Forest & Bird Magazine Issue 380 Winter 2021

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

TE REO O TE TAIAO

№ 380  WINTER 2021

BRING BACK NATURE SPECIAL REPORT

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Contents ISSUE 380

• Winter 2021

Editorial

Biodiversity

News

Opinion

2 We are one 4 Letters 6 7 8 10 11

Quiet win for Paparoa Browsing mammals report Iceland’s Bird of the Year East West Link legal appeal Rabbit drops in, pollution review, fundraising voyage

12 Crown pastoral reform

14 Alpine lizard discoveries 46 Picture perfect

Special report

20 Predator Free 2050

In the Field

24 What’s in a name?

17 Our Land 2021 report

Community

18 Forest & Bird’s volunteers 41 Te Ahu Pātiki 50 Waikākāriki Wetland

Marine

Cover story

28 Bring back nature 31 RMA reform 32 Habitat loss needs to stop

Citizen science

33 Garden Bird Survey 2021

19 Broken promises

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COVER SHOT A South Island tomtit pauses momentarily on lichen-encrusted matagouri near

Arthur’s Pass.

Michael Ashbee PAPER ENVELOPE Kākāpō.

Jake Osborne RENEWAL Clematis puawānanga.

Jake Osborne

Thank you for supporting us! Forest & Bird is New Zealand’s largest and oldest independent conservation charity.

EDITOR

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ART DIRECTOR/DESIGNER

or email membership@forestandbird.org.nz

Caroline Wood E editor@forestandbird.org.nz Rob Di Leva, Dileva Design E rob@dileva.co.nz PRINTING Webstar www.webstar.co.nz ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES Karen Condon T 0275 420 338 E karenc@mpm.nz MEMBERSHIP & CIRCULATION T 0800 200 064 E membership@forestandbird.org.nz

or call 0800 200 064.

Every member receives four free

Forest & Bird is published quarterly by the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. Registered at PO Headquarters, Wellington, as a magazine. ISSN 0015-7384 (Print), ISSN 2624-1307 (Online). Copyright: All rights reserved. Opinions expressed by contributors in the magazine are not necessarily those of Forest & Bird.

copies of Forest & Bird magazine a year.

Forest & Bird is printed on elemental chlorine-free paper made from FSC® certified wood fibre and pulp from responsible sources.

Seabirds

34 Hoiho come home 44 Tale of two albatrosses

Climate

36 Rise of rats in alpine habitat 39 Global warming extinction risks

Freshwater

42 Life in a lowland swamp

Profile

Bird of the Year

51 Honeywrap competition

F&B project

52 Brimming with bird calls

Our partners

55 Bennetto Natural Foods

History

56 Pérrine Moncrieff 64 Ruapekapeka Pā

Going places

58 Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre

Obituaries

60 Colin Ryder, Simon Collins

Market place 62 Classifieds

Parting shot IBC Karearea

48 Sue Maturin

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CONTACT NATIONAL OFFICE Forest & Bird National Office Ground Floor, 205 Victoria Street Wellington 6011 PO Box 631, Wellington 6140 T 0800 200 064 or 04 385 7374 E office@forestandbird.org.nz W www.forestandbird.org.nz

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CONTACT A BRANCH See www.forestandbird.org.nz/ branches for a full list of our 50 Forest & Bird branches.

www.facebook.com/ ForestandBird @forestandbird @Forest_and_Bird www.youtube.com/ forestandbird

Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. Forest & Bird is a registered charitable entity under the Charities Act 2005. Registration No CC26943.

PATRON Her Excellency The Rt Honourable Dame Patsy Reddy, Governor-General of New Zealand CHIEF EXECUTIVE Kevin Hague PRESIDENT Mark Hanger TREASURER Alan Chow BOARD MEMBERS Chris Barker, Kate Graeme, Richard

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

EDITORIAL

KIA KOTAHI TĀTOU

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s Aotearoa’s leading independent voice for nature, Te Reo o te Taiao Forest & Bird has been defending the natural world for nearly a century.

We have always done this by working with others.

Over the years, we have partnered with governments of all political hues, local councils, community conservation groups, e-NGOs, private landowners, and tangata whenua on campaigns to protect and restore Aotearoa’s unique biodiversity.

As part of this conservation coalition, Forest & Bird has a responsibility to observe and respect te ao Māori with its sacred places and treasured species. We support the expression of these cultural values where they protect and restore biodiversity and habitat.

We know that a genuine partnership with Māori can be transformative for nature. In the 1950s, for example, Forest & Bird’s volunteers worked with Ngāi Tūhoe in a joint campaign to stop logging and protect Te Urewera forest for future generations.

More recently, our laywers supported a tiny hapū on Motiti Island in their long-running campaign to establish new marine protected areas in Te Moana a Toi. Kaumātua sounded the alarm that the Bay of Plenty was turning into the “Bay of Empty” because of over-fishing.

Our legal team used the Resource Management Act to help defend it in a precedent-setting legal case.

As Forest & Bird, we must always remain true to our values and core purpose to speak and act for nature.

We also seek to actively work and collaborate with Māori on shared conservation outcomes. By working together with equal respect and responsibility, our combined voices will be stronger.

Looking over Pikihatiti Port Pegasus, Rakiura Stewart Island.

Jake Osborne

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Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Advocating for nature in partnership with others is relational work that constantly evolves and changes with the political conservation landscape. We recognise that security for our indigenous ecosystems will only be achieved with respect for the values, perspectives, and knowledge of tangata whenua.

For some Pākehā conservationists, it may involve thinking differently as we respond to a deeper understanding of mātauranga Māori and how this knowledge can be used to protect and restore nature.

It’s about not always having the answers and being okay to admit to uncertainty.

Recognising this, and learning from the reflections of others engaging in similar work, may help us negotiate this integral aspect of our future conservation work. We must also be committed to the process and respect the values, viewpoints, and contributions of both parties.

The Board is looking at how we can build more meaningful and enduring conservation partnerships with whānau, hapū, and iwi Māori to look after te taiao, the natural world we all love. I’m looking forward to sharing these ideas with you in the year ahead.

Ki te kotahi te kākāho, ka whati; ki te kāpuia, e kore e whati. When we stand alone we are vulnerable, but together we are unbreakable.

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

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LETTERS YOUR FEEDBACK Forest & Bird welcomes your thoughts on conservation topics. Please email letters up to 200 words, with your name, home address, and phone number, to editor@ forestandbird.org.nz, or by post to the Editor, Forest & Bird magazine, 205 Victoria Street, Wellington 6011, by 1 August 2021. We don’t always have space to publish all letters or use them in full.

WRITE AND WIN The best contribution to the Letters page will receive a copy of Tree Sense by Susette Goldsmith, looking at the essential role of trees in our environment, RRP $37, Massey University Press.

Loving F&B’s lodges

Hope for nature

We two South Islanders recently did a tiki tour of the North Island. In the process, we stayed at three Forest & Bird North Island lodges. We thoroughly enjoyed each one and would like to thank the branches who look after them. The maintenance must be a headache at times. We stayed two nights at Arethusa Lodge, Pukenui, two nights at Ruapehu Lodge, in Tongariro National Park, and a night at Te Haruru, Piha Beach.

A big “well done” to the Far North Branch, who use their lodge as a base for a big weeding and replanting programme around a wetland. The fruits of their labours are wonderful to see.

A while ago, I remember being surveyed to ask what I thought of the Forest & Bird magazine. At the time, I responded that I rarely finished it because I found the articles so depressing I just could not bring myself to keep reading. Well, all that has certainly changed! I loved the Autumn 2021 issue. So many articles showing the positive things New Zealanders are doing for nature and the many informative segments on wētā, new ways to keep up with our predators, the wildlife rescue. While there is still lots to be done, the magazine did a great job highlighting present and future activities that count.

I read it cover to cover. Thanks!

Barry and Jenny Dunnett Kaikōura

Paula Roberts Leeston

Vehicular vandalism Sue Stewart’s letter “Roads not Beaches” (Autumn 2021) was rightly voted Best Letter winner. Call this barbaric practice what you will, but “vehicular vandalism” springs to mind. Territorial local authorities’ bylaws can never be adequate remedies for preventing the many adverse impacts of this inappropriate practice. Clearly, the Land Transport Act 1998 should be revised to end the designation of beaches as roads, except for the launching and retrieval of boats. Having a revised Act passed by Parliament would empower the New Zealand Police to be the controlling authority. The revised Act should empower the police to fine offenders and enable the forfeiture of the vehicles of repeat offenders.

Driving on beaches disturbs birds resting or foraging on a beach, damages shellfish and invertebrates living below the surface, and disturbs and at times endangers people picnicking, walking, or running on a beach. The proposed revision of the Land Transport Act has the potential to make beaches once again a safe habitat for native wildlife as well as for people.

Chris Horne Wellington Editor’s note: Keep an eye out for an article later this year about driving on beaches and the law.

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Fuelling love miles The last editorial (Autumn 2021) was soft on aviation. In 1990, domestic and international aviation contributed to just over 8% of New Zealand’s gross CO2 emissions. By 2018, Ministry of the Environment data estimates it had risen to 13%. A significant contributor was the growth of international tourism, including “love miles” to which the Forest & Bird editorial gives a free pass. Overseas trips by New Zealand residents to visit family or friends represented one-third of our international travel in 2018. Equally, 28% of inbound trips in 2018 were to visit family and friends, an increase of 360% in 30 years.

If we want to move towards low emissions and keep flying long distances to visit family, or to see some rare duck, we need airlines to use sustainable aviation fuels.

They cannot be made from palm oil or crops grown on prime land. Some might be produced from waste, but the majority will have to be made from processes that involve carbon capture and the use of hydrogen.

This will require a dramatic expansion of renewable electricity, ie many more solar and wind farms. In my opinion, Forest & Bird needs to promote less flying and more sustainable aviation fuels.

Paul Callister Paekākāriki

Subdivision threat

BEST LETTER WINNER

I have just responded to a resource consent application for subdivision along the top bank of the Clutha river corridor. The Cromwell basin is a notable example of a Central Otago dryland river basin and is part of the small fragment of modern day New Zealand that has not been submerged below sea level in the last 50 million years. Consequently, it has many endemic plants, insects, and lizards unique to this region.

Recent conversion of land use has lead to massive loss and many extinctions of these unique organisms.

Department of Conservation reserves at Long Gully and Bendigo Loop can retain only a small proportion of endemic plants and organisms. It is important that such conservation islands can inter-connect and allow movement and expansion of isolated populations. The Clutha River corridor is an obvious bridge between these separate islands of surviving flora and fauna. A survey of the riverbank below me revealed four “previously undescribed” miniature grasses, as well as Cromwell native broom (Carmichaelia compacta), formerly widespread but now almost disappeared. There are also geckos and skinks. I am concerned that granting this submission would open the gates to ribbon development of houses along the top of the river corridor.

John Harris Tarras

BOOK GIVEAWAY We are giving away two copies of Creative Conservation, by Chrissy Wickes and Sonia Frimmel. RRP $45, New Holland Publishers.

This beautiful book features New Zealand artists who advocate for nature protection through their art.

To enter, email your entry to draw@forestandbird.org.nz, put CREATIVE in the subject line, and include your name and address in the email. Or write your name and address on the back of an envelope and post to CREATIVE draw, Forest & Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington 6140. Entries close 1 August 2021.

The winners of Getting Closer by Paul Sorrell were Jeff Holder, of Christchurch, and Shirlee Scott, of Napier.

Editor’s note: Forest & Bird is following up John’s concerns with the district council.

WIN A TRIP OF A LIFETIME We are offering one lucky supporter the chance to win a place on an upcoming Forest & Bird nature tour (see page 9).

Yes, a free place worth $4,365 is up for grabs!

The winner will be joining one of the upcoming 11-day Footsteps on Conservation Heritage departing from Dunedin in October 2021 or March 2022.

This tour is just one of seven incredible Forest & Bird fundraising adventures on offer during 2021/22.

Enter online to win at https://www. forestandbird.org.nz/win-trip-lifetime-forestbird. Entries close 15 August 2021. Terms and conditions apply – see the website.

NATURE NEWS The West Coast’s Paparoa National Park is renowned for its “natural quiet”.

A WIN FOR PEACE AND SOLITUDE Forest & Bird and Federated Mountain Clubs have won an historic High Court legal case protecting a national park from intrusive recreational aircraft landings.

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he Honourable Justice Grice struck out the provisions of a plan that permitted noisy recreational helicopter landings in the West Coast’s Paparoa National Park, one of the few parks where natural quiet predominates.

Last year, Forest & Bird and Federated Mountain Clubs (FMC) sought a judicial review challenging the decision by the Department of Conservation and the New Zealand Conservation Authority to allow trampers and mountain bikers to travel by recreational aircraft in and out of the national park.

Paparoa National Park is a sanctuary for a diversity of nationally and internationally important geological features and indigenous plants and animals.

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Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Under the National Parks Act 1980, a National Park Management Plan must be consistent with a Conservation Management Strategy.

Forest & Bird and FMC argued the Paparoa National Park Management Plan contradicted the West Coast Te Tai o Poutini Conservation Management Strategy 2010 (West Coast CMS) because it allows for recreational aircraft landings in Paparoa National Park but such landings are not allowed in the West Coast CMS. In late May, the High Court agreed and directed that amendments that refer to recreational aircraft landings be struck from the Paparoa National Park Management Plan.

Helicopter landings are still allowed for other purposes, such as track construction, cultural and research purposes, wild animal control, para-gliding, and hang-gliding, and Pike River families will not be affected by this ruling.

It’s an important win for nature all over New Zealand because it upholds the fact that conservation planning documents have a clear hierarchy first the National Parks Act, then regional conservation management strategies, then more local plans.

“On the surface, this is about aircraft landings in Paparoa National Park, but more fundamentally the ruling reinforces an important conservation planning hierarchy,” says Forest & Bird Canterbury West Coast regional manager Nicky Snoyink.

“One of the special things about Paparoa National Park is that it’s one of the few national parks where natural quiet predominates, which is why the West Coast CMS clearly sets down the undesirability of aircraft in the park.

“As New Zealand’s leading independent conservation organisation, we put nature at the heart of everything we do. This case is also a win for peace and solitude in one of our few remaining quiet places.”

Donate to Forest & Bird As the world battles Covid-19, protecting the things that are essential to our health and wellbeing – such as quiet places, a safe climate, healthy ecosystems, and clean water – dash have never been so important.

We need nature, and nature needs us. Every dollar you give towards our legal, climate, pest-busting, marine, and freshwater work makes a different to our natural world. Please consider making a gift at www. forestandbird.org.nz/support-us/donate-forest-bird.

Native ecosystems in their natural state are superb at locking in and storing vast amounts of carbon.

Rob Suisted

BLITZ BROWSERS CAPTURE CARBON

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he proper control of feral browsing animals could Browsing mammals also eat native seedlings. significantly cut New Zealand’s net greenhouse These are our future carbon sinks, but they are being gas emissions, according to a new Forest & Bird eliminated before they can even grow. The larger animals research report. compact the ground, stopping most CO2 absorption.

It shows reducing the number of feral animal pests “Feral deer, possums, wallabies, goats, pigs, chamois, – wild deer, possums, goats, wallabies, and pigs – to and tahr have been eating their way through native the lowest possible levels would increase the carbon forests, shrublands, and tussocklands,” adds Kevin. capturing abilities of native ecosystems.

“This has destroyed the This would cut an estimated 8.4 million tonnes of CO2 natural abilities of native equivalent per year – or nearly 15% of New Zealand’s ecosystems to be the best 2018 net greenhouse gas emissions. carbon sinks on land.”

New Zealand’s natural ecosystems, especially its vast “The report highlights native forests but also its shrublands and tussocklands, how acting now to turn around are valuable carbon sinks currently being destroyed by the destruction caused by browsing mammalian pests. browsing pests would protect Rod Morris “Our native ecosystems in their natural state are and restore carbon stocks and superb at locking in and storing vast amounts of protect native plants and animals.” carbon, but they need to be healthy and free from This work needs to be over and above New Zealand’s introduced animal pests to do that,” says Forest & Bird climate commitments to eliminate fossil fuel emissions chief executive Kevin Hague. and substantially cut agricultural emissions to help keep “Unfortunately, browsing pests are out of control in warming below 1.5 degrees.

New Zealand. They are killing our native forests and “It could even help make Aotearoa carbon positive causing them to release carbon instead of capturing it. within a few decades,” adds Kevin.

“Healthy native forests are our biggest ally in the WHAT DOES FOREST & BIRD WANT? fight against climate change. We need to protect them from destructive introduced browsers and bring them • Control: A significant reduction of feral browsing back to health.” mammals to protect and restore natural carbon in Forest & Bird’s report Protecting Our Natural forests, shrublands, and tussocklands.

Ecosystems’ Carbon shows how one native forest type • Coordination: Implementing feral browser control – kāmahi podocarp – is losing 3.4 million tonnes of alongside other predator eradications (rat, possums, CO2 every year because of the impacts of browsing pests. stoats, and feral cats) so whole ecosystems can recover.

For example, each of the country’s 30 million possums • Research: Funding for comprehensive long-term munch their way through studies on the role of natural ecosystems as carbon 30kg of carbon in leaves and sinks. The development of breakthrough technologies seedlings a year, destroying the for feral browsing mammal control. forest canopy in the process.

Wild deer consume even more – For more information and to download the report each one eats 375kg of carbon summary, see www.forestandbird.org.nz/carbonreport. a year. They also damage trees by stripping and eating bark and ☛ Read our special report on the first five years of Shellie Evans eating leaf litter.

Predator Free NZ 2050 – see page 20.

Winter 2021

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NATURE NEWS Heiðlóa or European Golden Plover took top spot in Iceland’s inaugural Bird of the Year.

Eyþór Ingi Jónsson

ICELAND’S TOP BIRD

The perky and adorable golden plover, known locally as the harbinger of spring, has been voted the first Nordic Bird of the Year.

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ollowing the international success of Forest & Bird’s Bird of the Year, a Birdlife partner organisation in Iceland was inspired to run its own contest.

Voting in Iceland’s Fugl ársins 2021 (Bird of the Year 2021) ran during April, with more than 2000 Icelanders taking part.

That’s a great voter turnout for a tiny Nordic island nation, defined by dramatic landscapes of volcanoes, geysers, and hot springs, that boasts a population of just 343,000 people.

Fuglavernd (Birdlife Iceland) developed its Bird of the Year competition with some pilot funding from the country’s Ministry of the Environment.

They made contact with the Forest & Bird team and met online with our communications and fundraising staff members to get advice on how to make the competition a success.

“The magic of Te Manu Rongunui o te Tau has always been public involvement,” says Forest & Bird’s Laura Keown, spokesperson for the New Zealand competition.

“That was our biggest piece of advice to Fuglavernd in Iceland, just to let the creativity and energy of people who love birds run wild!”

The uniquely Icelandic take on Bird of the Year started with a nomination process to select just 20 candidates for the final vote. The process attracted more than 200 nominations, each making an argument for why their favourite bird should be featured in the competition.

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Bird of the Year’s Iceland organiser, Guðrún Lára Pálmadóttir, was excited by the engagement with the competition.

“We saw a very strong trends towards certain birds but were a bit surprised that some birds we thought would be popular did not make it on the list! It gave us an opportunity for an interesting discussion in the media as well.”

Once voting opened for the top 20 birds, members of the public, including some well-known public figures, became spokespeople for the birds.

While the European golden plover took out the title, Iceland’s national bird, the ghostly high Arctic predator gyrfalcon, controversially failed to make the top five.

It was pipped to the post by the northern diver, rock ptarmigan, raven, and white wagtail.

“We are thrilled with the outcome! We got a lot of attention from the media and increased our member count by 10%–15%,” says Guðrún Lára.

“We are ever so grateful to Forest & Bird for sharing their experience and materials with us. The advice we received made all the difference.”

“It’s incredible to see our successful Bird of the Year campaign being replicated to promote bird conservation all over the world,” says Laura.

“I would love to see other countries do their own versions to raise awareness of their own incredible birds and get people excited about protecting them.”

New Zealand’s Te Manu Rongunui o te Tau takes flight on 18 October 2021.

The himbrimi or northern diver was runner up. Iceland's official national bird, the gyrfalcon, didn't even make it into the top 20 candidates.

Eyþór Ingi Jónsson

FOREST & BIRD

TOURS

SUPPORTING CONSERVATION

Naturalist and Forest & Bird President Mark Hanger has more than 30 years’ experience leading small-group nature tours throughout Australasia.

He has put together seven fundraising adventures for our supporters during 2021 and 2022. Explore New Zealand’s natural heritage and feel good knowing that the tours’ profits will be going to support Forest & Bird’s work!

NEW ZEALAND n Latitude 42 – departs 12 November 2021 n Footsteps on Conservation Heritage – departs 10 October 2021 and 20 March 2022 n Alpine Aotearoa – departs 30 December 2021 n Te Ao o Tane – departs 5 April 2022

AUSTRALIA n Western Australia Wildflowers and Wildlife – departs 3 & 11 September 2021 n Wild Tasmania – departs 28 November 2021

For full tour itineraries and prices, see www. forestandbird.org.nz/forest-bird-fundraisingtours. If you have any questions, email m.hanger@forestandbird.org.nz.

TESTIMONIAL I’ve been on three Forest & Bird tours and enjoyed them so much, I’ve booked to go on a fourth! Mark is incredibly knowledgeable about nature and his experience as a tour guide was invaluable. I had no idea how much his endeavour would add to Forest & Bird’s coffers but was delighted when he told us the result.

Hueline Massey Tour profits go towards Forest & Bird’s conservation work.

Over the past six months the tours have raised more than $80,000 for nature, thank you to everyone who booked, please spread the word to friends and whānau!

NATURE NEWS

Aerial of Anns Creek, with its unique lava shrublands.

Waka Kotahi

NZTA artist’s impression of part of the proposed East West Link, which is still under review.

Waka Kotahi

CRUCIAL RMA LEGAL FIGHT HEADS TO SUPREME COURT

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orest & Bird has been granted leave to appeal creek and lava shrublands have been identified as a to the Supreme Court in an important Resource significant ecological area in the Auckland Unitary Plan.

Management Act (RMA) case that could decide It is home to species such as akeake, geranium, and whether nature protection trumps infrastructure polices. fern that grow on lava flow. The volcanic plants that The outcome could result in greater security are found there are so rare in the region that for threatened native ecosystems nationwide places like this are their last stronghold. We or “death by 1000 cuts” from roading and say no-one should be allowed to destroy any other infrastructure developments. of this unique habitat.

In March, the High Court upheld a 2018 Forest & Bird’s legal counsel Peter governmental Board of Inquiry decision Anderson says previous court decisions granting RMA approvals for the East West suggested the RMA had “environmental Link, a proposed four-lane highway in east bottom lines” that must be complied with on Auckland. all occasions – especially when protecting It is the latest twist in a long-running legal native biodiversity near the coast.

The threatened native case that was launched after after Ngāti “The High Court’s decision in March sets a Geranium solanderi, Whātua Ōrākei and Forest & Bird opposed the worrying precedent nationwide,” says Peter. “It known as matua road and took Waka Kotahi, the NZ Transport suggests there can be exceptions to kumara, lives on lava Agency, to court. these environment minimum shrublands at Anns Creek.

Rob Suisted At the heart of this case is whether standards. regionally significant infrastructure projects “We had previously believed have to stick to national and local rules for the that indigenous biodiversity policies protection of indigenous coastal habitats. would trump infrastructure policies. This Our legal team has deemed the case so important decision seems to reverse that. that it has successfully sought to have it heard in the “It’s problematic because that opens Supreme Court later this year. the door for infrastructure projects in The East West Link, which would connect State important ecological areas that we Highway 20 at Onehunga with State Highway 1 at Mt thought were protected in law.”

Wellington, would destroy coastal habitat for rare birds Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei has said that live around Mangere Inlet and Anns Creek, including previously it was disappointed with the Australasian bitterns, banded rails, and wrybills.

High Court decision as it undermined Forest & Bird has previously argued in court that the the protection of coastal habitat areas, new highway would have significant adverse effects on including the taonga of Manukau Harbour. native ecosystems, including rare wading bird habitat Forest & Bird has briefed specialist environmental law and coastal wetlands. barrister Sally Gepp to appear at the hearing, which is The lava flow vegetation at the creek is the last likely to be heard later this year. remaining area of this habitat type in Auckland. The

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RABBIT DROPS INTO SANCTUARY! Forest & Bird’s Bushy Park Tarapuruhi Sanctuary, near Whanganui, had an unexpected visitor recently of the Peter Rabbit variety.

A live rabbit was dropped inside the predator-proof fence by an Australasian harrier. The harrier had been catching rabbits from the surrounding farmland and occasionally bringing them inside the fence to feed.

“We believe it was flying overhead with this rabbit in its talons and dropped it into the sanctuary,” says sanctuary manager Mandy Brooke.

But this bunny bundle wasn’t wanted in rabbit-free Bushy Park Tarapuruhi. Needless to say, the harrier’s special delivery needed a timely and effective resolution by the team. The rabbit was located by the sanctuary’s trail cameras and dispatched. Follow-up checks have been completed, including bringing in a specialist rabbitdetection dog to double check there were no holes in the fence and that there were no further rabbits.

FUNDRAISING VOYAGE Join Heritage Expeditions’ 11-day Forest & Bird partner cruise over New Year and experience life on some of New Zealand’s offshore islands. Beyond Fiordland: NZ’s Wildest Islands explores the untamed wilderness of Fiordland, flourishing native species on Stewart Island’s Ulva Island, and the remote and rugged beauty of the sub-Antarctic Auckland, Campbell, and Snares Islands.

Let Heritage know you’re a member when you book, and you will receive a 5% discount. They will also make a donation towards Forest & Bird’s conservation work!

Meanwhile, the pioneering New Zealand-based company, which has supported Forest & Bird for many years, has announced it will be operating the world-renowned Polar exploration vessel formerly known as MS Hanseatic and Society Adventurer from next May. Check out Heritage’s intrepid small group wildlife adventures at www.heritage-expeditions.com.

☛ Successful hihi breeding at Bushy Park Tarapuruhi – see page 52.

POLLUTION REVIEW REQUIRED

We’re calling on the Minister for the Environment David Parker to commit to reviewing national nitrogen pollution limits, as promised last year.

It has been revealed that the government ignored advice from the Freshwater Leaders’ Group, Kaahui Wai Māori, scientists’ groups, and the Ministry for the Environment about introducing a nitrate pollution bottom line of 1.0 mg/L (DIN) for rivers.

Instead, it chose to follow the Ministry for Primary Industries’ advice that it would be too expensive for industry.

“New Zealand has built an agricultural system that relies on pollution and degradation of the environment.

We need to reform that system into one that works for both people and nature,” says Forest & Bird freshwater advocate Annabeth Cohen.

The government said it would delay consideration of a nitrogen pollution bottom line for 12 months, but Minister for the Environment David Parker has since implied the review may not be necessary.

Winter 2021

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NATURE NEWS Blue Lake, Garvie Mountains, is part of Glenaray Station, which is currently undergoing tenure review.

Rob Brown

DEFEND THE HIGH COUNTRY

Forest & Bird recently met LINZ minister Damien O’Connor to press for stronger legislation to protect the South Island’s fragile dryland ecosystems.

Lynley Hargreaves

A

lack of government enforcement over unconsented burning, vegetation spraying, cultivation, and wetland clearance on Crown pastoral land shows how poorly New Zealand’s high country is being managed.

Forest & Bird recently used the Official Information Act to request a list of complaints, alleged breaches, and proven breaches about unauthorised activities on public land held as Crown pastoral leases.

The response showed that, over the past five years, complaints and investigations had increased but Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) had failed to prosecute any of the offenders over the past decade.

“It’s really disappointing that not even repeat offenders were prosecuted. We’ve met with the

The robust grasshopper is only found in the Mackenzie Basin.

Wikimedia

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Minister of Land of New Zealand, Damien O’Conner, to express our concern with the lack of appropriate action,” says Forest & Bird regional manager Nicky Snoyink.

“We suspect these complaints are only the tip of the iceberg. Many more unauthorised activities likely go unnoticed or aren’t recorded.

Sometimes there is a lack of clarity about what has been consented, which suggests both LINZ and leaseholders may sometimes be confused about the types of activities that require consent.”

New Zealand’s high-country landscapes are iconic, with golden tussocklands and unique dry shrublands, framed by braided rivers and gleaming snow-capped peaks.

These landscapes provide vital habitat for many of our most endangered plants and animals.

They are universally loved by New Zealanders.

“But some of these areas have been pushed to breaking point by burning, clearance, and intensification, and LINZ appears to lack the tools to hold anyone to account,” adds Nicky.

The new Crown Pastoral Land Reform Bill, which is due for its second reading in Parliament in

July, overhauls the regulatory system for Crown pastoral leases and ends tenure review.

Forest & Bird made a submission to the Environment Select Committee in April. We strongly support the end of tenure review but want to see the Bill strengthened to better protect native species on Crown pastoral land.

“What is proposed in the Bill is a vast improvement, including tighter consent processes, stronger monitoring and reporting, as well as new enforcement powers,” says Nicky.

“But it may still not be enough to stop farm development wiping out rare species that have lived for thousands of years in our natural high country landscapes.

“Now is the time to prioritise the future of species like the robust grasshopper, which only lives in three catchments, the critically endangered grand skink, and the kakī black stilt, one of the world’s rarest birds.”

Tenure review has resulted in the splitting of leases into freehold and conservation land, with many areas with high natural biodiversity being put into private ownership.

“It has been a bad deal for nature, with the rarest ecosystems more likely to be privatised, further fragmented, and intensified,” adds Nicky.

Burning native vegetation destroys nature in our increasingly rare high country ecosystems.

Photo released under the Official Information Act.

BIODIVERSITY

The search for AWAKOPAKA SKINK

Awakopaka skink.

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Carey Knox

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Climate warming and increased predation are pushing newly discovered alpine lizards to the limits of survival. It’s a race against time to save them.

Anna Yeoman

O

n an overcast day in January 2014, Tony Jewell headed on foot into Fiordland’s remote Darran Mountains. With a daypack on his back and a camera slung over his shoulder, he scrambled upwards through a maze of granite boulders below the looming mountain walls. He was hoping to photograph wētā.

Instead, curled under a rock at around 1200m above sea level, he found a skink. A glowing brown skink with jet-black eyes and a bright yellow belly.

“Within a few seconds of having the skink in hand, I was confident this was a completely new species,” remembers Tony.

Sharp-eyed Tony Jewell has a history of finding new lizard species that borders on the incredible. He has helped discover, or re-discover, nine new species of gecko and skink in New Zealand.

“So I photographed it as thoroughly as I could and, reluctantly, let it go again,” said Tony.

As Tony Jewell returned to his car that afternoon, his camera held sufficient proof to make the scientific community reasonably confident this was indeed a new species. Tony called it the awakopaka skink, meaning “in the footsteps of mighty glaciers”.

But with only one individual sighted, and no genetic analysis, its conservation status would be listed as “Data deficient”, making it unable to receive the priority funding that a critically endangered species should have.

Lizard scientists desperately needed to find out more about this mystery skink.

In January 2015, Tony and two other herpetologists returned to the area. Clambering through the jumble of sub-alpine shrubs and shattered granite, they watched for any flicker of movement.

With eyes and binoculars, they scanned rock after rock. They carefully lifted rocks – hundreds of them.

Then hundreds more. And they returned and did the same the following day. And the next.

They found no sign.

The herpetological community was worried. This was clearly a species in trouble. Possibly on the brink of extinction.

Several months later, there was a sad discovery. Tony had made a solo foray back to the site, and under a rock he found an awakopaka skink. It was dead. From his photos, it looked to be the very same individual he had seen a year earlier.

New Zealand used to be alive with lizards. In the absence of mammals, lizards filled the niches that rodents did elsewhere. They scrambled through the

trees, tussocks, and scree, foraging berries and hunting insects.

But since human arrival 800 years ago, they have suffered a massive decline. Their habitat has been lost through fire, farming, and urban development. And introduced mammals have hunted them to within an inch of survival.

Yet New Zealand’s lizards have had one thing in their favour – our alpine areas have stayed largely undeveloped. A number of our lizard species that have disappeared from the lowlands have been able to hang on in these mountain strongholds.

Lynn Adams heads up DOC’s Lizard Technical Advisory Group. “The populations in alpine areas are still struggling,” she explains. “But they haven’t gone as quickly as they have where it’s warmer.”

This is because their habitat has remained mostly undisturbed. By staying up high, they have escaped the worst of the predation. Until now.

For a long time, it was thought that introduced mammals rarely entered the alpine zone, but recent research has challenged this thinking. Stoats have been found at 1500m above sea level with their bellies full of skink remains.

Hedgehogs, a major predator of lizards, have been caught on camera above 1900m. Mice are a particular problem because they stay active during winter. They will attack lizards as they’re semi-hibernating in rock crevices.

With the warming climate, predation in alpine areas is expected to increase.

“We’re getting more frequent masts [of beech and tussock], and they have their accompanying predator booms,” says Lynn. “Also with the warming temperatures, we’re pushing up the elevation that predators can survive at. And for a longer summer season.”

We’re nearing a critical point. “Soon there will be nowhere else for them to go. They will be at the top of the mountain,” says Lynn.

REDISCOVERY FIVE YEARS LATER “Yeah baby!!!” rang out a shout that bounced around the granite mountain walls. It was January 2019, and Carey Knox, a herpetologist for Wildlands Consultants, had just found the world’s second-ever awakopaka skink.

A startled kea flapped away as the shouts echoed around the valley. After five years, here Carey Knox examines at last was confirmation that a skink in the Wick the species still did, in some Mountains of Fiordland. form, exist.

The herpetological community was thrilled. The find gave impetus, and funding, to the search. In January 2020, Carey returned and found eight more individuals, including juveniles and pregnant females.

There was still hope for this tough mountain lizard with its sunshine yellow belly. But beneath the rejoicing lies a crucial problem.

“At the moment, we don’t have really good management tools for saving our lizards,” says Lynn Adams.

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Tony Jewell with Jinty Mactavish in the Darran Mountains, Fiordland, in 2007. They discovered the barrier skink on this trip.

Rod Morris

Ethical Investing NZ Clear, goodhearted advice

Winter 2021

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ALPINE LIZARDS

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“If it was kiwi, we would trap stoats. That’s a welltested and successful tool.” But a number of animals prey on lizards, including mice, and scientists don’t yet know what intensity of trapping is needed to allow recovery of lizards. Or what toxins to use.

“What we do know is that eradication works,” says Lynn. “We‘ve seen it on our offshore islands and fenced sanctuaries.”

But we desperately need to find ways to protect our threatened lizards, such as the awakopaka skink, within the wider landscape, including these alpine areas.

There are a number of research projects under way, but the race against time is on.

In the 2020–21 summer, with new DOC funding, the search for the awakopaka skink was widened. Using maps, satellite imagery, and helicopter flyovers, five nearby sites with similar habitat were identified. Teams led by Carey Knox and DOC’s Dr Jo Monks then went in and searched all five sites rigorously. Nothing.

RECENT DISCOVERIES New Zealand has a remarkable lizard fauna. Relative to our land area, we have four times as many species as Australia. But we know so little about them.

They’re quiet, they’re small, and they’re incredibly skilful at remaining hidden. For a long time, they’ve existed under the radar.

Twice a decade, the Department of Conservation publishes an updated Conservation Status of New Zealand Reptiles. In 2005, it contained 89 species of geckos and skinks. In the update released in autumn 2021, the number had risen to 119 species.

One of the reasons that we’re still discovering new lizard species is that a good number have only survived in remote, inaccessible places. Fourteen of our geckos and 19 of our skinks live in the alpine zone, which can make their study difficult.

In May, DOC announced that an intensive hunt for lizards in the South Island over the summer had led to the discovery of what could be two new skink and two new gecko species. They were found in remote mountain areas in Fiordland, Mount Aspiring, and Nelson Lakes national parks, and the Hooker/Landsborough Wilderness Area on the West Coast.

The total number of awakopaka skinks seen is now sixteen.

And they’re all within a single 2ha area. The awakopaka After being rediscovered in 2019, skink appears to be this awakopaka skink prompted not just an elusive a huge search for more of its animal but a superspecies.

Carey Knox critically rare animal.

The story of the awakopaka skink is paralleled in the stories of a number of our alpine lizards – the Sinbad and Barrier skinks in Fiordland, the Cupola gecko in Nelson Lakes, the orange-spotted gecko in the Otago mountains, the newly discovered hura te ao gecko in Oteake – all unique and beautiful lizards surviving in our wild heights. All recently found, and all in danger of being lost forever.

If these lizards are going to hang on in our mountains, then developing landscape-scale pest control for these high altitude areas is an absolute priority. We’re moving in the right direction, but time is of the essence.

BE A LIZARD DETECTIVE Alpine skinks and geckos have been recently discovered in the mountains of the South Island.

DOC needs your help to understand their distribution and ecology.

If you have seen a skink or gecko in the alpine zone of the South Island, DOC would like to hear from you. They are especially interested in sightings of lizards above the tree and shrub zones in Fiordland and the Nelson Lakes area.

Please email your information to lizardresearch@doc.govt.nz. They need: → a photo of the lizard → a photo of the area where you found it → exact location information.

The barrier skink lives high on rock faces in the Darran Mountains.

Tony Jewell

The hura te ao gecko was discovered by Tony Jewell in 2018 in the mountains of Oteake Conservation Park, Central Otago.

Carey Knox

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OPINION

OUR LAND

No matter who we are or where we live, our fate is tied to the health of our whenua.

Megan Hubscher

W

e have to think and act smarter about how we use our country’s natural resources because we’ve reached the limit of what nature can provide, as the Ministry for the Environment’s recent report Our Land 2021 shows.

Urban sprawl is destroying our best farmland and important ecosystems too. About 40% of New Zealand’s land is now farmed, by far the largest of any active land-use category. Our greenhouse gas emissions are increasing, and this is linked to more intensive agriculture.

The report says nitrate fertiliser use has increased 700% since 1991. Irrigation has doubled since 2002.

Native ecosystems continue to shrink, largely through conversion to pasture and pine trees. A majority of monitored sites failed one or more soil quality targets.

Most rivers and lakes are polluted, and most of them are in rural catchments. Too many dairy farms use too much fertiliser and have compacted soil.

The questions of policy and practice presented in Our Land 2021 are critical ones. How can we grow food while encouraging biodiversity? Where can we house people while protecting farmland and nature? How can we live and work without making global warming worse?

This is not a winner versus loser argument over who should be allowed to develop unsuitable land, destroy wildlife, or emit greenhouse gasses. All these issues are everyone’s issues. We are in it together.

It is clear from Our Land 2021 and previous government reports that New Zealand’s environmental problems are serious and urgent – and, despite the protestations of vested industries, they aren’t fixing themselves. In many cases, they are getting worse.

It’s time for farming leaders, urban planners, and

central policy-makers to help all of us transition to ways of living that protect biodiversity, the climate, fresh water, and land. The old resource-hungry models need to be thrown out.

Luckily, the government has developed a raft of new policy statements – thanks to the advocacy of Forest & Bird and others – that can deal with some of these landbased issues.

We have a new National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management, which, if properly implemented, will limit nitrogen and other pollution in our waterways.

We have the powerful National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity, which Forest & Bird and Federated Farmers helped write and has the potential to protect significant native habitats on private land.

We have a National Policy Statement on Urban Development to instruct councils to protect rural land and provide connected communities by building up and not out.

But an effective climate policy is still missing. Until agriculture is brought into the Emissions Trading Scheme, the transport and energy sectors will have to do the heavy lifting on reducing global warming.

Other nature-based solutions can help bring health back to the whenua.

More than a million hectares of land could be returned to native forest to cut emissions, save farmland from erosion, and improve water quality.

When backed up by sustained pest control, New Zealand’s landscapes, public and private, could become a vital part of our climate solution.

All over the world, nature is fast disappearing. With your help, Forest & Bird is advocating to protect our land, wildlife, and the climate before it’s too late.

A Canterbury landscape.

Bernard Spragg Winter 2021

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N AT I O N A L V O L U N T E E R W E E K 2 0 – 2 6 J U N E 2 0 2 1

Forest & Bird Youth volunteers.

TO ALL OUR VOLUNTEERS

THANK YOU!

C

onservation volunteers have been at the heart of what Forest & Bird does for nearly 100 years.

Volunteers established and ran the Society for decades, securing many wins for nature. Today, our 48 volunteer-led branches are the unpaid voice for nature from Northland to Southland.

We rely on volunteers to help us with many different kinds of work. For example, every Monday, Rosa and Gyle come into Forest & Bird’s Wellington office and donate three hours of their time helping out on our history project.

We wanted to contribute our magazines to the National Library’s Papers Past national digital archive but wouldn’t have been able to undertake this “love” project without the help of volunteers.

Earlier this year, our new Projects, Branches and Networks Group distributed a survey to find out how many volunteers were working on Forest & Bird’s conservation projects during 2020 and the kind of work they were doing.

The results showed that, despite Covid-19 disruptions, 3000 volunteers gave an incredible 64,000 hours of their time to about 130 conservation projects, mainly work on predator control, planting, and weeding.

“I believe that 64,000 volunteer hours is a huge underestimate of what our members contribute in terms of their time,” says David Bowden, Forest & Bird’s national projects manager, who carried out the research.

“I would not hesitate to double that figure to include extras – attending meetings, planning, community outreach. These activities all contribute to our conservation projects but aren’t necessarily recorded.”

Next year, David plans to measure other kinds of unpaid work within the Society, such as the contributions of Rosa and Gyle.

For example, volunteers contribute a huge amount to Forest & Bird’s advocacy and campaign work, organising local campaigns, making submissions, lobbying MPs, and sharing messaging on social media.

Branch volunteers support our legal and advocacy teams by being “eyes and ears” on the ground, alerting National Office volunteers them to possible breaches of Gyle Bascon and Rosa Pillay. conservation law, attending Caroline Wood meetings, and making legal submissions to local councils.

Volunteers also help National Office staff on a range of work, including fundraising, membership support, and communications.

“I love volunteering for Forest & Bird. I enjoy helping out the team, and it feels good knowing I’m making a difference,” says Baden Clure, who helps the Fundraising & Membership Wellington branch volunteers team with weekly administrative Peter Hunt and Ken New. Caroline Wood tasks.

See page 52 to see how Forest & Bird’s conservation volunteers are helping to bring back nature at Bushy Park Tarapuruhi.

During 2020, more than 3000 Forest & Bird volunteers gave 64,000 hours to:

Check 17,000 traps

and bait stations

Restore 70,000ha of nature

Grow 43,000 trees to donate

Weed

6000 hours

Plant 42,000 plants

*Note: The survey data covers 88% of branches, major projects, KCC, and Youth.

MARINE

BROKEN PROMISES

Forest & Bird wants to see a legally enforceable catch limit to protect the iconic tarakihi fishery.

Caroline Wood

Inshore fishers admit to flouting voluntary measures intended to protect the tarakihi fishery from overfishing.

T

arakihi fishers have admitted the industry is failing to adhere to the voluntary measures it promised as part of a 25-year catch limit deal in 2019.

In March, using the Official Information Act, Forest & Bird published a private briefing written by the inshore fishing industry for David Parker, the Fisheries and Oceans Minister.

The letter, which was dated 21 December 2020, said two of six key performance targets for the 2019/20 fishing year had been missed.

Fisheries Inshore New Zealand Chair Laws Lawson admitted fishing boats failed to keep out of the Voluntary Closed Areas they promised not to fish in because of their importance for juvenile tarakihi.

“We acknowledge industry did not meet the milestone for the 2019/20 year, and we are working for improvements in the 2020/21,” Lawson wrote.

The industry also didn’t adhere to its own voluntary “move-on” rule, which says that, if too many undersized tarakihi are caught, the boat will stop fishing and move somewhere else.

“In half of the cases where a move-on was triggered, there was not full compliance with the move-on rule,” the briefing said.

Tarakihi have been fished down to just 15% of their original levels. Anything less than 40% is considered overfished.

The voluntary measures promised by the inshore fishing industry in 2019 informed the then Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash’s decision to reduce the commercial tarakihi catch by only 10%.

Last July, Forest & Bird’s lawyers appeared in the High Court asking for a judicial review of Nash’s decision.

Forest & Bird wants a legally enforceable catch limit to protect the iconic fishery. We warned last year that voluntary measures wouldn’t work.

“Bringing back our tarakihi population to good health depends on the rules working. Voluntary is simply not the same thing as mandatory,” says Forest & Bird advocate Geoff Keey.

“Commercial fishers have been fishing hard up against the boundaries of closed areas where juvenile tarakihi are known to congregate. They know they can’t get in trouble when they cross the line.

“Leaving the future of our oceans up to an industry that has a financial incentive to overfish makes no sense. The eastern tarakihi fishery is in a terrible state.

It’s time for the government to stand up to industry pressure and restore the fishery with enforceable regulations.”

Forest & Bird said at the time of Minister Nash’s 2019 decision the Industry Rebuild Plan shouldn’t be used in place of an appropriate catch limit. We pointed out that, if the rules were voluntary, there would be no way to determine whether the plan was working.

“As Forest & Bird feared, the government made the tarakihi catch deal on the basis of shaky industry promises,” adds Geoff.

The judicial review decision is expected later this year.

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P R E D AT O R F R E E N Z

SPECIAL REPORT

Possums and stoats have been eradicated from 12,000ha in the Perth River Valley, Westland, and rats have been reduced to very low numbers, thanks to a Predator Free 2050-funded project.

Chad Cottle

Are we on track for

PREDATOR FREE 2050?

Five years after the government’s launch of an ambitious goal to rid the country of rats, possums, and mustelids by 2050, we take an in-depth look at what has been achieved.

David Brooks

A

otearoa is five years into an “Apollo moonshot” project to rid the country of rats, possums, stoats, and other mustelids by 2050. What has our team of five million achieved so far, and are we on course to achieve a world first?

DOC’s programme manager for Predator Free 2050, Brent Beaven, says the overall project is on track to meet most of its 2025 milestones and there is a much clearer understanding now of what will be required to successfully rid the country of the “big three” invasive mammalian predators (rats, possums, and mustelids) by 2050.

“After being in this programme for five years, I’m absolutely confident that [the end goal] is achievable, but, because it’s a big programme and a complex one, there’s also lots of stuff that could trip us up on the way,” Brent says.

It all started nine years ago when Forest & Bird invited 20 scientists, conservationists, and officials to its Ruapehu Lodge and the gathering concluded that

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making New Zealand predator free was a realistic goal.

Prominent scientist Sir Paul Callaghan picked up the baton, saying it could be our equivalent of the Apollo project to land on the moon. In 2016, then Prime Minister Sir John Key announced we would aim to be free of rats, possums, stoats, ferrets, and weasels by 2050.

“I don’t think anyone who attended that Forest & Bird meeting would believe how far we’ve come,” says University of Auckland conservation biologist Professor James Russell.

The vision is compelling. Rats, possums, and mustelids have devastated our native wildlife. Introduced predators are the most important reason a total Dr James Russell. of 57 bird and three frog species have become extinct since the arrival of humans. Today, three-quarters of our native land birds and many native reptiles are threatened by, or at risk of, extinction.

Eradicating these introduced predators would save tens of millions of dollars spent every year on suppressing them and would be a big step towards our native wildlife thriving rather than continuing to decline. These pest animals also cost the economy an estimated $3.3 billion every year.

Tom Kay is Forest & Bird’s representative on Predator Free New Zealand’s communities-focused collaborative group. This is one of six groups helping coordinate the project under the leadership of the Department of Conservation.

“We’re at a really interesting point in the process – figuring out what it’s going to take, who’s going to lead what, and how we can work as a nation to most effectively reach the Predator Free 2050 goal,” Tom says.

A five-year PF2050 progress report has recently been released, including an assessment of progress towards seven interim goals for 2025 (see overleaf). The report says most are on track to be achieved.

Forest & Bird’s former chief conservation advisor Kevin Hackwell, who helped organise the 2012 Ruapehu Lodge gathering and was previously the Forest & Bird representative on the collaborative group, says it is important the project has transformative goals, even if some take longer to achieve than initially hoped.

“It’s better to have ambitious goals and not quite make them, rather than be unambitious and just potter along. The ambition we’ve had since it really got going has been amazing, and it’s really important just to keep pushing,” Kevin says.

Since the 2016 announcement, the government has invested heavily in Predator Free 2050 directly and through related programmes, with an estimated average of $75 million being spent annually over the past five years. This investment is expected to rise in coming years from funding committed for landscapescale projects.

Brent Beaven says the priorities are learning how to scale up the areas for eradication, defending areas against reinvasion, and building social understanding and support.

Over the past five years, Predator Free 2050 Ltd has partnered with organisations to launch 14 large landscape-scale eradication projects around the country. Partner organisations include central and local government, mana whenua, philanthropists, business groups, and conservation groups.

Zero Invasive Predators (ZIP) has been running a project in the Perth River Valley, in Westland, which has successfully eradicated possums and stoats from 12,000ha and reduced rats to very low numbers.

Plans have been announced to expand the project to nearby Whataroa and Ōkārito, and ultimately more widely in South Westland, to cover 100,000ha within five years. Another project getting off the ground is the elimination of introduced predators on Rakiura Stewart Island.

It’s really crucial that the community buys into it, and they’re not just presented with a plan and told this is what we’re going to do.

New tools such as automated traps, more sophisticated detection and reporting equipment, and toxins targeting specific species have been and are being developed, reducing the cost and labour involved in targeting predators, particularly in large and remote areas.

“There have been a lot of incremental developments in technology. The holy grail would be having a remotely communicating system with on-board computing that identifies predators and can respond in real time,” says James Russell.

Brent Beaven explains how two workstreams are aimed at preventing Brent Beaven, who is leading Predator Free 2050 reinvasions by predators. on behalf of DOC, with The South Westland Prince Harry in 2015 on project is relying partly predator-free Ulva Island, on natural barriers – the near Rakiura Stewart Island.

Southern Alps, fastTourism NZ flowing rivers, and the sea. Another project, Farms as Barriers, will soon be launched with the aim of stopping predators crossing farms between natural areas by targeting paths they →

Winter 2021

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Tīēke are one species that thrives when possums, rats, and mustelids are removed from the forest.

Jake Osborne

→

follow along fence lines, waterways, and shelter areas.

“We’re on a trajectory to having, within five to seven years, the tools available to achieve large-scale eradication across the country and being able to defend it,” he says.

There has been a huge wave of enthusiasm from groups and individuals in communities, not least in cities and towns where projects to control – and in a few cases eradicate – predators are under way. These include the capital city’s Predator Free Wellington and Capital Kiwi projects.

Bringing it all together is a complex task. The six collaborative groups involved in the programme bring together more than 50 representatives from 27 different organisations.

“There are lots of players involved. The idea is not to be daunted by that,” says Brent Beaven. “We want everyone working towards this, but we need to find a shared way to work together.”

All those spoken to for this article agreed that growing the social awareness and support for PF2050 is another challenge to be tackled as the impacts of the programme increasingly affect people’s lives.

James Russell says it is important that people don’t feel PF2050 is being imposed on them.

“It’s really crucial that the community buys into it, and they’re not just presented with a plan and told this is what we’re going to do.”

Tom Kay agrees that getting the public and community groups fully onside will be critical, although he adds the process may be “messy and a bit hard”. He adds that volunteers from Forest & Bird’s 48 branches spend tens of thousands of hours every year on rat, possum, and mustelid control all over the country. They are looking forward to a time when Aotearoa is predator free because then they can devote their time to habitat restoration and bringing back nature to our countryside and urban areas.

It’s clear from talking to those Tom Kay. involved that much has been achieved so far towards our PF2050 vision, but human factors such as community support and political will over the next three decades will determine whether New Zealand’s moonshot becomes reality.

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ON THE RIGHT TRACK

Summary of progress against the seven interim goals published in the Predator Free 2050 Strategy and five-year Action Plan (2020–25).

THE 2025 INTERIM GOAL

PROGRESS TO DATE (mid 2021)

By 2025, we will increase by one million hectares (from 2016 figures) the area of New Zealand mainland where predators are suppressed, through Predator Free 2050 projects.

Already achieved, with an additional 1.13 million hectares under sustained predator control since 2016/17.

By 2025, we will have demonstrated that predator eradication can be achieved in areas of mainland New Zealand of at least 20,000ha and that these areas can be defended from reinvasion without the use of fences.

On track. Zero Invasive Predators (ZIP) Perth River Valley project has eliminated possums and stoats, and reduced rats to very low numbers, over 12,000ha in Westland, and the area is to be expanded to nearly 100,000ha in coming years. Main challenge will be preventing reinvasion.

By 2025, effective tools and knowledge will be available to achieve predator eradication on farmland.

Landscape-scale projects on the Mahia Peninsula, in Taranaki, and in South Westland, as well as the imminent launch of the Farms as Barriers research project, indicate this goal is on track for achievement.

By 2025, whānau, hapu, and iwi will have identified sites of importance for predator eradication and at least five eradication projects led by whānau, hapū, and iwi will be under way across the country.

There is currently one iwi-led predator eradication project – Korehāhā Whakahau – led by Ngāti Awa in the area around Whakatāne, and the Tūhoe-led Te Urewera project is soon to begin. Planning and launching a further three projects by 2025 are feasible.

By 2025, we will have eradicated possums or mustelids from at least one New Zealand city.

Wellington has made the most progress towards this goal, and it could be achieved by 2025. There will be challenges in preventing reinvasion. Predator free projects in Auckland and Dunedin are achieving results.

By 2025, we will have developed a breakthrough science solution that would be capable of eradicating at least one small mammal predator from the New Zealand mainland.

Although there have been significant advances in a range of technologies, a single breakthrough solution has not been found.

This goal of eradicating at least one small mammal predator from the mainland is now thought to be more likely to be achieved through a suite of tools and techniques rather than a single breakthrough.

By 2025, we will have eradicated all mammalian predators from New Zealand’s uninhabited offshore islands.

Not expected to be achieved because of the size of remaining offshore islands still to be cleared of predators. Planning has been completed for predator eradication on 46,000ha sub-Antarctic Auckland Island – New Zealand’s fifth largest island – but the project, expected to take 10 years, has not yet started.

KEY:

Already achieved ahead of 2025

On track to achieve by 2025

Feasible to achieve by 2025

Not expected to be achieved by 2025 Winter 2021

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IN THE FIELD

Pāhau kākāpō, named after the beard of our much-loved ground parrot (right), is the tallest moss the world.

Phil Palmer

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Kākāpō.

Jake Osborne

It is our good fortune and legacy to have both Māori and scientific names to describe the natural world around us.

Ann Graeme

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n our native forest grows a moss, the largest moss in the world. Most pākehā simply call it the “giant moss”.

That is not very original.

Scientists have named it Dawsonia superba.

“Superb” is quite eloquent for a scientific name, and “Dawson” is a tribute to Dawson Turner, a distinguished British botanist and moss expert.

That is mildly interesting.

Māori called this moss pāhau kākāpō – “the beard of the kakapo”.

Now that is a name to remember!

What’s in a name? Quite simply, everything. Names provide identity, which is essential for communicating in a society. Scientific names, unique and universal in their usage, are vital for international scientific communication.

Names in te reo were equally vital in Māori society.

Pre-European Māori looked at nature in a different way to modern scientists. They had an intimate knowledge of the natural world. They created practical, descriptive names that identified their sources of food, clothing, shelter, medicine, tools, and weapons. They created evocative, imaginative names because nature was the fount of their stories and understanding of the world.

The name pāhau kākāpō is both a playful image and a clever observation, comparing the little spiky leaves of the moss with the green, hair-like feathers that surround the kakapo’s face.

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Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

PARATANIWHA The plant parataniwha belongs to the

nettle family and has lush, frond-like leaves, often pink with new growth. Its name can refer to its rough leaves, which feel like sharkskin, for the shark was considered a taniwha.

As parataniwha grows in dark, damp places in the forest, often in overhangs behind waterfalls where monsters might well dwell, its name can also mean the home of the taniwha, or water monster.

Parataniwha leaves feel like sharkskin.

Auckland Zoo.

Putaputawētā or the marble leaf tree is home to puriri moths and wētā.

Jon Sullivan Flickr

WĒTĀPUNGA Foraging in the forest, Māori would often

have encountered the large insects known to all of us.

Wētā are a specialty of Aotearoa. There are about a 100 species, and they lived everywhere, including in trees (pūtangatanga, tree wētā) or in dark places (tokoriro, cave wētā).

Together, they used to play roles similar to rats and mice in other countries, eating vegetation and small invertebrates, and spreading seeds in their droppings.

But when actual mice and rats arrived, they took over the wētā niches and ate the wētā themselves.

So, despite their spiky legs and ferocious faces, many wētā are now endangered, and none more so than the giant of them all, which Māori called wētāpunga.

This means “God of ugly things”, and ugly they are.

Scientists too were struck by its scary appearance and named its genus Deinacrida, Greek for terrible or devil.

The tragic irony is that giant wētā are not aggressive (except to other male giant wētā) and are very unlikely to bite you. They cannot fend off a rat or cat or hedgehog, so all giant species are endangered, and most only survive on pest-free islands.

Wētāpunga are the giants of the underworld.

Jake Osborne

Puriri moth carved on a pare (lintel).

Wikimedia

PUTAPUTAWĒTĀ While you won’t meet a giant wētā

in your garden, you may meet a tree wētā if you have a marble leaf tree known as putaputawētā to Māori.

It is often host to the puriri moth, whose caterpillar tunnels through the tree trunk before pupating and emerging as an adult moth. The empty hole then offers an ideal home for wētā, hence the tree’s name putaputawētā, which means lots of holes and wētā.

AKEAKE Wood was the

building material of Māori.

They knew the attributes of different timbers, their strength, their hardness, and their usefulness in carving. The coastal tree, akeake, is named for its exceptionally hard wood, which was used for making weapons.

Ake ake means “forever” or “everlasting” in te reo. In World War II, the 28th Māori Battalion marched into Greece, Crete, North Africa, and Italy singing “Ake! Ake! Kia Kaha e!”, meaning “for ever and ever be strong!”. →

Wira Gardiner’s biography of the Māori Battalion.

David Bateman Publishing

Akeake is a strong hardy coastal tree. University of Auckland

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TĪTIPOUNAMU If tauhou is a newcomer, the rifleman is

a species with an ancient lineage in Aotearoa. Its Māori name tītipounamu is beautiful. It combines “tititi”, its squeaky call, with pounamu or greenstone, after the bright green feathers of the male rifleman.

Tītipounamu “squeaky voice”.

Riroriro “serenader of spring”.

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University of Auckland

Craig McKenzie

RIRORIRO Just as the trees define the native forest, so

too do the native birds. Māori knew them all, and their knowledge is reflected in the names they gave and the stories they wove around them. When the riroriro or grey warbler sang in Spring, Māori knew it was time to begin planting crops. This whakataukī or Māori proverb mirrors a European children’s story, “The Little Red Hen”, about a lazy person who won’t help but later wants to share the harvest. I whea koe i te tangihanga o te riroriro, ka mahi kai māu? Where were you when the riroriro was singing, that you didn’t work to get yourself food?

TAUHOU Māori knew and named all the native forest

birds, but, when European immigrants began arriving, a new bird arrived with them – the Australian silvereye.

Sometimes, these tiny birds are blown out to sea in westerly storms, but few, if any, survive the 1500km flight to our shores. But, in the 1850s, some passengers recorded exhausted silvereyes clinging to the ships’ riggings and crouching on the decks.

Enough birds arrived in Auckland to begin breeding, and soon silvereyes spread throughout Aotearoa.

Today, they are one of our most abundant garden birds.

Silvereyes were a new bird for Māori, and they gave them an appropriate name. They called them “tauhou”, which means “the stranger”.

Tauhou “the stranger”.

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Oscar Thomas

TE REO IN TAXONOMY New species – animals, plants, fungi, and more – are constantly being discovered and described. To be universally recognisable, each must be named, and the specific scientific rules that govern nomenclature and taxonomic description must be observed. But there is room to include cultural and local knowledge and place names, after discussion with tangata whenua, and this is beginning to happen.

When a new species of white-flowered alpine cress was discovered high on the slopes of Mt Ruapehu, botanists consulted with local iwi Ngāti Rangi, who are mana whenua over the part of Mt Ruapehu where the species was found, to choose a name. They settled on panatohea, which combines “panapana”, a common name for this type of cress, and “tītōhea”, which, for Whanganui tribes, means a sacred area where special species live.

So, in 2019, this newly discovered threatened species was given the scientific name Cardamine panatohea. Ngāti Rangi Chairman Che Wilson

TŪTAE KĒHUA Not everything in nature lends itself

easily to describing and understanding. What could tangata whenua make of the grotesque and smelly structure that seems to emerge spontaneously from the earth? Its common and prosaic Pākehā name is basket fungus.

Māori used much more imaginative kupu to describe it. They called it tūtae kēhua, which means “the poo of a ghost”!

Every society has created names to help them understand and describe the world around them. We use names from around the world, like the pretty blue garden flower from Europe called love-in-a-mist. But Māori names are unique to Aotearoa.

Scientists all over the world can understand Dawsonia superba, but few will know it as pāhau kākāpō. The scientific name gives us one dimension. Pāhau kākāpō gives us another, a visual and of-its-place picture of a plant that the Latin name can never provide. It is our good fortune and our legacy to have them both.

Tūtae kēhua “poo of a ghost”.

Bernard Spragg

The many iwi of Aotearoa often had different kupu and different interpretations of words, to identify the world they lived in. That is why you find variation in the Māori names for animals and plants. This article is about some of the names and stories, and is neither exclusive nor comprehensive. Thank you to Robert McGown for his assistance.

said at the time: “In giving this name for this specific Ruapehu-based species, it is acknowledging the need to treat the entire area, and not just the species, with special care and is an encouragement to all to remember that Ruapehu is the sacred altar for the Whanganui tribes and is recognised for both his cultural and natural heritage status.”

Tiritiri Matangi Island

RECHARGE YOUR SOUL

Take a guided walk through the bush, serenaded by the sound of our magnificent native birds. See New Zealand’s oldest working lighthouse, or simply immerse yourself in the peace and solitude that is Tiritiri Matangi Island.

Panatohea alpine cress (Cardamine panatohea).

Supplied

tiritirimatangi.co.nz | Ferry bookings: fullers.co.nz

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COVER

BRING BACK NATURE

Native Fuchsia, Bellbird Beauty by Rachel Walker. You can buy this print and see more of Rachel's artwork at www.walkerillo.com or from Forest & Bird's online shop.

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Reforming the RMA is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to return nature to every corner of the country. Rick Zwaan explains what is at stake.

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his year, we have the opportunity to gift already been taken down for ever-expanding sprawl, younger generations the kind of healthy natural how will the new sewerage and water systems impact on world they deserve. One where everyone can local streams and rivers, and where will kākā go when experience the joys of watching a gaggle of noisy tūī their favourite tree is cut down? We can have good foraging in city gardens during the day, while hearing quality affordable homes close to places we work and kiwi calling in the nearby hills at night. play without munting the environment we all rely on.

A world where it’s possible to head out of the city That’s if we get the rules right. Which brings me to a favourite local river or estuary and swim in fresh, back to the RMA. clean waters brimming with native fish. A future for The much-maligned Resource Management Act 1991 young and old alike that allows all of us to appreciate is a law that was put in place before I was born. At the the dramatic beauty of the natural landscapes and time, it was seen as world-leading legislation that would coastlines Aotearoa has to offer, safe in the knowledge protect the environment while allowing for economic they are properly protected for decades to come. development.

It could be this generation’s legacy Forest & Bird was closely involved to our tamariki and mokopuna. But in establishing the legislation in the only if we can put a stop to the current late 1980s and published a 10-volume decline of indigenous habitats and stop guide to the RMA for lawyers. But, over We absolutely 4000 birds, plants, and animals sliding the past three decades, the legislation need to deal towards extinction. When it comes to has been tinkered with by successive to the housing this year’s potentially game-changing governments. crisis, but reform of the Resource Management Act The RMA’s original intention was to let’s not forget (RMA), we need to put nature first. have a hierarchy – that environmental the impact We need to be ready to show our considerations would be put before on the local lawmakers how much we care about the economic ones. Yet, over time, planners, natural world and how it’s possible to along with some judges, interpreted environment in provide a sustainable economic future the law to mean that environmental the process. that also allows nature back into our and economic benefits needed to be cities, towns, and countryside. Soon, we “balanced”. will be asking for your help in doing this The accepted thinking at the time (see overleaf ). was that it was possible to manage As New Zealanders, we’re deeply connected to our environmental resources while enabling as much natural heritage. It’s part of who we are and forms as possible their use or extraction. This could be the basis of everything we do. Yet – right now – our done by mitigating or “offsetting” the damage to the government is allowing the destruction of nature to environment. For example, a mining company could continue apace. be allowed to dig up a virgin piece of bush as long as It is giving farmers permission to irrigate and put it was “restored” 30 years later once the coal or gold cows on the Mackenzie Basin, the last hope for the was out of the ground. Or a piece of land needed for an critically endangered Maniototo peppercress, kakī, irrigation dam could be swapped with another piece of and numerous other dryland species, in order to land with similar natural values 40km away. make money from a habitat inherently unsuitable for But this approach failed to recognise the cumulative industrial-scale dairy farming. impact of destroying habitats, which creates In Canterbury, Hawke’s Bay, and elsewhere, rivers fragmented landscapes that are too small for endemic are running dry because too many businesses are species to survive and thrive. Or how restoring rare being allowed to extract water for farm irrigation and ecosystems is a hugely expensive and costly job that hydro-electric power. And the government isn’t making can never make up for the loss of unmodified habitat. councils do their duty when it comes to monitoring Today, with climate change putting even more pressure and enforcing current RMA rules designed to protect on our biodiversity, range-restricted species need more indigenous biodiversity from development. habitat to move into, not less.

We absolutely need to deal to the housing crisis, but The purpose of the replacement RMA legislation let’s not forget the impact on the local environment must be to protect our fundamental need for a healthy in the process. How many climate-positive trees have environment. My hope is that we will see a rapid shift

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Winter 2021

COVER away from “limiting loss” towards actively and urgently Meridian Energy proposed an 80m-high hydroelectric restoring the natural places and species we all value. dam, which would have drowned a stretch of river and Doing so doesn’t mean stopping development. It simply forest within a 14km-long reservoir. means we need to do development in a way that doesn’t Forest & Bird appealed against Meridian’s resource destroy the environment. consents and campaigned hard to stop the dam until For example, last year, Forest & Bird’s legal team Meridian cancelled the project in 2012. Two years ago, worked with the Department of Conservation and the the incredible natural values of this part of the river Riverlea Environmental Society to win an important were protected in perpetuity when it was added to the RMA case in the Environment Court. Plans for an 800Kahurangi National Park. home subdivision next to the Waikato In a landmark coastal protection case, River, in Hamilton, were amended to Forest & Bird supported a tiny hapū from protect critically endangered long-tailed Motiti Island in a six-year court battle to The decisions bat habitat. bring back marine diversity to the Bay of MPs make about The developer agreed to ban cats, pay Plenty. The Court of Appeal confirmed a how we use and for new plantings, restrict street lighting, 2016 Environment Court ruling that the manage this and reduce the scope of the development.

Resource Management Act empowers The legal win means future homeowners regional councils to regulate fishing to country’s natural will be able to experience the thrill of preserve marine biodiversity, significant resources will seeing pekepeka flying along the forest habitats, and Māori relationships with the have lasting edges, hunting for flying insects, right in ocean and taonga species. and irreversible the heart of Hamilton.

Earlier this year, the Minister of consequences However, persuading all developers Conservation Kiri Allan signed off three and extractive industries to do the same new marine protected areas around won’t be easy. There are some people Motiti Island. Importantly, it now means who like to blame the current laws for their business other councils can use the same rules to protect marine ills. They presumably want to do whatever they like biodiversity in their areas too. with New Zealand’s natural resources without much Alongside these high profile wins, every day, the regard for the impact it may have on the environment Forest & Bird legal and advocacy teams are working and wider society. hard behind the scenes to ensure every district and It’s important that vested interests with deep pockets region have good local resource management plans in don’t hoodwink the New Zealand public into their world place. view – that the RMA is an outdated piece of legislation The new legislation needs to be crystal clear from getting in the way of a post-Covid economic recovery. the get-go – so everyone understands what the law Taking an environmental case to court to defend says and what it is designed to do. This will mean fewer nature is a costly and time-consuming exercise. expensive and time-consuming environmental court Businesses that want to use New Zealand’s natural cases in the future. resources – its land, freshwater, and rare minerals – The decisions our MPs make in the coming often have armies of lawyers trying to bend the law in months – about how we use and manage this country’s their favour. natural resources – will have lasting and irreversible Forest & Bird knows this only too well. Our team of consequences. lawyers, regional advocates, and branches have been Soon, you will have a chance to let the government defending nature in RMA-related cases for the past 30 know about the importance of making nature years. But it’s expensive and time-consuming work. paramount in the new laws. Together, we can ensure the Last year, for example, Forest & Bird and the Long future health of our rivers, clean air, bountiful bush, and Bay Okura Great Park Society were jointly awarded thriving birds and wildlife are the foundation stones of $300,000 in legal costs following a successful five-year our economy and wellbeing. campaign to stop Todd Property building a $1.4bn I hope that you, like me, will use this housing development near the Okura Estuary north once-in-a-generation opportunity to of Auckland. The company had failed to understand get the RMA right. the impact of its huge development on this critically important bird habitat.

Rick Zwaan is Forest & Bird’s Otago We also use the RMA legislation to protect our rivers and Southland regional advocacy and coastlines too. Many of you will remember Forest manager and RMA campaign lead. & Bird’s campaign to stop a massively destructive You can contact him at dam being built on the wild Mōkihinui River. In 2008, r.zwaan@forestandbird.org.nz.

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GET READY FOR ACTION Forest & Bird is gearing up for a major campaign to get the new resource management legislation right.

With our extensive knowledge of the current law, Forest & Bird is uniquely placed to contribute to the development of the Natural and Built Environment Act that will replace the current Resource Management Act 1991.

Our environmental lawyer Erika Toleman will lead the work to develop a comprehensive submission into the replacement law. Our wider advocacy and communications team will be helping to coordinate a strong public response to the draft legislation.

When the draft purpose of the new law is released in June, Forest & Bird’s RMA campaign team will provide guidance on how you can help shape the future of Aotearoa’s environment by supporting our submissions to get a nature-first legislation passed by Parliament.

Given the complexity of the law changes, a two-stage process is planned. First up, we get to see what government legislators think the new ☛ legislation’s “purpose” should be and make a submission on this.

This is a really fundamental part of the process because, if the purpose isn’t right, then the rest of the law won’t be either. MPs on the Environment select committee will consider the public’s written and oral submissions before making a final recommendation.

Once the Act’s purpose is agreed, the full draft legislation Erika Toleman will be released for public comment later in the year and make its way through Parliament during 2022. This will require a fresh round of Forest & Bird submissions.

Do you want to bring back nature?

Go to https://www.forestandbird.org.nz/ bringbacknature to find out more about the campaign and how you can help.

Forest & Bird’s RMA specialist Jen Miller on her hopes for the new legislation – see overleaf.

H A B I TAT

HABITAT LOSS NEEDS TO STOP Forest & Bird’s group manager for conservation advocacy Jen Miller says its time for us to end the destruction of indigenous habitats.

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n the mid-2000s, before Jen Miller started working for Forest & Bird, she was a resource management planner for the Department of Conservation.

Her job was to advocate for threatened species by making submissions, helping councils develop their district plans, and taking appeals to the Environment Court.

“It’s not dissimilar to the resource management work our regional conservation managers do today,” she says.

What does she want the replacement legislation for the 30-year-old Resource Management Act to look like?

“It has to have at its very core the requirement to halt the decline of our indigenous habitats because if we don’t do that we are at a tippping point. We can’t afford any further loss of our indigenous ecosystems. It’s got to stop.

“This is what I want to see front and centre of any legislation. The ‘balance’ between economic development and the ability to protect our indigenous ecosystems has got to stop because it has always worked against nature.

“I can’t stress enough that habitat loss is the big thing. You can do all the trapping and predator control in the world, but, unless you stop the loss of the places where nature can live, then it’s pointless.”

One of her biggest personal disappointments has been the combined inability of the government, DOC, and local councils to use the RMA to protect the Mackenzie Basin.

“To me, that highlights the failure of RMA processes, not the legislation itself, but the way in which it was enacted,” says Jen.

VALDER

AWARDS

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“There’s been a failure of agencies to protect the Mackenzie and government policies that allowed for intensification in the most inappropriate place. I still find it really difficult to think about.”

Forest & Bird uses the RMA the most of any environmental group to protect all kinds of habitats.

We have a small expert legal team of lawyers who know the legislation inside out.

The Society’s regional conservation managers also play an important role in advocating to protect local habitats – spending at least a third of their time on RMA-related work, often supported by Forest & Bird branch volunteers.

This includes advocating for council plan changes, meetings, liaising with other e-NGOs, writing submissions, going to hearings, and making advocacy statements in the Environment Court.

“Many people don’t understand how much of Forest & Bird’s work involves the RMA up and down the country.

We know this law so well, sometimes we are telling councils things they didn’t realise about it,” adds Jen. Recently, the Society has been making sure councils are identifying and properly protecting Significant Natural Areas in their regions. Where necessary, Forest & Bird is taking councils to court to make them do this work, a statutory responsibility under the RMA. During 2021, Forest & Bird is also using the RMA to fight for freshwater in Canterbury and Southland, protect coastal landscapes and mangroves in Northland, and defend significant natural habitats in Auckland from being destroyed by the planned East West motorway.

There’s still time to apply for a Valder Conservation Grant, and appplications are welcome from individuals or conservation groups nationwide. The Forest & Bird Waikato Branch awards, which are granted annually in memory of Lilian Valder, are usually from $1,000 to $5,000. For more information and an application form, email waikato.branch@forestandbird.org.nz, download a pdf from the Waikato branch page on www.forestandbird.org.nz, or write to Secretary, Waikato Branch Forest & Bird, PO Box 11092, Hamilton 3216. The closing date for applications is 30 September 2021.

CITIZEN SCIENCE

MAKE OUR BIRDS COUNT

Calling all Forest & Birders, we need your help to find out how New Zealand’s garden birds are doing.

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here’s a fantastic reason to be out enjoying the birdlife in your garden, local park, or school grounds this winter.

It’s New Zealand’s annual Garden Bird Survey – the longest-running citizen science project in the country.

You can get the whole family involved (or not!). All it takes is one hour of your time, and the payback is that you get to enjoy some quality time with your backyard’s birdlife.

The survey is now in its 15th year, and thousands of survey results each year are building a detailed longterm picture about the health of our environment.

Dr Eric Spurr, of Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, initiated this nationwide bird survey in 2007 and is hoping a record number of New Zealanders will get behind this year’s survey.

“The data collected, year on year, have revealed important and interesting trends in bird species distribution and abundance,” he said.

“The more people who take part, the clearer and more detailed the national picture becomes.”

This year, everyone who takes part can be in to win some great prizes. Each completed survey per household or family goes into the draw for a Nature Escape, a trip to Wellington for two adults and two children, valued at up to $3,000.

TAKING PART IS EASY n Visit the NZ Garden Bird Survey website to get started. Download a tally sheet or use the one provided with this magazine. n Select a garden, a local park, marae, reserve, or school grounds. n Choose any ONE day between 26 June and 4 July 2021. n Look and listen for birds on that day for ONE hour. n For each species, record the HIGHEST number seen or heard during that time. n Submit the results online at the NZ Garden Bird Survey website – gardenbirdsurvey.landcareresearch.co.nz.

Let others know what you’ve seen by joining the Facebook group NZ Garden Bird Survey and contributing to the conversation: #NZGardenBirdSurvey and @NZGardenBirds on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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SEABIRDS

DOC’s Cheryl Pullar and Moana Grey returning two happy wellfed hoiho back home.

Fergus Sutherland

HOIHO COME HOME

Six starving birds were rehabilitated and returned to Forest & Bird’s Te Rere sanctuary thanks to a super-human team effort.

Fergus Sutherland

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arlier this year, six yellow-eyed penguins had to persistently warming climate as well as the on-going be rescued from almost certain starvation and pressure on the food chain and seabed habitat from taken to the Penguin Place for rehabilitation. fishing activities.

A month later, the now healthy birds were returned There are other threats to the penguins on land to Te Rere, in the Catlins, probably somewhat surprised – predators such as stoats and disturbance by some to be back home after their 350km round trip to over-zealous tourist photographers who frequently Dunedin. unthinkingly get in the way of birds getting ashore to Hoiho live and breed in the predator-free coastal feed their young. forest at Forest & Bird’s Te Rere penguin sanctuary, However, these threats hardly exist at Te Rere where which is located on an extremely isolated human visitors are rare and intensive and wild part of the Southland coastline. predator control is maintained with 50 Forest & Bird and Department of manual and 80 automatic rat, stoat, and cat For the first time Conservation staff discovered the traps. since Forest & Bird seriously underweight birds while Sadly, despite this protection from established Te Rere invasive aliens of all sizes on land, Te monitoring them during March. in 1981, no chicks Their rescue was part of a wider Rere’s hoiho population is affected by what fledged during the they encounter in the ocean, including intensive effort by many penguin 2020–21 breeding conservationists on the Otago and overfishing and climate impacts. season.

Southland coast to save birds that entered The reserve had a population of 50 in their annual four-week March–April moult 2016. Now, five years later, it is a much period seriously underweight. reduced 12.

Unfortunately, this problem with hoiho is a Although there were four nests this year, all the continuation of a trend. The past four years have seen a chicks succumbed to diptheria at an early age, so, for precipitous decline in penguin numbers and breeding the first time since the reserve was established in 1981, success as their favoured food species diminish and no chicks successfully fledged during the 2020–21 diseases take an increasing toll. summer breeding season.

Many observers see these changes as results of the Despite hoiho’s precarious state at Te Rere, the

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work of the Southland Branch of Forest & Bird continues, undertaken with the aid of the Department of Conservation, Penguin Place (the region’s main penguin rehabilitation centre), the Dunedin Wildlife Hospital, and the Yellow Eyed Penguin Trust, who are all vital partners in this work.

We hope the complex ecosystem that is our ocean will be better managed by the government and readjust in a way that allows hoiho to recover.

The penguins’ return home to Forest & Bird’s Te Rere reserve was captured on video – check it out at https://youtu.be/d1OCje3dFTs. Healthy birds were returned home by (from left) Fergus Sutherland (Te Rere Caretaker), Cheryl Pullar (DOC) (with red cheek from a penguin kiss), Moana Grey (DOC), and John Galbreath (Te Rere Caretaker).

A birds-eye view of the wild Catlins coast at Forest & Bird’s Te Rere reserve.

Fergus Sutherland

WHAT IS FOREST & BIRD DOING? Nationally, Forest & Bird has been advocating to save hoiho in numerous ways, including demanding the government establish a zero bycatch goal so hoiho don’t get inadvertently killed by fishing nets, campaigning for new coastal marine reserves offshore from the Catlins (there are currently none depite Curio Bay being a nursery for Hector’s dolphins), and calling for a set net ban in coastal waters where hoiho are known to feed.

By making a gift to Forest & Bird, you can support our work to save New Zealand’s largest and rarest penguin from vanishing forever. Experts say we only have a few years to better protect this species, which is under multiple pressures from climate and fishing impacts. It’s easy to make an online donation at www.forestandbird.org.nz.

You can also help the Te Rere penguins directly by supporting the Southland Branch of Forest & Bird by joining the local branch or attending work days. The next planting work day at Te Rere is set for 21 August. For more information, email fergussutherland@icloud.com or rances@ southlandcommunitynursery.org.nz.

Jeremy Wood Hoiho like to strut their stuff in front of the fixed trail camera at Te Rere.

Fergus Sutherland is the caretaker at Forest & Bird’s Te Rere scientific penguin reserve in Southland. He discovered the penguins on farmland there in 1981 and persuaded the Society to purchase the land, which was being bulldozed by the farmer owner. The reserve is looked after by Forest & Bird’s volunteers from the Southland and Otago Branches, and it celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

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C L I M AT E

A cheeky ship’s rat peers out from an alpine boulder field in tuke rock wren habitat, near Lake Aorere, Kahurangi National Park.

Alec Milne

RISE OF RATS As the country warms, ship rats have started appearing in previously rat-free alpine rock wren habitat in Kahurangi National Park.

Caroline Wood

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A

large ship’s rat is sitting on a rock watching two human bird catchers in an alpine boulder field in Kahurangi National Park.

It doesn’t appear fearful of the new arrivals, members of the Friends of Cobb community conservation group, who are in this remote spot to band young rock wrens.

It’s November and prime nesting time for the critically endangered tuke. Once the humans have gone, the rat will resume its hunt for the tiny rock wren’s nests and the tasty eggs inside.

Until seven years ago, this high valley was rat free, at least according to the trapping records. It was thought to have been too cold for rats to venture this far up the mountain.

So their arrival, and explosion in numbers last year following a beech mast, is deeply worrying the local conservationists who look after rock wren at this location and the surrounding alpine area.

“The outlook for rock wren in Kahurangi, for whom rats are a novel predator, looks dire,” says Friends of Cobb’s Alec Milne.

“Rats have been shown to predate their nests, and we think it likely all nests in our study area were predated in the 2019–20 season as no juvenile rock wren, or family groups, were sighted.

“Without effective pest control, the extinction of Kahurangi rock wren looks inevitable.”

Friends of Cobb have been studying rock wren in Henderson Basin, Kahurangi National Park, since 2000.

This reclusive species is restricted to small pockets of the South Island’s high country.

The group’s Alec Milne and Richard Stocker wanted to document the data they were collecting and better understand the drivers for the increase in rats seen at higher elevations of the valley in recent years.

They recently published Rise of the Rat: A Case Study Documenting the Appearance of Ship Rats in Rock Wren Habitat, Kahurangi National Park.

The study site, which is located at 1350–1500m, includes alpine scrub, bluffs, and associated boulder fields situated on the south side of Mt Cobb. It lies in shadow for three to four months each winter.

Stoats were seen in areas where the Friends of Cobb had located rock wren in 2000. They ran a trapline through the rock wren habitat from 2001 to 2011. No rats were caught.

The group’s volunteers continued to monitor the breeding pairs of rock wren. Mice were periodically evident and had also been implicated in tuke predation, so in December 2012 volunteers established footprint tracking tunnels to better understand mouse population dynamics.

The first evidence of rats in their study area was in early November 2014, following a heavy beech mast.

Rat tracks were seen in fresh snow. However, numbers were presumably low as they were not recorded on the

HARDY YET FRAGILE Tuke are our only true alpine bird. It is not known how rock wrens survive the harsh climate above the treeline all year round, but it is likely they continue to forage on rocky bluffs where snow has not collected and among large boulder fields. Some have suggested they may have a period of semi-hibernation.

Source: DOC.

Rock wren, Kahurangi National Park.

Anna Zyrini Morgan

tracking tunnels run at that time.

Rat numbers increased through the summer and autumn, rising to 38% tracking the following May. Low rat tracking was recorded during 2016 and 2017, following a moderate beech mast in 2016.

But things changed following the mega-mast of 2019, which saw large numbers of rats moving up from the forest below during November 2019. No rats were recorded on an overnight tracking tunnel run on 9 November 2019, yet 18 days later 73% of the tunnels had been tracked.

“In February 2020, we re-established a trapline of 10 tunnels. Two rats were caught on the first night, nine rats were removed one month later, and a sobering 11 rats, two stoats, and a weasel were found on a third trap check in May 2020,” says Richard Stocker.

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Brent Fagan (left) and John Mason wait for a tuke to reappear from the rocks so they can catch and band it.

Shelter Rock Basin, Kahurangi National Park.

Alec Milne

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Two rats caught in rock wren habitat at Kahurangi National Park.

Alec Milne

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I see the ‘rise of the rats’ as a major issue.

The loss of mainland mohua at Mt Stokes in the late 1990s was the first casualty and Kahurangi rock wren likely the next.

Ship rats are native to South-East Asia and India, and a minimum average monthly winter temperature of 2˚C is deemed the limit of their distribution.

Until recently, the upper limit of ship rat distribution in South Island beech forest was thought to be 1000m, but, in recent years, a series of mild winters has allowed rats to live at higher elevation.

“This change is perhaps best illustrated in the Upper Cobb trapline data,” says Alec.

“This line of 100 traps is located between 900m and 1400m in the colder, upper part of the valley, with half being in the alpine zone. Rats were seldom caught before 2013 but have been increasing since, including being found in the alpine traps.

“We surmise that the heat retention property of the rock wren boulder fields presents a more hospitable environment for the temperature-limited ship rat.”

As covered in a previous Forest & Bird article, Landcare Research’s Dr Susan Walker and her team have used 18 years of data to show an increasing prevalence of rats at elevation as the climate warms.

Rat plagues following beech masts have been well documented, and more beech masting events are predicted as the climate warms.

The combination of increasing temperatures and food supply have allowed an overall increase in rat abundance, as shown in the Friends of Cobb catch data.

Alec Milne and Peter Fullerton checking a rat-tracking tunnel in the Henderson Basin.

Richard Stocker

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Forest & Bird’s regional conservation manager for the Top of the South Island Debs Martin says the data is concerning.

“We know rats have entered alpine areas in Kahurangi in beech mast years, but whether they will persist through a cold winter will remain a key test.

“It’s essential that long-term research is carried out on how rats are responding to climate change and beech mast events.”

Research is currently being undertaken by DOC to understand the relative importance and interrelationship of temperature, food supply, and predator control on the number and distribution of predators.

Alpine footprint tracking tunnel lines have recently been established along the length of the South Island.

It is hoped that these lines will show alpine habitat preferences for rats and other predators, and monitor changes in their abundance.

FRIENDS OF COBB VALLEY In 2006, several Golden Bay residents with a special affinity for the Cobb Valley in Kahurangi National Park came together to form a group to protect the alpine valley’s native plants and animals. Today, around 30 members are involved, mostly on pest control.

Brent Fagan, Nina Visker, Marian Milne, Alec Milne, John Mason at Shelter Rock, Kahurangi National Park.

Friends of Cobb

You can download Rise of the Rat: A Case Study Documenting the Appearance of Ship Rats in Rock Wren Habitat, Kahurangi National Park at https:// bit.ly/3biH2QK.

C L I M AT E

THE RISKS FOR NATURE IN A WARMING WORLD The government needs to put biodiversity at the heart of an ambitious and well-designed climate change action plan.

Geoff Keey

T

he Earth experienced its most severe extinction event about 252 million years ago. Known as the Great Dying, around 96% of all marine species and 70% of land vertebrate species disappeared during this period.

It was also the largest mass extinction of insects. Recovery of land-dwelling life took approximately 10 million years, and marine life may have taken two million years to recover.

Runaway climate change was almost certainly the cause of this mass extinction, and the worst effects appear to have occurred when climate change caused first the sea, then the air, to become toxic.

Fast forward to 2021, and even modest warming poses serious new extinction risks for nature all over the world, including here in Aotearoa.

Our natural systems are already in big trouble, with about 4000 known species at some risk of extinction. Climate change

will further exacerbate these risks (see panel right).

We are already seeing the impacts of warming on New Zealand’s native species, including the death of little blue penguins in the Hauraki Gulf and the failure of royal albatross chicks to hatch in Otago. And repeated seed mast years are leading to explosions in rat and stoat populations and local extinctions of mohua and bats, among other species.

Recent research by Landcare Research Manaaki Whenua has revealed that warming temperatures enable larger populations of introduced predators, which contribute to increased decline of native birds.

Forest & Bird is concerned about the impact of ocean acidification, another global environmental process arising from excessive carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Ocean acidification is likely to impact on the survival and reproduction of a wide range of species that are sensitive to

8 CLIMATE CHANGE RISKS FOR NATURE Geographically limited species will become more vulnerable to extreme weather events and fires.

Fragmented habitats will be damaged by extreme weather events, leading to total or partial loss.

Subtropical weeds such as wild ginger will spread southwards as the weather warms.

Increased frequency of seed mast events will cause more rodent and mustelid eruptions, and wildlife extinctions.

Alpine and sub-alpine habitats and species such as rock wren and Godley’s buttercup will disappear from some areas.

Riverbed nesting birds, including wrybill, will be vulnerable to changes in river flows in spring.

Warming weather will impact on breeding in species such as tuatara and hoki.

Ocean acidification will alter complex marine ecosystems, impacting on all life in the ocean.

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Wrybill family on the Tasman River, with Aoraki Mount Cook in the background.

Philip Guilford

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→

declining pH (higher acidity), including shellfish, squid, and plankton.

The potential loss of plankton is particularly concerning because it is the beginning of food chains in large parts of the ocean. Reductions in plankton availability will cause a cascading effect throughout the food web.

Our response needs to be well designed and much more ambitious to avoid these problems.

Inappropriate responses to climate change could further exacerbate the crisis affecting nature in New Zealand through, for example, ill-judged choices of trees for plantation forestry, resulting in wilding tree spread and loss of native habitats.

Other risks include introducing resilient grasses or shrubs for farm fodder that can Increased frequency become serious weeds, of seed mast events inappropriately located new will cause more stoat or relocated infrastructure eruptions leading to leading to habitat loss, and local wildlife extinctions. the expansion of irrigation David Hallett into areas of indigenous habitat, such as tussock grasslands, resulting in damage where water is applied, downstream water pollution, and loss of mauri.

New Zealand can create a virtuous circle to help deal with these challenges. Nature can help our economy become more resilient but only if we help nature become more resilient first.

WHAT DOES FOREST & BIRD WANT? n Doing our fair share. New Zealand must make a

stronger global commitment to cutting its emissions and helping developing countries. Our targets should reflect our economic status, ability to take action, and high current (and historical) per capita emissions. n Cutting emissions first. A commitment to faster

emissions reductions must come ahead of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. We need a transformation to a clean green economy. That means producing and consuming things without generating greenhouse gases. The government needs to support faster emission reductions than the Climate Change Commission’s draft plan proposes. n Nature-first emission reductions. A strategic planning

approach will be needed to ensure nature is not harmed by the economic transformation required to decarbonise New Zealand’s economy. The methods used to cut emissions must protect our native plants and animals. This means no new big hydro, stopping mining on conservation land, and ensuring new wind farms, biofuel production, and transport infrastructure don’t harm nature. n Better land use. Marginal

and erodible land needs to be returned to native forests and shrublands, regenerative farming is needed to cut emissions, and there should be fewer cows. The expansion of dairy has been driven by hidden subsidies in the form of inadequate pollution control, public funding of irrigation, and a carve out from emissions pricing, and it should face the full cost of production.

Forest & Bird branch volunteers on Dunedin’s Climate Strike march in April.

Rick Zwaan

n Help nature help us. The Climate Change Commission

Ocean acidification damage on paua in ocean off the Chatham Islands.

Geoff Keey is Forest & Bird’s strategic advisor. This article draws from the Society’s detailed submission to the Climate Change Commission earlier this year. A big thank you to the 3000+ of you who also made a submission to the Commission through Forest & Bird’s website.

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needs to place more emphasis on wetlands, blue carbon, shrublands, mangroves, and pest control.

Pest control is critical to protect carbon stocks and to achieve the Commission’s proposed long-term carbon storage in native forests. Once emissions are reduced, we will still need to remove carbon dioxide from the air to stabilise the climate. Nature can help us do this, but only if we protect it first. n Helping each other. We need a just transition that

helps communities and workforces to adjust, makes sure vulnerable people are not left behind, ensures new technology and ways of working are available to all, and gives effect to the Treaty of Waitangi.

COMMUNITY

Annette Woodford

FROM SUMMIT TO SEA An exciting new conservation park is being created to protect nature on hilltops overlooking Lyttelton Harbour.

Suky Thompson

T

e Ahu Pātiki is an ambitious project to create a new 500ha conservation park on a highly visible site above Whakaraupō Lyttelton Harbour. It will protect the two highest peaks on Banks Peninsula – Mt Herbert and Mt Bradley.

Many readers will be familiar with the area, as climbing Te Ahu Pātiki Mt Herbert is a popular day tramp from Christchurch and its tops can be seen from much of the city. The purchase of this land will secure enduring public access to both peaks as well as allowing for significant biodiversity restoration.

A wide diversity of ecological habitats can be found at Te Ahu Pātiki. Predominantly north facing with an altitudinal range of 200m–900m, visitors will be able to explore sub-alpine summits, bluffs, rocky outcrops, old growth remnants, and regenerating indigenous plants.

There are, however, also extensive areas of gorse and open pasture.

The park will be managed to facilitate natural native forest regeneration, with the aim of establishing a 1700ha ecological corridor linking existing DOC reserves and private covenanted land on the peninsula.

Together with neighbouring Orton Bradley Park, Te Ahu Pātiki will enable ki uta ki tai – summit-to-sea protection – for the largest river catchment feeding the harbour.

Lyttelton

Te Ahu Pātiki Park Orton Bradley Park

Orton Bradley Park

Te Ahu Pātiki Park Mt. Herbert/Te Ahu Pātiki

DOC reserves and private protected land Te Ara Pataka Walkway and feeder tracks

The Rod Donald Banks Peninsula Trust, a charitable organisation, is leading the project, working in partnership with Te Hapū on Ngāti Wheke, who have mana whenua over the area, and neighbouring Orton Bradley Park to craft the future of the new park.

The purchase of the land at Te Ahu Pātiki will complete in early July. To find out more or to support the project, see www.roddonaldtrust.co.nz.

Suky Thompson is Rod Donald Banks Peninsula Trust manager.

Canterbury’s

Te Ahu Pātiki

conservation park project Mt Herbert/ Te Ahu Pātiki

Mt Bradley

Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō

• Creating a forest legacy for future generations.

• Protecting public access on the two highest peaks in the Christchurch area.

Mt. Bradley

To find out more and view our short film visit roddonaldtrust.co.nz

Packhorse Hut Rod Donald Hut

Map showing the proposed Te Ahu Pātiki conservation park, which will create a 1700ha ecological corridor across Te Pātaka-o-Rākaihautū Banks Peninsula.

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F R E S H WAT E R

LIFE IN A LOWLAND SWAMP

Humans have drained or filled in more than 90% of Aotearoa’s wetlands.

Here are five reasons why we need to restore them.

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CLEAN WATER Wetlands are known as the “kidneys of the Earth” for

good reason. They can clean up harmful pollutants such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen, helping reduce harmful algae blooms, high water temperatures, and conditions that kill fish. Wetlands are also great at settling silt and trapping sediment from land runoff before it pollutes our rivers or lakes.

CLIMATE CHAMPIONS Coastal wetlands sequester carbon up to 60

times faster than a tropical forest, and peat wetlands store more carbon than two times all the world’s forests combined. By way of contrast, drained peat wetlands are responsible for 6% of New Zealand’s agricultural emissions.

Imagine the impact if cows were taken off and we re-wet the peat?

FLOOD PROTECTION Wetlands also store excess stormwater and slowly

release it to recharge groundwater. This is going to come in handy when drought threatens to run our rivers dry. Coastal wetlands also provide a natural protection, rising with rising sea levels caused by global warming.

NATURE RICH Our wetlands have a greater diversity of native birds,

fish, invertebrates, and plants than most other habitats. They are home to Australasian bittern, mātātā fernbird, pateke brown teal, pārera grey duck, moeriki banded rail, taihoropī dabchick, pūweto spotless crake, kōkōreke marsh crake, and more than 50 native fish species, including waikaka black mudfish.

CULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT Wetlands are regarded by Māori as taonga.

They have historical, cultural, economic, and spiritual significance. Wetlands can be reservoirs for knowledge, wellbeing, and utilisation. Healthy wetlands used to provide Māori with sustainable food – wildfowl, tuna eels, and other freshwater fish. They were also places to grow taro and harvest harakeke flax, and other materials for medicines, food, building, and crafts.

WHERE NEXT FOR WETLANDS? Despite their natural values, wetlands are still largely a forgotten and under-appreciated habitat that is still being drained for pasture and housing developments.

Forest & Bird wants the government to introduce a national plan to protect what is left and restore what has been destroyed of Aotearoa’s precious wetlands. We have also been calling for the Climate Change Commission to include wetland restoration in its Adaptation Plan.

“If we save every remaining wetland, and double what we’ve got, there could be great gains for our wellbeing and our climate goals,” says Forest & Bird’s freshwater advocate Annabeth Cohen.

Please help us defend and restore New Zealand’s fragile wetland habitats. Your gift will help give a strong voice to our declining wetland birds, fish, plants, and animals. Show your support by visiting www.forestandbird.org.nz/saveourwetlands.

Wetlands are places where plants and animals are used to living in wet conditions. They support the greatest concentration of wildlife than any other habitat in New Zealand. The native species illustrated in this poster can be found in a lowland swamp, but it is unlikely you will see them all together in one place at the same time.

You can download this poster and a key to the different species on DOC’s website at https://bit.ly/3f6Y3yk. Illustration: courtesy of DOC/Andrea Muller.

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SEABIRDS

Rosa was rehabilitated and released back into the wild at Kaikōura in March.

Ecoworld

A TALE OF TWO

ALBATROSSES

The discovery of two starving albatrosses over the past year shows the multiple threats these majestic species face at sea.

A

starving young female Gibson’s Antipodean albatross was pulled from the sea earlier this year. Thanks to epic efforts from a large number of different humans, “Rosa” survived and was released back to the wild three weeks later A similar-looking young Antipodean albatross “very dehydrated, very hungry, and near death” was found last year on the beach at the mouth of the mouth of the Rakaia River, south of Christchurch, but died while still in care.

As New Zealand’s most critically endangered albatross, every single Antipodean albatross counts, especially as the species only breeds here in Aotearoa, on the Antipodes Island in the Southern Ocean.

But Antipodean albatrosses are in dire trouble – the current population is 40% of what it was 15 years ago.

Experts predict they could become globally extinct within two decades. If they do, it will be on our watch.

Researchers Kath Walker and Graeme Elliot have documented the catastrophic decline of the species.

The causes are unknown but include fisheries mortality and possibly a warming ocean causing changes to their food supply and behaviour.

Rosa was lucky. She landed on the Picton-based Santa Rosa fishing vessel off the West Coast in March. Skipper Matthew Collett immediately realised the albatross was in a bad way. He contacted the Department of Conservation, and a rescue mission was launched.

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Two days, later Rosa arrived in Picton and was taken to the EcoWorld Aquarium & Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre.

She was assessed by seabird expert Mike Bell, who said: “She was obviously very lethargic and weighed only 4.9kg when she should be at about 7kg.”

The albatross spent three weeks in captivity while she got back to a healthy weight. Local companies NZ King Salmon, Sanford, and Henderson donated salmon and squid to help feed her, and she apparently enjoyed regular baths.

Following banding, Rosa was released off the coast of Kaikōura at the end of March. She was transported on an Albatross Encounter Kaikoura tour vessel by Mike Bell and Dan Burgin of Wildlife Management International.

“Here’s hoping we get a band resighting at her breeding colony in years to come, but she has a long Biologist Sarah Nooy with way to go because she still Rosa, the juvenile Gibson’s faces a myriad of threats Albatross.

Ecoworld out at sea,” said Mike Bell.

WORLD ALBATROSS DAY 2021

Ensuring Albatross-friendly Fisheries

Ensuring albatross-friendly fisheries is the theme of the second World Albatross Day on 19 June. The featured species of this year’s campaign are two critically endangered albatrosses, the Tristan, of Gough Island, and the Waved, from the Galapagos.

New Zealand is the worldwide capital for albatrosses and petrels, with 12 of the world’s 22 species breeding here. Nine are at risk from fishing – getting unnecessarily caught on a hook or tangled in a fishing net.

Forest & Bird has been campaigning for the past two years to persuade the government to adopt a zero bycatch goal and stronger rules to prevent albatross deaths, including making fishers adopt seabird-friendly fishing methods.

As a result of our advocacy, the government recently adopted zero non-target mortality goals for both Te Mana o te Taiao (Aotearoa New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy) and the National Plan of Action on Seabirds.

ACAP has a range of educational resources about albatross, the world’s largest birds, on its websites, including species summaries of the species found here in New Zealand. They are suitable for school learners and teachers – see www.acap.aq.

World Albatross Day – 19 June 2021

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BIODIVERSITY

PICTURE PERFECT

After living in Aotearoa for 60 million years, the Canterbury knobbled weevil is hanging on for dear life while facing extinction.

Michael Bowie

Science student Emily Colquhoun explains why she organised a “creepy creatures” photo competition to highlight forgotten species.

T

he Canterbury knobbled weevil is one of many uncharismatic species in New Zealand that gets forgotten about.

Its story of survival (see right) mimics one of our famous birds, the takahē. However, unlike the takahē, the weevil’s story is not widely known.

Generally, more charismatic species – such as takahē, kiwi, and kea – get more funding for research and conservation. Their stories are being heard, which in turn results in more conservation.

The lack of focus and storytelling about less sexy species, such as insects, spiders, fish, and fungi, means

The Creepy Creatures photography competition ran for two weeks during April and May on the Forest & Bird Instagram.

No matter how ugly, dull, or scary the animal was, it had a place in Emily’s competition.

Over two weeks, we saw a host of loveable insects, spiders, and lizards feature on our Instagram.

Sienna Troughton, aged 10, of Auckland, took out the winning shot with her photograph of a truly creepy creature in Papamoa. It’s the larvae of a native scarab beetle (genus Pericoptus), according to an iNaturalist entomologist. Sienna wins a $200 voucher courtesy of Photo Warehouse.

“I thought it would be pretty cool to enter this competition because I get to show everyone the types of creatures I see around me and to find out what they really are,” said Sienna.

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they miss out when it comes to funding decisions for research and conservation programmes.

You can’t love what you don’t see, so I came up with the idea of creating a photo competition in partnership with Forest & Bird.

I wanted to focus on some of these awesome animals in the hope it will help generate plenty of photographs to use when telling their stories.

My goal was to grow the awareness of the rich and unique biodiversity that is a special feature of New Zealand’s wildlife.

KNOBBLY WEEVIL VS WOBBLY TAKAHĒ The ancient Canterbury knobbled weevil was once considered common throughout the region.

Their host plant, a native speargrass, grew in abundance after the burning of lowland forests following the arrival of European settlers, and it was thought they would thrive.

But rats, pigs, and hedgehogs prevented this from happening, and the weevil ceased to exist in the early 1920s, or so it was thought.

For the next 82 years, these pāpaka nguturoa were believed to be extinct. But, in 2004, a single specimen was found in Burkes Pass, near Lake Tekapo.

While the next survey did not find many more, it did prove that, despite eight decades of silence, the critically endangered Canterbury knobbled weevils (Hadramphus tuberculatus) were still alive.

The last survey of this species, 10 years ago, showed a worrying decline in population numbers, and no-one knows how many there are today.

For all we know, 17 years after their rediscovery, these weevils could be one of the rarest animals in the country, but no-one is talking about them.

By way of contrast, our chunky lovable takahē, the world’s largest living rail, also “came back from the dead” after it was rediscovered in 1948 living in the Murchison Mountains. It had been declared extinct half a century earlier.

For more than 30 years, the Department of Conservation has had a dedicated Takahē Recovery Programme, which has grown to be one of the world’s most progressive and long-standing conservation stories.

In 2016, infrastructure company Fulton Hogan announced a $1m partnership to help fund the programme.

Takahē aren’t out of the woods yet – their threats include predation by stoats and competition for food from introduced red deer – but they’ve got a much better chance of survival than the Canterbury knobbled weevil.

Although no photos of weevils featured in this competition, by promoting uncharismatic animals, I wanted to help New Zealand’s pāpaka nguturoa and other forgotten animals tell their story.

DOC has a dedicated Takahē Team and iwi working with a network of people around New Zealand, to ensure the takahē is never again considered extinct.

DOC

Emily Colquhoun is studying for a Master’s thesis in science communication at the University of Otago.

“I also thought it would be great to see what creatures other people see around their homes in New Zealand.”

Runner up was Robert Osborne’s shot of a tunnelling mud crab on mudflats near his home in Whenuapai, Auckland. He receives a $100 voucher from Photo Warehouse.

“I entered the competition because I love nature photography and I thought it would be a fun opportunity to get my work out there,” he said.

“I liked the idea of a competition that focuses on critters that are usually overlooked. It helped make me look at my surroundings a little differently and appreciate that we are surrounded by many living creatures.”

A big thank you to everyone who submitted their creepy creature images.

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PROFILE

My

life

CONSERVATIONIST

Sue Maturin holds a fairy prion chick raised at one of Forest & Bird’s seabird conservation projects located on the St Clair Cliffs, in Dunedin. This is one of several Bring Back the Seabirds projects supported by branch volunteers and funded by our incredible donors!

Graeme Loh

Sue Maturin has retired from Forest & Bird after 29 years, but nature remains at the centre of her future plans.

David Brooks

F

ormer Otago-Southland conservation manager Sue Maturin doesn’t see her retirement from Forest & Bird after nearly three decades as an end but rather the start of a new chapter in her lifelong commitment to nature.

“I still want to be involved in conservation at both the national and local levels. I also really want to do some hands-on conservation work, as well as continuing my advocacy for seabirds and marine life in particular,” says Sue, who retired at the end of last October.

Sue protested the destruction of a bush-fringed waterfall near her home as a child, spent years defending native forests from logging as part of the Native Forest

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Action Council, and during her long Forest & Bird career spoke up for nature in all corners of Aotearoa, from the South Island high country to the oceans.

Inevitably, much of Sue’s work for Forest & Bird tied her to a computer, the phone, or meeting rooms.

Heading out into the wild places she loves has been one of her priorities since leaving.

Late last year, she visited the Sub-Antarctic Islands for the first time. It was a fitting way to end her time with Forest & Bird, given she was first hired in 1991 as field officer for Otago, Southland, and the Sub-Antarctic Islands.

During the trip, she was able to visit the breeding

grounds of many of the albatrosses and other species she had been defending in recent years as Forest & Bird’s seabird advocate.

“I’ve seen most of those species before, but what blows your mind is just the sheer numbers of them in their breeding colonies, swirling in their thousands above the rocky Bounty Islands,” she says.

Over the past three decades working for Forest & Bird, Sue experienced plenty of challenges, but she was always up for them. One of her first tasks was to appear as its legal advocate to oppose a wood chip mill in an legal case in Southland. She helped win the case, despite having never been to the Environment Court before.

“You’re thrown in the deep end and have to learn a whole lot of skills pretty quickly. We didn’t have the capacity to hire the experts, so you have to become the expert,” she says.

There was never any doubt about Sue’s passion, and she has found patience and persistence to be valuable assets too.

“Conservation is a long game, and there are very few quick wins. I think, looking back, often it takes more than 10 years, or a change in government or councils, to make significant progress. You can’t ever give up and need a pretty thick skin.”

When the going got tough, Sue knew she could rely on support from the branches in her region.

“I think one of the wonderful things about Forest & Bird is that we have a whole lot of grassroot branches, and those people really know what’s going on down on the ground. I was so reliant on branches’ input and knowledge, and they became great friends and were part of a large support network.”

Highlights included playing a leading role in initiating and organising the “Love DOC Day” in 2013.

Following funding cuts, the public was urged to go to their local Department of Conservation offices with cakes and messages of support to show them how much they were appreciated.

The campaign resulted in a last-minute budget change to allocate DOC an extra $20 million over four

Kayaking in the company of some friendly New Zealand sea lions – one of the many species to benefit from the proposed marine reserves along Otago’s coastline. Graeme Loh

years, which helped save about 60 frontline jobs.

Other successes included campaigning to increase protection for Crown-owned high country pastoral leases, resulting in Last year, Sue packed up her the creation of high country office after 29 years with parks.

Forest & Bird...

Sue was also instrumental in campaigns that helped end the chipping and logging native forests on public land, and the adding of Waitutu Forest to Fiordland National Park. Her public speaking and video skills have been valuable tools in her campaign work.

Among the unfinished business when Sue walked out of the office for the last ...and headed south on a time was the creation of a Heritage voyage to discover the network of marine reserves wild things on Campbell Island in the Sub-Antarctic islands. in Otago – the first in the region. The future of our oceans and the species that rely on them has been a growing focus of her work.

“One of our future priorities is dealing with the oceans, getting ecosystem-based fisheries management, and really making sure we achieve zero bycatch,” she says.

Her commitment to nature remains as strong as the day when the nine-year-old was riding her horse to school and saw a bulldozer driver widening the road and destroying one of her favourite places, a bushfringed waterfall. “I was furious and got off my horse and went and remonstrated with him.”

As well as speaking up for nature, Sue loves being in nature. One of her favourite projects during her Forest & Bird career was working with local Ni Vanuatu landowners to establish Vatthe Conservation Area and helping set up an eco-tourism venture as an alternative to logging in the Vatthe Forest on Vanuatu’s main island of Santo.

She took groups of Forest & Bird volunteers there, and they developed a method to combat the invasive big leaf (Merremia peltata) vine, which was choking the forest. Sue hopes to resume taking tours to Vatthe in the future.

Her thirst for adventure was evident early this year when she abseiled 25m down a cliff face at a Dunedin branch project at St Clair to protect nesting fairy prions. “[My partner] Graeme told me I’m the first female hexagenerian to abseil down to visit the prions,” Sue says with a laugh.

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COMMUNITY

WAIKĀKĀRIKI WETLAND

The Waikākāriki Wetland is home to a significant grove of tī kōuka thought to have been planted by Forest & Bird’s founder Val Sanderson.

Caroline Wood

Plans are afoot to create a permanent tribute to Val Sanderson, the grandfather of modern-day conservation and founder of Forest & Bird.

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ntil recently, train passengers arriving into Paekākāriki from Wellington were treated to a common sight in New Zealand – swathes of purple morning glory and other invasive plants smothering land next to the railway tracks. But, in the middle of this weed-infested sliver of land, once part of Kāpiti’s Great Swamp, lies a grove of beautiful tī kōuka cabbage trees. They are rumoured to have been planted

by Forest & Bird founder, Captain Valentine Sanderson, before World War II. Volunteers from restoration group Ngā Uruora Kāpiti Project had attempted to clear the weeds in the past but it had proved too difficult. The opening of the Paekākāriki Escarpment Track in 2016 was a turning point. It quickly became a popular walk (today, it’s part of the Te Araroa Trail), which resulted in some traffic problems nearby.

Ngā Uruora suggested a solution to Kāpiti Coast District Council that it build a path from the village to the start of the main track. In 2019, it agreed, and the Waikākāriki Wetland Weed Whackers was established to restore the wetland. They set about tackling the weeds first, then planting wetland species and Paul Callister (left) and Forest & Bird history researcher Michael Pringle at one of the proposed sites for new signage along Sanderson’s Way. Caroline Wood

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increasing shade for weed suppression.

Last year, Paul Callister, of Ngā Uruora and Waikākāriki Weed Whackers, made contact with Forest & Bird’s history project. He wanted to find out more about Val Sanderson, who spent his latter decades living in Paekākāriki within sight of his beloved Kāpiti Island, the inspiration for the establishment of an independent national conservation society in 1923.

Despite his huge contribution to nature protection in Aotearoa, there is no memorial to him and his conservation work in the village.

In early 2021, Ngā Uruora and the Kāpiti-Mana branch of Forest & Bird, with support from Ngāti Haumia Ki Paekākāriki, were given a significant grant from the Wellington Community Trust to further restore the wetland. Creating a carbon sink is the key driver, but biodiversity gains and honouring the life of Sanderson are also part of the project aptly named “Inspired by Sanderson”.

Sanderson was also “honorary supervisor” for the nearby AT Clarke reserve on the Paekākāriki Hill Road.

Today, this land is looked after by Ngā Uruora, with an unnamed stream linking it with the lower “Sanderson” wetland. The project’s leaders are planning to name the path through the restored wetland “Sanderson’s Way”.

Permanent signage about Sanderson and his fascinating life will be developed and erected alongside it.

They also plan to set up a temporary display in nearby St Peter’s Hall in 2023 to celebrate Forest & Bird’s 100th birthday and honour Sanderson’s contribution.

Forest & Bird would like to thank Paul Callister and Andy McKay, of the Waikākāriki Wetland Weed Whackers, for the many hours they have put into the project.

BIRD OF THE YEAR 2021

IT’S A WRAP Any keen bird artists out there, this competition is for you! Be in to win Honeywrap’s Bird of the Year design competition.

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es, it’s back with a squawk and a shuffle.

Our Bird of the Year competition is girding its loins for lift off on 18 October.

This year, our friends at Honeywrap have launched an awesome competition – open to artists of all ages – to design a limited edition beeswax wrap celebrating Bird of the Year 2021.

As well as scooping a great prize pack, the winning design will help raise funds for Forest & Bird, with $1 from sales of the limited edition wrap being donated to help support our conservation work.

This is the third year Honeywrap has partnered up for Bird of the Year.

Owner Wendy Oliver says the company loves being a supporter of Forest & Bird.

“It comes back to our values. We want to support nature and eliminate plastics. The two go hand in hand.

“It’s just such a great cause, what Forest & Bird is doing, to raise awareness of the fragility of New Zealand’s native birds and their habitats and how we all need to do more to help them.”

The company’s reusable, compostable beeswax wraps designed by local artists are part of a quiet revolution ridding the world of unnecessary plastic food wrap.

Last year’s competition was open to Kiwi Conservation Club members and the winning design was by Freya Wood, aged 6 years (last year), of Snells Beach.

Will your design be the winner this year? See right for details on how to enter. The competitions closes 31 July 2021.

Honeywrap’s products fly off the shelf at Forest & Bird’s online shop – see the range at https://shop.forestandbird.org.nz.

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FOREST & BIRD PROJECT

BRIMMING WITH BIRD CALLS

Volunteer and professional illustrator Desmond Bovey created these beautiful botanical illustrations for the sanctuary.

Bushy Park Tarapuruhi volunteers have been busy over recent months, including helping with hihi breeding.

Mandy Brooke

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olunteers are the mainstay of Forest & Bird’s Bushy Park Tarapuruhi forest sanctuary.

Their combined commitment, expertise, and bountiful enthusiasm is awesome and inspiring.

During 2020, they contributed more than 4500 hours of volunteer time on-site working on many “jobs”, including hihi feeding and nestbox checking, supporting the education programme, maintaining the Visitor Centre, fence checks and maintenance, mouse trapping and baiting, weed work, seedling and plant nursery work, gardening around the buildings, wasp control, and care of the public tracks.

Consistently great volunteer turnouts – it is not uncommon for our regular Tuesday and Thursday volunteer crews to be more than 10 people – have achieved a huge amount for nature over the past year. Here are some recent highlights.

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HIHI BREEDING Hihi are gradually becoming more abundant at Bushy Park Tarapuruhi following a successful breeding season that saw 26 chicks fledge.

There are currently 46 adult hihi living in the sanctuary. We are grateful to Emma Gray, Otago Wildlife Management Master’s

Volunteers are the heart and soul of Forest & Bird's Bushy Park Tarapuruhi.

student, for spending her summer here and gathering the data on the breeding season.

Thanks also to our nest-checking volunteers, who completed weekly checks of the nest boxes, and to our year-round hihi feeding volunteers, who ensure there is the supplementary sugar water

available for the hihi. More than 1000 volunteer hours were spent on hihi during 2020.

Fern Kumeroa, a Massey University student on a Ngā pae o te Māramatanga Matariki New Horizon internship scholarship, also helped us during the hihi breeding season. Massey University students also completed a post-breeding survey.

Bushy Park Tarapuruhi has applied, along with the Hihi Conservation Trust, for funding from the government’s Jobs for Nature programme to support national hihi populations. If successful, we would receive funding to support next year’s breeding season with the employment of someone to monitor the nests.

Translocation specialist Kevin Parker with a Bushy Park hihi.

BIRDS AND BOTANICAL ILLUSTRATIONS Local professional wildlife illustrator Desmond Bovey has been supporting Bushy Park Tarapuruhi by donating his time to design a beautiful A2 poster featuring the wildlife at Bushy Park Tarapuruhi, including the forest, wetland, and Homestead bird species that live there.

Close your eyes and imagine New Zealand’s natural world as you want to see it.

With a gift to Forest & Bird in your will, we can help make your wishes come true.

Desmond also provided the illustrations for a set of new botanical signs along the Twin Ponga track and an accompanying booklet featuring 20 plants found along the walk. Both the poster and booklet are available from the Bushy Park Tarapuruhi Homestead shop as well as the Whanganui Regional Museum.

TE AKATEA KI KĀPITI New plantings are establishing well in the newly named area: Te Akatea ki Kāpiti. The name was gifted by the local iwi Ngā Rauru and means the pure vines that connect to Kāpiti. New picnic tables have been built by volunteers in this area and give a new perspective on to the southern end of the forest, with glorious views towards Kāpiti Island.

These were designed by Lincoln Paul, and he was assisted in the building by Wayne & Lesley Dolling and their family for the tables and Tom Hessel and Amanda for the bench seats at the top end of Te Akatea ki Kāpiti.

An ecological restoration plan is being developed, and we will have input from local and national native plant experts about the best plant species to choose that will provide further food and habitat for lizards, invertebrates, and hihi. →

If you’d like to talk about leaving a gift in your will to Forest & Bird, contact Jo Prestwood on 04 801 2212 or email j.prestwood@ forestandbird.org.nz. We promise anything you discuss with us will be held in the strictest confidence.

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→

WEED WRANGLING Volunteers continue to do great work with weeds. As the weather cools, we are able to recheck areas, and it is heartening to note the improvements and natural regeneration where ground cover weeds such as ivy have been cleared. Adult sycamore are cleared from the forest, and we continue working on the driveway and forest edges, checking and removing a number of different weeds.

PREDATOR CONTROL Our volunteers have been helping us keep an eye on mice numbers within the sanctuary. In February, only 21 tracking tunnels out of the 508 tunnels across the whole sanctuary showed mouse prints.

The recent rodent audit showed an increase from there, showing how challenging it is to manage mouse numbers in such an abundant habitat.

Bushy Park’s Halo project has been running since 2019, and we have 209 possum, stoat, and rat traps in bush remnants outside Tarapuruhi’s predator fence.

Thanks to funding from DOC’s Community Fund, our contractor Richard Terrey continues to check and maintain the Halo traps across a 837ha area.

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years ago

TOUTOUWAI TIME We were thrilled to successfully transfer 40 of our thriving toutouwai North Island robin population from Bushy Park Tarapuruhi to Turitea Reserve, near Palmerston North.

The estimate for our toutouwai population is around 500–600.

Led by translocation specialist Kevin Parker, the robin catching team gathered on a Sunday in April, and we were able to complete most of the catching the next day. The birds were carefully transported to Turitea, a water catchment reserve behind Massey University, to be released.

Massey University post-doctoral research fellow Zoe Stone attached transmitters to the birds, and she is trialling the use of a drone to monitor their movements. I can’t wait to take a day off and volunteer to help Zoe check on the robins and see what forest they have landed in!

Lots of people came together to help with the translocation. I’d like to give a special thanks to Paul Horton, of Te Mauri O Rangitāne O Manawatū, who helped capture the robins along with two other local iwi members, and also to Adam Jarvis, of Palmerston North City Council, who organised much of the logistics.

Back at Bushy Park Tarapuruhi, toutouwai are still keeping volunteers company as they go about their work, making the most of any invertebrates exposed by digging or track clearing.

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Mandy Brooke is Forest & Bird’s Bushy Park Tarapuruhi forest sanctuary manager.

SECURING SANCTUARY STATUS FOR KAURI The Society urged on the Minister of Forests the need for reservation of the remaining kauri stands in the Coromandel Forests and it was a pleasure to receive his announcement that he has ordered Sanctuary status for the kauris in the Manaia forest.

During the year the Press has carried very ably and fairly the story of our campaign and has never failed to impress on the community the increasing importance of Nature and the Environment.

Finally we extend our thanks to the members of our Society who by their membership have enabled the Society to carry out this programme and fulfil its role as protector of the heritage of the Nation.

Forest & Bird, May 1971, issue 180

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A huge team effort supported the successful transfer of 40 North Island robins from Bushy Park Tarapuruhi to Turitea Reserve in April.

Palmerston North City Council

O U R PA R T N E R S

FOR THE

OF

CHOCOLATE

Chocolate maker Lucy Bennetto explains why she wants to support New Zealand nature one bar at a time.

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new chocolate bar featuring Forest & Bird’s reigning Bird of the Year – the kākāpō – celebrates two of the things that Bennetto Natural Foods founder Lucy Bennetto loves most.

“I’ve always been passionate about birds and wildlife, and partnering with Forest & Bird fits perfectly with the values that are important to me and the way I run my business,” Lucy says.

In July, a decade after Lucy turned her chocolatemaking hobby into a business, the organic chocolate company is launching a special 100g chocolate bar with a beautiful wrapper featuring the 2020 Bird of the Year winner. All profits from sale of the bars will be donated to Forest & Bird.

Lucy intends the kākāpō to be just the first of special edition chocolate bars to honour Bird of the Year winners in coming years.

Bennetto chocolate bars are made from organically grown Fairtrade cocoa beans. The beans are grown at cooperatives in Peru and Ecuador, and Lucy is planning an additional source of beans from Madagascar.

The former high school teacher has always loved chocolate and believes in foods being as natural as possible. The dark chocolate bars are naturally vegan, are gluten free, and don’t use processed white sugar.

“We always like to work with integrity – keep it clean, completely honest, and tasting wonderful. If it’s not absolutely delicious, we’ve lost everybody.”

Lucy has obviously been doing something right.

Bennetto products are sold throughout New Zealand, are exported to Australia and Singapore, and have won Fairtrade and Fine Food awards.

The growth of the business has seen production of the 100g chocolate bars contracted to a Swiss company, while the other products, including drinking chocolate, are still made at the company’s Christchurch base.

Lucy started developing recipes with an Indian spice grinder and is still experimenting with new flavours.

Today, the range of dark chocolate bars includes nine different flavours, including popular pairings such as orange with chilli, and amaranth and sea salt.

They come in colourful wrappers with whimsical illustrations by Auckland-based artist Henrietta Harris featuring birds from the South American countries where the cocoa beans are grown.

Forest & Bird’s relationships manager Jo Prestwood says the partnership is great for nature and chocolate lovers alike.

“We’re delighted to be working with Bennetto supporting organic Fairtrade chocolate that is environmentally focused, vegan, and delicious,” she said.

READER COMPETITION We are giving away a goodie bag containing ten 100g and three 30g bars of Bennetto chocolate, including the special edition kākāpō bar. To enter, email your entry to draw@forestandbird.org.nz, include your name and address, and put BENNETTO in the subject line. Alternatively, write your name and address on the back of an envelope and post to BENNETTO draw, Forest & Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington 6140.

Entries close 1 August 2021. See www.bennetto.co.nz for more information.

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HISTORY

Perrine Moncrieff with pet parrots.

Nelson Provincial Museum, Ellis Dudgeon Collection

The

Bird Woman For five decades, Forest & Bird founder member Pérrine Moncrieff fought for the bush and birds with purpose, passion, and steadfast determination.

Janet Hart

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he Suter Art Gallery in Nelson holds a she gave money and speaking time to the Native Forest wonderfully eccentric portrait of a woman sitting, Action Council. knitting. She looks comely, middle aged, in her At that stage, Craig was tall and quiet, an black straw bonnet with its posy of primroses and “alternative” young man in his early twenties. He was extravagant black ribbon. beginning his parallel drive to save New Zealand’s But don’t be fooled. This no subservient homebody. environment. And here was Pérrine Moncrieff, a small, This is the dynamic conservationist of her day, Pérrine white-haired old lady in her eighties, “still working Millais Moncrieff, who at the time she was being away on her own campaigns, and still astute and active painted, in 1941, was leading the campaign to have the and pleasantly angry and forthright about issues,” northwest coastline of Tasman Bay created as Abel Craig remembers.

Tasman National Park.

“She threw all care to the wind,” he recalls. “She’d say, The park came to fruition the following ‘Oh, that damn fool, he wouldn’t recognise year and was Pérrine Moncrieff’s greatest a penguin if he ran over it’ type comments She led from conservation success. about decision-makers in Wellington.” the front, went The Moncrieff family travelled from In 1975, the government awarded straight to the top, England and settled in Nelson in 1921.

Moncrieff a CBE for services to didn’t kowtow to Soon after, Pérrine Moncrieff became conservation as a naturalist and to the men, was never appalled by the burning of the bush and Abel Tasman National Park. afraid to speak her distraught by the lack of interest in native Pérrine Moncrieff knew intimately mind to those in bush and birds. People coming to live here the state of the country’s flora and fauna. power, and refused failed to recognise that “New Zealand was Tramping extensively with women friends to be silenced marvellous, unique,” she wrote. and travelling by horse trap to remote by developers or So began her battle for the locations, she extolled the “perfect bird those with vested environment. She helped establish Forest paradise, where the bush was quite interests. & Bird in 1923, and, for the next five untouched”. decades, she led from the front, went But she also witnessed damage to the straight to the top, didn’t kowtow to men, was never bush by opossums; she saw little blue penguins being afraid to speak her mind to those in power, and refused wiped out by stoats on the Tasman Bay coast. She to be silenced by developers or those with vested fought against the bounty on kea, against surfcasters interests. Her campaigns were said to be executed with disturbing birds on Farewell Spit. And at the time military precision. when millhands were paid to shoot wood pigeons, Craig Potton, New Zealand’s renowned “people thought I was a crank trying to stop them,” she conservationist and Forest & Bird ambassador, recalls remembered, years later. meetings with Pérrine Moncrieff in the mid-1970s, when Birds were her passion; locally she was known as

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“the bird woman”. Being proactive in her efforts to save them from extinction was second nature.

As well as being a 1923 foundation member of the New Zealand Native Bird Protection Society, Moncrieff set up the Nelson Bush and Bird Society in 1928 with a committee of women. She successfully lobbied for Farewell Spit to become an internationally recognised bird sanctuary and Lake Rotoroa a scenic reserve.

And when the Ornithological Society of New Zealand failed to agree that native birds should be protected in their natural habitat, rather than just in captivity, she didn’t beat about the bush. She resigned.

Never one to rest, Pérrine Moncrieff wrote letters ad infinitum to those in power, her New Zealand Birds and How to Identify Them field guide became a best seller

Portrait of Mrs Perrine Moncrieff, 1941, by Marjorie Naylor, oil on canvas on board. Collection of the Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatū. Presented by the artist in 1980.

in 1925, and five editions followed. Her memoir People Came Later captured life at the Moncrieff’s Astrolabe bach in Tasman Bay and then there was her novel.

Fortuitously, her husband, Captain Malcolm Moncrieff, was a man of means, and like his wife a lover of the natural world and blessed with a generosity of spirit. This saw the couple buy up land around Nelson where farming and milling threatened the bush and birds – most significantly, land at the northern end of what is now the Abel Tasman National Park.

Land at Okiwi Bay and Lake Rotoroa was bought and given to the Crown for protection, and they donated their part of Haulashore Island to the Nelson City Council in memory of their son Alex, a polio victim.

Born in 1893, Pérrine Moncrieff was widely educated, from a family sprinkled with names of leading naturalists and artists. Her great-uncle, renowned Victorian artist and naturalist John Guille Millais, fostered her love of birds. Her grandfather was the famous Pre-Raphaelite painter Sir John Everett Millais.

In Nelson, the Moncrieff’s large house, The Cliffs, was crammed with antiques and art. Paintings by Millais and Thomas Gainsborough overawed visitors – when they weren’t being terrified by Pérrine Moncrieff’s pet macaw parrot. Home help tended family needs.

This gave Pérrine Moncrieff time to write, campaign, paint, and attend “French-speaking salons” in her Nelson friend Queenie Richardson’s grand house nearby. Yet she mixed with ease in New Zealand, believing that rank and background didn’t matter but that it was a common bond of interests that brought friendship.

Judging from the range of the Nelson societies she threw herself into, from philosophy, art, and history, Girl Guides, spinning and weaving, to herbs and compost, her circle was eclectic. Just imagine her holding forth in the black bonnet, or her hat of white hens’ feathers, dyed sapphire blue, to protest using feathers of native birds for decoration!

Marjorie Naylor’s portrait captures her 48-year-old friend Pérrine, who today would be overjoyed to see the interest and care afforded to Abel Tasman National Park.

TAKING ART TO THE STREETS

Portrait of Mrs Perrine Moncrieff can be seen at Nelson’s bus station as part of the city’s eye-catching new ArtWalk installation. With more than 20 sites, ArtWalk is an outdoor art gallery that takes visitors on a journey to enjoy some of Nelson’s most celebrated artists courtesy of the Suter Gallery. It includes Toss Wollaston’s View from Takaka Hill, Rita Angus’ The Apple Pickers, and Robin Slow’s Kōkōwai.

For more information and to download the ArtWalk map, see www.makeshiftspaces.nz/artwalk-nelson/.

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GOING PLACES Last year, a satellite tracker recorded one godwit flying 12,200 km in 9.3 days, reaching speeds of around 100km an hour on its way back to New Zealand from Alaska. This is believed to be the longest distance recorded for a non-stop flight by a bird.

Kuaka at Miranda.

John Oates

GODWIT CENTRAL David Brooks heads to Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre, where the last of the kuaka were preparing to fly 10,000km to their breeding grounds in Alaska.

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great swirling flock of thousands of shorebirds is not a common sight, but if you get the timing right during a visit to Pūkorokoro Miranda at the southern end of the Firth of Thames you will likely have an amazing experience.

A couple of hours either side of high tide is the time to go, when the birds’ feeding grounds on the vast mudflats are covered by water and they gather close to the shore.

As we walked along the path through a wetland towards Miranda’s godwit hide, thousands of wading birds came into view, resting and preening on mud just below a shellbank at the water’s edge. The old saying “birds of a feather stick together” came to mind, as the different species gathered in their own distinct groups.

An exception were the bar-tailed godwits and red knots, some showing distinctive red-brown breeding plumage, which mixed together in a long distinct tawny band along the shore.

Most of the kuaka godwits were asleep, their long pink and black bills tucked into their back feathers.

With many facing an imminent 10,000km non-stop journey to China and Korea, rest seemed a good option.

Beyond them, closer to the shellbank was a vast group of South Island pied oystercatchers, standing out with their bold black and white plumage and bright orange

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beaks. Another huge group of soft grey and white feathered wrybills were – like the oystercatchers – more recent arrivals from South Island breeding grounds.

Suddenly and without any obvious reason – a harrier hawk nearby perhaps – they were all in the air, thousands of beating wings obscuring the Coromandel Range to the east. They headed east over the water, turned and circled warily a couple of times, before returning to the ground.

At the start of March, the Pūkorokoro Miranda Naturalists Trust had counted around 4300 godwits, although when we visited three weeks later the annual migration to the northern hemisphere had already been under way for two weeks.

But hundreds remained, as well as large numbers of red knots, of which 1075 were recorded earlier in the month.

The South Island pied oystercatchers – 4300 at the start of the month – and Birdwatchers are guaranteed a treat wrybills (1900) now when they visit Miranda. David Brooks dominated the mud

flats, after returning during summer from their inland South Island breeding grounds.

Our visit coincided with the Trust’s Migration Day – postponed because of Covid restrictions – to mark the annual migration of the godwits and other shorebirds that breed in Alaska or Siberia.

Volunteers at the viewing hides answered visitors’ questions and set up spotting scopes – like small telescopes – to allow close up views of the birds and pinpoint some of the rarer migratory species.

“Would you like to see a far-eastern curlew?”, a volunteer asked. “Have a look through the spotting scope, just past the white-faced herons and there’s another one further to the left.”

And there they were, with improbably long downward curved bills on the edge of the flock of wrybills. Another volunteer helped us spot a handful of Pacific Golden plovers, a couple showing distinctive black, white, and gold breeding plumage.

Gatherings of shorebirds in large numbers is not unique to Miranda, but its geography makes it one of the best places to view the birds. For a start, there’s the surrounding 8500ha of mudflats, where there are rich pickings of crabs, worms, and shellfish.

Ngutu parore wrybill on a shellbank at Miranda.

Mike Vincent

The flats below the hills at Miranda are a rare geological feature known as a chenier plain. Waves have pushed shells and sand into ridges on the shoreline over thousands of years. Over time, the gaps between these ridges have filled with silt and a new ridge is formed on the shoreline, providing an ideal bird roosting site at high tide.

The Pūkorokoro Miranda Naturalists Trust was set up in 1975, and in 1990 it opened its Shorebird Visitor’s Centre, a trove of information about the birds, their habitat, and the threats they face. The trust is also involved in research and education, and works to protect and improve the birds’ habitat.

The godwits – named as Forest & Bird’s Bird of the Year in 2015 – get star billing because of their huge numbers and their heroic non-stop flights. The birds’

Tōrea pied oystercatchers at Miranda.

Caspian terns.

Mike Vincent

Mike Vincent

endurance, including a flight of around 10,000km to mudflats in Asia en route to breeding grounds in Alaska is astonishing enough. But the return journey – nonstop, more than 11,000km over eight or nine days – is even more impressive.

Last year, a satellite tracker recorded one godwit – blown slightly off course by unfavourable winds – flying 12,200km in 9.3 days, reaching speeds of around 100km an hour on its way back to New Zealand. This is believed to be the longest distance recorded for a nonstop flight by a bird.

The number of godwits coming to New Zealand has declined from around 100,000 recorded in the 1980s to around 74,500 in 2019. The main cause of the decline is believed to be development of mud flats in South Korea and China.

The good news is that international efforts to protect them and their Asian feeding sites is being coordinated through the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership, of which the Miranda Trust is a member.

Pūkorokoro-Miranda is just 90km from Auckland.

For those who want to spend more than a couple of hours observing the birds and exploring the area, accommodation is available at the Shorebird Visitors Centre. There are two bunk rooms ($35 for non-members and $20 for members) and two self-contained units with their own kitchens and bathrooms ($135 for non-members and $90 for members). The nearby Miranda Holiday Park also has a range of accommodation.

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OBITUARIES Colin Ryder at Island Bay in 2010, with Taputeranga in the background.

He chaired the coalition that finally saw the area designated a marine reserve in 2009.

Stuff

CAPITAL LEGACY OF A CAN-DO

CONSERVATIONIST COLIN RYDER Born 1 November 1946, died 9 March 2021 • Forest & Bird Old Blue

T

he loss of the driving force behind a string of successful landscape restoration projects for more than 40 years has been felt deeply by Forest & Bird and many other conservation groups across Greater Wellington.

Many of us are still coming to terms with losing our mate Colin Ryder. A man who gave so much of his energy selflessly for the progressive delivery of countless projects to restore and protect nature across Wellington and the world. While he was a belligerent bloke, he had a knack of bringing the right people together and always worked as a part of a team.

Everything he did was for a good reason. A few obituaries have been written covering his many exploits and achievements, including the historic eradication of mice from Mana Island, off the Porirua Coast, in the 1980s and the establishment of Wellington’s Taputeranga Marine Reserve in 2009, after a 17-year campaign. So I thought I would share my personal stories with you about Colin – because, if there was anything Colin didn’t like, it was people wasting their time repeating things!

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Colin first became interested in conservation through Forest & Bird in the 1980s and went on to become chairperson of the Wellington Branch. He also served on the National Executive. He was involved in a myriad of other conservation trusts and community groups in and around the capital.

I first came to know Colin in the early 2000s when I was working as

Colin took on the challenge of buying and fencing Long Gully Bush in the late 1990s so the habitat could regenerate.

Today, it is the largest area of privately owned protected land in Wellington.

Sarah Wilcox

the Wellington representative of the QEII National Trust. Colin was the Treasurer of the Wellington Natural Heritage Trust, a position that he still effectively held when he passed away this year. Driven by Colin, a number of Wellingtonians had formed a trust in the late 1990s to acquire Long Gully Bush Reserve – 50ha of regenerating native forest strategically located between Zealandia and Makara Peak Mountain Bike Park.

Colin managed to find an anonymous donor to enable the acquisition and refused to let their identity be known, even to his closest allies. He took this secret to the grave. The block was riddled with goats and pigs, and wasn’t regenerating at all. I quickly learnt that Colin was up for a challenge, and we worked together to source funds to fence out the goats and pigs. We quickly managed to spend more on the fence than the purchase price, despite getting experienced fencers in from the Wairarapa! With council support, possum and predator control was established, and, while funds for this have come and gone over the years, Colin managed to source

enough funding to keep the fence maintained and sustain the predator control. Over the years, the block has grown by working with neighbours, and now it is the largest area of privately owned protected land in Wellington City.

In another huge win for nature, Colin became an instrumental player in the acquisition of the Baring Head block at the entrance to Wellington Harbour, in 2010, working under the auspices of the Wellington Natural Heritage Trust.

Time was short, and we quickly devised a strategy for the campaign.

Early on, local botanist Chris Horne, my mother Lindsay, and I arranged an undercover visit to the block with the estate agent to scope out the property and get a handle on its natural values. We had to pretend to be a family so as to not give the game away! Behind the scenes, Colin worked skilfully to protect this area using his established networks to drum up support and managed to secure commitments from Hutt City Council, Nature Heritage Fund, Department of Conservation, and Greater Wellington Regional Council, who now manage the land as part of East Harbour Regional Park.

The purchase wasn’t easy, because there were as many detractors within these organisations as there were outside them. At one point, we thought there may have been foreign ownership interest in this stunning bit of coastal land, so we contacted the Overseas Investment Office to

make sure all the work securing the purchase was worthwhile. To make the job more difficult, and despite all the major commitments from agencies, there was still $200k shortfall a few days before the close of the tender. If we couldn’t raise the funds in time, we had a couple of contingences lined up, including loans and a plan to subdivide some of the grazed flat areas for lifestyle blocks, but this was far from ideal. Colin worked deftly to find an anonymous donor and, at the eleventh hour, managed to finalise the deal. He sent out an email to all trustees to say it was sorted, promptly turned off his phone, and took his wife to the movies! Colin stayed closely involved with the protection and restoration of Baring Head. Together with others he met as a part of the campaign to protect the area, he formed the Friends of Baring Head Trust. This group continues to raise funds and deliver restoration projects in the area.

Colin didn’t just raise money for ground-breaking conservation projects. Over the past four decades, from Mana Island to Baring Head, he was dedicated to carrying out frontline conservation work, including checking predator traps, planting, weeding, painting sheds, and many other tasks. This is what Colin loved, getting people involved in conservation and then working together to achieve great outcomes for nature. Rest in peace my friend, you have earned it.

By Tim Park

Colin on his beloved Mana Island in 1994. It was his “shoot the moon” idea to eradicate five million mice from the island located off the Kāpiti Coast.

Forest & Bird Archives

SAD NEWS FROM ROTOKARE We share the sad news from Rotokare Scenic Reserve of the sudden and unexpected death of their sanctuary manager Simon Collins. He had a massive heart attack in March while mountain biking. Simon was a passionate and awesome leader in conservation, at Rotokare and beyond. Simon’s work was inspiring, and he supported me through the years of my time at Bushy Park Tarapuruhi – sometimes on the end of the phone, and other times turning up with a bunch of Rotokare volunteers to help us on-site.

The Bushy Park Trust has visited Rotokare in recent years and heard Simon share their many stories and achievements. He was a good friend to many of us at Forest & Bird, especially our Taranaki branches. This is a huge loss, and we send our love and support to Rotokare and to Simon’s family.

You can find out more about Simon’s life and legacy at www.rotokare.org.nz.

By Mandy Brooke

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Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

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

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HISTORY

Ruapekapeka Pā is protected under the Reserves Act.

HISTORIC PĀ DAMAGED

Removal of war artefacts from Ruapekapeka Pā results in a hefty fine, after the Department of Conservation was alerted to the offences.

A

n “honest mistake” led to a local Northland man receiving a $1600 fine for the removal of historic war artefacts from Ruapekapeka Pā.

These kinds of offences are happening at important cultural heritage sites throughout New Zealand and are not always so innocent, says DOC. Ruapekapeka Pā and battlefield, located 14km southeast of Kawakawa, is recognised as one of New Zealand’s iconic historic places, being the best preserved Northern War site in the country.

The site is managed by Te Ruapekapeka Trust and DOC as a place where New Zealanders can come and reflect on past events that have shaped our nation.

The Trust includes appointed representatives of Te Kapotai, Ngāti Manu, Ngāti Kahukuri-Ngāti Hau, and Ngāti Hine.

The Trust and DOC were alerted through comments on Facebook that a man was seen using a metal detector and removing artefacts from the pā in late January.

The person came forward immediately and returned the items, which were blessed and returned to Ruapekapeka. DOC issued two infringement notices

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Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

(fines) for failure to comply with the Reserves Act for cutting sod and removal of a relic from a historic site.

DOC manages the largest cultural heritage portfolio in the country, with more than 13,000 known archaeological and historic sites located on public conservation lands and waters (it manages shipwrecks too).

“While the offender did the right thing in coming forward and immediately returning the items, we have a duty of care to enforce the well-displayed rules to protect our treasured historic sites,” says senior heritage advisor Andrew Blanshard.

“The offender cut approximately 20 holes in the pā and removed a number of artefacts from the site, including parts of an exploded cannon ball.

Holes cut in ground to remove artefacts.

“Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. All of New Zealand’s heritage sites across the country are at risk from numerous factors. But the majority of damage is sadly and avoidably caused by people.”

Over the past year, numerous heritage sites have been damaged by human activities, including someone driving over a 700-yearold Māori midden (rubbish dump), a potential treasure trove for archaeologists.

Other pā sites and early European mining sites have also been damaged, leading to the loss of potentially vital information.

“This comes at a time when we know that New Zealanders are more engaged than ever with their heritage and wanting to learn more,” says Pita Tipene, interim chair of Te Ruapekapeka Trust.

“We all need to help protect these sites as the stories they can tell us are the building blocks of our national identity.”

If you see vandalism or damage being caused to conservation heritage sites, call the DOC hotline on 0800 362 468.

Artefacts (parts of an exploded cannonball) removed from Ruapekapeka Pā in January.

Parting shot Rémi Schommers spotted this karearea on the Breast Hill Track, near Lake Hawea, in March.

The special golden hour light from the sunset, the calm falcon, and the right lens offered him a perfect close up.

Rémi had been trying to capture the perfect shot of a native New Zealand falcon since arriving in the country from France a year and a half ago.

“This has been a main highlight of my New Zealand experience, and I sincerely hope to stay longer in this peaceful country to keep hiking and discovering the rich wildlife that Aotearoa has to offer,” says Rémi.

WILD ABOUT NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION How to enter: Share your photos of native birds, trees, flowers, insects, lizards, marine animals, or natural landscapes, and be in to win.

Send your high-res digital file and brief details about your photo to Caroline Wood at editor@forestandbird. org.nz. The best entry will be published in the next issue of Forest & Bird magazine.

The prize: The next issue’s winner will receive their choice of a limited edition Hannah Shand fine art print, (A2 size, RRP $320). Hannah loves native birds and has a fascination with Aotearoa’s unique flora and fauna. Her other passion is drawing, and she creates realistic and timeless artworks using black fine-tip pens. Hannah loves to explore remote predator-free islands and bird sanctuaries, taking inspiration from her wildlife encounters for her artwork, capturing each bird’s special character in exquisitely fine detail. Hannah also loves to connect with others who are passionate about birds and conservation as she is. For more information, see www.hannahshandart.com or @hannahshandart.

“Whisper” ruru artwork by Hannah Shand

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