Forest & Bird Magazine 350 Nov 2013

ISSUE 350 • NOVEMBER 2013 www.forestandbird.org.nz

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ISSUE 350

• November 2013

Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. Interim Chief Executive: Nancy Ward Advocacy Manager: Kevin Hackwell Business Manager: Julie Watson North Island Conservation Manager: Mark Bellingham South Island Conservation Manager: Chris Todd Communications Manager: Marina Skinner Central Office: Level 1, 90 Ghuznee St, Wellington.

PO Box 631, Wellington 6140.

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

Tel: (09) 302-0203, Fax: (09) 303-4548 Email: n.beveridge@forestandbird.org.nz Christchurch Office: Unit 4/Level 1, 245 St Asaph St, Christchurch.

PO Box 2516, Christchurch 8140.

Tel: (03) 940-5522 Email: c.todd@forestandbird.org.nz Forest & Bird is a registered charitable entity under the Charities Act 2005.

Registration No. CC26943.

Tiaki Taiao www.forestandbird.org.nz

Contents 2 Editorial 4 Letters 5 50 years ago 7 Conservation news

52 Storm clouds gathering Climate change impacts on freshwater

56

In the field

58

Going places

61

Community conservation

63

Book reviews

46 KCC grown-up

67

Parting shot

48 Nature of tomorrow

68

Year index

Forests of the shore

1080, Ruataniwha irrigation, RMA reform, Hawke’s Bay rivers, kauri dieback, Best Fish Guide, sharks, Denniston, Win a break, Birdman

20

Soapbox

22

Cover story

28

Your help for the Mackenzie

Muriwai gannet colony

Our seas deserve better Birdlife in the frame

Forest & Bird’s fundraising appeal

30

No man’s land

34

Running wild

39

Our partners

40

Changing times

Classifying stewardship land Rampant wild conifers Environmentally aware Health Pak Turbulent years for Forest & Bird

43

Bequests

A lasting legacy

43

Amazing facts about …

44

Our people

Cicadas

EDITOR: Marina Skinner

PO Box 631, Wellington.

T (04) 801-2761 F (04) 385-7373 E m.skinner@forestandbird.org.nz ART DIRECTOR /DESIGNER:

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

Ann Graeme, George Leslie Paton, Chris Gaskin, Sharon Davies, Sarah Ridsdale Marguerite Pearson Pricing up nature

Bushy Park, Friends of Flora

Penguins: Their World, Their Ways, Birds & People, Birds of New Zealand: A Photographic Guide, Raoul & the Kermadecs: New Zealand’s Northernmost Islands, Wild Behaviour: A New Zealand Perspective, New Zealand’s Wild Places, Wildlife of New Zealand South Island robin by Wynston Cooper

PREPRESS/PRINTING:

Printlink KEEP UP WITH NATURE

ADVERTISING:

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editorial

Back to basics for DOC

F

or decades the management of public lands has been based on the simple principle that protecting the natural values, ecology and features of these places is the primary focus of our relevant government agencies. These principles are written into the Conservation Act and the National Parks Act. In recent years the focus on protecting natural values has been diluted by the addition of other priorities, especially economic and social, to the responsibilities of agencies like the Department of Conservation. There is now growing concern that these new priorities, combined with budget cuts and restructuring, have resulted in the department losing focus on what should be its core business: preserving biodiversity.

Take forest health: there is an urgent need to extend pest control on the conservation estate to protect forests from sustained damage of possums, rats and stoats. The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment recently described DOC’s pest control programme as “very inadequate”, this two years after an earlier report noted that “we do not have the luxury of time” to protect our forests and found that 1080 is the most costeffective tool available.

The department’s lack of urgency on this issue means that forests around New Zealand continue to be eaten away by possums while rats and stoats kill native wildlife by the millions. The majority of DOC’s pest control budget continues to be spent on expensive ground-based trapping, and as a result there is only funding to actively manage one-eighth of the conservation estate. Quite simply, 1080 could control more land, more effectively.

Another example of the fuzzy focus at DOC is the choice to increase the number of staff promoting volunteering and community conservation while cutting the number of front-line technical, legal and conservation staff.

Increasing volunteers will doubtless increase the amount of soft conservation (planting and photo opportunities) that gets done but will do little to tackle difficult issues like forest collapse or habitat loss. Another consequence is that Forest & Bird has had to step up its legal and advocacy work to make up for DOC’s retreat from these issues. Ironically, we are now defending DOC land from development (surely DOC’s job?) while the department is turning itself into a volunteer agency (isn’t that our job?).

It’s time that DOC stopped these excursions into peripheral activities and philosophical experiments and got re-focused on the core business of protecting biodiversity. It’s also time for a strategy to extend pest control as widely as possible using the most cost-effective techniques. DOC should be leading the war on pests, not engaging in a half-hearted retreat from the fight.

The arrival of new leadership at DOC and a Minister who understands the value of conservation are hopeful signs that change could be on the way. It needs to happen soon.

Ngä mihi nui

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

PATRON: His Excellency

Lieutenant General the Rt Hon Sir Jerry Mateparae, GovernorGeneral of New Zealand NATIONAL PRESIDENT:

Andrew Cutler DEPUTY PRESIDENT:

Mark Hanger NATIONAL TREASURER:

Graham Bellamy CONSERVATION AMBASSADORS:

Sir Alan Mark, Gerry McSweeney, Craig Potton EXECUTIVE COUNCILLORS:

Brent Barrett, Lindsey Britton, Tony Dunlop, Craig Potton, Ines Stager, Barry Wards, John Wenham DISTINGUISHED LIFE MEMBERS:

Bill Ballantine, Stan Butcher, Ken Catt, Linda Conning, Audrey Eagle, Alan Edmonds, Gordon Ell, Stewart Gray, Philip Hart, Joan Leckie, Hon. Sandra Lee-Vercoe, Carole Long, Peter Maddison, Sir Alan Mark, Gerry McSweeney, Margaret Peace, Eugenie Sage, Guy Salmon, Lesley Shand, Gordon Stephenson, David Underwood

Forest & Bird is published quarterly by the Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. Forest & Bird is a member of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and is the New Zealand partner of BirdLife International. • Opinions expressed by contributors in the magazine are not necessarily those of Forest & Bird.

Andrew Cutler Forest & Bird President

Thank you for sharing your views Thank you to everyone who filled in the member survey included with the August edition of Forest & Bird magazine or online. We greatly appreciate your views. We are collating your responses, which will help us get a better picture of how you see Forest & Bird and how we might better meet your expectations.

The winners of the $50 Craig Potton Publishing prize packs are Patricia McNaughton, Janis Crampton, Mr D and Mrs D Goodin, Mr J E and Mrs S Oldman and Lala A Frazer.

Your prizes will be posted.

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

• The magazine is bulk mailed in biodegradable cellulose film, which is made from wood pulp sourced from managed plantations. • Registered at PO Headquarters, Wellington, as a magazine. ISSN 0015-7384.

Copyright. All rights reserved.

Special Banking Package for all Forest & Bird members and supporters.

We’re very excited to be working with Forest & Bird, another New Zealand organisation that believes, we have a vital role to play in supporting the prosperity and sustainability of our country for future generations. Working with Forest & Bird, we’ve set a goal to raise $300,000 over three years to support key environmental projects. You can help.

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• Limited to the first 200 accounts opened every 12 months. One donation per customer.

*Product Terms and Conditions apply. The Pre-approved Overdraft is subject to a satisfactory credit check.

Personal Loans must include a minimum of $3,000 of new lending. The home loan offers apply to loans of $100,000 and over and Terms and Conditions apply. For all lending products, The Co-operative Bank lending criteria, and fees, apply. The Home Loan discount is not available on Low Equity loans, and a Low Equity interest rate premium will apply. A copy of our investment statement and current Disclosure Statement are available from any branch of The Co-operative Bank. The Co-operative Bank reserves the right to change or withdraw the above offers, which only apply to personal banking accounts, from time to time without prior notice. These offers are not available in conjunction with any other special offers from The Co-operative Bank.

Home Loan interest rate discounts may not be available on specific terms from time-to-time.

Working together

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

The best contribution to the Letters page of the next edition will win a copy of Birds & People by Mark Cocker, photographs by David Tipling (Random House, $105).

Please send letters to Editor, Forest & Bird magazine, PO Box 631, Wellington 6140 or e-mail m.skinner@forestandbird.org.nz by December 4.

Climate change impacts

Winter bird food

You report that climate change poses a huge threat to New Zealand’s natural heritage (May Forest & Bird).

Australian Professor Robert Manne recently explained why nations are collectively doing so little to avoid an impending and entirely foreseeable climate catastrophe.

His lucid and compelling article, “Climate change: Some reasons for our failures”, is at www.guardian.co.uk Manne suggests an alternative approach. This includes the mass mobilisation of public opinion (of the kind pioneered by Bill McKibben’s 350.org) and emergency action by individual nations to replace fossil fuels by clean alternatives.

Such domestic economic revolutions would, in the short term, be largely altruistic. But a handful of advanced economies, notably Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden, are already treading this path. Their example encourages others. Melbourne-based research group Beyond Zero Emissions is charting the practicalities of an Australian economy based wholly on renewable energy.

Forest & Bird in New Zealand and nature conservation groups in Australia should actively campaign for a rapid shift to zero-carbon economies in our countries.

Another very welcome Forest & Bird magazine has just arrived and I thought it may be of interest that in any garden, apart from the usual bird feeding recipes of sugar syrup and fat and seed cakes, the waxeyes are very partial to nectar from winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum). Mine has been in flower for a few months. It grows quite happily against an open trellis and the waxeyes find it very easy to reach the nectar. I think they find it a refuge from the hurlyburly around the other feeders.

Shirley Skinner, Wanaka

David Teather, Canberra This letter is the winner of Moa by Quinn Berentson.

Backyard bullying People often mention how aggressive tüï are but from observing the birds that attend my sugar water feeders I would rate male sparrows the worst. I have seen them on numerous occasions grab a silvereye with their beak and shake them over the edge of the deck rail. The silvereyes are grabbed by the neck, foot or wing.

The greenfinches are also aggressive but appear to give up when too many sparrows turn up.

The small birds usually depart when the tüï or bellbirds fly in but that appears to be more due to size than aggression, though occasionally they will chase a sparrow or bellbird away.

I notice I get more birds on wet days, with the most this year 14 tüï, three bellbirds and 30 silvereyes at any one time. The song was amazing. When the tüï are looking for mates their flying skills are amazing as they dash in for a quick feed while flirting. A little of New Zealand, the way it could be, in my garden.

Pam Pope, Nelson 4

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Silvereyes. Photo: Amanda Keogh

When the owner’s away …

Like many others, I was most unhappy to read about Dr Gareth Morgan’s blanket condemnation of cats and none too happy to learn that the SPCA de-sexes and releases all strays.

I have owned three cats in my adult life and as I recall only one of these ever caught a bird – a young blackbird.

The main reason why domestic cats catch birds is that no one is at home. They become lonely, bored, often can’t get into the house and usually roam the neighbourhood in search of diversion. If the SPCA sold cats only to people who are not at work all day, I believe the number of birds killed would plummet.

Molly Anderson, Dunedin

WIN A BOOK Forest & Bird is giving away two copies of Birds of New Zealand: A photographic guide by Paul Scofield and Brent Stephenson (Auckland University Press, $59.99).

To enter the draw, email your entry to draw@forestandbird.org.nz Please put Birds of New Zealand in the subject line and include your name and address in the email. Or put your name and address on the back of an envelope and post to Birds of New Zealand draw, Forest & Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington 6140. Entries close on November 27.

The winners of An Extraordinary Land in the August edition of Forest & Bird are Rich Mairs, Auckland, and Pauline Coy, Nelson. Your books will be posted.

Martha mine at Waihï. Photo: Kim Westerskov

Mining in Northland Dean Baigent-Mercer paints a very bleak and biased picture of the possibility of mining in Northland (August Forest & Bird). I wonder if he has ever seen the gold and silver mining operations at Waihï. Yes, the rock is crushed and chemical reactions using cyanide are used. The toxic waste is poured into a lake and treated with other chemicals until it is no longer toxic. The water is then released into the Öhinemuri River. The water is so pure that trout can live in it. Yes, I have seen trout swimming there.

The spent and crushed rock is spread out and with topsoil added is re-established in grass, pines or natives.

With care, mining in Northland can be safe and provide much-needed overseas funds and jobs for locals in one of the highest unemployment areas in New Zealand.

Frank Coulter, Päuanui Beach

50 years ago

Dean Baigent-Mercer replies: The real issue with the Waihï mine is the vast toxic tailings dam filled with a cocktail of heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic, cadmium and zinc. This waste sits behind an earth dam. It is not directly discharged into the Öhinemuri River. An earthquake or weather bomb could breach this dam and put the river at high risk.

The 40 million tonnes of toxic waste at Waihï is not somehow magically decontaminated. That’s why it needs to be contained, eventually capped and kept out of the food chain. The story of this toxic waste is really just the beginning. Recently $22.5 million of public money has been used to stabilise the dam holding toxic waste from the old Tüï gold mine on Mt Te Aroha in the Kaimai Ranges. Who knows how things will stand in 150 years at Waihï?

Auckland branch On 7 July we were favoured with perfect weather for a tree-planting day at the Society’s property at Onetangi, Waiheke Island. In the course of the trip across on the Motunui we saw a flock of some 400 fluttering shearwaters, several blue penguins, and a few gannets.

It was estimated that about 300 trees were planted. The Auckland Botanical Society, the Tree Society, and the Youth Hostels Association were presented and we were accompanied by a TV cameraman. The day’s activities duly appeared on TV. We were pleased to see that a good proportion of the trees planted last year were flourishing although planted rather late in the season, and that the gorse that we sprayed last March was dying although there was too much still growing.

The totara planted by Mr. Nelson when he visited the property at the time of the annual general meeting in June 1962, is holding its own, although it does not seem to have made any growth.

Forest & Bird, November 1963

Forest & Bird

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letters Johnstone’s Hill battle The Soapbox in Forest & Bird (May) about the importance of the Resource Management Act (RMA) in protecting Johnstone’s Hill on the Örewa to Pühoi State Highway One extension invites comment. During 2000-2003 Manu Waiata and Native Freshwater Fish Society lodged appeals under the RMA against catchment modifications designed for the Northern Gateway motorway. Would that Forest & Bird Society had been in court alongside us! Meanwhile, Mrs Muriel Kett (and her engineers Selywn Green, Arthur Haughey, Clive Sligo and Nick Rogers) argued that the depth of cut proposed through Johnstone’s Hill was incorrectly calculated and would be unstable. She commissioned from Peter Riley an alternative design for tunnels approached by a low causeway across the Waiwera River.

The High Court ruled against Mrs Kett and she was ordered to pay costs. Nonetheless, NZ Transport Agency built the tunnels. To achieve this, Auckland Regional Authority granted a non-notified variation that permitted 16 giant tawa trees to be felled without mitigation; the Wech isthmus was transferred to the Department of Conservation without compensation to the Wech family who had farmed it for a century; NZ Transport Agency formed an alliance with private construction companies that built a mighty “eco” viaduct across the Waiwera River and converted the Transport Agency costing of $180 million into a taxpayers’ cost of $360 million for eight kilometres of road; and SH1 became a tolled motorway approaching sea level at the Pühoi River.

To add to the ignominy, the Transport Agency accepted environmental awards without saluting the intrepid Mrs Kett.

Wendy Pond, Secretary, Manu Waiata Restoration & Protection Society Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell replies: Forest & Bird did not take legal action in this case but was involved in extended discussions with NZ Transport Agency and other groups involved. We acknowledge Manu Waiata’s legal action to protect the area.

Photo: Ngä Manu Images

Science of 1080 In all my reading on the political, social and emotional aspects of 1080 aerial poison drops, I have yet to come across a truly scientific discussion in the media, in nature magazines and letters to editors. But if a thorough scientific research has been done, and it no doubt has, then perhaps Forest & Bird could publish it or at least a readable version of such.

To my mind, too much publicity has concentrated on mammal and bird impacts at the expense of the vast, wide range of other fauna which could be affected. By this I mean soil micro-organisms, insects, worms, amphibians, fish and reptiles, native, naturalised and established exotics. It must be remembered that it is the bottom of the food chain, the living soil, that supports all other rungs of the food chain ladder, the top ones being birds, mammals and, of course, ourselves.

My question is then, have sample plots in a variety of locations been established in areas where aerial drops are proposed? Have such plots been thoroughly analysed for their faunal and floral content, biodiversity, health and relative abundance? And have these plots been carefully monitored and analysed before a drop and at various intervals afterwards?

Barry Brickell, Coromandel The editor replies: The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s 2011 report on 1080 summarises the large body of research on the impacts of 1080 on soil, water, plants and invertebrates – as well as on native birds and mammals.

In June this year the PCE called on the Department of Conservation to use more 1080 to stop possums, stoats and rats killing native birds. To obtain a copy of the 2011 report, contact the PCE’s office at report@pce.parliament.nz, PO Box 10 241, Wellington, or phone 04 471 1669.

TIRITIRI MATANGI ISLAND Enjoy a day trip to a magical island called Tiritiri Matangi. Guided walks through the re-planted native bush will put you up close and personal with some very special and rare native birds and creatures. Tiritiri holds appeal for all ages and abilities and will give you an insight into how a world renowned conservation project can lead to transformation for an island once stripped bare for farming, now re-instated and protected for future generations.

Book your cruise today. 360discovery.co.nz 0800 360 3472 or 09 307 8005

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conservation

news

Forest & Bird backs more 1080 use I

n June 2011 the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE), Dr Jan Wright, launched a report on 1080, in which she said that not only should the use of 1080 continue but it should be used more.

Two years on the PCE released a second strongly worded report that made it clear the Department of Conservation must ramp up the use of aerially applied 1080.

Forest & Bird wholeheartedly supports the message. As the PCE found in her first report in 2011, 1080 is the only economic option for controlling pests and predators on the vast public conservation estate, which covers a third of New Zealand’s terrestrial area.

The PCE also concluded that all the reliable evidence is clear – 1080 readily breaks down in the environment and that if precautions are taken it is safe to spread from the air.

Many people would be surprised to know that only one-eighth of the conservation estate has 1080 regularly applied to it. “Incredibly, DOC spends more on researching the use of 1080 than it actually does on applying it,” says Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell. “Some of that research is important. But if DOC was to divert just half its 1080 research budget each year towards increasing the use of 1080 it would make for a huge, lasting boost for conservation in this country.

“DOC has been far too timid. Often when it should be distributing 1080 by air it is using ground-based traps or bait stations. If you’re talking about large areas, trapping is an extremely expensive and often not very thorough way to try and control rats, stoats and possums.

“The science on 1080 couldn’t be clearer. It rarely affects native birds and when it does the dramatic increase in the

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number of successful nests in the treated area eclipses any losses. In other words, knocking back the animals that eat chicks and eggs means that any earlier losses, while deeply regrettable, are more than made up for,” Kevin says.

DOC’s work on reducing accidental bird poisonings from 1080 received a setback in late June and early August during a trial of a new bait ingredient intended to repel birds. Five out of 39 kea being monitored died after eating baits. DOC says the baits didn’t have the intended level of repellent in them (kea, being extremely curious, are at particular risk of accidental 1080 poisoning).

After releasing the news of the kea deaths to the media, DOC inevitably came under heavy criticism. This criticism overlooked some statistics the department had also released at the same time on the improvement of nesting success rates after 1080 had been applied elsewhere.

In 2011 a 1080 operation at Ökarito showed that the nesting success rate for local kea rose from 51 per cent to 100 per cent after the drop. In similar areas that hadn’t been treated the success rate stood at an average of just 38 per cent. In 2012 69 per cent of the nests in the treated area were successful. In the untreated areas the success rate that year was just 1 per cent.

“As the PCE has said, we’re lucky to have 1080 as an option,” Kevin says. “Without it, we may well have lost even more species than we have already. The doubters need to be practical – the conservation estate is huge, the problem is huge, and 1080 is the only practical way to get the job done.

“The PCE has said in her new report that the recommendations made in her first report have not been followed. We want to see the pussyfooting around this issue stop.” n Jay Harkness 1 Stoats are among the main predators that need to be

controlled in the conservation estate. Photo: davidhallett.co.nz

2 Aerial 1080 drops should be increased, argues the

1

Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. Photo: John Greenwood Forest & Bird

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conservation

news

Wrestling over Ruataniwha

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T

wo taniwha, or monsters, lived in a lake at the foot of the Ruahine Range. A boy came to the lake edge and the taniwha wrestled with each other in a bid to grab the boy and eat him. Their thrashing broke the edge of the lake and the waters escaped, carrying one taniwha away and leaving the other sorry for the violence and the loss of his mate.

This is the back story to Ruataniwha, the Hawke’s Bay plain where a dam could be built to create a water body that will be Hawke’s Bay second largest, behind Lake Waikaremoana.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council is backing the $600 million dam and irrigation scheme, which it hopes will attract 200 new dairy farms in the area. But Forest & Bird, Fish & Game and other groups are fighting the scheme because it will be disastrous for affected rivers and streams, forest and native plants and animals.

Forest & Bird’s Hastings-Havelock North branch chairperson Vaughan Cooper and Central Hawke’s Bay committee member John Cheyne are working hard to make the voice of nature heard. “I see that we’re setting the scene in the catchment area for the next two to three decades,” says Vaughan. “It’s my chance to make a difference.”

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The Tukituki Catchment Proposal is a massive project to increase opportunities for irrigation in Hawke’s Bay. It involves a plan change to the Hawke’s Bay Regional Resource Plan, and resource consents and a designation for a dam and reservoir on the Makaroro River, a tributary of the Waipawa River, which flows into the Tukituki River, to irrigate 25,000 hectares of land in the Tukituki catchment.

If all the hurdles are jumped, a 90-metre-high dam will be built across the main stem of the Makaroro River. It will create a reservoir stretching 6-7 kilometres back towards the hills, flooding 450ha of surrounding land. The reservoir’s waters will drown part of what is now Ruahine Forest Park and an area of Department of Conservation stewardship land.

About 50ha of ecologically significant mature podocarp and beech forest and a further 140ha of regenerating forest at Makaroro will be destroyed. Falcons and longtailed bats nest in the podocarp forest. Kowhai forest is an important feeding ground for tüï and bellbirds. A total of 12 threatened and at-risk species live in what could be a reservoir, including pied stilts, New Zealand pipits, black shags and fernbirds.

The change in the water flows will have impacts a long way downstream, at the Tukituki estuary and wetlands near Clive, where several threatened and declining bird species live. These impacts have not been thought through.

Forest & Bird and others are concerned about life in the Makaroro and Tukituki rivers, too. The Tukituki catchment is a stronghold for native fish, including ïnanga, lamprey, köaro and dwarf galaxias.

The dam will stop migrating native fish reaching the sea or upper reaches of the rivers to complete their life cycles.

“The dam will also generate electricity,” says Vaughan.

“The water goes through the turbines and the fish get munched by the turbines.”

Stored water will be released into Makaororo River in a steady flow, which farmers will be able to access through weirs. The scheme aims to add 19,000ha to the 6000ha of land already irrigated in the area. Because the water will be relatively expensive, farmers will need to increase the returns from their land through more intensive farming.

Dairy farming is the most likely option, and Vaughan says 200 new dairy farms are expected to spring up.

The quality of water in the rivers will take a hit, with nutrients from fertilisers and cow urine running off the land and into the waterways. “The nutrient losses from the massive intensification of land use that will result from the scheme are being strenuously opposed by environmental groups,” says Forest & Bird lawyer Sally Gepp.

“Hawke’s Bay Regional Council proposes significantly increasing allowable nitrogen limits in the rivers. The scheme aims to be phosphorous-neutral, but this singlenutrient approach takes a huge gamble on how water quality and native fish will respond to the massive nitrate increases, which are very hard to mitigate.”

Standing up for the Tukituki catchment is a timeconsuming exercise for Vaughan and John.

Vaughan singles out Grenville Christie and Sharleen Baird from Forest & Bird’s Central Hawke’s Bay branch and Amelia McQueen, Jenny Baker and Terry Kelly from Te Taiao Hawke’s Bay Environment Forum for praise. He also applauds Fish & Game, the Environmental Defence Society (EDS) and Sustaining Hawke’s Bay Trust.

They are likely to be thrashing around like taniwha before peace returns to this Hawke’s Bay backwater. n Marina Skinner 2

NAPIER •

RUAHINE RANGE

HASTINGS •

MAKARORO RIVER

TUKITUKI RIVER

4 1 The Makaroro River, where a 90-metre-high dam is planned

for a massive irrigation scheme in Hawke’s Bay. The Ruahine Range is in the background. Photo: Peter Scott

2 Kōura, or freshwater crayfish, are found in the Tukituki

catchment. Photo: Alton Perrie

3 The Tukituki catchment is a stronghold for dwarf galaxias

and other native fish. Photo: Alton Perrie

4 A large population of long-tailed bats lives in the area to be

flooded for the reservoir. Photo: DOC/Colin O’Donnell

What’s next Plan change five to the Hawke’s Bay Regional Policy Statement – which is the over-arching environmental policy statement for Hawke’s Bay – is before the Environment Court.

The Tukituki catchment plan change six – which sets limits and rules for the catchment and would allow the irrigation scheme to go ahead – is before a government-appointed Board of Inquiry.

The resource consents to build the dam are also before the Board of Inquiry.

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conservation

news

A twist in the fight for the RMA I

n September the campaign to save the Resource Management Act (RMA) received an unexpected boost.

With little warning, the United Future and Mäori parties made a joint statement that put the government they are normally a part of on notice that the costs to the environment from the planned RMA reforms would be just too great. The Mäori Party also said the proposed reforms would impinge on the tangata whenua role as kaitiaki.

The parties spoke plainly on the issue. United Future leader Peter Dunne said: “In the 20 years since the Act was passed, the environment is in a worse state by almost every measure, and the government’s proposed changes to facilitate development will make matters worse. I do not accept that commercial interests should override the environmental principles of the Resource Management Act.” Tariana Turia, co-leader of the Mäori Party, said: “The Resource Management Act was designed to ensure that

Forest & Bird lawyer Sally Gepp runs a webinar, or online seminar, on how to write submissions on the RMA.

our use of natural resources is sustainable. Changes to part two, which enshrine the driving principles, undermine the whole purpose of the Act.” Both leaders also said that “the changes to remove emphasis on the ‘maintenance and enhancement of the quality of the environment’ fundamentally rewrite the Act and put a spanner in the works of the legal system, that will take years of litigation to fix up.”

The statement concluded by saying that neither party would vote in Parliament in support the Bill, “as it currently sits”.

Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell says this wording could be crucial. “You can be sure that National will already be trying to talk both parties around,” he says. “We are hoping that both parties will stick to their position that the purposes and principles of part two of the Act should not be gutted.”

He says that whatever the outcome of the political dealmaking, he is optimistic that the widespread opposition to the reforms will be enough to save the RMA. “New Zealanders from all walks of life understand that the RMA is key to protecting nature, and so in turn what makes New Zealand such a great place to live.”

The campaign to save the RMA will continue – and so does Forest & Bird’s RMA fundraising appeal.

Supporter Relations Manager Rebecca Scelly says the response to the appeal has been one of the best ever, and that donations have gone a long way towards enabling Forest & Bird to play an important role in the community’s efforts to save the RMA. She is quick to echo Kevin’s sentiments – the work is not yet complete.

Forest & Bird used webinars – internet-based seminars – for the first time to support the RMA campaign. These were hosted by our in house lawyer, Sally Gepp. From her office in Nelson she showed several groups techniques for writing effective submissions. n Jay Harkness

New DOC leader welcomed Forest & Bird welcomes Lou Sanson as the new Director-General of the Department of Conservation. He started his new position on September 14, after spending 11 years as chief executive of Crown entity Antarctica New Zealand.

Forest & Bird President Andrew Cutler said DOC staff had been through the wringer over the past few years with job cuts and restructurings. “We hope Mr Sanson will bring muchneeded stability to the department, and refocus the organisation on its core business of protecting and preserving New Zealand’s unique wildlife and natural heritage. Rebuilding morale and directing resources to the frontline work of managing DOC land and protecting our wildlife are two key challenges for Mr Sanson,” he said.

Forest & Bird encourages Mr Sanson to revitalise DOC’s advocacy role for the natural environment within government and within communities.

Mr Sanson has previously worked for DOC, and from May 1998 to July 2002 he was the Conservator for the Southland Conservancy of DOC. 10

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Lou Sanson has had a long career in conservation.

The upper reaches of the Ngaruroro River.

Close eye on Hawke’s Bay rivers In September Forest & Bird joined Fish & Game, Hastings hapü Ngäti Hori ki Kohupatiki, Whitewater NZ and Jet Boating NZ in applying for a water conservation order (WCO) for the Ngaruroro and Clive rivers in Hawke’s Bay. A WCO on a river gives it similar legal protection to a national park, and the 15 rivers that already have WCOs are often referred to as “wet national parks”.

The Ngaruroro River drains the Kaimanawa and Kaweka ranges of the Central Plateau, and the northern part of the Ruahine Range. Its top section remains almost entirely in its natural state as it flows across the eastern Ruapehu ash showers, then through narrow gorges. The bottom section flows in braids across the Heretaunga floodplain.

Even though much of the land around the lower section is farmed, the river remains relatively clean, until it enters the Pacific via the Waitangi Estuary near Clive.

The Clive catchment drains parts of Hastings, and extends almost as far as Havelock North. While it has been heavily modified, it is of particular cultural significance to Ngäti Hori ki Kohupatiki.

For Forest & Bird, the benefits of protecting the Ngaruroro are clear. The river provides habitat for birds such as the nationally vulnerable pohowera (banded dotterel), New Zealand dabchick and whio (blue duck).

Nine endemic or native species in the Ngaruroro catchment are classified as at risk to declining, including köura (freshwater crayfish), tuna (longfin eel) and lamprey.

The upper reaches of the Ngaruroro are wild and scenic and seldom seen, though many local Forest & Bird members spend time on the river spotting birds, swimming and rafting.

A WCO would maintain natural flow levels, current water quality and natural river levels by stopping any dams from being built or diversions being created. Farmers would still be able to use the river’s water in non-harmful ways, for instance for their stock. Direct discharges of pollutants would not be allowed.

It’s a long process to obtain a WCO. The application has been lodged with the Minister for the Environment, Amy Adams, who can reject it or appoint a tribunal to hear and report on it. It would then be notified for public submissions before public hearings would take place.

The tribunal would then consider all factors, including the needs of industry and other relevant plans and policies. A

recommendation would be made, which may be reviewed in the Environment Court. The court would then report to the Minister, who may or may not recommend to the Governor-General that he (or she, since years might have passed by this stage) make the order.

No matter how long it takes, this special river needs recognition and protection. We will keep you updated on the WCO’s progress. n Jay Harkness

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conservation

news

Kauri disease sweeps north T

here’s not a lot of good news when it comes to the fungus-like kauri dieback disease, Phytophthora taxon Agathis (PTA), which is killing large numbers of kauri around Auckland and Northland.

Little is known about how it is spread and there’s no proven treatment for infected trees. Vandals are tampering with equipment set aside for people to clean their footwear to reduce the chances of spreading the disease. Trail users are reportedly growing impatient and are demanding to see evidence that track closures in the Waitäkere Ranges will limit the spread of the disease. And government funding for research into the spread of PTA will run out in the middle of next year.

Despite this, Forest & Bird Northland/Auckland Field Officer Nick Beveridge is optimistic that it might still be possible to prevent an ecological disaster. He says that once a business case has been put together by the Kauri Management Programme – a group made up of the Department of Conservation, iwi, the Ministry for Primary Industries and the Auckland, Northland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty regional councils – new research funding should be granted.

He says that avocado growers successfully treat their trees for similar Phytophthora-type diseases with phosphite (phosphorous acid), and that research at crown research institute Plant & Food Research is showing promising signs that kauri could be treated in a similar way.

Not much is known about how PTA spreads, though there is very good reason to believe that walkers’ footwear is partly to blame. Members of Forest & Bird’s North Shore and Waitäkere branches voluntarily maintain cleaning stations on Auckland Council reserves in their areas.

But some recent research by the University of Auckland’s Dr Cheryl Krull has identified feral pigs as another likely vector. She found related Phytophthora diseases on the trotters and snouts of pigs in the Waitäkere Ranges. She did not find any signs of PTA specifically but it is strongly suspected that pigs play a role in its spread. In Australia pigs are known to spread jarrah dieback disease, which survives in a pig’s gut after the animals eat infected roots.

The disease establishes itself where their droppings fall.

Regardless of whether pigs spread PTA, there are good conservation reasons for culling them, says Nick.

The good news is that, so far, the disease has not spread to kauri south of Auckland, either in the Kaimai or Hünua ranges, on the Coromandel or around Käwhia.

However, PTA has been found in Waipoua Forest Park, home to the largest kauri in New Zealand, Täne Mahuta.

The disease is also on possum-free Great Barrier Island (Aotea), from where it seems to have originated in the 1970s. Kauri have been regenerating strongly there since milling stopped in the early part of the 20th century. PTA is also in Northland’s Trounson Kauri Park and in former kauri plantation sites Raetea and Omahuta (near Hokianga Harbour), and Glenburvie (near Whängärei). It is rife in the Waitäkere Ranges, which lie along Auckland’s western edge. This includes the Forest & Bird/Auckland Councilmanaged Ark in the Park at the northern end of the Waitäkere Ranges.

Nick’s advice to walkers and property owners is simple: “The word on PTA needs to be spread: prevention is the only known cure. People have got to clean everything that could have come in contact with the ground both before going into a kauri forest and as they leave. This includes bikes, tyres, walking poles and, of course, footwear.

“People who have kauri on their land need to be proactive in protecting their trees, and not letting the disease spread from their properties if their trees are infected. This means that visitors and contractors and their equipment need to be checked for any traces of soil.”

Nick says there are many questions about what lies ahead. For instance, will a natural tolerance or genetic resistance develop? And will all kauri be affected in the same way (all kauri known to have been infected so far are dead or dying), regardless of where they are?

Kauri are a keystone species, meaning that ecosystems have evolved to live on and around them. For example, growing kauri create a type of soil (kauri podzol) that only specialised plants can survive in. These species could become extinct if enough kauri die.

And what of the chances of kauri becoming extinct?

Could it become the first New Zealand tree to do so? Nick grimly answers that with another question: “How much do New Zealanders value the survival of their native trees?” n Jay Harkness All kauri known to have been infected with PTA so far are dead or dying. Photo: Nick Waipara/Auckland Council

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conservation

news

Best fish dish Forest & Bird ran a competition through Facebook inviting people to share their original recipes that use Best Fish Guide-friendly seafood. The idea was to encourage people to actively use their guide and think about sustainability when cooking dinner.

We had some delicious-looking entries but head judge Steve Logan, of Wellington’s Logan Brown Restaurant, was most impressed by Suzanne Chamberlain’s crayfish ravioli. Steve said the dish looked “delicious and interesting” and it was “a great way to make an expensive ingredient go further”.

Honourable mention should go to Kiwi Conservation Club Officer Tiff Stewart’s entry for “orange rough”.

The recipe for her coconut ice-like creation, coloured orange and in the shape of an orange roughy, included “cooking” instructions such as: “Search for an image of orange roughy on your computer. While you’re there ... read a bit more. Fished by deep sea trawling ... destroys 500-year-old coral forests... Should we really be eating these guys?”

Orange roughy has one of the worst rankings on the Best Fish Guide.

Top recipes from the competition have been added to the Best Fish Guide website: www.forestandbird. org.nz/node/107981

2

Crayfish ravioli Suzanne Chamberlain Ravioli 500g crayfish meat (packhorse lobster) 1 tsp garlic confit 2 Tbsp finely diced shallots ¼ cup parsley 2 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce seasoning 1 egg white – lightly beaten wonton wrappers cornflour

1 1 Orange rough by Tiff Stewart 2 Crayfish ravioli by Suzanne Chamberlain

In a bowl, mix together the crayfish meat, garlic, shallots, parsley and sweet chilli sauce and season to taste.

Lay out the required wonton wrappers on an area of benchtop sprinkled with cornflour to stop them sticking.

Place a small amount of crayfish mixture on each wrapper, brush the edges with egg white. These can either be topped with another wonton wrapper or folded in half, depending on the size you wish your ravioli to be and how far you want the mixture to go.

Press any air pockets out

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of the sides of the wrappers and cut to shape. I use a cookie cutter for nice frilly edged rounds.

Cook in a large pot of boiling water until wrappers are al dente.

Beurre blanc sauce ¼ cup white wine ¼ cup white balsamic vinegar 1 shallot 150ml cream 250g butter Place the wine, vinegar and shallot together in a small saucepan and reduce by three-quarters. Add the cream and reduce the mixture again by a half.

Add the chunks of butter one at a time and whisk into the mixture. Pour the mixture through a sieve to remove the shallot.

Add a squeeze of lemon juice and season to taste.

Serve the ravioli with a generous serve of beurre blanc sauce.

Sharks get their own week New Zealand’s inaugural Shark Awareness Week from September 9-15 was organised by the New Zealand Shark Alliance, of which Forest & Bird is a founding member.

The week publicised the variety of sharks found in New Zealand waters and the fact that it is still legal in New Zealand to kill a shark, cut off its fins and dump the body.

The alliance is advocating for a law change that would make fishers bring a shark’s body ashore with its fins. This would restrict their ability to fin and dump huge numbers of sharks on single trips, as is known to happen.

The week was marked by several public events at the Auckland Museum, Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium, the Island Bay Marine Centre in Wellington and Te Papa. It was capped off with an outdoor art installation by Greenpeace in Frank Kitts Park lagoon on Wellington’s waterfront. The installation was made up of 100 fins, representing the number of countries and states that have banned shark finning. New Zealand was represented by a single orange fin, floating alone.

So will New Zealand change its colours? A new government policy on sharks is expected soon. However, its release has been delayed several times. But since all parties in Parliament – except National – have signed a pledge to ban shark finning as the law currently allows it, Forest & Bird hopes sharks will eventually get the protection they deserve.

An art installation by Greenpeace in Frank Kitts Park lagoon on Wellington’s waterfront represented the countries and states that have banned shark finning. New Zealand is not among them. Photo: Marty Melville/Greenpeace

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conservation

news

Denniston campaign continues Forest & Bird is continuing to work through the courts to protect the Denniston Plateau and its wildlife from an opencast coal mine.

In September the Supreme Court released its decision on a case taken by West Coast Environment Network, to which Forest & Bird was a party. The appeal asked if the consequences of climate change should be accounted for when Bathurst Resources and Solid Energy were given resource consents for their respective mines. The court found those consents need not have factored in the effects of climate change. But, significantly, Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias agreed with our arguments in her minority decision.

The Environment Court released a second interim decision in August, in which it again indicated that approval for Bathurst Resources’ open-cast coal mine was likely to be granted. Bathurst still needs to come up with conditions that satisfy the court before a final decision can be made. Forest & Bird opposed several conditions proposed by Bathurst Resources, the most important of which relates to the biodiversity offset. The final decision is imminent and can only be appealed to the High Court on questions of law.

Bathurst doesn’t yet have Department of Conservation approval to widen and use roads going up to and on

the Denniston Plateau where they are on conservation land. Also, the Court of Appeal has not yet ruled on whether the cumulative impacts on the plateau of both Bathurst’s proposed mine and Solid Energy’s nearby Sullivan Mine should have been taken into account by the Environment Court.

A small group of West Coasters picketed Forest & Bird’s Wellington office in August in support of Bathurst’s mine going ahead. Later the same month Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell defended our stance on Denniston at the Australasian Minerals and Mining conference.

The future of the Denniston Plateau – which DOC has ranked among the top 50 most significant mainland sites – is still very uncertain. Forest & Bird’s proposal for a reserve centred on the Denniston Plateau is even more relevant than ever. We hope to bring you a more conclusive update in the February edition of Forest & Bird magazine.

2 1 The giant land snail Powelliphanta patrickensis is nationally

endangered and is found on the Denniston Plateau.

2 Part of the Denniston Plateau that will be destroyed if an

open-cast mine goes ahead. Photo: Debs Martin

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Not one that’s been brought here from overseas Becoming a member of Forest & Bird is one of the best ways you can help preserve our native animals and plants for future generations. Every year, the people at Forest & Bird invest over a million hours of their time, establish thousands of native plants and help protect our wildlife from introduced pests.

As an independent, non-profit organisation, we rely on Kiwis like you joining, to help us save New Zealand’s unique wildlife and the precious environments they live in. The more New Zealanders who become members, the stronger our voice.

Help give nature a voice. Join Forest & Bird today. Call 0800 200 064 or visit forestandbird.org.nz/joinus

conservation

news

Win a break away or at home Forest & Bird’s North Canterbury branch is running a major fundraising raffle to be drawn in early December. Half the proceeds will go to Canterbury projects and half to national campaigns, targeting biodiversity threats.

Branch members will be selling tickets, but if you would like to buy or sell tickets at $5 each or $25 for a book of five please contact Joy Burt at 03 4200 755, c/- PO Box 2516 Christchurch or cyclingkiwi@gmail.com Great get-away prizes include: • Three prizes of holiday accommodation at Lake Rotoroa, Kaiköura and Lewis Pass, each with $100 for expenses.

• Two prizes of tramping track double passes, one for the Kaiköura Coast Track and for one the Banks Peninsula Track. Both prizes include $100 for expenses.

• A superb package from Bivouac Outdoor.

• A $200 voucher from Cactus Equipment.

At-home breaks include: • Sumner package: a meal for two at Cornershop Bistro, wine, a movie for two and a book about the Galapagos.

• Garden package: four hours’ gardening, $50 voucher from Trees for Canterbury, wine, a lovely garden book and an Afghan rug to keep warm while reading it.

• At home package: a basket of groceries, $50 for meat from Banfields of Beckenham, a voucher from Funky Pumpkin, wine and a one-year subscription to Forest & Bird.

One of the many raffle prizes is a holiday at Lake Rotoroa at Nelson Lakes National Park.

Thanks to all our sponsors. Please support them and mention Forest & Bird.

An Eco-Retreat

Forest & Bird’s fabulous Ruapehu Lodge is a wonderful spot for a summer weekend.

The Tongariro Crossing is nearby, as well as many other spectacular day walks in Tongariro National Park.

Summer off-peak rates now apply. Check out www.forestandbird.org.nz/ ruapehulodge for more information.

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Birdman Wellington set to fly again Birdman Wellington hits the waters again on Wellington Anniversary Day in January, building on the success of this year’s event when thousands gathered at the waterfront for the contest.

More than 60 intrepid jumpers dressed in their finery and raised funds for Forest & Bird.

“We are calling for entrants now to join in this fun day and raise funds to support New Zealand’s beautiful natural environment,” says Forest & Bird Fundraiser and contest organiser Helen Ward.

Categories for Birdman Wellington will include best costume, best environmentally sourced costume, showmanship and the most funds raised, and great prizes are up for grabs donated by Forest & Bird supporters.

“This is a great team building idea for the office, a zany jump for an individual, or a load of fun and creativity for your child,” says Helen.

Surrounding this event will be entertainment including markets, music and other fun surprises organised by event partner Capital Productions.

To register for Birdman Wellington, visit www.birdman.org.nz To talk about your ideas or for more information, email fundraising@forestandbird.org.nz.

Birdman contestants earlier this year.

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soapbox

Our seas deserve better A recently launched marine planning forum is a good example of how competing interests can be managed, says Kevin Hackwell.

The Hauraki Gulf is not only a significant recreational playground for the people of Auckland and an important area for commercial shipping and fishing. It is also a very important area for marine life.

It is the year-round home of 11-15-metre-long Bryde’s whales. These animals are critically endangered because of the numbers that are killed after being struck by ships.

The gulf is also home to the black petrel, which now only breeds on Aotea (Great Barrier Island) and Hauturu (Little Barrier Island). The waters of the gulf are an important feeding ground for the bird. But it is the seabird most at risk from commercial fishing in New Zealand. It is estimated there were 1080-1900 annual bird deaths between 2006 and 2011.

The Hauraki Gulf Forum, which is mostly made up of central and local government and iwi representatives, manages the pressures from users of the gulf. The forum is concerned that the health of the gulf is steadily declining and has initiated a collaborative marine spatial planning process that will involve all key stakeholders over the next two years.

Unfortunately, such an inclusive and comprehensive approach to planning in the marine environment is not the norm.

With our rarest marine mammal, the Mäui’s dolphin, we stumble from one crisis to another. Progress on the country’s modest international commitment to protect at least 10 per cent of its coastal and marine territory through a network of marine protected areas by 2020 has been slow. Only 7 per cent of our territorial sea and just 0.3 per cent of our total marine environment is protected by marine reserves.

One problem is that, despite many promises, the proposed Marine Reserves Bill has yet to resurface from where it has been languishing in the parliamentary system for nearly a decade. Despite this, Conservation Minister Nick Smith recently proposed to restart the process for establishing marine reserves on the Otago and Southland coasts, using the existing inadequate processes that have already failed twice to work in this corner of the South Island.

Several years ago the fishing industry managed to convince the government to adopt its proposal to establish areas where they could continue to fish so

long as they did not let their trawl nets touch the bottom. These areas were given the grand name of “benthic protected areas”. But the lack of genuine protection was recently highlighted by a proposal to suck up all the available sediment in one of the benthic protected areas, process the materials through giant centrifuges, remove the lumps of phosphate, then dump the (now lifeless) tailings on to the surface of the sea. Despite being incredibly destructive, this would be perfectly legal in the benthic protected areas of the Chatham Rise. This proposal remains on the cards.

We also face the threat of oil and gas exploration in the deep and rough waters of our continental shelf. The government has made it as easy as possible for offshore oil and gas exploration proposals by restricting rights of protest, by paying millions for preliminary surveys and by removing the public’s right to participate in the consenting processes. As a result, the government alone will determine if and how drilling should happen.

Most of the policy and planning around the marine environment is a mess. This is why Forest & Bird recently commissioned a report to inform our oceans management policy and to support us in advocating for new marine protected areas (MPAs).

The report made recommendations for future MPA design processes, particularly for no-take zones, and highlighted research that shows MPAs make a big contribution to overall fish populations by injecting greater numbers of fish larvae into the ecosystem.

Forest & Bird will be campaigning in 2014 for a network of marine protected areas and better laws and processes for managing our huge and very special marine environment. The marine spatial planning process that’s under way in Auckland should be a good example of the widespread advantages of a comprehensive approach.

In the meantime, the government could take the opportunity to adopt the proposal for a marine sanctuary encompassing the whole of the Exclusive Economic Zone around the Kermadec Islands, to the north of New Zealand.

Kevin Hackwell is Forest & Bird’s Advocacy Manager.

Blue shark. Photo: Quentin Bennett 20

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MADE IN J A PA N

Birdlife in the Planning and patience are essential in capturing birdlife on camera.

Writer and photographer Steve Attwood describes how he gets close up with some of New Zealand’s shy, retiring types.

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Quiet but not stealthy 2

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friend of mine was thumbing through my bird photos. “I’d love to get shots like these.”

“You can,” I countered, “you’re a good photographer and your gear is better than mine.”

“But I just don’t have the time. These shots of yours must have taken hours in hides; I don’t have time for that.”

Well, neither do I. The only time I get to photograph birds is at weekends and holidays. Most of my bird excursions are for two to four hours, a full day at most. I imagine that’s the same for many amateur bird enthusiasts.

My friend challenged me to think about how it is that I get good shots, while she tends to come back with pictures of small birds lost in a big landscape or of birds flying away.

I used to take photos like my friend and came home disappointed too. But I’ve got better. Most of my shots now feature birds up close and behaving naturally.

It’s not because I’ve bought better gear or had more time. It’s because I’ve learnt a lot more about birds: their habits and habitats; feeding times and places; their seasonal movements; when and where they gather for mating and nesting.

Most importantly, I’ve learnt that how I behave has more influence on a successful photography day than the quality of my gear or the reach of my lens.

frame Planning

A good bird day begins with planning. Working out where the birds are likely to be will greatly improve your chances of seeing them. The season will dictate this, as will the location.

It’s worth studying the books and talking to experienced birders to find out what these seasonal, even daily, movements are and plan accordingly.

Think also about what plants will be in flower or fruit, and when insects or other prey will be most abundant. At the coast, think about how to time it for a tide that will push the birds to where you want them to be.

Walking slow If you want bird photos, decide in advance that’s what you’re going out for. That means being prepared to walk a lot slower than, say, an average tramper. Give yourself time to see the birds around you.

Walking slow and being quiet pay dividends. But there’s a difference between being quiet, and being predatory.

My observation is that birds react adversely when we behave like stalking hunters. So, a little noise is often OK, especially if it helps make you seem like you’re not interested in “hunting” – stalking animals are silent, animals not hunting make more noise.

Frequently, I deliberately whistle a tune, and I sometimes stand near bushes and pluck at the leaves as if I am a browsing animal. Birds relax and allow you to come closer when they think you’re not paying attention to them.

I once photographed a tui from 50 centimetres away when it landed in a harakeke bush right beside me, while I was pretending to feed on the flowers.

3

Being still In my opinion, being invisible is far less important than being still. I have sat out in the open still and quiet, but clearly visible, and the birds have quickly relaxed and come closer.

Knowing birds’ habits Knowing birds’ habits greatly enhances your chances of finding them and getting close. Learn the opportunities presented by the season, food sources and so on.

Study birds for the way they move through their habitat.

I’ve noticed that riflemen tend to move along a branch, tomtits up a trunk, while whiteheads tend to stay at much the same height as they move through the forest.

Wrybills move back and forth along the same territorial stretch. Observations like these put you ahead of the birds and have the camera focused where they will be instead of where they were.

1 Steve Attwood photographs a banded dotterel. Photo:

Chris Cotton

2 The tui was so focussed on feeding that Steve could get very

close. Photos: Steve Attwood

3 A juvenile fernbird.

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4 A New Zealand falcon, or kÄ rearea.

5 Crested grebes.

6 Steve walked slowly to capture this South Island tomtit.

7 Pied shags.

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Establish a routine Try visiting a favourite spot at the same time of day or tide every time; wear the same clothing and walk in the same direction. Birds will come to accept your regular presence and see it as non-threatening, which means they’re less likely to fly away at your approach.

Once I found a pair of nesting falcons and observed them for a season. I wore the same clothes every visit and whistled the same call to them as I approached. As a result I was privileged to be accepted by these birds and they, quite relaxed and behaving normally, would allow me as close as two metres or so.

On a couple of occasions, when I had been allowed to move very close, the birds attacked passing trampers, who were about 50 metres away or more, because they were unfamiliar and therefore a possible threat.

Using cover While you do not have to behave like a stalking predator crawling from bush to bush (you usually don’t have time anyway), using available cover to minimise your physical appearance helps get good bird photos. Lying down, crawling or simply standing behind a tree or bush helps make you seem smaller and therefore less threatening.

In a West Coast wetland recently, shy fern birds came right up to me because I stood half hidden by a Department of Conservation interpretive sign that had become part of their familiar landscape.

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Using a different approach 5

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Trying a different approach can make you seem less threatening. I’ve noticed some wading and aquatic birds are less threatened if you approach from the water.

Perhaps that’s not where they expect predators to come from, or maybe it’s because if you’re standing in deepish water, you appear smaller. I was once able to approach within three metres of a grebe nest without disturbing the occupants, simply because I was up to my chest in water – though I appreciate not everyone will want to go to that extreme.

Using a brimmed hat pulled well down to disguise your eyes, and putting on sunglasses on the side of your head, can make it look like you’re looking the other way.

Lying down helps too. I am always surprised by how tolerant wading birds are of someone slithering toward them on their belly when a walking human will cause them to take flight.

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The car as a hide

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The car is an excellent hide, especially where birds see cars often. Birds that fly away at the approach of a walking human will tolerate cars amazingly close. Some of my best bird shots have been obtained this way.

Get them to come to you Positioning yourself ahead of a tide so waders are driven toward you, imitating bird calls, and planting feed trees in your garden can all be ways to get birds to come to you.

I’ve had some excellent migrant wader photos by simply sitting (visible but still) on the mudflats a half hour or so before the tide is scheduled to reach that spot, and waiting.

By the time the tide has driven the birds close to you, they have accepted your presence.

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To summarise, the more you know about birds and their habits, the greater the chances of getting close enough for good photos. It’s worth spending that bit of time reading up about the species you’re interested in, and talking to DOC staff or Forest & Bird members who know about the locations and behaviours of birds in their area.

Be patient, go out with bird photography as your purpose, and plan the timing of your trip to suit the tide, the season, and the light.

Most of all have fun; birds can tell when you’re relaxed and are far more likely to be relaxed around you as a consequence.

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8

The wind ruffles the kea's feathers.

9

A spotted shag.

10 A female falcon became so used to Steve that he

could photograph her daily life.

11 White heron, or kĹ?tuku.

Share your snaps Tell us your tips for photographing birds or your experience taking a great nature shot. Please write to Forest & Bird editor Marina Skinner, PO Box 631, Wellington 6140 or email m.skinner@ forestandbird.org.nz by November 27. Feel free to send a photograph.

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Your help for the Mackenzie Country 1

Forest & Bird needs support to leap the final hurdles in creating a Mackenzie drylands park.

W

e all know the Mackenzie Country is a greatlooking piece of New Zealand. As tourists we’ve driven through the Mackenzie. As New Zealanders many of us have read the stories set there and seen the famous photos of its tussock-covered landscape, and breathtaking vast open spaces.

What’s not so readily apparent – but is just as important – is that the Mackenzie is home to a host of rare and endangered plants. Some are unique to the Mackenzie Basin. These have adapted over thousands of years to the Mackenzie’s extremely cold and dry conditions.

In the last few years farmers have brought dairy cattle to the arid Mackenzie. To grow the 2 grass needed for intensive dairy farms, those farmers are installing pivot irrigators that draw huge quantities of water from the basin’s rivers and create giant circles of green pasture up to two kilometres in diameter.

So what does the current boom in irrigation mean for native plants and

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animals in the Mackenzie, and for one of our most precious landscapes?

If uncontrolled, it means the end.

Irrigation destroys dryland habitats forever. Letting irrigation spread uncontrolled across the Mackenzie would guarantee the extinction of several species, such as the alpine wëtä Hemiandrus ‘Tekapo’.

The alpine wëtä is a remarkable creature, which survives being frozen solid over winter. New Zealand would be a poorer place without it – the alpine wëtä is a piece of Kiwiana that evokes the toughness New Zealand and New Zealanders are known for. Letting developers have the Mackenzie Country to themselves would also leave little to distinguish the area from the green monoculture of the Canterbury Plains to the north-east.

Forest & Bird continues to advocate for the creation of a drylands park in the north-west corner of the Mackenzie Basin, in an area bounded by Lakes Tekapo, Pükaki and Benmore, and by Aoraki/Mt Cook to the north. The park would allow a representative slice of the Mackenzie to remain for posterity in a highly natural state. Much of the future park is publicly owned and is currently leased to run-holders.

4

smaller irrigation proposals. But there is now no option but to ask the court to stop these two far larger developments.

The Department of Conservation will not be in court to protect the Mackenzie from one of these developments even though its backers plan to use publicly owned land.

Instead, Forest & Bird, along with the Mackenzie Guardians group, will be presenting a strong case at the hearing.

1 Forest & Bird is working towards creating a drylands park in

the north-west corner of the Mackenzie Basin.

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2 The alpine wētā Hemiandrus ‘Tekapo’ survives being frozen

Our donors have so far helped us initiate and play an important role in the Mackenzie Sustainable Futures Trust.

This is a collaborative forum that in May launched the Mackenzie Agreement, which recommended protecting part of the Mackenzie and fostering a more balanced approach in the rest of the basin.

To make the drylands park happen, Forest & Bird is asking for your help.

We need the resources to work with the local communities, landowners and other stakeholders to make the Mackenzie Agreement a reality on the ground.

Forest & Bird is heading to court to protect the Mackenzie from two major dairy developments that, if they go ahead, will undermine the integrity of a drylands park and irrevocably destroy these outstanding landscapes.

Forest & Bird has reached agreement on several other

solid over winter and is only found in the Mackenzine Basin.

Photo: Warren Chinn

3 Ranunculus sericophyllus – one of the special plants found in

the Mackenzie. Photo: John Barkla

4 Irrigation for intensive dairy farming destroys dryland

habitats forever.

We need your help to protect this very special part of New Zealand. Please donate today by going to: www.forestandbird.org.nz/savethemackenzie or by sending your donation to PO Box 631, Wellington 6140.

If future generations are to know the Mackenzie Country as we do, the time for action is now.

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No man’s

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land

A third of the conservation estate is in limbo, waiting for its natural values to be rated. A new report says we can’t wait any longer for this stewardship land to be reclassified. By Jay Harkness.

H

istory is littered with relatively innocuous bureaucratic oversights and slip-ups that have had disproportionately significant consequences.

The dividing up of Africa with arbitrary straight lines and introducing apparently harmless animals into New Zealand to create a fur industry are two.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (PCE), Dr Jan Wright, has investigated another quirk of fate that has resulted in poor outcomes for conservation and cost Forest & Bird – and others – a lot of money.

Unclassified parts of the conservation estate – known as stewardship land – have come under the PCE’s scrutiny, and she released a report, “Investigating the future of conservation: The case of stewardship land”, in August.

Until the 1980s the Forest Service or the Department of Lands and Survey administered most publically owned land that wasn’t “productive” (to use a contemporary term). Forest & Bird, the Federated Mountain Clubs of New Zealand and the Native Forests Action Council could see this wasn’t working for conservation so began campaigning for a department of conservation to be formed. The campaign was a success and work began in 1985 to form what would become the Department of Conservation.

At the time there were plenty of national parks but few other classifications for land thought to potentially have some natural heritage value. Only half the conservation land that isn’t part of a national park has so far been given a classification other than “stewardship land”. That leaves 2.8 million hectares, or a third of the conservation estate, unclassified. Reclassification of stewardship land has only happened in an ad hoc way.

The Associate Minister of Conservation at the time DOC was created, Philip Woollaston, told the PCE that: “The clear intention in creating stewardship areas was to protect them from development or extractive use until their conservation value could be established, the appropriate form of protection chosen...; unless of course the conservation values were found to be inadequate, when the area would be disposed of…”

That may have been the intention, but Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell says the department was not funded to a level where it could meaningfully tackle the reclassification job it had been given.

Some stewardship land has been given the protection it deserves. Matiri Plateau was added to Kahurangi National Park in 1996. About 35 per cent of what is now Rakiura National Park on Stewart Island was stewardship land until the park was opened in 2002. And once the United Nations listed the Kopuatai Peat Dome on the Hauraki Plains as a Wetland of International Importance in 1989, DOC took action and gave it protected status.

But most of the stewardship estate is still prone to commercial demands that could destroy it. The lack of robust legal protection has created a perception that it is of a lower grade than the rest of the DOC estate. The minerals sector has used the anomaly to its advantage. An Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand booklet called “Realising our hidden treasure: Responsible mineral and petroleum extraction” showcases the gains to be made for some in mining and exploration and describes stewardship land simply as having “no protected status”.

The West Coast’s Denniston Plateau is a good example of what can happen. It is stewardship land, despite its inclusion on DOC’s list of the top 50 most valuable mainland sites. Whereas DOC’s scientists saw a unique ecosystem, teeming with endangered plants and animals, miners saw an open-cast coal mine in the making.

So what other parts of the stewardship estate could be lost before DOC does the necessary paperwork to reclassify land?

More than 60 per cent of the Hauraki Gulf’s Great Barrier Island, or Aotea, is managed by DOC. Much of the island has been logged but because it is possum-free the forests are recovering fast – and are spectacular. But it is stewardship land and in theory the island’s Mt Hobson could be mined. The same is true of The Remarkables near Queenstown and most of the stunning forests between Fox Glacier and Haast Pass.

1 Meridian Energy wrongly

assumed that because the Mōkihinui River valley was stewardship land it had little conservation value.

2 Parliamentary

Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright.

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The PCE’s recommendations need to be adopted, but also the classification process needs to begin in earnest as intended all those years ago.

Kevin Hackwell

T

he other major shortfall of the stewardship system is the wording of the rules that allow it to be swapped for non-stewardship land. Swaps can happen as long as there is a net benefit to the conservation estate. That might sound okay except the overall goal of conservation might not be served by any deal.

Forest fringes the West Coast’s Mökihinui River. The river is crystal clear and attracts kayakers and rafters in high numbers. State-owned company Meridian Energy had assumed that because the river valley was stewardship land it had little conservation value. When it wanted to build a hydro dam on the river it proposed a swap with three blocks of lowland forest. Forest & Bird and DOC were able to put a stop to Meridian’s plans. But if it had been properly classified the fight to save the valley would never have been needed.

The PCE also gave the example of Canterbury’s Crystal Basin ski field, an even more dramatic example of how the law around stewardship land can result in environmental miscarriages of justice and a deal that – incredibly – went ahead.

When the management of the Porter’s ski field wanted to extend their operation in the Craigieburn Range it was able to swap a chunk of coastal land – already protected under local plans and the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement – for the untouched Crystal Basin. Because the conservation estate benefitted from the inclusion of the coastal block (which wasn’t part of the estate), the swap went ahead even though, overall, there would be a net loss to the cause of conservation.

The PCE’s findings on the management of stewardship land are clear. Wright says that as well as putting any proposed swaps on ice, DOC must start consulting with the New Zealand Conservation Authority to get a steer on the correct “principles and processes” when deciding on how to achieve a net gain for conservation, and also to take “direct responsibility for any decision to swap stewardship land that has significant conservation value”.

Forest & Bird’s Kevin Hackwell says these would be good first steps. But he says the issue goes back to the perennial one for DOC. Despite what outgoing director-general Al Morrison said, DOC has been chronically underfunded, especially in the past five years, given the importance of the job it does.

“The PCE’s recommendations need to be adopted, but also the classification process needs to begin in earnest as intended all those years ago. Another Bathurst Resources may well be waiting in the wings to take advantage of the sad fact that while most 3 New Zealanders think the conservation estate

Great Barrier Island boost Conservation Minister Nick Smith announced in September that he plans to reclassify 15,000 hectares of land on Great Barrier Island (Aotea) in the Hauraki Gulf from stewardship land to conservation park. If it goes ahead, the park will cover 55 per cent of the island.

He also announced, along with Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye, a proposal to get rid of rats on Rakitu Island, which lies off Great Barrier’s rugged eastern coast.

Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell says reclassifying Great Barrier’s stewardship land would be great for conservation and great for Aucklanders. But he says Aotea should become a national park because it is free of possums and it has such high conservation values, which 32

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include its regenerating warm coastal lowland kauri forest.

Kevin says there’s another reason to make it a national park. “If we want Great Barrier to be saved from mining then national park status would protect it under Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act. Having only conservation park status would leave it exposed to future mining proposals.”

He says Nick Smith’s park plan could be an attempt to rehabilitate the government’s image among Aucklanders. In 2010 the government included Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel in its plans to open significant conservation land to mining. It is widely believed to have fuelled the subsequent public backlash, which led to the government’s turnaround on the issue.

4 is safe from open-cast mines and whatever else it’s not.”

Two months after the report’s release, Conservation Minister Nick Smith had yet to make a formal response to the PCE’s report. Hackwell says Smith has no option but to agree with its recommendations given the swaps completed so far have been demonstrably poor and the long delay in completing the reclassification project.

He says the reclassification job is now easier. “While the job of understanding the biodiversity, recreation, geological and landscape values of the stewardship estate would have been a huge one back in the 80s, most of the hard information is now known. Therefore the exercise of classifying the stewardship estate could theoretically be as simple as just pulling together all that data.

“The sooner it’s done the better for all concerned. If the nature of a piece of land isn’t known to those who’re meant to protect it or to those who want to use it then we’ll be all doomed to see the likes of the Denniston and Mökihinui repeat themselves again,” Hackwell says.

Stewardship land Other categories of conservation land

3 Great Barrier Island. Photo: Craig Potton 4 Porter’s ski field swapped a piece of protected coastal land

for the untouched Crystal Basin. Photo: David Brooks

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Infestations of wilding conifers will destroy unique landscapes unless we act now, writes David Brooks.

Running I

t may come as a surprise to some but trees can be pests too. Some of New Zealand’s most revered landscapes and native ecosystems are under attack from the accelerating spread of wilding conifers. Lake Wakatipu, the Mackenzie Basin, Central Otago, the Marlborough Sounds and the North Island volcanic plateau have all suffered.

The bad news is that left unchecked these weed trees will only accelerate their spread and take over the landscape. The good news is the government, local councils, landowners, conservationists and residents are showing in some places that concerted action can make a big difference.

These fast-growing and fast-reproducing conifers can easily invade and slowly destroy native vegetation, especially in the open tussock and alpine country of the South Island. They can also take hold in regenerating forest

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in areas including the Marlborough Sounds.

A 2011 report by Vicky Froude – Wilding Conifers in New Zealand: Beyond the status report – points to the lack of reliable data on the extent of the wilding problem. In 2007 it was estimated about 805,000 hectares of the South Island was affected, including 185,000ha with mapped wilding cover and another 660,000ha that had received control work but was still believed to contain wildings. About 300,000ha of the North Island was also estimated to be affected by wilding conifers in varying degrees.

Fast-growing wildings can become established in regenerating native forest, and Douglas fir in particular has invaded beech forests. Some species thrive above the native treeline on hills and mountains and do great damage to the high country tussock lands that Otago University Emeritus Professor of Botany and Forest & Bird

wild Distinguished Life Member Sir Alan Mark has been studying all his working life.

In tussock country, isolated conifers become established and start producing seed in as little as six years, depending on the species. “Within a decade you’ve got a semicontinuous stand which continues to consolidate as it matures and extends downwind. They will dominate grassland and there are very few native plants to be found under a reasonably dense stand of wildings,” Sir Alan says.

As studies by other scientists have shown, when the native tussock disappears, so do the native birds, insects and lizards that depend on them.

Wilding conifers also consume a lot of water, a precious commodity in Central Otago and other parts of the South Island high country. This can affect the flow of water from wilding-infested catchments. “If the South Island high

1

1 A helicopter with a boom sprays European larch wildings at

Skippers, near Queenstown. Photo: Jamie Cowan

country is important for anything, it’s for water production, particularly for the eastern flanks of the ranges,” Sir Alan says.

The greatest villain is Pinus contorta or lodgepole pine, the seeds of which are prolific and light, and can be carried up to 40 kilometres in a strong wind. Douglas fir is also becoming a major problem, and Pinus radiata, which dominates commercial plantations, is also a common wilding.

Artist Grahame Sydney’s paintings, photography, writing and environmental activism are all motivated by his deep love for the Central Otago landscape. In the 13 years since he built his Cambrian Valley home he has seen the transformation of the landscape near his house. “When I first came here, there were two trees on the terrace Forest & Bird

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opposite, now there’s a dense forest of pine – so dense you can’t walk through it,” he says.

“Most people don’t see the landscape they live in, they are so accustomed to it they don’t notice things. But it might matter to them if you put the proposition that if we don’t control the wildings now, in 10 years’ time this place is going to look like [forestry town] Tokoroa. Do you want to trade the rugged, dry schist, tussock and thyme-covered hills and all the distinctive things that people come to see in Central Otago for a blanket of forest?”

If wilding pines aren’t tackled early, they spread exponentially. One disincentive for tackling the issue is wildings have no economic value. Even those species grown in commercial plantations such as Pinus radiata and Douglas fir are often impossible or uneconomic to harvest as wildings.

2 Wildings invade the grassed terraces of the Cambrian

Valley. Photo: Grahame Sydney

3 Brown wilding pines show the impact of spraying in Queen

Charlotte Sound in this 2009 photo. Photo: David Brooks

4 Wildings, sourced from a private plantation, take hold in the

tussock at the foot of the Hawkdun Range, near St Bathans.

Photo: Grahame Sydney

5 An operator applies basal bark herbicide from a helicopter

in the Remarkables, near Queenstown. Photo: Mark Mawhinney

6 Members of Forest & Bird Dunedin branch’s wilding pine

removal project get ready to tackle the pines on the hill behind them in the Verter Burn catchment, Mahinerangi, west of Dunedin. Photo: Matt Thomson

Many of these pine species have been in New Zealand since the 19th century but the problem became more evident from the middle of last century when commercial plantings increased and different species of conifers were tried for erosion control in the high country.

Some of the worst infestations started with government plantings for erosion control and commercial research in places such as Craigieburn in Mid Canterbury and Mid Dome in Southland. Increased commercial plantings since the 1980s, farm shelter belts and other plantings have all made the problem worse in many parts of the country in the past quarter-century.

Forest & Bird branches are among those fighting the tide of wildings. The Dunedin branch established a wilding pines control group in 1997 and work crews have been removing wildings in areas including Maniototo, Ohau in North Otago and Mid Dome.

Matt Thomson, co-ordinator of Forest & Bird Dunedin branch’s wilding pine removal project, says his group includes half a dozen people with chainsaw skills, another two dozen or so regulars and others who take part from time to time, including students from Otago University.

“Sometimes we have days where we mix chainsaws and hand tools as well as people with just a pair of gloves to pull seedlings. A few months ago we had a trip to the Maniototo-Pigroot area and there were just three of us on chainsaws, but we got several hundred big trees across an entire catchment.

“It’s very satisfying work – it’s good physical activity and you can really see your results. But sometimes on the way home, it’s frustrating when you can see how big the

2

3

… if we don’t control the wildings now, in 10 years’ time this place is going to look like [forestry town] Tokoroa.

Grahame Sydney 4 36

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problem is and know there are still many years of work ahead to rein it in.”

But there is hope that wildings can be forced into retreat. Local control groups bringing landowners, government agencies, councils and others together are making a big difference. The Wakatipu Wilding Conifers Control Group is making good headway with its programme to bring 73,000ha of wilding conifers under control around Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu.

The Mid Dome Wilding Conifers Control Charitable Trust, of which Sir Alan is a trustee, is nearly midway through its 12-year programme to remove wildings at Mid Dome at an estimated cost of $12 million. A 250ha planting in the 1960s for erosion control at Mid Dome, which lies between Invercargill and Queenstown, has now infested about 80,000ha downwind with wildings.

Other groups in problem areas such as around Hanmer, Molesworth and the Marlborough Sounds and the North Island’s volcanic plateau are also tackling their wildings.

Grahame Sydney is among a group of concerned locals starting a Central Otago group to marshal resources against the scourge around Alexandra and the rest of the region.

In this year’s Budget the government gave $1.2 million to the Mid Dome Trust for its work and $900,000 to the Wakatipu group. Sir Alan says he is pleased to see the government getting more involved, particularly as many of the infestations originated from plantings by government agencies.

Forestry management has generally improved since the mid-1950s and importantly, new control techniques are being developed which are more effective and less costly

6

than traditional methods. The Department of Conservation is leading the way with these new methods, reflecting its role as guardian of about a third of New Zealand’s land area.

DOC’s Peter Raal and Stefan Gous, of forestry research organisation Scion, have been developing new control techniques which promise more bang for the conservation buck. Raal and DOC colleague Peter Willemse have been trialling and fine-tuning these techniques in the Mackenzie Basin. They are four to eight times more efficient than traditional techniques, Willemse says. “[For] someone like me who has this huge area of infestation on conservation land, there is suddenly light at the end of the tunnel. I know I can win this. With limited

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Central Plateau Mt Tarawera Kawaka Range Marlborough Sounds Able Tasman N.P. Red Hills Leatham State Forest Clarence Amuri Range Craigieburn Range Lake Coleridge Mackenzie Basin Hakataramea Queenstown Mid Dome Blue Mountains

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resources, you can still make a difference. This has been like a silver bullet for us.”

Willemse is the DOC ranger responsible for pest plants in the 336,000ha of conservation land administered from Twizel. Of that, 203,000ha are infested with wilding trees of varying densities. The new control methods involve two potent new herbicides and a combination of ground and helicopter techniques that have helped ensure all but 1000ha now only require regular maintenance rather than removals of major infestations. These methods are now being used elsewhere in New Zealand by DOC and local councils.

Due to problems of differing enforcement and policies by councils and the complexities of dealing with many landowners, the Ministry for Primary Industries is now developing a non-statutory national strategy to encourage a more consistent approach. But Sir Alan worries the strategy will be undermined by its lack of legal force.

He is also concerned about the impact of government policies such as the Emissions Trading Scheme and the Afforestation Grant Scheme which encourage widespread plantings. These schemes apparently provided the incentive for Landcorp to recently plant 189ha of Douglas fir on its Waipori Farm Block in Otago, even though the Te Papanui Conservation Park is just 200 metres downwind and Landcorp’s consultants warned of a serious threat of wilding spread.

Like others involved in fighting wilding conifers, he says there is no time to lose. “This issue is of such importance – the future of controlling wildings depends on how this generation handles them.”

How you can help Contact your Forest & Bird branch secretary to check whether your branch helps remove wilding conifers (see the last page of this magazine for contact details).

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7 The view from artist Grahame Sydney’s property across the

Cambrian Valley shows the impact of wilding pines. In 1999 the only tree visible on the grassy terrace opposite was the tall pine at centre right. Photo: Grahame Sydney

8 The upper section of European larch wildings shows the

impact of spraying after one year. Photo: Jamie Cowan

The villains Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) Originally from North America. A prolific producer of lightweight seeds that can be carried long distances by the wind. It has four subspecies, the smallest growing to the size of a small shrub. This species has been declared a class B noxious weed.

Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) Another conifer that produces large numbers of lightweight seeds that can easily be dispersed by the wind. It is partially shade tolerant and can spread into regenerating forest and holes in native tree canopies. It has become established in some beech forests.

Radiata pine (Pinus radiata) The mainstay of New Zealand’s plantation forestry industry, radiata wildings are a problem in many parts of New Zealand, though less so in central and high country parts of the South Island. It is especially prevalent in the North Island and Marlborough Sounds.

Corsican pine (Pinus nigra) Relatively common in the South Island high country.

European larch (Larix deciduas) Originally planted for erosion control, wildings have spread into the South Island high country.

Mountain pine (Pinus mugo) Two subspecies, including a dwarf. A particular threat to ecosystems above the native treeline because they can grow at altitudes of up to 2700 metres.

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) Commonly planted for erosion and commercial use.

It has been one of the more prolific wildings in some areas such as Molesworth Station in the northern South Island.

Our partners

Health Pak – environmentally aware Forest & Bird is proud of the family of corporate partners that share our passion for the natural world and support our work. Health Pak is an excellent example of a commercial organisation that is making a lasting contribution towards conservation in New Zealand.

Anyone who has stayed in a hotel has probably used Health Pak products, including the little bottles of complimentary toiletries. “Our Forest & Bird range of hotel and motel toiletries is not only a great way to directly support a great cause but it’s also a perfect platform with which to educate both domestic and international tourists travelling around New Zealand about Forest & Bird,” says Toby White, the CEO of Health Pak and a passionate conservationist.

The Forest & Bird partnership with Health Pak enables hotels and motels to show they care about the environment.

The hotels become members of Forest & Bird as part of the package and get membership forms and back copies of Forest & Bird magazine for their lobby or rooms. Most really get behind the concept, and they are proud of the range.

Health Pak’s Forest & Bird range of products is almost exclusively made in Auckland, whereas most toiletry products are imported. Health Pak is known for trying to make its products as environmentally friendly as possible.

It uses recyclable packaging where possible and has soap recycling programmes for hotels to return used soaps, which are sent back to the supplier to be converted into commercial cleaning products or biofuel.

“There are so many misleading environmental claims in the marketplace, and hotels and motels can happily use the Forest & Bird range knowing that there is a direct cause that benefits from guests using it,” says Toby.

“As an enthusiast of native New Zealand birds

and wildlife, I see this range as a great way to get the message out to people who are staying in motels and hotels situated in some of New Zealand’s most scenic regions.”

Chateau Tongariro and Wairäkei Resort are new customers of Health Pak’s Forest & Bird range. “The number of people staying will be a massive opportunity to get Forest & Bird and its work in front of people, which traditionally has not been available,” says Toby.

Chateau Tongariro and Wairäkei Resort General Manager Kathy Guy says: “The Chateau Tongariro, being situated in a World Heritage park, brings with it certain responsibilities, and the protection of the fauna and flora within this area depends on pest eradication and ongoing education, which the hotel supports through its association and relationship with DOC.” Kathy says the Forest & Bird range of toileteries fits well with the hotels’ values. “We looked at a number of options and felt that this product range not only enhanced our business ethos but enabled us to give back to ensure a greater environmental community from the funds generated through the hotel’s purchasing of these products.”

Forest & Bird is always looking at ways to engage with the business world, and the Health Pak relationship is an excellent example of how commercial and environmental considerations are mutually reinforcing. Being a good environmental corportate citizen is good for business.

We’ll soon have a list on our website of hotels and motels that use the Forest & Bird range of guest toiletries and are thereby supporting Forest & Bird. That way you can find the hotel that supports us via Health Pak and then book your stay with KiwiKarma accommodation website so conservation gets a double dose of support. www.healthpak.co.nz

Holidays that pay off Please consider using another Forest & Bird corporate partner – KiwiKarma – to book you next hotel or motel stay. You can book your accommodation at the same rates as the best sites but with one special advantage: KiwiKarma donates 3 per cent of the cost of your room to Forest & Bird, at no extra cost to you. www.kiwikarma.co.nz Forest & Bird

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90 years EST. 1923

Changing

times

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The emerging environmental movement of the 1960s spurred dramatic changes in Forest & Bird. In the last of a series celebrating Forest & Bird’s 90th birthday, Marina Skinner charts a period of turbulence.

M

anapöuri is one of many beautiful Fiordland lakes but in the 1960s and early 70s its name became a rallying cry for conservation. The campaign to save the lake from being raised many metres for a hydro scheme – and wiping out its beech forest fringe – was the first of many salvos fired on the environmental front starting in the 1960s. “We had in New Zealand generally an emerging environmental conscience and it was experienced notably in the Manapöuri debate,” says Gordon Ell, Forest & Bird president from 1990-94.

Forest & Bird members of the era were not known for their firebrand approach to protecting nature but they drew the line at allowing Manapöuri’s wilderness to be sacrificed to supply power for an aluminium smelter.

Successes for Forest & Bird and conservation Forest & Bird and other conservation groups made major gains in the 80s and 90s 40

| Forest & Bird

1978

Pureora forest saved from logging

Opposition to the hydro scheme spanned more than a decade as various governments signed agreements for the dam and construction began. In 1970 Forest & Bird organised the third and final petition against raising the lake, gathering a then record 264,907 signatures. A new Labour government in 1972 had the pulse of the electorate and called a halt to raising the lake level.

“Through the 70s and 80s was the evolution of a conservation conscience in the Society which had to make some radical changes in approach,” says Gordon.

Native forests were still being logged, including beech forests, which were turned into wood chips and exported to Japan for pulp. In 1971 the government’s Forest Service announced plans to log about 340,000 hectares of native

1981

Ökarito forest saved from logging

1984

Whirinaki forest saved from logging

forest in Westland, Nelson, the Catlins and western Southland to feed Japan’s wood pulp mills. Forest & Bird joined other groups in protesting the plan and put its petition tactic to work again, this time collecting 110,492 signatures.

However, Forest & Bird’s support for aspects of the Forest Service’s beech scheme proposals brought it into conflict with other conservation groups that wanted all logging in native forests to stop.

Guy Salmon, the son of one-time Forest & Bird deputy president Professor John Salmon, grew up with Forest & Bird and was a regular at the Society’s family camps. But he was one of a new, activist generation that rejected Forest & Bird’s old-school and more gentle approach to protecting forests. In 1975 Guy launched, with his partner Gwenny Davis, the Native Forests Action Council (NFAC). This group had evolved from the Beech Forest Action Committee and drew up the Maruia Declaration, which demanded an end to logging virgin native forests. It trumped the Manapöuri petition, attracting signatures from 341,159 people.

Forty years on, Guy can see why Forest & Bird’s perspective differed from the newcomers’. “Forest & Bird had been working for a long period when there was not much support for conservation and its broad strategy was to get alongside the Forest Service. That led to them being too close to the Forest Service,” he says. In his view, the success of Manapöuri and the broadening of New Zealanders’ interest in conservation demanded a less timid approach to conservation campaigning by Forest & Bird.

As the environmental movement grew, New Zealanders rushed to join Forest & Bird. Its membership was 8177 in 1969 but bolted to 28,122 by 1979 and stood at 36,285 in 1983, its 60th birthday year.

In 1979 the clash between the old and the new style of conservationist came to a head. At Forest & Bird’s mid-year Council meeting at which branch representatives elect a new Executive, or board, 22 people stood for 10 seats.

Many were sympathetic to NFAC and wanted to ginger up Forest & Bird. Some saw it as a blatant attempt by NFAC to take over Forest & Bird.

Gordon Ell, who was a Forest & Bird branch representative in 1979, says: “NFAC saw a strong and wellbased national society as a worthwhile resource for their battles in conservation and actively lobbied to take control of the Society.” Gordon, like others, had a foot in both camps. “I was a member of NFAC as well as Forest & Bird.

Members of it were more radical than Forest & Bird initially but it was possible to support both organisations.”

Pro-NFAC candidates such as Alan Mark and Alan Edmonds (who both became presidents in the 1980s) stood for the Forest & Bird Executive. Alan, a Dunedin plant ecologist later knighted for his conservation work, says: “My nomination for the Society’s national Executive in 1979

1987

Department of Conservation created

1987

Paparoa National Park created

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was part of an infiltration or takeover attempt from NFAC because of frustrations they were experiencing in their attempts to get a co-ordinated approach to some major forest conservation campaigns at that time, particularly on the West Coast. I was successful, along with a few other new recruits, and I continued on it until 1997.”

1 The threat to Lake Manapōuri during the 1960s helped

awaken the environmental movement in New Zealand.

Photo: Craig Potton

2 Forest & Bird conservation director Gerry McSweeney

opening Forest & Bird’s reserve at Päuatahanui, near Wellington, in 1988.

3 Forest & Bird Executive member Sandra Lee and staff

member Barry Weeber taking their fur seal petition to Parliament in 1995.

1988

Kiwi Conservation Club started

1990

Te Wähipounamu – South West New Zealand World Heritage Area created

Forest & Bird’s Council meeting of 1975, with Roy Nelson, who was president from 1955-74 in the centre.

Other scientists joined the Executive during this period, including Auckland University zoology professor John Morton, Waikato University plant ecologist Alan Edmonds and DSIR Geological Survey senior palaeontologist Charles Fleming (also later knighted), says Alan. “This served to give a strong scientific basis to the Executive’s deliberations, a situation that was further enhanced when Gerry McSweeney – a recent Lincoln graduate with expertise in the South Island tussock grasslands – was appointed conservation officer in 1980.”

David Underwood, who was national treasurer for more than 20 years, remembers the turmoil of the times. “There were all sorts of factions and it made life difficult for the presidents trying to keep the Society together.”

In 1981, once the dust settled, Forest & Bird and NFAC joined a coalition of conservation groups called the Joint Campaign on Native Forests. “All through the 80s we were a completely unified force,” says Guy. In a history of Forest & Bird published in 1983, Birds, Forests and Natural Features of N.Z., Norman Dalmer says: “Since then friendliness has ensued with a return to real conservation activity on both organisations’ parts in co-operation.”

Forest & Bird and the coalition drove many campaigns of the 1980s, saving several forests from logging, including Whirinaki in the North Island, south Ökarito and Waikukupa in South Westland and Paparoa.

1991

Resource Management Act passed

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1995

Marine mammal sanctuary established around SubAntarctic Auckland Islands

“Since that time Forest & Bird has been much more politically active,” says Alan. “Forest & Bird widened their brief into marine while I was on the Executive. We realised Forest & Bird’s focus was too narrow at the time,” he says.

“Wetlands, shrublands, tussock grasslands, coastal issues and marine became more important.”

During the Society’s growth spurt in the 1970s 16 new branches sprang up around New Zealand as Forest & Bird diversified into local advocacy as well as restoration projects.

“The branches have engaged in conservation efforts in their areas and have mounted submissions and objections directly where the protective aims of the Society are threatened,” Norman wrote in his 1983 book. “The branches have become themselves watchdogs in their local areas rather than relying on head office for action as in the past. Thus the Society is today a force to be reckoned with in every part of New Zealand.”

Gordon reflects on changes in the way our natural environment is perceived since the days of Manapöuri. “At least there is an acknowledgement that the government is responsible for the environment. Forest & Bird played a critical role in achieving that,” says Gordon. “I’ve always thought of DOC as the child of Forest & Bird in coordination with other groups.

DOC was a realisation of what we had been trying to do for years.”

1996

Kahurangi National Park created

Who’s who Several members identified people in the photo below published in the August edition. It shows the Forest & Bird 75th anniversary celebration at Paraparaumu on Labour Weekend in 1998. Thank you to Barry Wards, Stuart Hudson and Barbara Littlejohns for your help.

From left, Barry Wards, Pauline Baty, Joan Leckie, Joan Stevenson, Jenny McIvor, Mae Carson, unknown, Lyn Bates, Alan Corey, Mardi Hawkes, Stan Butcher and John McLachlan.

Amazing facts about…

CICADAS

Photo: Bryce McQuillan

By Michelle Harnett

T

Bequests – a lasting legacy Leaving a gift to Forest & Bird in your will is a really good way to ensure a lasting legacy to protect New Zealand’s unique wildlife and ecosystems now and for future generations.

Since Forest & Bird began in 1923, bequests have enriched our conservation work and allowed us to be a strong voice for nature.

Forest & Bird supporters who choose to leave a legacy for nature join our Legacy Club. Every quarter a special newsletter, Nature’s Legacy, is sent to members. Nature’s Legacy shares special news, interviews and insights into Forest & Bird’s conservation work.

“There is perhaps no greater gift a person can make to the health of our unique native flora and fauna. Such a gift stretches down through the generations and enables Forest & Bird to continue our vital work of protecting the fragile wonders of our natural world for all New Zealanders,” says Supporter Relations Manager Rebecca Scelly.

To talk about leaving a gift to Forest & Bird in your will and for further information, please contact Rebecca at legacy@forestandbird.org.nz or telephone 04 801 2212.

Further details are available at www.forestandbird. org.nz/support-us/leave-gift-in-your-will

he Mäori name for New Zealand’s chorus cicada is kihikihi wawä – cicada that roars like the sound of heavy rain. It’s an apt name as the sound of massed cicadas can exceed 100 decibels (the noise safety limit is 85).

Cicada season is here. From the beaches to the mountains, members of New Zealand’s 40 to 50 species of cicadas (new species are still being discovered) are preparing to emerge. The very smallest, belonging to genus Maoricicada, have a 29-millimetre wingspan and are the only cicadas known to live in alpine zones. The largest (80mm wingspan) are the big, noisy and common chorus cicada (Amphisalta zelandica), which are most likely to be heard in urban areas.

Males sing to attract females by contracting muscles that control ribbed membranes (tymbals) on the base of their abdomens. Females find the males by following the direction of the sound. After mating, the female lays her eggs and the short life (two to four weeks) of the adult cicada is over.

This summer’s eggs will hatch in autumn. The creamy nymphs will fall to the ground equipped with heavy-duty, claw-like forelegs for digging. Most nymphs dig down about 40cm, but some go as deep as one metre. Safe underground, the nymphs pierce juicy plant roots with their needle-like mouthparts and suck up the sap.

Growing steadily, the nymphs shed their skins about five times. Eventually they burrow upward, ready to emerge. Exactly how long nymphs spend underground is not well known; their subterranean lifestyle makes it hard to study them. But cicada lifecycles seem to be governed by prime numbers. Three, five or even 13 or 17 years can lapse between the egg and adult stages. Emerging at seemingly irregular intervals is a good way to avoid predators such as spiders, birds, rodents and possums, whose numbers may peak more regularly.

Free of the earth, the nymphs undergo a final moult, leaving the distinctive husks of their cast skins behind.

The new adults are ready to fly and sing, and fill the sunwarmed air with the sound of summer.

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our people

Farewell to chief kiwi Ann Graeme – the Kiwi Conservation Club’s leader for the past 25 years – signed off in early July after editing her last edition of the KCC magazine, Wild Things.

Ann edited and wrote the magazine with illustrator Tim Galloway from 1992, telling stories about nature, conservation and science in a way that children – and their parents – could understand and enjoy. She’s taught important lessons through magazine characters Kiri Kiwi and Willie Weka.

A generation of children has learned about nature from Ann, says Forest & Bird Communications Manager Marina Skinner. “Ann has inspired thousands of children with her stories and she’s helped many of them to grow into today’s conservationists.”

Ann started as KCC’s national co-ordinator in 1992 and took over writing the KCC magazine. She worked with Tim to teach children about native plants and animals, science and conservation issues. No topic was too complex for

Ann and Tim to tackle, and they brought climate change, biosecurity, energy and ecosystems to a child-friendly level.

“My biggest compliment was to hear that children enjoyed reading it – and so did their parents,” says Ann. “Wild Things characters Willie Weka and Kiri Kiwi became part of my life and an excuse to be a child again.”

For many years Ann supported volunteer KCC coordinators until part-time KCC officer Jenny Lynch was appointed in 2008. Ann led annual KCC co-ordinator gatherings and was known for her adventurous programmes of activities. “During the 2012 gathering in Miranda she shared with co-ordinators lessons about how creatures spread their weight over a large surface area to avoid sinking in estuary mud. Lightweight Ann overlooked the fact that some KCC co-ordinators were more prone to sinking than her and some needed considerable help to get out of the mud,” Marina says.

Ann’s conservation work also reaches adults. She was a Forest & Bird Central North Island field officer with her husband Basil from 1988 to 1992, and has been heavily involved with Forest & Bird’s Tauranga branch and restoration of Aongatete Forest Restoration Project in the Kaimai Mamaku Conservation Park.

She is continuing to write In the field columns for Forest & Bird magazine, which she has written for more than a decade.

Ann was awarded a Forest & Bird Old Blue award in 2008.

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1 Ann Graeme edited and wrote Wild Things magazine for KCC children for 25 years.

2 From left, Ella Stewart, Jay and Petra Anderson with the gift made by KCC groups

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from around New Zealand to farewell Ann Graeme.

‘Kind to nature’ Long-time Forest & Bird member George Leslie Paton died on August 10. He was chairperson of the Manawatü branch from 1973-1976 and served on the branch committee in many roles.

George was a driving force in establishing Sixtus Lodge Outdoor Education Centre in Manawatü, which he saw as a way for city children to experience the stream and bush.

He led many nature-study trips around the country. As a teacher he inspired others by his quiet, knowledgeable example. For years he staffed a bring and buy table at monthly meetings to raise funds for Manawatü branch.

At his memorial service, at which much was said about his involvement with Forest & Bird, one of his co-workers referred to him as “kind to children, kind to adults and kind to nature”.

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Seabird researcher honoured Forest & Bird seabird contractor Chris Gaskin was in September honoured for his work as an advocate for seabirds, his contributions to research and conservation and his recent research project that confirmed the breeding place of the New Zealand storm petrel on Little Barrier Island.

Chris was a co-author of the Seabirds of the Hauraki Gulf report recently published by the Hauraki Gulf Forum.

Chris was one of three inaugural winners of the Holdaway Awards, initiated by the Hauraki Gulf Forum.

The winners were University of Auckland marine mammal scientist Dr Rochelle Constantine and Miranda Shorebird Centre manager Keith Woodley.

The awards recognise the legacy of Jim Holdaway, who championed the creation of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park.

QSM for Waitäkere work Waitäkere Forest & Bird member Sharon Davies was awarded a Queen’s Service Medal (QSM) for services to the community in the Queen’s Birthday honours. Sharon has been involved with the Waitäkere branch for 20 years and contributed in many ways to the efficient administration of the branch.

She has been the secretary of the branch’s Tai Haruru lodge sub-committee for more than 15 years, organising working bees and other events for the Forest & Bird lodge at Piha. Sharon also helps organise distribution of the branch newsletter to members and helps promote Forest & Bird at events.

Among her other volunteer roles, she is the chairperson of the Swanson Railway Station Trust, vice-chair of the Keep Waitäkere Beautiful Trust, trustee of EcoMatters Environment Trust and vice-chair of Neighbourhood Support Waitäkere. She also finds time to work full time as a PA/board liaison for the Waitäkere Ranges Local Board.

Inspiring film-makers Forest & Bird for a second year supported the Inspiring Stories Film Competition, which challenges young people to make a film up to four minutes long on the theme of young Kiwis making a difference. Forest & Bird sponsors the kaitiaki/environment category.

This year we received a bumper crop of entries on topics including a trip down the Whanganui River in kayaks made of plastic bottles and a profile of a young campaigner aiming to ban shark finning. The film-makers showed technical mastery and very good story telling and choosing the winner was very difficult.

The winner was a claymation film, Cows and Cleaner Dairying, by Sarah Ridsdale, aged 12, from Palmerston North. This fun video showed a lot of creativity, humour and expertise, and it was on a topic Forest & Bird is concerned about.

Congratulations to Sarah, and we hope to see more of your videos next year.

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GROWN-UP

KCC’s life cycle One former KCC kid is helping to inspire a love of nature in a new generation. By Tiff Stewart.

For some people, the Kiwi Conservation Club journey does not end when they grow up. They decide they gained so much from being KCC kids that they want to ensure the next generation has the same opportunity. Marguerite Pearson is one former KCC kid who spends much of her spare time as an Auckland KCC co-ordinator.

Marguerite was a KCC member from the club’s earliest days. Living in Tokomaru, near Palmerston North, her parents were active Forest & Bird members, and the family participated fully in local Forest & Bird projects. When KCC began, Marguerite could not believe her luck. “Going to events with lots of kids, that’s what made it special.”

The commitment to a healthy environment and conservation is very strong in Marguerite’s family – her grandparents campaigned for clean water in Wellington, her parents organise a dune restoration group in Whanganui, and many of her family have jobs in or relating to conservation. “I’ve been hugely influenced by my family ... the way you grow up shapes you.

“I remember flatting with people and they didn’t even recycle and I thought, ‘Oh my God, how can you not?’ because I did it without even thinking.”

Soon after moving to Auckland, Marguerite joined Forest & Bird’s Auckland Central branch committee.

In 2009, the role of KCC co-ordinator became vacant.

Thanks to her KCC childhood, Marguerite stepped up: “I remember those trips quite vividly ... I had a feeling that I enjoyed the trips and that they were worthwhile.”

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Auckland Central KCC members are reaping the benefits of Marguerite’s decision. Marguerite and her fellow co-ordinators plan their trips with care and an eye to the future: “A lot of KCC members like to do trips where you go outside the area, but we have also done some local trips because it’s really important to show people what is in their backyard as well”.

One memorable local trip was to Kepa Bush, hidden down in the valley beside busy Kohimarama Rd. They learnt about pest control from the experts, and helped put in some new traps. The participants were amazed; they never knew the bush was there.

Another spot in Auckland that has become dear to many KCC families thanks to Marguerite is Motutapu Island, “a jewel in the Waitematä Harbour”. Marguerite organises KCC participation in the Motutapu Restoration Trust’s planting days at least once a year, as well as taking friends out there too.

Typically, says Marguerite, people visit Rangitoto rather than Motutapu. “So we’re showing them a new place to go to – a place they can go back to in 10 years and see the trees they’ve planted.”

Not content planning exciting local trips, Marguerite three years ago instituted a hugely successful annual KCC Ruapehu weekend. “It’s a lot of work but it’s really rewarding – you really get to know those families, and you know the activities have had an impact. I have families that have come on all those trips … that’s how much they love it.”

Marguerite’s professional life is also connected with living a greener lifestyle. As a transport planner for Auckland Council, Marguerite contributes to the planning and delivering of Auckland’s cycling and walking networks.

She is leading the council family’s work on a very exciting project called the SkyPath, which aims to provide walking and cycling access over the Harbour Bridge. “We really want to promote cycling and walking as a viable transport alternative.”

Marguerite’s approach to life – and KCC trips – is straightforward: appreciate what we’ve got, get to know what’s on your back doorstep, and get out there. Simple!

1 Marguerite Pearson on Motutapu Island in the Hauraki Gulf.

2 Marguerite Pearson, far right, on a KCC expedition to Mt

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Ruapehu.

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For more information visit www.honda.co.nz/environment

Pricing up

nature

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Too often we take our plants, animals and ecosystems for granted. Claire Browning looks at how we might better account for the value of the natural world.

N

obody can put a price on a butterfly or a bee, or tell the cloud where to rain – though you may be able to work out what bees’ pollination services are worth.

That was the message from TEEB’s Pavan Sukhdev, in New Zealand to deliver his keynote speech to the Valuing Nature conference held in Wellington in July. Sukhdev’s The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) work is about making ecosystems’ economically invisible values count – accounting for them as natural capital.

For example, the value of the world’s tropical rainforest as a rainfall factory for agriculture isn’t a number that you’ll see on any economic spreadsheet or balance sheet, but nor is it one that New Zealand could live without. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite map Sukhdev showed, with its tropical rainfall systems curling out and down over New Zealand, ought to give our waterhungry dairy farmers pause in importing PKE, for example – that’s palm kernel, a cattle feed and by-product of the palm

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oil industry, grown on cleared tropical rainforest land.

As Sukhdev put it: companies disclose their directors’ bonuses of perhaps a few million and contingent liabilities such as court cases, perhaps in the tens of millions. Why not environmental externalities, costing us many hundreds of millions?

Sukhdev’s methodology doesn’t stop at valuing dependencies (what is nature giving?). He also works to help businesses value their impacts (what are you costing nature?). This may reveal that a business isn’t profitable at all if it’s eating into its own environmental bottom line. In turn, this may be a prompt for change, either as a matter of good business conscience or, eventually, through withdrawal of the social licence to operate.

Examples of good resource management decision-making from Sukhdev’s talk included Uganda’s Kampala wetland: valuable ecologically and as a food source, and cheap by comparison with the sewage treatment plant that would have

NATURE OF TOMORROW … the natural world, its biodiversity and its ecosystems are critically important but consistently undervalued, and to rethink our relationship with nature, we must value it.

been needed were the wetland drained and developed.

In another example, from Japan, White Stork rice was able to command premium values for restoring habitat and reintroducing this rare oriental bird – also proving that in this instance what would be best for the birds was also the best outcome for people.

Sukhdev’s fellow keynote speaker at the conference, the UK’s Sir Robert Watson (formerly the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ chief scientific adviser), had co-chaired the UK National Ecosystem Assessment, a massive and detailed piece of work that mapped the country in a two square kilometre grid and modelled outcomes using eight different models, including one called ”nature at work”, which integrates production with biodiversity, much like Forest & Bird’s Land for Wildlife work.

The assessment considered climate and other future scenarios, and offered recommendations for land use change to get the best outcomes, including cropping, agriculture and tree species. And it revealed that of all the models, “nature at work” offered the best results across all types of value – better economic outcomes than the status quo, dramatically better environmental outcomes, along

with historical, cultural and recreational gains.

Picked up by the UK government in a white paper called The Natural Choice, it will be implemented – though ministers’ first questions were about short-term impacts on growth and jobs.

Like Pavan Sukhdev, Watson’s key messages were that the natural world, its biodiversity and its ecosystems are critically important but consistently undervalued, and to rethink our relationship with nature we must value it. The route to that, he argues, is demonstrating economic benefit – making nature part of our system.

And though putting a price on something is usually the first step to selling it off or compensating for its loss, both men argue that value is what you receive, rather than what you are willing to pay. This may take many forms, and a “valuing nature” methodology should encompass all of them. Watson’s formula separately recognised dollar value plus non-monetised value (for instance, spiritual and mental wellbeing, culture expressed in forms such as the meaning of place, and wild species diversity).

It’s not a choice or a trade-off, he argued. Environment is the route to optimal economic, social and cultural outcomes but we can’t get there if we don’t make it part of the currency.

For Forest & Bird, an ecologically sustainable economy is one of our strategic plan priorities.

Already, in the government department of New Zealand’s Treasury, chief economist Dr Girol Karacaoglu is working on a dashboard accounting system called Higher Living Standards – according to Lincoln University’s Caroline Saunders, “fighting to get it through”. It incorporates social and environmental measures alongside GDP – a progressive step, preferable to total reliance on GDP as Treasury’s sole measure of success.

1 Whangamarino wetland is

a treasure trove of native plants and animals and is part of a substantial flood-control scheme on the lower Waikato River.

Photo: DOC

2 Pavan Sukhdev’s work is

about counting ecosystem values.

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The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER), though, wants to go further, saying that “laundry lists” of environmental performance are a limited way of accounting for nature. In May the NZIER, supported by a Department of Conservation grant, published a discussion document which says immediately in its title that Valuing natural assets [is] essential for decision-making.

The NZIER’s John Stephenson, champion of the approach, also neatly sums up its philosophical debates and dilemmas. Assets, he says, depreciate without investment – a fact that, for natural assets, we tend to fail to recognise. And yet, he went on, “every investment – every investment – implies foregone consumption”.

Integration is Stephenson’s goal: integration of the environment into the economy. But commodification is its risk – demonstrated on the front page, in the framing of the NZIER’s “natural assets” title. They’re “natural assets” now, not nature and ecosystems and living things, seeming to imply that nature is only worth something when it does something dollar-related for us, and can only be properly (and quite literally) “taken into account” when we can sum up and negotiate about the relative values.

A clear message coming out of the Valuing Nature conference was that anyone who feels a little bit philosophically niggly should basically just get over it because you can’t have or run a modern, ecologically sustainable economy in a vague, warm, fuzzy way.

After a motion moved by rapporteur Al Morrison, that the Ministry for the Environment’s James Palmer should lead a New Zealand national ecosystem assessment and report back to another conference to be reconvened in a year, we may expect to see a New Zealand equivalent to the UK work.

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If, as proposed, the New Zealand exercise is led by the Ministry for the Environment (MFE), it won’t be equivalent at all. In the UK the work was independently and prestigiously done. Government responded. That is how it should be. MFE should not be allowed to lead the work.

The question is: who, in New Zealand, would?

Non-governmental organisation voices were missed at the Valuing Nature conference, convened and largely populated by the government’s natural resources sector, Victoria University and the Sustainable Business Council. Scientists and academics were there, and their independence is welcome because otherwise it risks capture by vested interests.

Forest & Bird will want to be part of this work. We need to be part of designing and building the framework, understanding what is going on, understanding what are valid methods and what are not, and challenging the culture, too. Articulating and pushing back against its assumptions: having the debate, with different voices that don’t all speak the same language. Asking: what about values we either don’t comprehend or that exist for species and ecosystems other than ourselves? Where are they in this new world?

At the Valuing Nature conference, DOC’s Lyn Roberts put it well. Making ecosystems play by the rules of neoclassical economics is like women fighting for equality in a man’s world, on men’s terms, she said. You may win, but you still lose.

Claire Browning is a Forest & Bird Conservation Advocate.

3 Our seas and the life they sustain are often under-valued.

Photo: Kirstie Knowles

Things Welcome

Birds to your garden

Heaps of puzzles & activities

WoIoNl c zes pri

KCC is Forest & Bird’s kids’ club. Each KCC kid gets 5 Wild Things magazines a year and in some areas can join KCC group trips. KCC is fun and has been inspiring kids for over 20 years.

Join your kids up at www.forestandbird.org.nz/kcc now.

Storm clouds

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One of the greatest impacts of climate change is likely to be on water resources, according to the Ministry for the Environment. Jolene Williams investigates.

gathering T

he long dry summer of 2013 culminated in a drought that was New Zealand’s worst in 70 years. Farmers took an immediate hit, and the Treasury estimates the drought will reduce gross domestic product this year by 0.7 per cent.

Our wildlife, too, suffered immensely. Animals, big and small, suffered severe dehydration. Plants wilted, fish floundered on dry riverbeds, and starved kiwi in Northland made headlines because they couldn’t poke their beaks into the rock-hard ground to find food.

We need healthy freshwater systems to hold together our environment and economy. And yet scientists are warning to expect more disruptions like this year’s severe drought, as we increasingly see the effects of climate change take hold.

eastern and northern areas will become drier, while western and southern areas will become wetter. And most of the changes will occur in winter and spring.

Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell says increased rainfall in western regions such as the West Coast could create new wetlands. Across the Southern Alps, however, some of Canterbury’s already pressured rivers are likely to experience a drop in water levels.

And that’s not all. If the international studies are anything to go by, climate change will cause snowlines and glaciers to retreat, which could impact on water flows in South Island rivers.

How will a warming climate affect our water systems?

National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) surface hydrologist Daniel Collins says New Zealand’s variable weather makes it difficult to identify how climate change is already affecting our systems. “We’re a small island nation with a maritime climate. We’ve got natural fluctuations and things can be too variable to disentangle the data and detect what changes may be occurring,” he says.

“But we do have some good ideas about what might happen in the future. Never exact numbers but often the direction of change and a rough estimate of how much,” he says. One of the few certainties is that rising air temperatures (some say an increase of 2.6 degrees Celsius by 2099) will alter precipitation patterns.

As the Earth’s temperature rises, so do evaporation rates. The Earth’s average temperature has risen by 1degree Celsius in the past century, with most of the increase since 1980. And though that doesn’t sound like much, that 1degree has enabled the atmosphere to hold 8 per cent more moisture.

Higher evaporation rates and less rainfall mean less water in our waterways, which means more droughts. The more moisture that’s being held in the atmosphere also means when it does rain, it’ll do so with greater intensity.

So brace yourself for more intense storms and, with it, more intense floods.

Rather than using the term, “global warming”, Collins says New Zealand’s experience is better described as an intensification of local climate processes. In essence,

2 1 Some animals, such as pūkeko, will be forced to find more

suitable habitats, others may undergo genetic changes to adapt to the new condition. Photo: Luc Hoogenstein

2 Increased rainfall in western regions such as the West Coast

could create new wetlands, says Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell. Photo: David Brooks Forest & Bird

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What effect will this have on freshwater ecosystems?

The trickle-down effects on things such as stream temperatures, soil moisture levels, micro-organisms and river flows will have repercussions for the overall health of our natural ecosystems and native water-dependent species.

However, aside from NIWA’s extensive work on river flows, there’s little research in how exactly these changes will play out in the future.

Freshwater ecologist Mike Joy says we are already seeing changes in our waterways from intensive farming and these will be exacerbated by climate change. He says in the drying regions, water temperatures will rise, sedimentation will increase and there will be less available oxygen in the water.

More intense storms will also cause more erosion and debris to enter our river channels.

None of this is good news for the 68 per cent of our native freshwater fish listed as threatened.

Rising water temperatures in particular are a “really big issue” for our native fish, Joy says. “They don’t do well in warmer temperatures, neither do our invertebrates.

Mayflies, caddisflies and stoneflies are all quite sensitive to temperature, and they’re the main food supply for our native fish.”

One of the few New Zealand studies is Dennis Trolle’s 2010 PhD study of three North Island lakes. Trolle estimates the expected effects of climate change will increase the lakes’ nutrient levels, making them increasingly eutrophic and “subject to more algal blooms”.

Projected Annual Mean Precipitation Change between 1980-1999 and 2030-2049

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He projected that, by 2100, nutrient levels of those three lakes would be equivalent to a 25-50 per cent increase of nutrients at current levels.

What is the effect on our wildlife?

Hackwell says there will be significant impacts for our water-dependent wildlife. For a start, there’ll be a change in habitats as the vegetation that now fringes water bodies will be replaced by species better adapted to the drier or wetter conditions. Some animals will be forced to find more suitable habitats, others may undergo genetic changes to adapt to the new conditions. It’s not a stretch to say that local extinctions are almost certain.

“Imagine the fate of the endemic Canterbury mudfish if the climate becomes drier,” Hackwell says. “Mudfish can survive without water for up to two months in the muddy ground. Much of its habitat is already being destroyed from being drained and turned into pasture. If that dries up, it could really endanger it.”

Flood events, fine sediment and nutrient levels – there are a host of factors that determine habitats. University of Waikato’s Nicholas Ling’s 2010 research expects the distribution of cool temperate freshwater fish will change as fish try to escape the warming water temperature of their current habitats, largely by heading south. If they can, that is.

What can we do?

Ideally, get every country in the world to reduce carbon emissions. Reducing emissions to stem the warming climate is not impossible, but it’s neither wise nor practical to sit around and wait for countries to act.

Projected Annual Mean Precipitation Change between 1980-1999 and 2080-2099

3

Riparian planting or regeneration is really important. It not only helps keep the nutrients and sediment out of the water, it cools the water temperature.

Kevin Hackwell And though we will need to respond with smart water storage and distribution schemes, it needs to proceed with the environment in mind.

Joy is concerned that some of the mitigation proposals such as reservoirs and dams will do more harm than good.

“The backers of these dams say that more continuous flows are good for our native fish. But we actually need the peak flows to clean things up ... [In one study] of radio-tagged native fish [we found] a population of them spend the vast majority of their time in the substrate between rocks and boulders. Natural variability [in water flows] is really important to some of these species.”

Forest & Bird is already committed to fighting the impact of climate change on our freshwater resources through a range of direct and indirect initiatives.

Through engagement with policy-informing groups such as the Land and Water Forum and Sustainable Dairying: Water Accord, we are helping to guide the development of future-proof water management strategies.

Our campaign work – fighting to stop the Denniston mine, protecting Canterbury rivers, advocating for more renewable energy resources – all in some way work towards buffering

ourselves against the impending effects of climate change.

But one of the main ways we contribute, according to Hackwell, is through pest-control projects.

“Pest control creates forests that are much healthier. They have healthy leaf litter, duff and humus layers that absorb more rainfall, which reduces severe flooding and resists soil erosion. These layers also release the water more slowly, which will keep waterways flowing in times of drought.”

Humus, the organic matter made out of decomposed plants, holds its own weight in water. Just 5 kilograms of extra humus per square metre can give 50,000 litres of extra water storage per hectare.

In addition, pest control to improve our forests will allow more carbon dioxide to be sucked from the atmosphere into the vegetation and eventually our soils, which will work against the build-up of climate change-causing gases.

Riparian planting is also a simple way to slow down the impacts of climate change on freshwater. “Riparian planting or regeneration is really important. It not only helps keep the nutrients and sediment out of the water, it cools the water temperature,” Hackwell says.

These aren’t the silver bullet solutions to ward off the effects of climate change. We still need bigger picture initiatives such as developing ways to reduce water used for irrigation. But it’s heartening to know we can take the matter into our own hands. We can fight climate change.

3 Riparian planting slows down the impacts of climate change

on freshwater. Photo: Luc Hoogenstein

4 ‘[Native fish] don’t do well in warmer temperatures, neither

do our invertebrates,’ says freshwater ecologist Mike Joy.

5 New Zealand will experience an intensification of local

4

5

climate processes, says National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research surface hydrologist Daniel Collins.

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Forests of the shore Mangroves might be native to New Zealand but they don't spark the national pride most other native plants do.

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e love, and respect, our native forests when they are on land but trash them if they happen to be in the sea. For a long time, mangrove forests were places just to dump rubbish or fill in until champions such as Forest & Bird’s Valerie Chapman and John Morton recognised their value. For a time the reputation of mangrove forests was redeemed – that is, until they began to spread.

Now their value is questioned and their champions are few.

In Tauranga Harbour, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council permitted volunteers to remove mangroves by hand and when that proved too hard, heavy machinery was called in to do the work. Machines made the job easy. Now more than 100 hectares have been clear felled, with more clearing planned in Tauranga and in the harbours further north.

Mangroves are a part of the natural character of New Zealand. They are the native forests of the sea, the signature species of our northern harbours just as kauri are on land. In the words of Environment Court Judge Jeff Smith: “... the basis of the management of mangroves must recognise that they are indigenous vegetation and part of the natural character of the coast”.

So can we, and should we, lay waste to native mangrove forests?

We certainly can destroy them, and we are doing so, even though it wreaks havoc on the health of our harbours.

In Tauranga Harbour, I have watched the mangrove machine lumber over the estuary. Its treads churn the mudflat and compact the layers of mud beneath. It slashes the mangroves and mulches them, butchering, in an instant, an ecosystem that was full of life.

Below the stout trunks and spreading branches, the shy

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banded rails foraged, running lightly over the mud on their long toes. The tough leaves, despite the salt they excreted, were eaten by the mangrove moth caterpillar. In spring, bees buzzed around the lemon-scented flowers.

The mud below the canopy was pockmarked with crab burrows, pimpled with “poo” from burrowing animals and tracked by grazing molluscs. A forest of aerial roots poked up, festooned with barnacles, oysters and algae on which fish grazed when the tide was high.

After the mangrove machine has passed, only the stumps and dead root fingers remain. The slurry of mud and dead plants and animals is like compost, but unlike compost, it is lacking in oxygen. It becomes home to bacteria. Sewer flies hover over the puddles.

The authorities told us that in a few weeks the smell would abate, the debris and mud would wash away and sandy beaches would return. That wasn’t true. Only months and years later, in places where the current runs fast, mud is washing away and a sandier substrate is emerging. But most mangroves grow in sheltered water where there are no currents or waves to wash the mud away.

The largest areas of cleared mangroves are still ugly and derelict years later. The mud has not gone and sometimes even the vehicle tracks remain. All that has been achieved is a high tide view of open water and a vista of mud when the tide goes out.

In these areas, monitoring by National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research scientists shows little sign of restoration, and little is predicted because the buried roots of the dead mangroves will rot very slowly in the absence of oxygen. If and when life returns, it is likely to be more

1

In the field ANN GRAEME

mangrove seedlings, to be mowed down again and the cycle of degradation continued.

The reasons to justify this destruction have been as murky as the mud they stirred up. Science had revealed the ecological role of the mangroves but then that science was disputed. It was argued that the mangroves were worthless and their spread was detrimental to the harbour’s ecology.

That is not so. The cockle and pipi and sea grass beds are threatened by sediment, not by mangroves.

Mangroves will not usurp the huge open sand flats, so big they could feed many times the number of visiting birds. The mangroves hold back the silt that might choke the filter-feeding shellfish and burrowing worms they eat.

In northern harbours, the shy, endemic banded rail feeds almost exclusively among the mangroves.

Judge Smith put it succinctly: “The ecological evidence before us was clear. Mangroves have ecological value and their removal has no ecological benefit.”

But there are other values besides ecology. Property owners want views of open water, not of mangroves.

People want to restore the sandy beaches they remember in their youth, even though most sandy beaches cannot be restored and only a few can be returned to even a degraded semblance.

Judge Smith recognised these desires when he said: “We conclude there must be some benefits to removal in areas of amenity, recreation, cultural or access which is sufficient to justify mangrove removal.”

This is the crunch: how far people’s wishes should be permitted to override ecological values. If we really cared about the health of our harbours, we would leave the mangroves alone.

Harbours are under pressure. In towns, they are polluted by drains and stormwater. In the country, runoff from the paddocks and steep land dumps sediment and chemicals into the rivers and it is carried into the harbours. Sea grass beds have declined; only mangrove forests are thriving.

Mangrove forests, like all forests, store carbon in their living parts – their leaves, branches, stems and roots – and in the soil beneath them. And they do more. By trapping silt they are also burying not only their own humus but the

humus and carbon eroding from the forests and grasslands.

As mangroves multiply, so too does this sink of carbon.

The warming climate is a factor driving mangrove expansion. Fewer frosts encourage seedling survival and so does the silt deposited in sheltered margins where seedlings take root. As the climate warms, seawater becomes more acid and productivity declines. Mangroves are very productive and could help redress the balance.

Sea levels are rising and storms are becoming more frequent and severe. Mangroves are the land’s defence against the hungry sea.

For all these reasons, our children and our grandchildren will value the mangrove forests. So why should we rail against their spread? We won’t be overwhelmed by mangroves. There are great expanses of open flats and deep channels where mangroves can never grow. We could walk through the mangroves on boardwalks and provide boat ramps with minimal mangrove clearance.

We cannot turn back the clock and our efforts to do so are damaging our harbours. We do not need to further burden them by destroying their most productive margins.

We do not need to play King Canute against the forces of nature.

We need to think of the future. In the words of Judge Smith: “...there must be some justification to remove mangroves beyond a mere public dislike”.

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2 Forest & Bird and Basil Graeme appealed to the Environment Court about sections of the proposed Bay of Plenty Regional Policy Statement relating to mangroves. After mediation, some changes were made to the policy and Forest & Bird withdrew.

Basil Graeme took further issues to the court with support from Tauranga Forest & Bird. The quotes are from Decision No (2013) 173.

1 Mangroves are the signature species of our northern

harbours. Photo: Rod Morris

2 In northern harbours the shy, endemic banded rail

feeds almost exclusively among the mangroves. Photo: davidhallett.co.nz

3 Compacted mud remains after Tauranga Harbour

mangroves were cleared by machine. Photo: Al Fleming Forest & Bird

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going places

Air show

spectacular Muriwai’s daredevil gannets and dramatic coastline are a treat for nature watchers. By Andy Kenworthy.

E

very August to March, about 1200 breeding pairs of Morus serrator, also known as the Australasian gannet or täkapu, come to nest at Muriwai in a maelstrom of wild calling and aerobatics. The best time to visit them is from October to February, particularly when there is a good breeze to get them flying up level with the viewing platforms.

The chicks hatch in November then leave for Australia after 15 weeks, returning three years later. The colony is busiest in December, when growing chicks demand feeding and the parents are hard at work providing what they can.

One of their most dramatic fishing behaviours is diving into the sea from about 30 metres, at anything up to 145kmh.

Van Haresnape, one of three full-time park rangers for the area, says: “I used to wonder why the birds chose such a lonely, exposed headland for their colony then I thought it was because it was not so accessible to predators. I have since found out it has more to do with thermodynamics – the air currents provide plenty of lift for the young birds.”

This combination of rugged sea cliffs, rock stacks, crashing waves and daredevil flying makes for fantastic viewing and photography in the softer light of evening or morning, and visitors with binoculars will have plenty to feast their eyes on. As well as the gannets, there are blue

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penguins, spur-winged plovers, Caspian terns, black and pied shags and variable oystercatchers.

The keen eyed might even catch a priceless glimpse of critically endangered Mäui’s dolphins – the last recorded sighting was in October 2012. From time to time, New Zealand fur seals can be spotted basking on the rocks at the foot of Motutara Island, the rock stack near the coast.

The undeniable star of the show for most visitors is the gannet. With a two-metre wingspan and golden head, adults are about the size of a goose, with black-tipped wings, black central tail feathers and a strong, conical bluegrey beak.

In their first year, the young have speckled brown feathers on their upper body, and white under sides. Each year, more white feathers appear on their backs, and the birds acquire their adult appearance by five years of age.

They generally feed over continental shelves or inshore waters, seldom far from land, on a diet mostly made up of pilchard, anchovies and jack mackerel, with the occasional side order of squid and garfish.

The Australasian gannet’s range is relatively limited by global standards, surrounding New Zealand and southern Australia up to Cairns on the east coast and just short of the World Heritage Site at Shark’s Bay on the west. And

1

though New Zealand’s gannet population is relatively well protected, they are susceptible to the potential effects of oil spills and can get caught in set nets or on the lines of recreational fishermen. There has also been research done into the possible long-term effects of the birds accumulating contaminants such as lead and mercury from industrial pollution.

But the good news is that this species is listed as of “least concern” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and BirdLife International notes that the large population is thought to be increasing after a reduction in human persecution. Te Ara, The Encyclopedia of New Zealand reports that Australasian gannet numbers in New Zealand increased markedly during the second half of the 20th century – from an estimated 27,000 breeding pairs in the first census of 1947, to 46,000 in the 1980-81 count, and that New Zealand is home to 87 per cent of the total population of adult birds.

According to Te Ara, the gannets began breeding in Muriwai in the 1900s. From there, the colony expanded from Oaia Island, which can be seen just 1.6 kilometres off the coast, and to Motutara Island. Eventually, in late 1979, the birds moved to the cliffs on the mainland, and Forest & Bird helped the Auckland Regional Authority in establishing the Täkapu Refuge for their use. As well as fencing and viewing platforms, there is also a regular programme of rodent trapping for the birds’ protection.

4 AUCKLAND • MURIWAI BEACH WAITAKERE RANGES

Getting there Directions:

Muriwai’s gannet colony is a one-hour drive from the centre of Auckland via SH16 to Waimuku and then follow Muriwai Rd to the coast.

From the car park at the end of Waitea Rd and from Muriwai Beach a well-marked boardwalk covers the 200 metres or so to the viewing platforms. Visitors with strollers or mobility issues should access the site via Waitea Rd, which has a sloping path all the way up to the first two platforms, whereas the access via Muriwai has steps.

When there: This colony is a strictly dog-free area. It’s also worth remembering when dressing for the occasion that this is an exposed spot in the wild west!

There are three full-time park rangers for the area, with one ranger at Muriwai at all times.

They are on call 24 hours a day.

Paragliders and model airplanes also frequent the skies in this area, while other attractions include the surfers and pillow lava formations of neighbouring Mäori Bay. More About Muriwai: http://regionalparks. information: aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/muriwai or call Auckland Council on 09 301 0101. About gannets: http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/

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1 October to February is the best time to visit Muriwai.

Photos: Helen Bucksey

2 Rugged sea cliffs, rock stacks, crashing waves and daredevil

flying makes for fantastic viewing and photography.

3 The Muriwai colony is busiest in December when chicks

are growing.

4 Muriwai is a perfect spot for a gannet breeding colony

3

because the air currents help young birds get lift off.

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WHAT ARE YOU LEAVING YOUR KIDS?

50% of lakes are polluted 90% of wetlands have been drained 90% of lowland forests have been destroyed 90% of our freshwater native fish are endangered 21 of our bird species have been wiped out by introduced pests 96% of our lowland streams have pathogen levels too high to swim in

Kiwi kids deserve to live in one of the most incredible natural environments on Earth. But our native animals, plants and wild places are under threat. You and your children can help change the story. Become a Nature’s Future supporter of Forest & Bird, and help ensure that New Zealand will always have an untouched natural environment. You’ll receive a Forest & Bird membership, and your kids will become members of the Kiwi Conservation Club. They’ll receive Wild Things magazines and develop an interest in nature that will last a lifetime, and inspire them to make a positive difference to New Zealand. Please become Nature’s Future supporters now by visiting forestandbird.org.nz/joinus

community

conservation

Wanganui welcomes hihi O

ne of New Zealand’s rarest birds is settling in to a new home, thanks to a translocation project at Forest & Bird’s Bushy Park sanctuary near Wanganui.

In March, after three years of preparation, 23 male and 21 female juvenile stitchbirds, or hihi, were released at Bushy Park, making it one of only three mainland hihi sanctuaries nationwide.

The 90-hectare site was gifted to Forest & Bird in 1962

by Frank Moore, a well-known local Hereford cattle and racehorse breeder, and has been managed by the Bushy Park Trust since 1994. The reserve was encircled by a 4.8-kilometre pest-proof fence in 2005.

Hihi (Notiomystis cincta) are believed to be named in part for their alarm call, which sounds a little like “stitch”. The species is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list. It is believed there are fewer than 3500 left in New Zealand, with a few small populations translocated to promising habitats in the past 30 years from a single remnant population on Hauturu/Little Barrier Island.

The hihi translocated to Bushy Park were captured at Tiritiri Matangi Island in a week-long operation by a 13-member team from the Bushy Park Trust, Department of Conservation, Massey University, the Institute of Zoology in London and staff from Sydney’s Taronga Zoo. All the birds had thorough medical checks and were fitted with tiny one-gram location transmitters and an identifying band before being flown to Palmerston North, thanks to Air New Zealand.

Eight of the birds are known to have died since arriving at Bushy Park but these losses appear to be from natural causes and predation by native species so are not cause for long-term concern. All the remaining birds are being tracked within the park’s boundary and many of them have been seen since being released.

Bushy Park Trust Project Convenor Allan Anderson says: “Predation by falcon and morepork presents the greatest challenge to the project as otherwise the birds seen are remarkably healthy and exceptionally tame, maybe too tame for their own good!”

The Hihi Recovery Group, which has staff from the Department of Conservation, conservation groups and independent researchers, paid for the birds’ transmitters.

The group’s chair, John Ewen, helped lead the translocation.

“While small in size, Bushy Park does have a mature forest habitat that we hope will provide the establishing hihi population with ample food resources,” he says. “In addition, food supplementation and nesting sites have been provided to ensure we maximise the probability of establishment.”

Allan says: “Previous successful introductions of bush robins and saddlebacks (tïeke) had shown that this

sanctuary, with its superb forest, was eminently suitable for playing a role in the recovery of rare and endangered native birds but to contemplate introducing hihi was an ambitious undertaking.

“Not all earlier translocations have 1 succeeded, but with the support of the Hihi Recovery Group, generous funding from a number of organisations across the international scene and enormous input and energy from volunteers, the dream became a reality.

“Of course there were many unanswered questions, since this was as much about research as it was about simply a translocation. For example, would the birds leave the sanctuary? Would they adapt to their new environment?

Would they breed successfully? Would public interest in conservation increase should this transfer succeed? And worse, what would be the implications of future species translocations to Bushy Park, if it failed?

“All the news to date is positive and encouraging, some of it even exceeding our hopes and expectations,” Allan says. “It will be several years before we can say with certainty that the translocation has been a genuine success.”

Forest & Bird North Island Conservation Manager Mark Bellingham says the long-term future of Bushy Park is good, so long as the trust maintains a safe, predator-free forest. “This requires ongoing support from the WhanganuiManawatü community and our army of volunteers who control invading pests around the perimeter.” n Andy Kenworthy

1 Hihi have found a home at Bushy Park. Photo: David Brooks 2 Bushy Park’s 90-hectare forest is protected by a pest-proof

fence. Photo: Aalbert Rebergen

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community

conservation

Kiwi return to Flora F

riends of Flora community group this year welcomed more great spotted kiwi, or roroa, to its restoration project in the South Island’s north-west.

In March and May a total of 20 kiwi were translocated to the Flora Stream and Deep Creek catchments, on the eastern edge of Kahurangi National Park, joining 12 kiwi that were rehomed there in 2010.

The kiwi were caught in New Creek in the Buller region and the upper Roaring Lion River in Kahurangi National Park using kiwi dogs. Friends of Flora has monitored the kiwi since their translocation, supported by local fund raising and a variety of grants. A recent Forest & Bird-administered BirdLife International Community Conservation Fund grant will help the kiwi monitoring continue and contribute to our growing understanding of the ecology of this poorly known kiwi species.

This monitoring is essential to determine whether the kiwi remain within the project area, whether they survive and whether they breed and therefore whether we can be confident about the likelihood of achieving a sustainable kiwi population, say Friends of Flora kiwi specialists Sandy and Robin Toy. “The new kiwi have wandered much more widely than the original ones did. It is currently 14 kilometres from the most southerly to the most northerly located kiwi. Given the terrain, much of which is over 1000 metres in altitude, this dispersal is a major challenge for the monitoring team. To date three pairs appear to have established territories, two other partnerships seem to be loosely paired and settled, but the remaining 10 birds are still wandering,” they say.

Forest & Bird members Maryann Ewers and Bill Rooke set up Friends of Flora in 2001 to restore the biodiversity of the Flora catchment. With DOC, they put in stoat trapping lines and expanded the project to include the neighbouring catchments of Ghost Creek, Balloon Creek and Deep Creek. Their trapping lines have now joined lines run by Friends of Cobb in the Cobb Valley.

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Friends of Flora, Bush & Beyond (a guiding company run

by Maryann and Bill) and DOC now service 1145 DOC150 and 200 stoat traps over an area of 8500 hectares. At many of these trapping stations there is also a Sentinel trap for possums and a Victor trap for rodents. The rodent trapping is to help stop the stoat trap being blocked with a trapped rodent.

More than 40 volunteers check the traps each month, except June and July when the high-altitude traps are not set and some are buried in snow.

Numbers of stoats caught vary during the year and with the degree of beech mast, when beech trees have a bumper crop of seeds, which leads to a population explosion of mice and rats and, in turn, stoats.

Friends of Flora wanted to reintroduce great spotted kiwi to the area because the birds are known from sub-fossil remains, though they have not been recorded there for more than 30 years. “We don’t know why they disappeared but before Kahurangi became a national park there was a history of gold mining and grazing on the alpine tussock,” says Robin. Dogs must have been present and would almost certainly have taken adult kiwi and it is expected that stoats would have taken chicks. Designation as a national park has removed the dogs, and Friends of Flora’s trapping network will have reduced stoats to a level at which is thought that kiwi can prosper.

Since the first kiwi translocation in 2010 the birds have been monitored. They quickly established pairs and settled into territories, though one bird roamed into an area where pigs are hunted and had to be recovered. A high point came at Christmas 2012 when a chick was born.

“What a great reward for the hundreds of hours spent by volunteers every year in pest control and kiwi monitoring,” says Sandy. “Most importantly it indicated that the Flora is still suitable habitat for kiwi.” n Marina Skinner 1 Maryann Ewers and Bill Rooke received a Forest & Bird Old

Blue award in 2012.

2 Blessing the translocated kiwi before they were released.

Photo: Trish Grant/DOC

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3 Parapara, one of the first great spotted kiwi translocated to

Flora. Photo: Sandy Toy

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Penguins: Their World, Their Ways

Birds & People

By Tui De Roy, Mark Jones and Julie Cornthwaite Bateman, $79.99 Reviewed by Chris Todd

By Mark Cocker, photographs by David Tipling Random House, $105 Reviewed by Chris Todd

“I snuggle contentedly into my sleeping bag and try to doze.

The wind is howling overhead, and giant swells thud against the cliff face below. Our meagre campsite, wedged between nests, is perched at a crazy angle on a sloping granite slab – it’s as wild as wild can be. I’m in penguin heaven.”

This is Tui de Roy observing crested penguins 650 kilometres south of New Zealand. It reflects the exuberance and tenacity behind this wonderful book: Tui and fellow travellers Mark Jones and Julie Cornthwaite have traversed the remotest and wildest reaches of the penguins’ domain for more than 15 years and returned with a treasure trove of photographs, stories and essays.

The authors have a section each: De Roy has made me fall in love with penguins. She paints the big picture then takes us on an odyssey to meet all six groups of penguins. Her experience is prodigious, her enthusiasm infectious and her photographs sublime.

Mark Jones takes us down into the detail. He introduces essays from15 PhDs and surely the most remote policeman on the planet, whose topics include how penguins are responding to climate-induced change (mainly badly), what penguins get up to under water (diving upward to catch prey the way a falcon swoops downward) and why the first of the crested penguin’s two eggs is so much smaller than the second (read it to find out).

Julie Cornthwaite wraps the book up perfectly with a systematic fact file cum guide book on all 18 species of penguin, beautifully set out and illustrated with photographs.

The biggest shadow over penguins is climate-induced ice loss, acidification and falling ocean productivity. As Jones points out: “Their very existence – and ours – depends on the future welfare and resilience of the oceans.” This book goes all the way to making us care about that.

Did you know that the downy nests of the penduline tit are used as slippers by Polish children, as purses by the Maasai, and in northern Italy are credited with warding off lightning? Or that ostrich eggs were used as water-carriers by the San, valued for carving by the Romans, used as jewellery throughout Africa and have turned up in Sumerian tombs?

Mark Cocker’s Birds & People is a stupendous effort, supported by David Tipling’s superb photographs, two professional researchers and hundreds of voluntary contributors. Coker works his way through 160 of the world’s roughly 200 bird families, cataloguing the human-bird relationship variously expressed in art, music, dance, fashion, shamanism, cuisine and, all too frequently, in wanton slaughter.

Cocker describes his 592-page volume as “a source book on why we cherish birds ... an anatomy of what we owe them culturally and materially.... It celebrates our part in that shared relationship – that fundamental role of telling stories to ourselves about birds.”

He says the book is focussed on living lore and beliefs about birds but he happily blends perspectives from ancient and modern human history, natural history, ethno-ornithology, anecdote and personal reflection.

I loved the book for its audacious scope and kaleidoscopic detail. Inevitably, the strongest chapters reflected the

1 Fiordland crested penguin from Penguins: Their World, Their

Ways. Photo: Tui de Roy at Roving Tortoise Photography

2 North Island brown kiwi from Birds & People. Photo: David

Tipling

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strongest human-bird relationships. For example, the section on birds of prey included falconry, imperial symbolism and sky-burial. However, I found some of the sections on minor families disappointing, for example the section on Pitta which contained no cultural reference beyond their fascination to bird-watchers. Several bird families were left out altogether as having “limited cultural profiles”. One of these was the magpie goose of North Australia, to which the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land have an ancient and rich connection.

Cocker says in his introduction that he would need 20 volumes to do his subject justice. Nonetheless, in one volume he certainly does it proud. This book is a breath-taking and fascinating catalogue of our relationship with birds.

Birds of New Zealand: A Photographic Guide

By Paul Scofield and Brent Stephenson Auckland University Press, $59.99 Reviewed by David Brooks This guide will be an important reference for all serious birders but has plenty for the more casual bird enthusiast too. At 544 pages, it’s not likely to be slipped into the pocket for a stroll in the bush or at the beach but as a comprehensive guide it’s hard to beat.

For a start there are 1000 great photos, drawn from photographer Brent Stephenson’s library of 240,000 images.

The photos are mostly small, which is a shame given their quality, but inevitable in a book of this type. For most of the 365 species described, there are three to five photos, showing variations between sexes, seasonal plumage and, in many cases, differences in juveniles.

The quality of the images is matched by the expert information provided by Canterbury Museum ornithologist Paul Scofield. This includes identification, taxonomy, behaviour, distribution and breeding characteristics.

From New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic islands in the south to the Kermadecs in the north, all the native and introduced species are here. There’s even space for the occasional vagrants that turn up, including the extraordinary Oriental cuckoo, the black kite and the emperor penguin.

For those serious about getting the right ID on a bird, there’s even information on what makes a species different from birds with a similar appearance. As well, for the less expert of us, there are some tips on learning to recognise bird calls and getting good bird photos.

The author, in his non-judgemental way, allows us to connect with the personalities, their hopes and aspirations, with a sense of wonder that generates an enthusiasm for the flora and fauna and this enigmatic volcanic landscape that is both a serene paradise and volatile foe.

The encyclopaedic and chronological text is richly enhanced with numerous photos, maps and illustrations. It’s a fascinating journey through history that excites our appetite for discovery and highlights the vitality and importance of these islands and their surrounding seas.

Wild Behaviour: A New Zealand Perspective

By Trevor Penfold Perfect Planet Publishing, $58 Reviewed by Marina Skinner Trevor Penfold’s great love of wildlife shines through in his collection of photographs. It takes long and studied observation of animals to capture their behaviour so strikingly.

He shows kea grooming each other, including the groomer’s technique of jumping on the groomee’s head to get to the other side of the groomee’s head. It sets a new bar for comical kea behaviour.

Other native birds are shown calling, flying and eating, including a scrawny grey warbler feeding a bonny young shining cuckoo. Some of the birds are not often seen, such as hihi (stitchbirds) and tïeke (saddlebacks). Birds of the forest, rivers, shores and open seas are captured, and Penfold extends his range to fur seas and sea lions.

The shots are carefully composed, and show off significant features of the animals’ habitat. Penfold wears his conservation colours with pride, and he mentions Forest & Bird and other organisations working to protect the native species in his book.

He shares the technical details of all photos at the end of the book, giving others the opportunity to replicate his work – no easy task.

Raoul & the Kermadecs: New Zealand’s Northernmost Islands

By Steve Gentry Steele Roberts Aotearoa, $55 Reviewed by Anton van Helden “In the midst of a prodigious ocean” half way between the Bay of Plenty and Tonga, lie the Kermadec islands, the visible portion of remnant volcanic cones that form part of the Kermadec Arc of sub-marine volcanoes. All of the islands are nature reserves and surrounded by a 12 nautical-mile marine reserve. The largest of these sub-tropical islands is Raoul (Rangitahua), our largest pöhutukawa-clad island and, as the only island with a permanent water supply, the only to have been inhabited by humans.

These are the stories of these islands and the people, from early voyagers, slavers, whalers, remarkable settlers to scientific expeditions, courageous conservationists and adventurers, the pioneers who have impacted upon and in turn been affected by the islands. They are engaging stories richly told, cohesively drawn together from disparate sources, archives and personal letters and anecdotes.

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A fur seal from Wild Behaviour: A New Zealand Perspective.

Photo: Trevor Penfold

IN SHORT New Zealand’s Wild Places by Craig Potton (Craig Potton Publishing, $39.99 hard cover and $19.99 pocket edition).

Craig Potton has seen New Zealand from the mountains to our seas and he’s shared his landscape photographs with us for 30 years. His latest collection focuses on our most spectacular coasts, forests, mountains, rivers and lakes.

Wildlife of New Zealand by Rob Suisted (New Holland, $19.99). Rob Suisted zooms in on the plants and animals that inhabit natural New Zealand. This pocket collection features species living in our forests, shores, seas, mountains and wetlands, from tiny flowering herbs to sea lions on Otago’s beaches, and not forgetting our many birds.

PHILPROOF

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Keep your photos and videos safe for future generations

For the nature adventurer this summer...

Special offer for Forest & Bird members

SanDisk Memory Vault 8GB $99 $69 SanDisk Memory Vault 16GB $139 $99 To order, contact Lacklands Ltd 09 630 0753 or info@lacklands.co.nz

Come to Kapiti Island this summer Clear night sky-Little Spotted Kiwi’s & Morepork calling-Kapiti Island is NZs most reliable natural Kiwi spotting and Kokako listening/viewing opportunity.

Our new KCC hat!

Bright, fun and sun-smart these are great out-in-

Enjoy hospitality from the Kapiti Island Whanau; be wowed by the great foodInteract with the Kokako,Takahe-KakaSaddleback-Stitchbird-kakariki...wonderful bush and coastal walks...marine reserve at your front window.

nature hats for our adventurers. There are two

Overnight Kiwi spotting tours at Kapiti Nature Lodge-OR full or Half day tour visits.

down to 54cm). Check our online store

“Your overnight stay has got to be one of the best experiences in the region” Claire, Greater Wellington Regional Council.

sizes. A small hat of 50cm (that can be tightened down to 46cm) and a slightly larger one for the young teenager of 58cm (that can be tightened https://secure.forestandbird.org.nz/shop/shop. asp or call 0800 200 064 to buy one. They’re $29.95 each incl. GST – and postage is an extra.

Kapiti Island Nature Tours & kapiti Nature Lodge bookings@kapitiislandnaturetours.co.nz www.kapitiislandnaturetours.co.nz Tel: 021 126 7525 | 06 362 6606 (mention this ad for your complimentary outdoor hot tub soak)

Ron and Edna Greenwood Environmental Trust

The trust provides financial support for projects advancing the conservation and protection of New Zealand’s natural resources, particularly flora and fauna, marine life, geology, atmosphere and waters.

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

| 65

Pohatu Penguins & Marine Reserve Banks Peninsula Scenic nature tours with local volunteers conserving Banks Peninsula’s biodiversity.

• Coastal Retreat • Sea Kayaking www.pohatu.co.nz email: tours@pohatu.co.nz phone: 03 304 8600

South America

Small Groups + Independent travellers CALL NOW FOR FREE 2013 BROCHURE

“When one looks deeply into the present situation in the world, two things stand out as particularly important: the danger of war and the acceleration of the Earth’s ecological imbalance.”

Share-international-nz.info /save-our-planet

For a free (11.5cm wide) ‘Save our Planet’ sticker: Share International NZ, PO Box 34-491 Birkenhead, Auckland 0746 or Ph: (09) 483 4211

Latin Link Adventure The South American Specialists 0800 528 465 / info@latinlink.co.nz

www.latinlink.co.nz

Donnelleys Crossing Get Back to Nature

Newfoundland

80.13 ha elevated property.

Amazing views, bush with small amount of pasture. Planted in kauri, Redwood and Eucalyptus trees. Bird life including kiwis. $260,000 plus GST. Phone Sheila 0274985651 www.roperandjones.co.nz #1321

With

Canada

Bush & Beyond Guided Walks

July 1 to 19 2014

REAA 2008

Roper & Jones

New Zealand Birdsong Clock

New Improved, now in stock

A collection of original and reproduction antique prints and maps.

Ideal for Christmas presents. We ship worldwide. Visit our website or, if you are in Christchurch, visit our Beckenham gallery.

Highlights: Hiking East Coast trail & Mt Gros Morne Whale & bird watching (puffins etc) Mistaken Point deep sea fossils Moose & Caribou Viking Village Icebergs Fiords St Johns—Nth Americas oldest city

For Stewart Island Accommodation in the Bush Rakiura Retreat Motels overlooking Braggs Bay/ Halfmoon Bay • Access to beach • Complimentary cars/bikes • Warm & comfortable • Transfers & Professional guides available • Sleeps up to 24 Individuals & Groups welcome. www.stewartislandmotels.com info@rakiuraretreat.co.nz • 03 2191096

White Heron Sanctuary Tours Come with us, RAINFOREST, NATURE and JETBOATING TOURS, all year round. Viewing of nesting colony from September to March. Ph. 0800 52 34 56

www.whiteherontours.co.nz

T: -3 528 9054 E: info@bushandbeyond.co.nz

12 NZ bird calls Auto off in the dark

BIORESEARCHES CONSULTING BIOLOGISTS ESTABLISHED 1972

bioresearches@bioresearches.co.nz www.bioresearches.co.nz P.O Box 2828 Auckland PH: AUCKLAND 379 9417 Fax (09) 307 6409

Light wood surround with glass face 3xAAA batteries Price $89 inc GST and Postage Send cheque and delivery details to Mercury Pots Plus PO Box 72042 Papakura 2244, Auckland Tel 09 298 0955 Fax 09 298 0950 email: mercurypots@xtra.co.nz

http://naturesounds.co.nz NZ nature sounds for meditation & relaxation

www.highplaces.co.nz 0800 305306

Enter F&B at checkout for a 25% discount

Advertise to Forest & Bird readers here Please contact

66

| Forest & Bird

Native Bush Property For Sale Iceberg Trail, Greenland

Environmental Impact Studies Surveys of Marine, Freshwater & Terrestrial Habitats Pollution Investigations Resource Consent procedures Archaeological; Historic Places Appraisal

bushandbeyond.co.nz

South America • Africa Himalayas • Europe

Karen Condon PHONE 0275 420 338 EMAIL mack.cons@xtra.co.nz

A unique area of 167ha of prime bush, Q.E.II covenanted. Outstanding features include rimu (many in excess of 3m girth), Hall’s totara, 2 major streams with beautiful waterfalls, rare fauna and flora – Hochstetter’s frog, kiwi, giant moss, etc. Approx 65 kms north of Auckland. Ideal for keen conservationist or syndicate. A place to be treasured, now reluctantly for sale.

Inquiries and expressions of interest to: raygj@xtra.co.nz

Parting shot W

ynston Cooper, of Invercargill, photographed this South Island robin, or toutouwai, while walking back to Freshwater Landing from Mason Bay on Stewart Island. He sat down and tried to photograph a fernbird. “Seemingly attracted by the noise of the film in my 35mm camera automatically rewinding, this robin flew out from the adjacent vegetation and landed on my boot,” he says. “While I was unable to reach another film, I managed to very carefully get out my small point and shoot Casio EX-Z57 digital camera from its case on my belt and, holding it off to one side of me, managed to get this photograph.

“It wasn’t the first time that a robin had perched on my boot but this one stayed long enough to enable me to photograph it.”

If you are a Forest & Bird member and you have a stunning photo that showcases New Zealand’s special native plants or animals, it could be the next Parting Shot. Each published Parting Shot photo will receive a GorillaPod JGP3 worth $159.95. The GorillaPod SLR Zoom is a portable, packable heavy-duty tripod that keeps your camera equipment steady, no matter where you might be.

Please send a low-res digital file and brief details about your photo to Marina Skinner at m.skinner@forestandbird.org.nz Winners will be asked for higher-resolution files.

Forest & Bird

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2013 index A

Albatrosses, May 56-57 Arctic terns, Aug 10 Ark in the Park, Aug 46-47, 62

B

Backyard conservation, Feb 52, Aug 6 Bats, May 9 Baird, Karen, Feb 12, Aug 12 Ballance Farm Environmental Awards, May 39 Beaked whales, Feb 27 Bell, Ben, May 19-20 Bellingham, Mark, Feb 14 Best Fish Guide, May 9, Aug 18, Nov 14 Bequests, Feb 42, Nov 43 Beveridge, Nick, Nov 12 Birdman, May 16, Nov 19 Bishop, Phil, May 19–20 Black tunnel web spiders, May 33 Bohannan, Hamish, May 24 Brickell, Barry, Feb 43 Britton, Mike, Aug 16, 31 Browning, Claire, Aug 14 Bushy Park, Nov 61

C

Campbell, Jenny, Feb 35 Carson, Sally, May 31 Cats, May 28-30 CCAMLR, Feb 46-47 Cicadas, Nov 43 Clean energy, Feb 56-57 Clearwater, Bryan, Feb 20 Climate change, Feb 11, Aug 54-55, Nov 52-55 Coastal gardens, Feb 52-54 Collins, Daniel, Nov 52-55 Cooper, Vaughan, Nov 8-9 Co-operative Bank, May 43 Cosslett, Flynn, 35 Cutler, Andrew, Feb 2, May 2, Aug 2, 34-35, Nov 2

D

Dalley, Ruth, Aug 63 Davies, Sharon, Nov 45 Dean, Hamish, Feb 40-41 Department of Conservation, May 6-7, 63, Aug 14, 40-42, Nov 7, 10, 30-33

Eagle, Audrey, May 50 Eels, Aug 9 Ell, Gordon, Nov 40-42 Environment Canterbury, Feb 16-20 Executive, Aug 35

F

Falla, Graham, Feb 62-63 Farley Megan, Feb 44 Fiordland monorail and tunnel, May 15, Aug 7 Fracking, Feb 13 Friends of Flora, Nov 62 Friends of Mangemangeroa, Feb 62-63 Frank, Hermann, Aug 32

G

Gannets, Nov 58-59 Garden Bird Survey, May 15 Gaskin, Chris, May 14, Nov 45 Giraffe weevils, Aug 25-28 Graeme, Ann, Nov 44 Great Barrier Island, Nov 32-33

H

Hackwell, Kevin, Feb 23-24 May 12, 22, 28-29, Nov 7, 52-55 Harris, Betty, Feb 63 Health Pak, Feb 41, Nov 39 Hihi, Nov 61 Hinds, Arthur, Aug 32 Hurunui River, Aug 44-45

J

Joy, Mike, Nov 52-55 J S Watson Trust, Feb 62-63, Aug 63

K

Kaiköura, Aug 60-61 Kaipüpü Point, May 61 Kauri dieback disease, Nov 12 Kendrick, Johnny, Aug 36 Kererü Count, May 60 Kiwi, Nov 62 Kiwi Conservation Club, May 31, 40, Aug 39, Nov 44, 46 Kökako, Aug 46-47 Land and Water Forum, Feb 23-24 May 12 Land for Wildlife, Feb 40-41 Laws for nature, Aug 48-50 Le Grice, Jessica, Feb 45 Long, Carole, Aug 30

M

Mackenzie Country, Aug 20, Nov 28-29 Mackenzie, Sir Thomas, Feb 34 Mangaräkau Swamp, Feb 58-59 Mangemangeroa Reserve, Feb 62-63 Mangroves, Nov 56-67

| Forest & Bird

QEII National Trust, May 41

R

E

L

68

Q

Denniston Plateau, Feb 8, May 24-26, Aug 40-42, Nov 16 Drought, May 11 Duncan, Alan, Feb 42 Dunlop, Tony, Aug 35

Marine Metre Squared project, May 31 Marine reserves, May 8, Nov 20 Mark, Sir Alan, Nov 34-38, Nov 40-42 Martin, Debs, May 24-26, Aug 40-42 Mason, George, Aug 33 Masters, Nicole, May 51 Matuku Reserve, Aug 25-28 Maud Island frogs, May 18-20 Mäui’s dolphins, Aug 10 McClure, Oliver, Aug 38 McCracken, Gary, Aug 62 McElrea, Val, Aug 57 McLachlan, Bruce, May 43 McSweeney, Gerry, Aug 34-35 Merrin, Colin, Feb 40 Millar, Sue, Aug 32 Miller, Jen, Feb 35, Aug 22 Mining, Aug 8 Miskelly, Colin, May 32-33, Aug 11 Moncrieff, Perrine, Feb 34 Morgan, Tina, Aug 57 Morris, Rod, Aug 33 Muriwai gannet colony, Nov 58-59

N

National parks, Aug 16 Native Forest Action Council, May 58, Nov 40-42 NatureWatch NZ, Feb 49-50 New Zealand Birds Online, Aug 11 New Zealand fairy tern, Feb 14 New Zealand sea lion, Feb 6 Ngaruroro River, Nov 11 Ninetieth anniversary Forest & Bird, Feb 28-33, May 48-50, Aug 34, 56-57, Nov 40-43 North Canterbury Forest & Bird branch, Nov 18

O

Öhau Moraines Wetland Complex, Feb 61

P

Painting, Chrissie, Aug 25-28 Palmer, Geoffrey, Aug 14 Paton, George Leslie, Nov 44 Pearson, Marguerite, 46 Pelorus Bridge, Feb 60 Pest control, Aug 64, Nov 7 Photography, Nov 22-27 Pöhutukawa, Aug 58-59 Potton, Craig, Aug 37 Predator-free New Zealand, May 52-54 Price, Ian, Aug 31 Price of nature, Nov 48-50

Rance, Chris, Feb 52-53 Rätä, Aug 58-59 Ridsdale, Sarah, Nov 45 Robins, May 60 Resource Management Act, May 22, Aug 14, 43, Nov 10 Riflemen, May 60 Robertson, Bruce, Feb 6 Ross Sea, Feb 46-47, May 10 Ruataniwha irrigation, Nov 8-9

S

Salmon, Guy, Nov 40-42 Salmond, Dame Anne, Feb 38 Sanderson, Captain Val, Feb 29-33, Aug 56 Sanson, Lou, Nov 10 Seabirds National Plan of Action, Feb 12, Aug 12 Shand, Daniel and Mandy, May 39 Shark finning, Feb 7, May 8, Nov 15 Shaw, Lance, Aug 63 Silvereyes, Aug 6 Smith, Nick, Aug 40-42 Snoyink, Rosalie, Aug 33 South Auckland Forest & Bird branch, Feb 62 Stent, Danica, Aug 39 Stephenson, Gordon, May 41 Stewardship land, Nov 30-33 Stewart, Josh, Aug 42 Storm petrel, May 14 Stratford, Lynsey, Feb 26-27 Stuart, Jacqui, May 43 Sub-Antarctic islands, Aug 12 Subedar, Katrina, Feb 7, Aug 10, 18 Sustainable Dairying: Water Accord, May 12 Sydney, Grahame, Nov 34-38

T

Taiaroa Head, May 56-57 Todd, Chris, Feb 17-19, Aug 44-45 Translocations, May 32-33 Turnbull, John, May 40

V

Valder, Lilian, Aug 63 Van Heugten, Rachel, May 42 Vercoe, Vic, Aug 36 Vincent, Grant, Aug 30

W

Waitäkere Forest & Bird branch, Aug 25-28 Waitaki Valley, Feb 10 Waitangi Tribunal, May 44-46 Wëtä, May 42 Whiteheads, May 32-33, Aug 62 Wilding conifers, Nov 34-38 Wilson, Eric, Aug 47 Wood roses, Aug 28

branch directory

Upper North Island Central Auckland Branch: Chairperson, Robert Jones; Secretary, Charlene Fitisemanu. centralauckland.branch@forestandbird.org.nz Far North Branch: Chairperson, Dean Baigent-Mercer; Secretary, Michael Winch. farnorth.branch@forestandbird.org.nz Franklin Branch: Chairperson Vacant; Secretary, Keith Gardner. Franklin.

Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Hauraki Islands Branch: Chairperson, Jacqueline Joseph; Secretary, Lyndsay Meager. haurakiislands.branch@forestandbird.org.nz Hibiscus Coast Branch: Chairperson, Karen Field; Secretary Katie Lucas.

HibiscusCoast. Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Kaipara Branch: Chairperson, William McNatty; Secretary, Barry Wilson. kaipara.branch@forestandbird.org.nz Mercury Bay Branch: Chairperson, Augusta Macassey-Pickard; Secretary, Lynn Hampton. mercurybay.branch@forestandbird.org.nz Mid North Branch: Chairperson, Tony Dunlop; Secretary, Raewyn Morrison. midnorth.branch@forestandbird.org.nz North Shore Branch: Chairperson, Richard Hursthouse; Secretary, Jocelyn Sanders. NorthShore.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Northern Branch: Chairperson, Vacant; Secretary, Kristi Henare. Northern.

Branch@forestandbird.org.nz South Auckland Branch: Chairperson, John Oates; Secretary, Lee O’Leary.

SouthAuckland.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Thames-Hauraki Branch: Co-chairperson, Ken Clark; Secretary, Frances Burton. thameshauraki.branch@forestandbird.org.nz

Horowhenua Branch: Chairperson, Debbie Waldin; Secretary, Angelina.

KapitiMana.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Lower Hutt Branch: Chairperson, Russell Bell; Secretary, Jennifer Vinton.

LowerHutt.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Manawatu Branch: Chairperson, Paul Demchick; Secretary, Alexandra King. manawatu.branch@forestandbird.org.nz Napier Branch: Chairperson, Neil Eagles, Secretary, Cheryl Nicholls. Napier.

Branch@forestandbird.org.nz North Taranaki Branch: Chairperson and Secretary, Carolyn Brough, NorthTaranaki.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Rangitikei Branch: Chairperson, Graeme Smith; Secretary, Kate Williams.

Rangitikei.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz South Taranaki Branch: Chairperson, Dave Digby; Secretary, Carol Digby.

SouthTaranaki.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Upper Hutt Branch: Chairperson, Barry Wards; Secretary, Kathryn Hicks.

UpperHutt.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Wairarapa Branch: Chairperson, Geoff Doring; Secretary, Peta Campbell.

Wairarapa.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Wanganui Branch: Chairperson, Esther Williams; Secretary, Ray Hutchison.

Wanganui.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Wellington Branch: Chairperson, Peter Hunt; Secretary, David Ellison.

Wellington.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz

South Island

Ashburton Branch: Chairperson, Edith Smith; Secretary, Val Clemens.

Ashburton.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz

Upper Coromandel Branch: Chairperson, vacant; Secretary, vacant. uppercoromandel.branch@forestandbird.org.nz

Central Otago-Lakes Branch: Chairperson, Mark Ayre; Secretary, Denise Bruns. CentralOtagoLakes.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz

Waitakere Branch: Chairperson, Robert Woolf; Secretary, Jan Edmonds.

Waitakere.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz

Dunedin Branch: Chairperson, Robin Wilson, Mark Hanger & Beatrice Lee; Secretary Janet Ledingham. dunedin.branch@forestandbird.org.nz

Central North Island

Golden Bay Branch: Chairperson Vacant; Secretary Jo-Anne Vaughan. goldenbay.branch@forestandbird.org.nz

Eastern Bay of Plenty Branch: Chairperson, Mark Fort; Secretary, Peter Fergusson. EasternBayofPlenty.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Gisborne Branch: Chairperson, Grant Vincent; Secretary, Wendy Vincent. gisborne.branch@forestandbird.org.nz Rotorua Branch: Chairperson, Chair rotates among committee members; Secretaries, Margaret Dick or Delight Gartlein. Rotorua.Branch@ forestandbird.org.nz South Waikato Branch: Chairperson, Anne Groos; Secretary, Jack Groos.

SouthWaikato.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Taupo Branch: Secretary, Laura Dawson, taupo.branch@forestandbird.org.nz Tauranga Branch: Chairperson, Richard James; Secretary, Pam Foster.

Tauranga.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Te Puke Branch: Chairperson Cathy Reid; Secretary, Margaret McGarva.

TePuke.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Waihi Section: Chairperson Vacant; Secretary, Krishna Buckman. Waihi.

Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Waikato Branch: Chairperson, Philip Hart; Secretary, Jim Macdiarmid.

Waikato.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz

Kaikoura Branch: Chairperson, Ailsa Howard; Secretary, Barry Dunnett. kaikoura.branch@forestandbird.org.nz Marlborough Branch: Chairperson, Andrew John; Secretary, Evin Wood.

Marlborough.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Nelson-Tasman Branch: Chairperson, Julie McLintock; Secretary, Gillian Pollock. NelsonTasman.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz North Canterbury Branch: Chairperson, Rachael Hurford; Secretary Elizabeth Lochhead & Cathy Brumley. northcanterbury.branch@ forestandbird.org.nz South Canterbury Branch: Chairperson Vacant; Secretary Justine CarsonIIes. SouthCanterbury.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz South Otago Branch: Chairperson, Roy Johnstone; Secretary, Jane Young.

SouthOtago.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Southland Branch: Chairperson, Craig Carson; Secretary, Jenny Campbell.

Southland.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz Waitaki Branch: Chairperson, Zuni Steer; Secretary, Chloe Searle. Waitaki.

Branch@forestandbird.org.nz

Lower North Island

West Coast Branch: Chairperson, Kathy Gilbert; Secretary, Clare Backes, WestCoast.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz

Central Hawke’s Bay Branch: Chairperson, Dan Elderkamp; Secretary, Rose Hay. Centralhawkesbay.branch@forestandbird.org.nz

For branch postal addresses, please see www.forestandbird.org.nz

Hastings-Havelock North Branch: Chairperson, Vaughan Cooper; Secretary, Nick Sage. HastingsHavelockNorth.Branch@forestandbird.org.nz

lodge accommodation

Arethusa Cottage An ideal place from which to explore the Far North. Near Pukenui in wetland reserve. 6 bunks, fully equipped kitchen, separate bathroom outside. For information and bookings, contact Anita Herbert, 71C Totara North Road, RD2 Kaeo, Northland 0479. Tel: 09 405 1720. Email: herbit@xtra.co.nz

Tai Haruru Lodge, Piha, West Auckland A seaside haven set in a large sheltered garden on the rugged West Coast, 38km on sealed roads from central Auckland. Close to store, bush reserves and tracks in the beautiful Waitakere Ranges. Sleeps up to 6 in 1 dble brm, 1 brm and lounge, Lounge has wood burner, dining area and kitchen. Self-contained unit has 4 single beds. Bring food, linen and fuel for fire and BBQ. Off peak rates apply. Booking: Jean and Peter King, 10 La Trobe Track, Karekare, Waitakere City. Tel: (09) 812 8064. Email: hop0018@slingshot.co.nz

Waiheke Island Cottage Located next to our 49ha Wildlife Reserve, 10 mins walk to Onetangi Beach, general stores etc. Sleeps up to 8 in two bedrooms. Lounge, well-equipped kitchen, separate toilet, bathroom, shower, laundry. Pillows, blankets provided. No pets. Ferries 35 minutes from Auckland. Enquiries with stamped addressed envelope to: Robin Griffiths, 125 The Strand, Onetangi, Waiheke Island. Tel: (09) 372-7662.

William Hartree Memorial Lodge, Hawke’s Bay Situated 48km from Napier, 8km past Patoka on the Puketitiri Rd (sealed). The lodge is set amid a 14ha scenic reserve and close to many walks, eg: Kaweka Range, Balls Clearing, hot springs and museum. The lodge accommodates up to 10 people. It has a fully equipped kitchen including stove, refrigerator and microwave plus tile fire, hot showers. Supply your own pillows, linen, sleeping bags etc. For information and bookings please send a stamped addressed envelope to Mike and Linda Hay, 172 Guppy Road, Taradale, Napier 4112. Tel: (06) 8444651.

Email: hayhouse@clear.net.nz.

Ruapehu lodge, Tongariro National Park The newly built lodge is 600 metres from Whakapapa Village. It sleeps 32 people – three bunkrooms sleep 4 each, one sleeps 6 and two upstairs sleeping areas sleep 14. Supply your own bedding and food. Bookings and inquiries to Forest & Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington. Tel: (04) 385-7374. Email: office@forestandbird.org.nz

Matiu/Somes Island, Wellington Harbour Joint venture accommodation by Lower Hutt Forest and Bird with DOC. A modern family home with kitchen, 3 bedrooms, large lounge and dining room, just 20 mins sailing by ferry

from the centre of Wellington or 10 mins from Days Bay. Ideal place to relax in beautiful surroundings, with accommodation for 8.

Bring your own food and bedding and a torch.

Smoking is banned everywhere on the island, including the house. Forest & Bird members get a 25% discount. For more information, visit www. doc.govt.nz and for bookings, contact the DOC Wellington Visitors Centre at wellingtonvc@doc. govt.nz, ph (04) 384-7770 or mail to PO Box 10420, The Terrace, Wellington 6143.

Mangarakau Swamp Field Centre, North West Nelson Borders Kahurangi National Park and Te Tai Tapu Marine Reserve. New, 10 bed lodge with two bathrooms, fully equipped kitchen. Sleeping bags, towels and food required. Contact Jo-Anne Vaughan – Golden Bay Branch Secretary for details: javn@xtra.co.nz or phone (03) 5256031.

Tautuku Forest Cabins, Otago State Highway 92, Southeast Otago. Situated on Forest and Bird’s 550ha Lenz Reserve 32km south of Owaka. A bush setting, and many lovely beaches nearby provide a wonderful base for exploring the Catlins. The cottage, the cabin and an A-frame sleep 10, 4 and 2 respectively. No animals. For information and rates please send a stamped addressed envelope to the caretaker: Diana Noonan, Mirren St, Papatowai, Owaka, RD2. Tel: (03) 415-8024, fax (03) 415-8244.

Email: diana-keith@yrless.co.nz

With each of our stores stocking over 7500 products from 150 different suppliers, we are able to offer the best performers in each category. We present cutting edge technology from leading international manufacturers such as Arc’teryx, Black Diamond, Exped, Osprey, Outdoor Research and The North Face. Every item has undergone a selection process during which the product has proven itself to be a top contender in its category.

Exped Mira II Tent

Floor Area - 2.75m2 (220cm x 125cm)

The Mira II is the two person option in Exped's Mira series of free standing lightweight tents. Quick to set up with its continuous pole sleeves, it has a cross ridge pole and an arch pole at the head end to provide stability and plenty of headroom for two. The canopy can be used by itself or with the fly which is easily attached with quick release buckles, or just use the fly with the separately sold footprint for ultralight trips. Gear loops and pockets provide organisation inside and multiple stake out points outside give stability during rough weather.

Vestibule Area - 1.3m2 (2 x 0.65m2)

The high ridge pole allows comfortable sitting for two people. The arch pole at the head end of the canopy creates additional head room and adds stability. Each of you has your own door and vestibule. The cross ridge pole protects the canopy from rain even with open doors. The pole sleeves on the canopy are continuous and sealed at one end. This allows quick setup and teardown without the need to walk around the tent.

Maximum Inner Height - 110cm Fly Material - 30D ripstop-nylon, silicone-PU coated, factory seam taped Canopy Material - UV-resistant, flame retardant ripstop polyester Floor Material - 70D PU-coated, taffeta nylon (5000mm water column) Poles - 3 x DAC Featherlight NSL 8.5 and 9mm TH72M aircraft grade aluminium Average Minimum Weight - 1.8kg Full Packaged Weight - 2kg Packed Size – 42cm x 15cm RRP $599

QUEEN STREET NEW MARKET SYLVIA PARK ALBANY MEGA-CENTRE TAURANGA HAMILTON PALMERSTON NORTH WELLINGTON TOWER JUNCTION DUNEDIN