākā now have an equal sex ratio. They’re a common bird here now, as is the New Zealand falcon.

As if being summoned, a karearea soared along the river outside the room where we were sitting, in hot pursuit of a pied shag. Along this same river lives a white heron/kōtuku – known as Henry – who is regularly seen with a mate along the river and in Gerry’s backyard.

“If biodiversity is the critical thing, we need to be looking at the most cost-effective way to control predators, and that’s aerial 1080,” says Gerry.

“We’ve had eight years of research in this area. We’ve seen all the species monitored – kākā have come

back, morepork, rifleman and kererū numbers are very high.

“The one I keep reminding people about is the second rarest penguin in the world, the fiordland crested penguin/tawaki. They are pelagic feeders and rainforest breeders. All our evidence suggests they’re benefiting hugely from predator control.”

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Biodiversity Paul scales the immense Karapoti rātā north of Wellington. Photo courtesy Arno Gasteiger, www.arno.co.nz

Paul Stanley Ward likes bagging New Zealand’s biggest trees. Here he goes in search of the Karapoti rātā, the largest recorded rātā in New Zealand.

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N

ew Zealand has some big trees – though we felled most of them in a wood-fired nation-building blitzkrieg. The most famous survivor is Tāne Mahuta in Northland – a kauri between 1250 and 2500 years old, 5m in diameter and 51m high. Kahikatea grow to 60m, and in Dunedin’s Orokonui Sanctuary an Aussie mountain ash stands 80m tall.

In Forest & Bird’s Bushy Park, a mainland island near Whanganui, you can find a nearly 4m-wide northern rātā known as Ratanui – literally: ‘big rātā’. Rātā are a humungous hemiepiphyte with scarlet flowers, and an in-situ sign claims Ratanui as the biggest example of this representative of the myrtle family. A local relative is the pōhutukawa, and overseas cousins include the feijoa.

When I visited Ratanui with my young family, a morepork, coolly blinking in a ponga tree fern nearby, set off air raid sirens. A Buller’s Book of Birds worth of manu – tīeke, tūī, robin, pīwaiwaka/fantail – was deployed in defence: flapping and shrieking about the predator. The hubbub enhanced the rātā’s “earth mother” aura. It’s a giant tree that prompts majestic thoughts.

Back home in Wellington, I checked in on a register of New Zealand’s notable trees to compare stats of the Kiwi contenders to those of the American and Australian arboreal All Stars (redwood, eucalyptus).

I was surprised when a mate, ecologist Tim Park, later mentioned there was a challenger for the Bushy Park Ratanui’s title. According to the register, the Karapoti rātā “is currently the largest recorded northern rātā in New Zealand. Surveyed by Gerald Arthur in 2008, this tree is estimated to be at least 1,000 years old and could perhaps be as much as 1,500 years or more.”

If claims that it was bigger than the Bushy Park rātā were true, I figured it was worth a squiz.

I geed up Tim for an expedition.

Unlike Ratanui, the Karapoti rātā is not easily accessible – the route is off-track “in sometimes rough terrain, all in heavy bush” in the Akatawara Valley, Tararua Ranges, north of Wellington. The ranger dropped us off on a forestry road that Tim had plotted would be the best approach.

Armed with compass and GPS, we bashed through gorse to a plateau 400m up. The forest had been plucked of rimu and miro by colonial settlers, but was still impressive, with dozens of rātā sentinel above its kāmahi roof. Perhaps the twisty hard wood of Metrosideros robusta (iron-hearted, solid) was a turn-off to the axemen.

Our big tree-hunting process was to make our way to each rātā poking through the canopy and eliminating pretenders – doing yoga contortions through supplejack vines, root scrambling up and down the corrugated terrace. After a couple of hours and several cuddles with 3m+ wide rātā (big but not that big), we were beginning to doubt if we’d find “the one”.

Resting at the foot of another tyro tree, we watched a kererū in the crown get the pip with us: booshing around like its piqued spirit bird. With the sun dropping, we considered abandoning our search.

Tim figured out our bearings were off, and we reckoned we had time for one more inquiry. We could see a rātā’s cauliflower ears edging out behind the olive green of a tall

rimu. When we were within goal-kicking distance, we didn’t need words to confirm that we’d finally located “the rātā”.

Tim and I grinned gormlessly.

At nearly 5m, its diameter is roughly the width of a couple of buses. This rātā would’ve begun life as a seed blown into the tops of a canopy tree before sending down roots in a centuries-long bear hug. The host was long gone and more than a dozen roots were now trunks, each the size of a substantial tree. Its wrinkles spoke of epochs and fallen boughs of stormageddons.

Circling the rātā, I struggled for human comparisons to make to its immensity: an open-cast mine, container ship, skyscraper … a Parthenon with gnarly wooden columns?

It was humbling to ponder all that this rātā had witnessed over its millennia. Here centuries before people, it had seen giant eagles dive bombing moa, felt huia tattoo its skin, had kōkako draw a thousand reviews from its kiekie concert hall, manufactured carpet bombs of scarlet blooms, bellowed its great lungs to suck in enough CO2 to change climate, endured the teeth of countless tempests, and, lately, possums, saws, and Instagram. We posed for the requisite hug photos and left supplicant and sated.

Following the stream out, Tim and I paused to examine palm-spanning dragonflies and argued the merits of access to such an awesome experience. Boardwalks and barriers protect Tane Mahuta from damage, but also mediate the encounter, like zoo glass. The Karapoti rātā is partially protected by its inaccessibility. Might people’s relationship to nature be different – more rooted – if such connections were made every day? Selfishly, we also savoured the exclusivity of our wild encounter with this big tree.

Wellington celebrated its 176th anniversary this year.

In my Newtown garden, I have a northern rātā seedling, swaddled in sphagnum moss and bound around a tōtara driftwood pedestal. On the western skyline, the smoke stacks of the hospital’s emergency generator poke out from the canopy. Further away is the city’s tallest tower – “The Majestic Centre” (an architectural embarrassment to its name). Our garden rātā’s root has just tapped down a metre and a half into the soil, after three years.

Hugging the more than 1000-year-old Akatarawa antique sure puts time and place in perspective.

The tiny Easter orchid (Earina autumnalis), which smells of vanilla.

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Biodiversity

Preserving Aotearoa’s

natural heritage

Looking up the Hope River (in what was formerly The Poplars pastoral lease) towards Lake Sumner Forest Park.

The Nature Heritage Fund has published a book documenting its achievements during the past 25 years. By Caroline Wood.

P

erhaps you have enjoyed tramping the Te Araroa Trail, done conservation work in Tongariro National Park, gone bird-spotting in a beech forest in Kahurangi, or spent time with the family at a local wetland or river. While out enjoying New Zealand nature, it’s easy to forget that some of these special places were once perilously close to being lost through logging, agricultural intensification, development, or drainage.

This is where the Nature Heritage Fund comes in. Since 1990, the independent, contestable government fund has been protecting nature on private land through covenants and acquisitions. In that time, it has protected more than 750 sites covering 1.3 percent (342,000ha) of New Zealand’s land area.

Les Molloy’s book features some 60 of these sites from Northland to Southland and offshore as far as the Chatham Islands/Rekohu. It covers a wide range of indigenous ecosystems, including forests, wetlands, tussock lands, dune lands, and heathlands.

Les, a member of the fund’s independent advisory committee since 2008, knows many of these places intimately. He has written a number of seminal books on New Zealand’s natural history and wilderness conservation, and worked as a consultant to the Department of Conservation advising on New Zealand’s natural World Heritage sites.

Forest & Bird has been involved in several of the fund’s acquisitions over the years, says Les. For example, our North Canterbury branch was involved in The Poplars, which resulted in securing public access to the narrow “finger” valleys leading into Lake Sumner Forest Park.

The land at Poplars Station, near Lewis Pass, had been identified in the Hurunui District Plan as an outstanding landscape area, but it was in pastoral leasehold. This meant there was no public access as of right from State Highway 7 to the Hope/Kiwi and Doubtful valleys.

After a failed tenure review and public auction of the Poplars pastoral lease in January 2003, Forest & Bird’s Lesley Shand led an “urgent proposal” to try to achieve a win-win outcome for The Poplars Station and the public, Les explains in the book.

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The branch quickly lodged an application with the Nature Heritage Fund, allowing Keith and Anna Sutton, of Wellington, to buy the land in partnership with the fund in February 2003. Under this joint venture, NHF bought twothirds of the property and the Suttons bought the rest so they could farm the land outside the finger valleys.

Forest & Bird’s conservation ambassador Gerry McSweeney has served on the Nature Heritage Fund’s committee since 1990, as has its chair Di Lucas. They remember another Forest & Bird acquisition that isn’t in the book – Kauakarau Bay, Waiheke Island.

With species found nowhere else on Waiheke, the land was one of the finest examples of northern broadleaf coastal forest in the region. It was an ecologically important site rich enough to support kōkako, according to Gerry, and yet it was at risk of being lost to housing development.

Forest & Bird’s Hauraki Islands branch made the application in 1994. The Nature Heritage Fund contributed $50,000, as did the ASB Trust. The rest came from local councils, a lottery grant, and Fullers Gulf Ferries. Forest & Bird then donated the land to the city council for a reserve.

This small book packs in a huge amount of detail and lots of colour photos to illustrate the fund’s many and varied achievements during the past 25 years.

Nature Heritage Fund: celebrating 25 years is available free on request, by emailing nhf-admin@doc.govt.nz.

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Our people

Leading lights of

conservation

Over the next four pages, we pay tribute to the people who were named the 2016 winners in Forest & Bird’s annual conservation awards. Words by David Brooks.

Distinguished Life Member – Craig Potton Conservation activist, photographer, and publisher Craig Potton planned to devote only five years to conservation when he was a student. More than four decades later, he is still going and his work was recognised with Forest & Bird’s highest honour. He was named Distinguished Life Member at the annual conference in June.

Craig’s passion, creativity, and motivational and organising skills have driven everything he has done, and these qualities still shine nearly half a century after he collected signatures as a high school student for the Save Manapouri petition.

The conservation activist, photographer, and publisher said he was delighted to join fellow Forest & Bird Ambassadors Sir Alan Mark and Gerry McSweeney as Distinguished Life Members because all three were involved in some of the major conservation campaigns of the 1970s and 80s.

The early days fighting for the beech forests remain a highlight of Craig’s four decades as a conservationist.

“I’ve certainly been involved in some amazing campaigns and the greatest in my mind is the saving of the West Coast beech forests. That was the most emotional, the biggest roller coaster, the hardest campaign, but in the end we won.”

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The work of Craig and his fellow campaigners saw conservation become a mainstream issue in New Zealand.

Despite not being a fan of formal dress, he donned a suit and tie to take part in local body politics in the Nelson region. “The farmers and foresters involved thought I was a long-haired hippy. I just kept talking to them, and they started talking to me.”

Craig’s influence was also felt at the New Zealand Conservation Authority, where he represented Forest & Bird for nine years. Among the achievements of those years were the creation of Kahurangi and Rakiura National Parks. He also held many executive roles with Forest & Bird and other conservation groups at the national, regional, and local level.

Craig is perhaps best known publicly for his stunning landscape photography, founding publishing firm Craig Potton Publishing (now Potton & Burton), and writing and presenting the two television series Rivers and Wild Coasts.

He received a Member of the New Zealand Order (MNZM) for services to photography and conservation in the 2013 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Forest & Bird President Andrew Cutler said Craig has always had a special closeness to Forest & Bird. “Craig has been a key figure in many campaigns, and always speaks out in a passionate, honest and strong way for nature. He is an elder statesman in conservation who deserves the highest recognition.”

Te Kaiārahi Rangatahi o te Taiao youth award – Connor Wallace Auckland high school student Connor Wallace has marked himself out as a future conservation leader by organising young volunteers to join restoration projects and setting up a predator-control programme in bush near his school.

Connor, who received Forest & Bird’s Te Kaiārahi Rangatahi o te Taiao youth award at the conference, started a website to recruit other young people to work on restoration projects on Motutapu and Motuihe Islands in the Hauraki Gulf. The Year 13 student has also started his own pest control project at Lucas Creek Bush near his Albany Senior High School.

The 17-year-old has always been keen on wildlife and ecology, and was a member of the Kiwi Conservation Club in his primary school years. “It’s really important to me that there should be as many beautiful natural things for future generations to be passionate about as there are now,” Connor says.

He is the leader of his high school’s environment group, has been part of the Auckland Council’s youth sustainability programme, Make a Difference, for two and a half years, and was a delegate to the Sir Peter Blake Trust’s Youth Environmental Leaders Forum last year.

The inspiration to recruit other young people for restoration projects came when he was volunteering on Motutapu Island. “When I first started volunteering, I realised there weren’t many volunteers of my age. But for the last three years or so, when I volunteer every second Saturday, I bring about five or so other young volunteers with me.”

About two years ago, he began monitoring the Lucas Creek Bush for predators, including hedgehogs, stoats, ferrets, possums, mice, and rats. This year, he began trapping after receiving funding from the Upper Harbour Local Board and has already noticed more birds such as fantails in the bush.

Pestbuster – Murray Gavin Golden Bay’s Murray Gavin has received the Pestbuster award for his crucial role in the restoration of the important wetland at Mangarakau Swamp during the last 14 years.

The award recognises exceptional work to control predators and pests. Since 2002, Murray has been leading predator control in the 360ha swamp near Whanganui Inlet, and the results are evident in higher numbers of rare bird species such as robins, bitterns, and fernbirds.

Murray visits the remote swamp, one of the largest and least modified estuaries in New Zealand, around three times weekly alone or with other volunteers to check traps and maintain tracks. He also maintains areas and tracks for visitors to Mangarakau.

In recent years, Murray has also been monitoring a trap line in the Cobb Valley, a three-hour drive from his home.

Altogether, he manages 229 predator traps.

Forest & Bird Golden Bay branch secretary Jo-Anne Vaughan describes Murray as “one of those salt of the earth Forest & Birders who is absolutely committed to the environment and to Forest & Bird. He is a quiet person whose impact has been huge. He is integral to the Golden Bay branch and we all love him and depend upon him.”

Valder conservation grants Forest & Bird’s Waikato Branch awards conservation grants annually in memory of Lilian Valder. Each grant is usually $1,000–$2,000 and can be given to individual or group projects. The closing date for applications is 30 September.

For more information and an application form, email waikato.branch@forestandbird.org.nz, download a pdf from Waikato Branch page on www.forestandbird.org.nz, or write to Secretary, Waikato Branch Forest and Bird, PO Box 11092, Hamilton 3216.

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Our people

Old Blues The Old Blue is awarded annually to people who have made a significant contribution to Forest & Bird or to our conservation goals. The award commemorates the last breeding female black robin which, thanks to work led by pioneering conservationist Don Merton, saved her species from extinction in the 1980s.

Neil Sutherland and Sheryl Corbett

Roger Grace Dr Roger Grace has been awarded an Old Blue for his influential role in establishing marine reserves in New Zealand and as an advocate for marine environments and species.

Roger has been involved in many campaigns to create marine reserves and has been a powerful communicator in raising public awareness of the need to conserve marine environments. The Warkworth resident, who received the Queen’s Service Medal for Public Service in 2005, is also one of New Zealand’s most prominent underwater photographers. His work has repeatedly proved that a picture is worth a thousand words.

He has worked as a contract photographer for Greenpeace since 1990, helping to reveal some of the wonderful life found under the waves as well as shedding light on destructive activities that threaten marine life, such as driftnet fishing, whaling, and overfishing of tuna.

Tony Dunlop, who stepped down as a Forest & Bird board member at the conference, says Roger gave his time very generously. “He is a very self-effacing, humble man who has made a huge contribution to marine conservation in New Zealand and is highly respected by everyone involved in the field.”

Those who have worked with Roger praise his enthusiasm, sense of humour and eagerness to share his expertise, through his research, his photography, his writing, and the many talks he gives. Recently, he has highlighted the ecological value of mangroves and campaigned to get permanent protection for the Bay of Plenty’s Astrolabe Reef, the site of the sinking of the container ship Rena.

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Neil Sutherland and Sheryl Corbett have worked as a team for conservation for more than two decades on Auckland’s North Shore and in the Leigh area. They have received an Old Blue as a team.

They cite the people they have worked with as the motivation for keeping them going for such a long period.

“If it wasn’t for the wonderful people we have met through Forest & Bird, I don’t think we would have done what we did,” Neil says. “It’s a big thrill that it is a joint award because we are a team.”

Neil and Sheryl have been active at committee level and in projects in both the North Shore and Warkworth – formerly Mid-North – branches. After the couple joined the North Shore branch in 1992, Sheryl organised speakers and publicised monthly meetings, leading to a large increase in attendances.

Both joined a weeding programme at Little Shoal Bay, which later extended into the adjacent Le Roy’s Bush, with Neil serving as chair of the Le Roy’s Bush Management committee until 2007. Both were also active members of the weeding teams at the Millennium Forest at Tuff Crater, and Neil was North Shore branch chairman from 2004 until the couple moved to Leigh in 2007.

After their move, they became active members of the Mid-North branch, forming the Forest & Bird Leigh Community Coast Care Group to control moth plant and other weeds, and carry out native revegetation along several kilometres of coastline. They have also been volunteers on Hauraki Gulf island sanctuaries.

Golden Spade – Graham Falla

Laura Dawson Laura Dawson’s dedication to conservation in four decades of service at a national, regional, and local level has been acknowledged with an Old Blue.

The Taupo resident said conservation is a team effort and the important thing is to draw people in by making them aware of the issues. “I think you learn as much from the other people as you contribute yourself. To me, this award is for all the people I’ve worked alongside over the years,” she said.

More than two decades ago, she and another local conservationist drew attention to declining water quality in Lake Taupo. The resulting publicity helped eventually lead to a trail-blazing nitrogen management scheme, which has reduced nitrogen entering the lake by 20 percent.

Laura was Forest & Bird’s representative on the New Zealand Conservation Authority from 2000 to 2002 and spoke at the Iceland Environmental Association conferences in 2010.

She has been a member of Forest & Bird’s Taupo branch since 1974 and has served as chair and secretary, a post she currently holds. Over the years, Laura has been involved in many regional environmental groups, including the Tongariro-Taupo Conservation Board, Environment Waikato Advisory Committee for Regional Environment, Lake Taupo Protection Society, and Waipahihi Botanical Society.

For 11 years, she has been a trustee and chair of the Central North Island Blue Duck Charitable Conservation Trust. Last year, Laura received the Tongariro-Taupo Conservation Board Individual Leadership award.

New board members James Muir and John Oates joined the Forest & Bird board at this year’s annual conference. They replace retiring board members Tony Dunlop and Karen Field, who were thanked for their work by the President, Andrew Cutler.

James Muir worked as a biologist before studying science communication and taking up film-making. His documentary film River Dog about his father Grant’s battle to keep stock from neighbouring farms out of the Pahaoa River in Wairarapa won awards in New Zealand and internationally.

Now based in the Coromandel, James has been a committee member with the North Coromandel branch and, more recently, with the Mercury Bay branch. James says his priorities are freshwater ecosystem protection, habitat restoration through community conservation, and advanced predator control operations.

John Oates is a business owner from the Clevedon

More than 40 years and tens of thousands of native plants and trees after beginning his restoration work in South Auckland, Graham Falla has received the Golden Spade award.

Since 1975, Graham has overseen the transformation of several reserves and parks in South Auckland. “It is rewarding to see the results of the work that is done.

The one I’m most pleased about is Olive Davis Reserve,” he said.

“When it was bequeathed to Forest & Bird at about the same time as the South Auckland branch was formed (in the mid-1970s), it had large areas of run-down horse paddock. Now it is difficult to tell when you are moving out of the old forest into the new because it has blended together so well.”

Typically, Graham has planned projects, collected and propagated locally sourced seeds, prepared sites, organised volunteers, and taken part in planting days.

Now aged in his mid-80s, Graham is a mine of botanical and restoration advice and remains active in restoration projects, says Forest & Bird South Auckland branch former chairman John Oates.

The Golden Spade is awarded to Forest & Bird branches or members who have made an outstanding contribution to restoring and maintaining native habitats. Graham also received Forest & Bird’s Old Blue award in 1999.

area, who chaired the South Auckland branch for five years until taking up the board position. During those five years, the membership of the branch rose from 350 to 850 and the amount of pest control work done by the branch was expanded.

John says his main areas of focus for conservation are animal and plant pest control, marine protection, and urban biodiversity restoration.

John Oates (left) and James Muir.

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In the field Impact of ocean acidification on pāua near Chatham Islands.

Photo: Reyn Naylor NIWA

Trouble at sea Ann Graeme explains ocean acidification and its increasing effects.

W

e know that planet Earth is at risk from climate change – from heat, droughts, storms, and rising sea levels. But the oceans, surely the oceans are immune?

The oceans are actually helping mitigate climate change. They are sopping up much of the CO2 gas that pours into the atmosphere as we burn fossil fuels derived from coal and oil. The oceans act as an enormous carbon sink. They have been taking in about a third of the CO2 being emitted from human activity. At present, the ocean is absorbing about 22 million tons of CO2 every day.

At first, scientists thought this was a good thing since it removed some of the CO2 that is warming the planet.

But there is no such thing as a free lunch. We now know the cost is being carried by the ocean’s chemistry.

Gaseous CO2 dissolves in sea water and forms carbonic acid. The acid breaks down into bicarbonates (think baking soda), which is alkaline.

Left over from this reaction are acidic hydrogen ions. They are free to attack carbonates (such as chalk and sea shells) and create more alkaline 42

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

bicarbonate. These natural processes maintain the balance of alkali and acid – the pH of the ocean – and they have been maintaining it for thousands of years.

However, during the past 200 years, since the industrial revolution began, sea water has become more acidic – 26 percent more acidic.

Right now, more and more CO2 is being emitted into the atmosphere, and more and more is dissolving in the ocean. The natural processes maintaining the pH (acid/alkali balance) cannot keep up. The seawater becomes more acidic. This is ocean acidification. More and more acid ions take out more and more carbonate ions, and these are the ions that corals, oysters, mussels, and many other animals need to build shells and skeletons.

The consequences are farreaching. As laboratory experiments are showing, a more acidic seawater harms many marine animals, reducing the survival of their larvae and juveniles by affecting their development and the growth of their shells or skeletons. Shellfish, crayfish and crabs, starfish, sea urchins, and fish larvae may all be affected.

The growth of reef-building corals, already impacted by the warming sea, may be stunted.

This isn’t just bad news for people who eat fish and shellfish.

Acidification is bad news for the many plankton species that have calcium carbonate in their tiny shells. Plankton are the base of the marine food web, and their photosynthesis accounts for about half the CO2 taken up by the ocean. They are critical both to the climate and to the productivity of ecosystems and fisheries.

In New Zealand, a big project is under way to establish the scale of acidification and how it is affecting our coastal ecosystems. The project is called CARIM – Coastal Acidification:

Starfish, Chatham Islands. Photo: Reyn Naylor NIWA

Rate, Impacts and Management. It is being led by NIWA, the National Institute of Water and Atmosphere.

It will investigate the effects of acidification on iconic species such as snapper, pāua, and mussels, and less obvious, but equally important species, such as coastal plankton and coralline seaweed.

Ocean acidification is an emerging global problem. The ability of the marine ecosystem to adapt to a more acidic ocean is critical both to New Zealand and to the world.

Why would coralline seaweed be affected by acidification?

Coralline seaweeds are pink. Some look like pink paint, and some like bristly pink turf. They grow over the rocks of the inter-tidal zone. They are actually red algae, but their red pigment is muted in a skeleton of white calcium carbonate.

Microscopic pāua larvae choose coralline seaweeds as their favourite places to settle and grow. Less carbonate means fewer coralline seaweeds, which means fewer homes for little pāua. This illustrates the cascade of effects stemming from ocean acidification.

A blenny fish on coralline seaweed.

Photo: Ian Skipworth

What is Forest & Bird doing?

Forest & Bird is seeking funding to publish a comprehensive report about ocean acidification and the threats it poses to marine both biodiversity and commercial fisheries.

The oceans around New Zealand have acidified to a depth of 1000m. This change has tracked the increase in atmospheric CO2.

As Ann Graeme’s article shows, humanity is not only warming the atmosphere but we are changing the chemistry of the oceans.

The organisms that are most at threat include plankton, corals and shellfish. Even squid may be at risk. This creates the potential for a cascade of loss throughout the food chain. The only practical solution is to reduce CO2 emissions.

Forest & Bird is a voice for nature, and we are concerned about the potential damage to marine biodiversity from ocean acidification. We also understand that marine biodiversity is commercially important to New Zealand, and its harvest is the livelihood for many New Zealanders. There is, therefore, a benefit in marine harvesters and conservationists working together to combat a common threat.

Forest & Bird’s ocean acidification report would collate what is known about potential threats to New Zealand

marine biodiversity from ocean acidification, including marine biodiversity of commercial value, and provide recommendations for further research. It would also draw the link between ocean acidification and climate change policy.

The report is intended to engage a sector that is not generally fully engaged on climate change by drawing attention to an existential threat to their industries from excess CO2. This will help build allies for increased action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ultimately helping the country to deliver on its commitment to the Paris Agreement’s goals.

The intended audience will be conservationists, marine harvesters, government officials, Members of Parliament, and unions representing workers in the marine harvesting sector and food supply chain. n Geoff Keey, Forest & Bird’s Climate Advocate

If you are interested in finding out more, or making a donation to help fund Forest & Bird’s ocean acidification report, please contact Jess Winchester on 04 801 2219 or email j.winchester@forestandbird.org.nz.

discover the magic of

TIRITIRI MATANGI ISLAND wildlife sanctuary

Enjoy a magical day trip to this world renowned wildlife sanctuary.

Tiritiri Matangi is home to some of the rarest species of NZ flora and fauna, and a must do for both locals and visitors alike. Book your trip today.

Departs Wednesday to Sunday throughout the year.

Departs Gulf Harbour at 9.50am (returns from Tiritiri Matangi at 3.30pm)

09 307 8005 fullers.co.nz Forest & Bird

| 43

Ode to Nature (Part II)

A poem in the hand...

In his Ode to Nature article (Winter 2016), David Young talked about the iconic Dennis Glover poem The Magpies and suggested New Zealand needed another magpie poem “that speaks of human endeavour triumphing over introduced pests...”

Thank you to everyone who submitted their poems, and here is a selection of them.

Stuart Payne wrote his poem Big Tree about one of the oldest and largest tōtara at Peel Forest in Canterbury. The poem was first published in the New Zealand School Journal, Part 4, No. 1, 1993.

Rangi Faith is a long-time member of Forest & Bird. He has published four books of poetry. Here are two of his poems – Spoonbill 101 and What are the colours of the beach? The latter was written in response to the Rena oil spill disaster in The Bay of Plenty, October 2011.

Spoonbill 101 Local yokels have it that in days of yore when the lagoon birds were lined up for panel beating & noses and names handed out – this kotuku’s beak was hammered flat – Tōtara. Photo: Jon Sullivan

Big Tree The sign said Big Tree and we laughed: how childish and we set off to see this, Big Tree and when suddenly at the track’s end we saw the Big Tree we stopped and stared at this totara’s great girth.

This child of Tane and Mumuwhango which sprouted when Kupe spied these shores and down the ages of Toi, of Cook, the times of Kai Tahu and Pakeha, buttressed its roots, branched skywards.

Now an elder of this land still standing against wind and snow, fires and mills, fast in this gully.

Yes we stared, then we straightened and saluted Big Tree and we didn’t feel childish at all. © Stuart Payne

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| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

ended up with a small burnt pancake on a stalk – a scoop for sweeping up his lunch;

plastic for a row of blackened birds, gloves, clean water; ma – a white shell, a mask, polystyrene; kakariki – deep, green water, the grass of Motiti Island; paraone – broken wood on the sand, the colour of the army; parakaraka – orange buoys & lost containers, two lifeboats; whakahekeheke – water striped with oil; mawhero – pink, a pixellated face on tv; whero – red is the colour of angry people. © Rangi Faith

in the spray chamber he was finished off with jet black legs under that white fuselage;

Megan Norris says she enjoyed Dennis Glover’s The Magpies in the last issue. Here is her poem Te Kahu on the Kerb about the swamp harrier.

but he was royally named – oh yes – kotuku ngutu papa –

Te Kahu on the Kerb

white heron with a flat nose he’s worn it ever since.

Raptor glaring stern from Buller’s Birds is limp, broken On the kerb

What are the colours of the beach?

Talons that angered Pioneering shepherds Deep in mustelid Introduced, multiplied Road kill

Pango – birds in Number 6 bunker oil dripping from beaks, a fin rising offshore;

Loyal opportunist Pale with age Still flecked red With Mahuika’s rage

kowhai – the yellow handle of a rake;

© Megan Norris

© Rangi Faith

kahurangi – blue penguin walking free,

Book reviews

Godwit. Photo: Glenda Rees

Sue Fitchett is a New Zealand poet and Hauraki Islands branch committee member. Her most recent poetry collection is On the Wing, published by Steele Roberts in 2014.

Here is one of the poems from this collection.

Leaving like Godwits? slight chill in the air our sleek bodies so light your long thin bill feather light our luggage as light as we can your body as fat as you can a dawn coming we lift off into blue distance so light an evening coming you lift off into ruddy horizons in bow-shaped flight © Sue Fitchett:

Life member Phillip Donnell sent in a selection of his poems, all illustrated by his wife Katrina Tulip. Here is one of them.

Project Kiwi by Sue Hoffart Penguin Random House, RRP $40

Kiwi

Doting mother lays an egg bigger than a powder keg!

Project Kiwi is less about Kiwi conservation and more about the people that made it happen on a remote peninsula in Coromandel. The book focuses on Warwick Wilson, who owns the large piece of land where Project Kiwi – New Zealand’s first community kiwi sanctuary – began, incredibly, only 20 years ago.

We must remember that, when Project Kiwi began, virtually nothing was known of the impact of mustelids on kiwi. Many ideas have been trialled, including a kiwi crèche, at Waitaia. This book is an interesting human story about passionate people and their love for the land and its wildlife, and the generosity of the man that made it all possible.

Caring husband incubates: few survivors falling rates!

To the Islands By Kerry Howe Mokohinau Islands Press, RRP $35

Pundits reckon, for a bird, much about you seems absurd!

Hair for feathers, stump for wing, no soprano when you sing!

Long proboscis cannot nip, pair of nostrils at the tip!

Goes out feeding late at night, hapless runner, average sight!

Lives in burrows, cannot fly, sitting duck when stoats come by!

When I think of what you are, I’m amazed you’ve come so far!

National icon, global fame, people known by your name!

How you got there I don’t know!

Sometimes oddballs steal the show! © Phillip Donnell

Kiwi illustration: Katrina Tulip

Reviewed by Amelia Geary

Reviewed by Amelia Geary As someone with a personal connection to most of the islands mentioned in this book by Kerry Howe, I very much enjoyed the interesting perspective presented by this Emeritus Professor of Pacific History. Written in a style reminiscent of anecdotes to be passed on to the author’s grandchildren, Howe weaves elements of personal experience as well as scholarly knowledge through this easy to read memoir.

Howe covers the Gulf’s pre-history through to the modern day with specific histories, both human and conservation, of most of the islands mentioned. A recommended read to anyone interested in sailing and the Hauraki Gulf.

Forest & Bird

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Our partners

Sustainable packaging?

Not as simple as it seems

Not all “environmentally friendly” packaging is created equal, as Toby Whyte, managing director of Health Pak, one of our supporters, explains.

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s a New Zealand manufacturer, one of the requests for products and packaging I get most often is asking for it to be “environmentally friendly”. Can it be biodegradable, recyclable, compostable, sustainable, or natural? The list goes on. Obviously, it’s great people want this, but unfortunately the biggest problem is that very few (and I mean very few) have any idea about what makes a product better for the environment. They don’t want to be told that making something biodegradable may in fact be the wrong choice.

Having been in this business for nearly 25 years, I can honestly say sometimes I even question what the best options for a particular product are. Over the years, we have used additives that claim to make packaging “biodegradable”, packaging made from cornstarch or sugar, products and ingredients that claim to be natural or sustainable, the list goes on. While some have worked, others have not and I could write for days on this subject quite happily. Below is a very basic (but hopefully helpful) summary of three basic areas in which we look to better assess a product and its packaging’s environmental claims or benefits.

Never take claims for granted. Unfortunately, in my experience, many salespeople marketing the environmental aspects of their products are too far removed from the source. They look at it as an easy way to sell their product and don’t truly understand what 46

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

they are selling or whether the claims being made are in fact relevant or true. A lot of this is because the product, ingredient, or additive is made offshore, and, by the time it gets to the person selling it, the claims are just assumed to be true, have not been explained correctly, or simply don’t work within New Zealand because of the way in which we process post-consumer waste.

Where the product comes from and where it ends up is just as important as the product itself. What are the manufacturing company’s or country’s environmental standards, and how far has it travelled to get here? People still don’t realise the terrible environmental standards that still exist in many countries and also the horrifying distance a product can travel during the manufacturing process before it gets sold here. At the other end of the spectrum, very few people also consider where the product or packaging will end up after they have used it. You might think that you are doing the right thing buying packaging that claims to be compostable, but if it all goes into the bin and ends up in landfill then it will never compost. The same applies to recycling – many products that claim to be “recyclable” cannot be recycled within New Zealand.

What works for one product may not be the best option for the next. Don’t get stuck on there being one right answer for everything. We have found that every product gets sourced, made, used, and disposed in

different ways, whether commercially or domestically. We have a myriad of options in packaging – for example, from recyclable to degradable – depending on the product.

While it would be great to have one option that fits all, this train of thought can cause more problems than it solves.

Some packaging, for example, can be made to degrade faster when in contact with light and oxygen (outside), while another can degrade in conditions with no light and oxygen (landfill); however, both are equally hopeless in the opposite conditions.

In summary, even after having considered the above areas as a company, we still have a lot of debate about whether we have the best option. In many cases, this is ongoing, and there are times where we have sheepishly reverted to the ingredients, packaging, or processes we had originally rather than the fancy new technology we thought would save the planet. However, this process, I would like to believe, has given us more knowledge to make better decisions for the future. I hope this has helped give an insight into all the environmental claims in the marketplace and some idea of how to test them. You may even chose the product that has none!

Queen’s Birthday honours winners Gerry Brackenbury was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to conservation and natural history in Whangarei and Northland. Gerry was a founder of the Northern branch of Forest & Bird and instigated a project for turning Motu Matakohe/ Limestone Island into a refuge for biodiversity. He has contributed 30 years towards creating an island that holds rare species of birds, lizards, and insects, which is regularly visited by hundreds of school children on educational trips. Gerry was also the driving force behind Project Crimson for the conservation of pōhutukawa and rātā.

Jaap van Dorsser, received a Queen’s Service Medal for services to the environment after contributing hundreds of volunteer hours to maintaining and growing native bush during the last 40 years and supporting clean waterways. Jaap has overseen and taken part in the planting and regeneration of native trees all around Rotorua and is well-respected nationally and internationally as an expert in forestry and planting methods.

His work planting, clearing stream areas, and removing noxious weeds and rubbish has made a significant difference to the community and to the environment. He is an enthusiastic teacher, regularly taking sessions with schools and other community volunteers.

Toby with his son Harvey at Mahurangi north of Auckland.

Photo: supplied

*Health Pak is one of New Zealand’s largest contract packaging companies. Long before it was a widely raised issue, Health Pak was making its products as environmentally friendly as possible. Its hair and body care products have been made using biodegradable formulations for more than 10 years. And it is leading the way with its degradable packaging and soap recycling programmes. See www.healthpak.co.nz/about-us/ environmental/.

Marine biologists honoured Liz Slooten has been jointly awarded the Marine Science Society’s inaugural John Morton Medal for outstanding contributions to the advancement of marine conservation and sustainability in New Zealand.

Liz, a former Deputy President of Forest & Bird, began studying the endangered Hector’s dolphin in 1984, along with research partner Professor Steve Dawson.

Theirs is now one of the longest-running ecological studies of any marine mammal.

Forest & Bird

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Going places

Dusky Sound

adventures

Kimberley Collins visits the birthplace of conservation on a Real Journeys Conservation Expedition to Dusky Sound, in Fiordland.

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ast month, I joined Real Journeys on their Dusky Sound Conservation Expedition for five days of breathtaking sights, unique wildlife, and an introduction to the rich history of the area.

We started our adventure cruising the length of Doubtful Sound, enjoying the low-hanging mist and occasional rainbow until we hit the ocean. We sailed alongside Breaksea Island, where the Department of Conservation undertook a pioneering rat eradication in the late 1980s. Fiordland is rich with conservation successes, even our expedition plays into that and will raise funds for the Dusky Sound Preservation Programme – with a percentage of everyone's ticket price going towards removing introduced predators from Cooper Island.

The next day, we steamed through Dusky Sound, visiting historic sites such as Sportsman Cove, where early explorers used to hunt for game birds, and Shag Island, where pied shags seemed to drip from the trees. I spent most of the morning standing on the deck scanning the coastline for tawaki (Fiordland crested penguins) when I saw something break the water’s surface. I looked down,

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only to see a bottlenose dolphin burst through a wave!

Dusky Sound has a small resident population of bottlenose dolphins, and they followed the boat for about half an hour, jumping and skipping on the waves along the bow. They were surprisingly big, one was about four metres long and thrilled the passengers as it leapt out of the water right in front of the ship – so close my camera lens wouldn’t even focus.

Later, we stopped off the coast of Anchor Island, where Department of Conservation rangers joined us for walk across the island. They explained that Anchor is one of three places where kākāpō breed and told us about the five hand-reared chicks they had on the island that were soon to be soft released into the wild. The boat was humming with excitement as they told us we would be allowed to pop our heads over the side of their enclosure!

Dusky Sound is closely associated with Captain James Cook, who moored the Resolution there for five weeks, and Day Three was filled with visits to historical places led by our nature guide Richard. We started at Astronomer’s Point, where Captain Cook and his crew rested for more

than a month. He cleared about 1ha of bush to create his camp and set up an observatory. Today, young tōtara and rātā have claimed the land back. Even after 300 years, they towered above us as a testament to the ability of our native bush to grow so adamantly.

We also visited Indian Island, where Captain Cook met Māori for the first time in Fiordland. Cook left trinkets as a gesture of friendship for the family and returned the next day. A Māori man and two women stood on a rock at the tip of the Island, looking fearful but staunch as Cook rowed towards them shouting pleasantries that they will have struggled to interpret. Cook came ashore, bound up to the chief, and embraced him in a traditional hongi, relaxing both parties considerably.

We were lucky enough to step foot on Indian Island, where two mysterious holes in the ground are maintained by the Department of Conservation. They clear out the vegetation from the pits so they are here for future interpretation. It’s not known whether these holes were a midden, or a pit used for cooking. Remnants of charcoal were found, and the holes are lined with stones.

In the afternoon, we visited Pigeon Island – the birthplace of conservation in New Zealand. In the late 1800s, the government was becoming concerned about the decline of some bird species – particularly the flightless ones such as kiwi and kākāpō. In 1894, nearby Resolution Island was set aside as New Zealand’s first bird sanctuary and Richard Henry was invited to be its first caretaker.

With help from his muzzled dog (perhaps New Zealand’s first conservation dog), Henry quickly set out capturing flightless birds that were becoming increasingly endangered. He caught kiwi, kākāpō, and takahē and held them in a pen behind his house before transferring them to nearby Resolution Island. In total, he translocated about 400 kākāpō from Pigeon to Resolution Island.

But all his hard work was ruined in 1890, when he detected the presence of stoats on Resolution Island. They quickly wiped out the kākāpō population. In 1909, after 14 years living on Pigeon Island, Richard Henry left to become the custodian of Kapiti Island before retiring two years later and passing away in 1929.

One of Anchor Island's young, soon-to-be released kākāpō.

Photo: Kimberley Collins

Fur seal pup lounging on the rocks. Photo Kimberley Collins

As we left Dusky Sound, I realised I had not seen the one bird I spent the whole trip looking for. There were once thousands of tawaki in Fiordland, but their numbers have declined dramatically, with about 5000–6000 birds left in the whole world. I didn’t get to see one on this trip, but at least I have a good excuse to go back to this remote, fascinating, and stunning Dusky Sound. *Kimberley Collins travelled as a guest of Real Journeys.

Getting there Real Journey's five-day Dusky Sound Conservation Expedition will also take you to Doubtful Sound, which is well known for its wildlife, including fur seals and a resident pod of bottlenose dolphins. Passengers stay aboard the purpose-built Milford Wanderer and there are on-board nature guides who provide informative commentary and evening talks as well as guided walks.

Trips depart from Manapouri, with transfers available from Te Anau and Queenstown. For more information, see www.discoveryexpeditions.co.nz.

Forest & Bird

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Our people

50 years of bird surveys Paul Sagar, of South Canterbury Branch, has been monitoring birds at Washdyke Lagoon for 50 years.

My first list of the water birds at Washdyke Lagoon, Timaru, was made in March 1966 when Bruce Keeley and I cycled out and parked our bikes against the fence overlooking the lagoon before descending the hill

Paul Sagar counting birds at Washdyke Lagoon. Photo: Joy Sagar

and walking along the gravel bar that separates the lagoon from the sea.

On that visit, we recorded species such as banded dotterel, variable and pied oystercatchers, pied stilts, and shoveler ducks.

I continued monthly counts of the wetland birds at the lagoon from then until the end of 1970, when university studies in Christchurch distracted me from making visits. However, I usually managed one or two visits a year until October 2014, when I retired to Pleasant Valley, near Geraldine, and was in a position to resume monthly counts. This seemed appropriate because it was nearing 50 years since my first surveys. In the interim, there had been raised awareness about the threats to our few remaining wetlands and the conservation status of the birds they support.

Since I made that first visit more than 50 years ago, there has been a reduction in the area of the lagoon with the encroachment of the gravel bar, a deterioration in the quality of

Obituary Nelson conservationist, writer, and guide Dr Andrew Dennis was awarded Forest & Bird’s prestigious Old Blue award in 2011 for sharing his knowledge and passion for nature and wild places on land and at sea.

Books such as The Paparoas Guide and Images of a Limestone Landscape with conservationist and nature photographer Craig Potton were crucial in promoting public appreciation and helping make the case for national park status for the Paparoa Range.

Andy Dennis’ expertise and advocacy was critical to the successful establishment of Kahurangi National Park in 1996 and the Horoirangi Marine Reserve near Nelson in 2006. His vast natural history and recreational knowledge has been crucial to numerous submissions, 50

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

presentations, and expert evidence on issues as diverse as national park management, high country tenure review, and marine farming in South Westland.

“More than anyone else, he kept going for more than a decade on trying to get the Horoirangi Marine Reserve. I don’t think we would have got there without the constant nagging from Andy over a decade,” said Craig Potton, Andy’s long-time friend and a Forest & Bird executive member.

Andy was a member of the Forest & Bird Nelson Tasman branch committee for more than 30 years, and he was instrumental in helping to protect the Mokihinui River from being dammed. In June, Andy was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to conservation.

the overall wetland habitat, and an increased occurrence of over-topping of the bar by high seas.

Despite these factors, the lagoon still has a major role in supporting bird species of conservation concern. So far in 2016, I have recorded endemic black-billed gulls (a species classified as nationally critical), black-fronted terns (nationally endangered), wrybills and banded dotterels (nationally vulnerable), and pied oystercatchers and white-fronted terns (at risk).

During the winter months, waterfowl flock to the lagoon, and the May 2016 count included 773 grey teal and 389 Canada Geese.

To date, I have recorded 53 species of wetland birds at the lagoon, and the list is increasing.

The latest addition was a spectacular far-eastern curlew, a migratory wader that is in rapid decline in most parts of its range. It is pleasing to see a raised awareness of the importance of the lagoon as a wildlife refuge and a key local wetland for threatened birds.

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Forest & Bird lodges Review by Mélissa Irace

Tai Haruru

If you love nature and conservation, then there are probably a few must-haves on your wishlist when looking for a getaway – must be surrounded by native bush, close to good walks, no TV, Facebook, or screentime, walkable to amenities ... Forest & Bird’s Tai Haruru Lodge, in Piha, ticks all those boxes – and more.

Tai Haruru, “the sound of the waves”, is a fitting name for the lodge that sits only a few minutes’ walk to Piha beach down a little walkway at the end of the garden. I don’t know if there are fairies down there, but I do know that the gardens have been restored in recent years by local branch volunteers from a messy kikuyu-strewn eyesore to a sheltered haven filled with eco-sourced native plant species found from the Piha, Karekare, and Anawhata areas. Tai Haruru Lodge is also a fantastic spot to access the many tracks of the Waitakere Ranges, including the Hillary Trail.

Melissa stayed with friends and family at the lodge.

Piha used to be a hotspot for our lovely korora/little blue penguin and there are plans to establish a couple of nest boxes at the property. Proceeds from the lodge help fund such endeavours. The lodge was generously bequested to Forest & Bird by a Mr & Mrs HS Davenport in 1981.

We visited as two families, and there was ample space.

The cafes and stores of Piha are an easy walk away. It was a warm April day so we didn’t need to use the open fireplace, which I’m sure would be a wonderful way to warm up on a wild west winter night. *It costs just $70-$90 a night for the two-bed cottage, depending on the season. Next to the cottage there is a self-contained four-bed flat with its own kitchen and bathroom, which can be booked for an extra $50 per night. For bookings, email hop0018@slingshot.co.nz.

Tai Haruru Lodge

LODGES Arethusa Cottage Near Pukenui, Northland Sleeps 6 herbit@xtra.co.nz 09 405 1720

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

Mangarākau Swamp Field Centre North-west Nelson Sleeps 10 javn@xtra.co.nz 03 525 6031

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

Waiheke Island Cottage Onetangi Sleeps 8 fb.cottage.onetangi@gmail.com

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

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

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

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Parting shot

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his photo of a speargrass weevil was taken on a summer tramp at 1000 Acre Plateau, in Kahurangi National Park. As the higher altitude sees fewer pest species, these large inch-long beetles are quite common and can be found out in the daytime browsing on speargrass plants.

They are prone to dropping off into the speargrass if approached (a sensible defensive manoevre), so I had several attempts at being sneaky before I managed this shot.

I began taking photos a couple of years ago as a way to remember some of the neat outdoor trips I’ve been on. As I was lucky enough to grow up being actively involved with some of New Zealand’s lesser-known fauna (Euan’s father was a land snail researcher), this has transferred across into my photography.

Euan Brook Christchurch.

Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/ photos/134359370@N02/.

PARTING SHOT PRIZE Send us a stunning photo of one of New Zealand’s native birds, plants, animals or marine life and win a great prize.

This issue’s winner will receive a pair of Vanguard DR 10x25 binoculars RRP $99.

The binos feature fully coated lenses, roof prisms, rubber no-slip armour, and a compact dual-hinge design. Small enough to toss into nearly any bag or pocket, the DR 10x25 is an excellent take-along-anywhere optic that is fun to use.

The prize is courtesy of CR Kennedy. For more details see www.crkennedy.co.nz.

Please send a high-res (max 9mb) digital file and brief details about your photo to Caroline Wood at editor@forestandbird.org.nz

we ARE climbing

Bivouac staff members Dave Laffan & Silvia Horniakova Mount Adams Photo: Jeremy Herbert

For twenty five years Bivouac Outdoor has been proudly 100% New Zealand owned and committed to providing you with the best outdoor clothing and equipment available in the world. It is the same gear we literally stake our lives on, because we are committed to adventure and we ARE climbing.

12 STORES NATIONWIDE OFFICIAL GEAR SUPPLIER

www.bivouac.co.nz