Forest & Bird Magazine 359 Autumn 2016

ISSUE 359 • AUTUMN 2016 www.forestandbird.org.nz

Helping nature survive

CLIMATE DISRUPTION PLUS

Gordon Stephenson’s conservation legacy

Hunting for the elusive Desis marina

Beech mast 2016: Rat plague coming

Te Reo o te Taiao

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J001317 Forest and Bird Autumn Edition ad 170x262 v2.indd 1

5/02/16 4:37 pm

ISSUE 359

• Autumn 2016

Te Reo o te Taiao

www.forestandbird.org.nz STAY IN TOUCH Forest & Bird National Office Level 1, 90 Ghuznee St, Wellington.

PO Box 631, Wellington 6140.

Tel: (04) 385-7374 FREEPHONE 0800 200 064 EMAIL office@forestandbird.org.nz CONTACT A STAFF MEMBER See www.forestandbird. org.nz/our-people for a full list of staff members and their contact details.

CONTACT A BRANCH See http://www.forestandbird.org. nz/branches for a full list of Forest & Bird branches and their contact details.

Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/ ForestandBird Watch us on YouTube www.youtube.com/ forestandbird Follow us on Twitter @Forest_and_Bird

Contents 2 Editorial 4 Letters 6 From

the Chief Executive

Conservation news 8 Protecting the 96% 9 RMA reforms 10 Ruahine update, Waiheke win, Te Reo o te Taiao

Cover story 12 14 15 16

Extreme weather impacts Bold emissions plan needed Building resilience Be the change

Predator-free New Zealand 18 Mega beech mast threat 20 Saving the bats

Marine 34 Hauraki Gulf’s changing fortunes

Bequest 36 Peter’s passion for nature

Amazing facts 37 Tussock landscapes

Biodiversity 38 Hochstetter’s frogs of Aotea 41 Sea spider hunt

Our people 40 Face-to-face fundraising 42 Gordon Stephenson tribute

Going places 44 Kings of the ocean 50 Heritage Expeditions voyage

JOIN FOREST & BIRD Call 0800 200 064 or email membership@forestandbird.org.nz or go to www.forestandbird.org.nz/joinus

Citizen science 22 Water quality warriors

Community conservation 23 Mokaihaha kōkako

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

Freshwater 24 Lake Ellesmere’s troubled waters

Seabirds

Our partners

26 Critical conservation sites

46 Solarcity

Forest collapse

Focus on flora

28 Tipping point

47 Indigenous flora seed bank

Young conservationist

In the field

30 Climate change champion

48 Native forests as carbon sinks

Printlink

RMA heroes

Forgotten species

FOR ALL ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES

31 Taranaki legal win

52 Kawakawa looper

Karen Condon T 0275 420 338 E mack.cons@xtra.co.nz

Conservation in history

Parting shot

32 Moa bone trade

IBC Salps

EDITOR

Caroline Wood MAGAZINE ENQUIRIES AND LETTERS

E editor@forestandbird.org.nz ART DIRECTOR/DESIGNER

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

Membership & circulation enquiries T 0800 200 064 E membership@forestandbird.org.nz

COVER SHOT Takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri) male in the Mackenzie Burn head basin in early spring.

Murchison Mountains, Fiordland. Photo: Rod Morris.

Forest & Bird

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Editorial

Advocating for nature in a changing world The New Year is traditionally a time for reflection. This year I was startled by several news stories demonstrating the speed of change in the world around us: n An international scientific panel believes there is little doubt we have entered a new geological age: the Anthropocene. Humanity’s influence on planet Earth is now pervasive and will be visible in sediments and rocks for millions of years. n University of Queensland researchers revealed COTSbot (crown-of-thorns starfish robot), an autonomous underwater robot designed to find and kill crown-of-thorns starfish that have destroyed 40 percent of the coral on the Great Barrier Reef.

COTSbot may be remembered more as the first robot with the capacity to identify and kill a living organism without human intervention. n The New York Times reported on a new genetic engineering technique being used to ‘drive’ immunity to the malaria parasite through multiple generations of mosquitos, rendering them incapable of transmitting the disease. In theory it would be possible to ‘drive’ genes for sterility through any fast reproducing insect or animal population.

It’s hard to predict what the changes happening around us – in technology, society and the economy – will mean for the natural environment. Few foresaw the rapid intensification of farming that has transformed landscapes and damaged many waterways over the past 30 years. What other transformations do we face in a globalised, connected world?

Of course, not all technology or change is bad. For example, rapid improvements in pest control tools, such as GPS for accurate aerial distribution of bait, now enable us to protect tens of thousands of hectares from animal pests. In this context we need to keep an open mind to the tools available. Perhaps pest-killing robots or a gene ‘drive’ to eradicate invasive species like wasps will one day be possible.

The rapid changes happening around us reinforce to me how vital it is that Forest & Bird remains a strong, independent advocate for nature in local communities and in national forums. We are one of the few non-government organisations in New Zealand with the resources to employ the expert staff needed to understand new threats to nature, identify opportunities to protect and restore ecosystems and species, and advocate with central and local government.

As a reader of the magazine you’re a contributor to keeping Forest & Bird strong and independent, and thereby enabling us to advocate for change that makes a positive difference. Thank you for your support.

Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. (Founded 1923) Registered Office at Level 1, 90 Ghuznee Street, Wellington.

PATRON

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

Hōne McGregor PRESIDENT

Andrew Cutler TREASURER

Graham Bellamy BOARD MEMBERS

Brent Barrett, Lindsey Britton, Tony Dunlop, Karen Field, Kate Graeme, Mark Hanger, Marc Slade CONSERVATION AMBASSADORS

Sir Alan Mark, Gerry McSweeney, Craig Potton 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, Fraser Ross, Eugenie Sage, Guy Salmon, Lesley Shand, Gordon Stephenson, David Underwood Forest & Bird is a registered charitable entity under the Charities Act 2005.

Registration No CC26943.

Ka kite anō

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

Andrew Cutler, seen here with Dr Jim Salinger, at the Auckland climate change march in November. See p12 for our cover story about the impact global warming is having on nature.

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| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

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

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

Registered at PO Headquarters, Wellington, as a magazine.

ISSN 0015-7384. Copyright.

All rights reserved.

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

The best contribution to the Letters page of the next issue will win New Zealand Backcountry Cooking by Paul and Rebecca Garland, Potton & Burton, RRP $39.99.

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

Stop mangrove removal The consent for mangrove removal at Mangawhai reported in the latest Forest & Bird issue (Summer 2015) is alarming.

New Zealand fairy terns are our most endangered birds, and possibly the world’s rarest seabird, yet this disturbance to their habitat is permitted – why? At the recent Australasian Ornithological Conference, Dr Fiona Paton described how the fairy tern is also under threat in the Coorong, South Australia, a historic strong hold of the Australian population. A combination of the millennium drought and over-extraction of water for human use in the Murray-Darling Basin resulted in the disappearance of their main prey fish near their nesting sites. The fairy tern population in the Coorong is now less than a third of what it was 30 years ago. The Australian and New Zealand species are genetically distinct. So, our fairy terns (of which there are fewer than 40 birds) are ours alone. It is our responsibility to preserve any habitat that is home to the fish that they feed on. All stops should be pulled out for their protection as has been done for other endangered indigenous species. There is no room for complacency, neither here, nor in Australia.

Viola and Phil Palmer, Waikanae Best letter winner

Philanthropy not answer Recently I attended the opening symposium at the Ecological Society Conference at Canterbury University.The theme throughout was that philanthropic funding, in partnership with the Department of Conservation, was the main answer to our conservation woes. Lou Sanson and community project leaders all pushed this barrow. An exception was Maryann Ewers (Friends Of Flora), who pushed for a big increase in regular 1080 usage and DOC funding,as did Kevin Hackwell (Forest & Bird), who ruffled a few feathers and stood firm for our biota. DOC’s good news propaganda does nothing for the neglected interior of parks like Fiordland and Kahurangi.

Its core mandate is to protect our precious native flora and fauna, not luxury huts, mountain bike trails etc. Philanthropic money, while always welcome, is just filling in the gaps left by funding cuts. We, the people, own the conservation estate and public money should be protecting it without reliance on the generosity of the wealthy. Taxation money is there.

Prioritising and wastage is the problem.

Bill Rooke, Motueka

Meat-free Mondays It was great – albeit very depressing – to read another excellent article by Claire Browning on climate change 4

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

(Spring 2015). The arrogance of the current government beggars belief. It is interesting the relationship Forest & Bird has to climate change – obviously the focus of F&B is conservation of our native plants, animals and eco-systems, but yes, the bigger environmental issue of climate change will affect conservation here. One thing that wasn’t mentioned in the article was the massive problem of animal agriculture. Animal agriculture is the major source of emissions around the world and, regardless of climate change, the single biggest cause of environmental degradation (recommend Cowspiracy documentary). This needs to start being addressed overtly. The numbers are simply not sustainable. We need to drastically change the way we are eating. There was a quote in the movie that went along the lines of ‘you can’t call yourself an environmentalist and eat animal products...’. Forget ‘meatfree Monday’. If you really can’t live without it how about having ‘meat Monday’ or even ‘meat monthly’. Food for thought anyway! From a huge supporter of all that you do and your great mag too.

Emily Hunter, Hawke’s Bay

Sparrow city With at least 45 occupied nests in the trees sheltering the front of our home, the air is filled with birdsong. I was interested to read Molly Anderson’s letter ‘When the owner’s away’ in your November 2013 issue, which I found in a hut recently while tramping. I’m not sure I agree with Molly, but there is no way I agree with Dr Gareth Morgan’s condemnation of cats. I have tried to get the message through to our cat, we aren’t pleased about her catching birds. Maybe these baby birds have fallen from their nests as we have never seen her climbing the trees. This nesting season I have been expecting her to bring in more baby birds but so far, so good. Maybe the message is getting through but I’m not ‘counting my chickens’, or should I say ‘my sparrows’ before they hatch.

Lynette Price, Palmerston North

Start ‘em young I really look forward to receiving the latest Forest & Bird magazine in the mailbox each quarter. Once it has arrived, I often spend several days or weeks reading and re-reading the articles. I have learned so much more about the amazing country we live in thanks to

Forest & Bird, and it never fails to further strengthen my resolve to speak out and take action on issues that threaten our native flora and fauna. Our 20-month-old daughter has obviously picked up on my enjoyment of your magazine – I walked into the lounge recently and found her on the couch engrossed in reading it! Keep up the good work.

Rowan Barr, Wellington *Thanks Rowan. I hope Scarlett is enjoying her new Kiwi Conservation Club membership, courtesy of Forest & Bird.

Now she can ‘read’ our children’s Wild Things magazine as well!

A nuclear solution?

My recent letters produced little reader response and certainly none with facts to back up any concerns that were expressed. This is encouraging if it signifies widespread understanding that this is the most practical and immediate solution to the global warming trend that is likely exacerbated through fossil fuel burning. What then is the next step to encouraging implementation of this solution?

National nuclear power programmes are of course expensive, and most likely require state level support in all areas including safety, regulatory, financial, political and education to mention just a few. The USA underwent that process post World War II, unfortunately motivated at that time more by the desire for nuclear weapons than the need for clean energy. Fortunately China will be highly motivated to reduce its own pollution issues and perhaps will be the savior of the world through development of superior nuclear power programmes.

Allan Brown, Christchurch

Treasure trove The Forest & Bird magazine has been published since 1923 and there is now a huge back catalogue of information about conservation and the environment of New Zealand.

It will help the mission of Forest & Bird (and making information public is part of the Constitution) if the magazines were made available on the internet in some form. At the very least a publicly accessible bibliographical

50 years ago

WIN A BOOK Forest & Bird is giving away three combo book packs of Vanishing Nature by Marie Brown and her new publication Pathways to Prosperity, which has just been published. Total value of each prize pack is $65.

To enter the draw, email your entry to draw@forestandbird. org.nz. Please put Vanishing Nature 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 Vanishing Nature draw, Forest & Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington 6140. Entries close on 1 May. The winners of James Hector: Explorer, Scientist, Leader by Simon Nathan are Matt Rolfe (Wellington), Wade Heasman (Auckland) and Kerri Friar (Tauranga). Your books will be posted.

database of the articles should be created. The power of the internet can actually be harnessed to make this possible though crowd sourcing the data input. It is said that information is power so what better power to give conservationists than the mountain of information contained in the Forest & Bird magazines.

Alan Liefting, Christchurch *Thanks for your letter Alan. There is certainly a wealth of information in the 350+ magazines Forest & Bird has published over more than 90 years. It is certainly something we will look at.

Water control – a vital national need Water is vital to our very existence. It is therefore gratifying that the Government... has decided to set up a water authority for New Zealand. Doubtless the Authority will support the work of the Forest Service and the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council in their efforts to preserve, or restore, the indigenous vegetation in our catchment areas and on our steep erosive slopes. Covered with vegetation and held together by the reinforcing of millions of roots, these slopes can absorb this rainfall and allow the water to percolate down to form reservoirs underground.

The frightful alternative, in the absence of vegetation and its roots, is a mad rush of water down the slopes, tearing the soil away and leaving destruction behind. This grave loss, whether it is caused through unwise burning, over-cropping by farm stock, or by noxious animal pests, the country can no longer afford.

Editorial in Forest & Bird journal February 1966

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From the Chief Executive HŌNE MCGREGOR

Kaiwhakahaere Matua Te Reo o te Taiao

Climate disruption needs a bold plan Summer is coming to an end and I hope you were able to take time to get into nature and enjoy the places and wildlife that make New Zealand so special. Summer weather was a mixed bag here but elsewhere in the world spring flowers were blooming in Europe during mid-winter and record snow storms savaged parts of the US. Climate disruption had already been on my mind after the Paris Climate Conference at the end of last year produced promises of global action to bring down carbon emissions, and news that 2015 was the hottest year on record globally.

Now each country, including New Zealand, must step up and turn words into action to protect our children’s future, our unique environment and our economy.

So it was disappointing to see Prime Minister John Key made little reference to climate disruption in his State of the Nation speech in January, other than mentioning in passing that the Emissions Trading Scheme assessment would be completed this year.

As a nation we have to start adopting bold measures to reduce our emissions if we want to protect the things that are most precious to us. Forest & Bird wants to work with the government, business and other organisations to ensure New Zealand lives up to its obligations.

In this issue of the magazine, Geoff Keey looks at the lessons about the impact of climate disruption from the El Nino weather event and Dean Baigent-Mercer looks at the links between climate disruption and forest collapse. Penny Wardle provides some valuable tips on how we can make a difference in our daily lives.

Climate disruption is not an issue we can fix or adapt to in one year or five years. We need a long-term plan that sets goals along the way. With a plan, the long-term goal is 6

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

more easily achievable than we first thought.

That is what Forest & Bird’s 2015 Strategic Plan is all about, with a 2040 long-term vision and shorter-term goals along the way for dealing with climate disruption and other environmental and conservation issues. I encourage everyone to read it to see what we can achieve by working together. It can be found on our website and copies have been sent to all our branches.

Forest & Bird could not make a difference without the support of our members, regular givers and others who give generously to protect and restore nature. In this issue we profile Peter Shadbolt, who loved nature all his life and made a large bequest to Forest & Bird so we can work to ensure his grandchildren and their grandchildren have the same opportunities he did to enjoy the great outdoors. We also talk to two of the people involved in our Face-to-Face fundraising to find out why they enjoy working on behalf of Forest & Bird.

Another of our priorities is to ensure our marine environment gets the protection it needs. The government’s Marine Protected Areas discussion paper was released in January with the stated aim of setting a framework to ensure the protection of the full range of our different marine habitats.

But the planned legislation would not include our Exclusive Economic Zone, which means 96 percent of the seas we control will be excluded. The seabirds, fish and other life in our seas don’t recognise the 12 nautical mile territorial sea limit and neither should the MPA legislation.

We will work with other organisations to persuade the government it should not waste this opportunity to bring marine protection into the 21st century.

Campaign news

Protecting the 96% Forest & Bird wants the Government to fulfil its legal obligations to protect all of New Zealand’s marine environment from potential oil and gas development, as Kimberley Collins reports.

N

ew Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a vast area of ocean that extends 200 nautical miles from our coast. It has a diverse range of marine habitats, many unique, that support an extraordinary variety of life. It also hosts migratory species, such as whales, sharks and albatross, over large parts of their lives.

And yet the Government’s Marine Protected Areas discussion paper, released in January, deliberately excludes any formal process for creating protection in the EEZ. Why did the Government say it’s not possible to protect this area, which represents 96 percent of New Zealand’s ocean environment? Is it because ministers want to allow the oil, gas and mining industries unhindered access to the area?

The ability to manage the vast ocean area that surrounds New Zealand’s many islands is provided in the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which gives our Government jurisdiction over the EEZ and Extended Continental Shelf (ECS) and the power to benefit from its exploitation. Along with these benefits comes the responsibility to protect and preserve these marine areas.

“We understand there’s a big debate within the government involving pro-development ministers and

ministries who don’t want the ability to make money out of the EEZ constrained in any way by protection,” said Forest & Bird’s Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell.

Forest & Bird believes it’s important to balance the conflict between development and environmental protection in the ocean. This is what happens on land – we have areas protected in national parks, reserves and conservation land, and rules for sound environmental management in all other areas.

The Government has previously made promises to include the EEZ in its marine legislation. It outlined how useful it would be to have marine protection in the EEZ confirmed so business can get on with development. This was set out in the 2014 Briefing to the Incoming Minister of Energy and Resources, Simon Bridges.

“Alongside the responsibility to protect parts of the EEZ, it’s also in everybody’s best interests to have clearly and legally defined protected areas. These industries that want to exploit our marine environment will have certainty in what areas of the EEZ are off-limits to development,” added Kevin.

Members mobilise Not enough: less than 0.5% of New Zealand’s marine environment is protected.

New Zealand’s territorial waters Exclusive Economic Zone Extended Continental Shelf

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| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Forest & Bird has been campaigning to extend marine protection throughout New Zealand’s oceans by creating legislation that will deliver a meaningful network of marine reserves (no-take) and Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

We called on Forest & Bird members to help us by making a submission to the Government and more than 1,000 people have done just that by using our online form, while many others wrote directly to the Minister.

Forest & Bird also made a detailed submission to the Government as part of the consultation process.

Submissions closed on 11 March. You can keep up to date with campaign developments at www.forestandbird.org.nz/marinereserves.

RMA reforms remove key rights The Government’s proposed changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) will make it much harder for groups such as Forest & Bird to speak up for nature, explains Forest & Bird lawyer Sally Gepp.

After a successful campaign by environmental organisations including Forest & Bird, the Government has stepped back from its original intentions to substantially reform the RMA’s purpose and principles. It originally proposed in 2012 to delete some of the Act's environmental principles, and insert principles relating to the promotion of economic outcomes.

Forest & Bird is relieved to see this Bill (draft legislation) does not directly change the environmental protections in Part 2 of the Act (other than inserting a reference to natural hazards).

But, as drafted, it is likely to result in poorer environmental outcomes through the exclusion of environmental groups and the public generally from many decision-making processes:

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LIMITS SUBMISSIONS AND APPEALS: The Bill would create two new planning processes (a collaborative planning process and a streamlined planning process) that can be used for almost any plan or policy statement change or review. Under these processes, opportunities for public submissions and appeal rights are significantly curtailed.

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LESS PUBLIC CONSULTATION: There is also an option for limited notification of plan changes that applies where the council “is able to identify all the persons directly affected by the proposed change”. If that applies then only those directly affected people can have input into the plan’s content, regardless of the indirect effects on communities, or the environmental effects, of the change being made.

Help support Forest & Bird’s fundraising and pre-order the new Entertainment™ Membership at www.entbook.co.nz/10982p8 We receive 20% from every Membership sold!

Entertainment™ Memberships are packed with thousands of up to 50% off and 2-for-1 offers, valid until 1 June 2017.

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PUBLIC CAN ONLY SUBMIT ON EFFECTS COUNCIL ALREADY AWARE OF: The law on public notification of resource consent applications is set to change again, further reducing the instances in which the community can have input on consent decisions. If an application is publicly notified, then the council is required to specify what adverse effects of the activity applied for it considers to be “more than minor”. Submissions must then relate only to those adverse effects – submissions that seek to raise other impacts must be struck out by the council.

So for example, if a developer is seeking consents for a dairy conversion, and the council only notifies the application because of its effects on water quality, then your branch’s local knowledge of the important bird nesting habitat that will be impacted if the conversion goes ahead cannot be raised in a submission. You can only submit on the effects that the council is already aware of, and not effects that it doesn’t know about.

The Resource Legislation Amendment Bill had its first reading in November and submissions to the select committee considering the Bill were due on 14 March.

Forest & Bird has made a submission and will appear before the select committee.

How can you help?

Members are urged to contact Forest & Bird with any real life examples of how the RMA changes set out above could impact on their branch’s ability to manage or protect their local environment and/or be a voice for nature in their area.

Email editor@forestandbird.org.nz and we will forward your message to Sally Gepp, who will use them at the upcoming select committee hearings.

Proposed RMA reforms will lead to the exclusion of environmental groups and the public generally from many decision-making processes.

Forest & Bird

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Conservation news

Ruahine update Last year Forest & Bird challenged a decision by the Director-General of the Department of Conservation Lou Sanson to revoke the specially protected status of part of the Ruahine Forest Park so it could be exchanged for other land. This land swap would allow the controversial Ruataniwha Dam, in Hawke’s Bay, to proceed.

The High Court’s judgement on the matter was made public in February. While Justice Palmer agreed with many of Forest & Bird’s legal arguments, he ultimately found that the Director-General’s decision was within the broad purpose of the Conservation Act 1987.

“Given the significant implications of this High Court decision for specially protected land throughout New Zealand, Forest & Bird is considering its next steps, which may include appealing the decision to the Court of

Appeal,” said Forest & Bird lawyer Sally Gepp.

The Court accepted a separate argument by Forest & Bird regarding marginal land strips along waterways on the land being disposed of, which means the Regional Council-owned company behind the dam proposal (HBRIC) may not yet have all the approvals it needs for the development to proceed.

Justice Palmer held that Forest & Bird had competently and responsibly advanced legitimate arguments in the public interest, and that he would be reluctant to award costs against the Society.

The High Court decision has widespread legal implications for every other specially protected area of land in New Zealand (see Forest & Bird Summer 2015 issue).

“This is why it is such a significant case for Forest & Bird,” Sally added.

Waiheke win The iconic port of entry to Waiheke Island close to a Forest & Bird reserve has been saved from a private marina development after a two-year fight by the local community.

The proposed multi-million dollar, 112-berth boating marina was to be built next to the current ferry terminal at Matiatia Bay, also home to Forest & Bird’s He Atawhai ki te Whenua Reserve.

Waiheke locals formed Direction Matiatia Incorporated to fundraise and take the case to the Environment Court.

Forest & Bird committee members, who were part of this group, were called on as expert witnesses during the hearings, notably on impacts that the marina would have on the kororā (little blue penguin) colony in Matiatia Harbour.

The final Environment Court judgement against the marina was made not just on environmental grounds, but also on impacts the marina would have on the visual landscape, sites of Māori cultural value and transport.

Jacqueline Joseph, Chair of Forest & Bird Hauraki Islands, said: “This victory was a huge relief and fantastic result of community collaboration.” *The branch had some other good news recently.

Members were excited to discover reintroduced kākā were breeding for the first time at Forest & Bird’s Onetangi reserve, Waiheke Island. See the kākā fledglings on film at http://blog.forestandbird.org.nz/kaka-onwaiheke/

Te Reo o te Taiao

Choose clean water petition

As we engage with Aotearoa/New Zealand, including iwiMaori, we have chosen to have a consistent translation for Forest & Bird in te reo rangatira, which is Te Reo o te Taiao meaning the “A voice for the natural world”. This is the translation used in the publication of a te reo version of our new Strategic Plan for Nature/He Mahere Rautaki mō te Ao Tūroa.

Hōne McGregor, Forest & Bird’s Chief Executive/ Kaiwhakahaere Matua, says it describes our kaupapa beautifully: “Being able to explain our kaupapa in te reo Māori consistently, is important for us, and it acknowledges our many partnerships to protect our natural environment and biodiversity,” he said.

Horner fund opens

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| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Choose Clean Water campaigners have been touring the country over the summer, raising awareness about New Zealand’s polluted freshwater. Join them when they take their petition to Parliament on Tuesday 29 March 2016 at 12 noon. For details, see www.choosecleanwater.org.nz.

Applications for this year’s Horner Fund will open on 1 April 2016. Grants of $500 to $3,000 are given for projects that take place on Forest & Bird reserve land. Applications close on 30 June. For further information, please see: http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/horner-fund.

READER GIVEAWAYS Fabulous fish

One of the most popular recent tweets shared with Forest & Bird was this photograph taken by Australian birder, writer and photographer Chris Watson during a visit to New Zealand. He told Forest & Bird magazine: “Less frequently encountered near my home in Australia, Buller’s albatross is one of the more striking species of these huge seabirds. The waters around Rakiura [Stewart Island] proved the ideal place to get up close with these and other spectacular seabirds that Aotearoa is justly famous for.”

Children from the Golden Bay Kids Conservation Club are pictured here at the start of a visit to Kaituna Track, Kahurangi National Park, before they headed off to explore the forest. Coordinators Lea Pouly and Sarah Thomas restarted the club in February 2015. Since then kids have enjoyed a bunch of fun adventures, including weta and giant slug watching, seeing amazing sea creatures at Paton’s Rock and finding out about pest control at Mangarakau Swamp.

To find out more about KCC and how to join up your family, see www.kcc.org.nz/join-us/

Following the success of its fourvolume encyclopedia The Fishes of New Zealand, Te Papa Press has published an accompanying poster.

We are giving away two of these beautiful posters (RRP $24.99 each).

To enter email your entry to draw@ forestandbird.org.nz with fish poster 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 Fish Poster draw, Forest and Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington. Entries close 1 May. You can also purchase the poster at the online Te Papa store.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople Keep an eye out for Taika Waititi’s new movie due for release on 31 March. It stars Sam Neill and rising young star Julian Dennison, and was filmed on location around New Zealand, including forests north of Auckland and the volcanic plateau of Mt Ruapehu. It received rave reviews when it premiered in January at the Sundance International Film Festival. We have five double in-season passes (RRP $30) to give away, but you need to be in quick to win. To enter, email your entry to draw@forestandbird.org.nz, please put Movie draw in the subject line. Entries close on 5 April.

We have back issues of Forest & Bird magazine from 2009-2013 available to go to branches, schools and childcare centres etc. If you would like a box delivered to you or your branch, contact editor@ forestandbird.org.nz.

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Cover story

TOMORROW IS HERE

The record-breaking temperatures and extreme weather events of 2015 show it’s time to get our act together on climate disruption. By Forest & Bird’s climate change advocate Geoff Keey.

S

cientists recently confirmed that 2015 was officially the world’s hottest year since records began. It was also the year the world crossed the landmark threshold of being one degree warmer than pre-industrial levels and the year winter temperatures recorded at the North Pole rose above freezing point for the first time.

Climate researcher Professor James Renwick, of Victoria University, says the record-breaking temperatures and a string of extreme weather events last year were caused by a combination of climate change and El Niño.

He said the El Niño climate pattern, while exacerbating global temperature increases, had a cooling effect on much of New Zealand.

He also pointed out that 2015 had seen a lot of extreme

12

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Photo: Rob Suisted

weather events – floods, fires, droughts and cyclones – “all things we expect to see more of as the climate continues to change”.

There were a string of unusual flooding events in the middle of last year, with Kāpiti, Dunedin and Whanganui all experiencing record or near-record floods within a few weeks of each other.

Otago University’s climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger said the Manawatu-Kapiti floods were a 1-in-70-year event and the Dunedin floods bigger than a 1-in-100-year event. Dr Salinger and Professor Renwick both warn that we can expect the disruption of more floods in the future because of climate change. In keeping with a year of extremes, National Institute of Water and Atmosphere's (NIWA) Chris

CLIMATE DISRUPTION IMPACTS Brandolino noted that Kaitaia experienced its driest year on record, while Wellington and Kaikoura experienced their second driest year on record.

At the other extreme, as the rest of the world was having its hottest year on record, Tara Hills near Omarama, experienced the fourth-coldest temperature ever recorded in New Zealand, a frigid -21˚C. Climate change causes disruptive weather extremes that impact on nature, which is why Forest & Bird prefers to talk about climate ‘disruption’ rather than global warming.

“Global warming may mean nicer days at the beach for some. But it also means floods in the Manawatu, droughts in Hawke’s Bay and icy cold weather in Omarama,” says Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell “By talking about climate disruption we get to the nub of the threat. Cutting emissions to limit global warming and taking action to limit the impact of the now locked-in climate disruption on nature are imperatives we can’t ignore.”

Over 25 native bird species nest on braided river beds, including threatened species such as the black billed gull, wrybill (pictured) and banded dotterel. Along with the existing threats from weeds, predators and irrigation schemes, increased spring floods from climate disruption could wipe out nesting colonies.

Wrybill. Photo: Craig McKenzie

Mount Cook’s Tasman Glacier region is home to a buttercup that is found nowhere else on earth. Ranunculus grahamii only grows on rock cliffs, ledges and crevices between 2,300 and 2,800 metres on the peaks surrounding the glacier, which has retreated rapidly over the past 100 years because of global warming.

If we don’t act now climate disruption will be the tipping point between survival and oblivion for many of our vulnerable species.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment released a report on sea level rise last year. It revealed that 10,000 Kiwi homes are at risk from sea level rise caused by global warming. What the report did not say is that wildlife on the coast, trapped between rising seas and human infrastructure, will lose their homes first.

As temperatures rise our high alpine environments will shrink and in some locations completely disappear. Weeds will march from the north southwards and nature will get a battering from extreme weather. These threats will intensify the already existing pressures faced by nature, such as habitat loss and introduced predators, potentially sending some species to extinction.

Outside the large areas of conservation land alongside our mountain ranges, New Zealand has a multitude of smaller reserves. These are often ‘islands of nature’ in otherwise developed lowlands. Many are less than 100 hectares in size and protect remnant examples of lowland ecosystems that have disappeared elsewhere.

These small reserves are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events and fires. Without neighbouring natural habitat and seed sources to help the reserves regenerate, major environmental events such as floods, winds or fires can cause irrecoverable losses.

An underlying problem for New Zealand’s nature is that the resilience provided by landscape-scale ecosystems has been undermined by the dramatic changes people have made to the landscape.

We still have much to learn about the potential impacts of climate disruption on our unique plants and animals.

At the moment New Zealand is not well placed to protect nature from climate disruption.

If we don’t act now climate disruption will be the tipping point between survival and oblivion for many of our vulnerable species.

Ranunculus grahamii on the Malte Brun Range. Photo: David Norton

Endangered marine birds such as the Antipodean albatross and the eastern rockhopper penguin are facing reductions or distribution changes in their food supplies that are probably related to climate-induced ocean changes. This could be the tipping point for some species already stressed by habitat damage and over-fishing.

Eastern rockhopper penguin. Photo: Kyle Morrison

Vulnerable species Our native species and ecosystems are likely to experience a whole range of impacts as a result of climate disruption, but some ecosystems and species will be more vulnerable than others.

Species that may find it difficult to adapt to the impacts of climate disruption include those that: n are highly specialised, eg tuatara n have reduced genetic variation because of a limited number of breeding pairs, eg little spotted kiwi, takahē, black robin n have limited distribution, eg rock wren, black-eyed gecko, Archey’s frog n face changes to the sea’s food supplies and/or its distribution, eg rockhopper penguins, wandering albatross.

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Cover story

BOLD PLAN NEEDED

The country needs to start planning a transition away from fossil fuels, including what we will do as a society to assist regions that are currently dependent on what is now a doomed coal industry.

It’s simply impossible for the world to use its fossil fuel reserves and meet global targets for emission reductions.

Forest & Bird has a plan New Zealand may lack a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but Forest & Bird has one.

By 2040 we want New Zealand to have made a 70 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and reached carbon neutrality. This means we are removing the same amount of CO2 from the atmosphere as any CO2 we are emitting.

Forest and Bird’s strategy seeks to achieve this through a robust, independently overseen price on greenhouse gas emissions within five years.

We also want measures in place that deliver greater resilience for nature in the face of unavoidable climate disruption. Backing this up we want to see laws changed to strengthen New Zealand’s resilience measures and will support this by leading work on practical methods to achieve this.

Forest & Bird will need your financial support and time, as well as the strength of numbers that comes from your moral support and backing.

Forest & Bird says it’s time for the Government to step up and write a bold plan for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

N

ew Zealand’s current pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 has been rated as inadequate by every independent assessment.

Without a bold plan to cut greenhouse emissions, New Zealand’s per-capita emissions are likely to exceed those of the US within 10 years.

Having agreed with 195 other countries to limit global warming to well below 2˚C degrees, the Government cannot simply return to business-as-usual in New Zealand.

Forest & Bird believes that under the agreement signed in Paris (see panel), the Government will come under pressure in 2018 and 2023 to increase its current greenhouse gas emission targets – so the sooner it starts the better.

The country needs a plan for how and where we are going to cut emissions to play our part in limiting global warming to 1.5˚C. That plan needs to cover all of New Zealand’s emissions, including agriculture and transport, as well as the energy sector.

We welcome the Paris Agreement as it puts in place ambitious goals, but it’s a voluntary agreement so New Zealanders will need to keep the Government focused on the task ahead.

The question we should all ask is whether our Government’s actions are consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5˚C?

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| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Global agreement for change The Paris Agreement sets the ambitious goal of limiting the world’s rise in average temperature to “well below 2˚C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5˚C“.

But the world is already two-thirds of the way towards breaching the 1.5˚C target and halfway to the dangerous upper 2˚C limit.

The deal was reached in Paris last December after two weeks of hard bargaining by representatives from 195 nations. It will become legally binding when at least 55 countries that represent at least 55 percent of global greenhouse emissions ratify it.

New Zealand will have to report on its emissions and explain what it is doing to reduce them, but emission reductions will be voluntary.

Climate researcher Professor James Renwick commented: “Great to see that developed countries shall undertake economy-wide absolute emission reduction targets. Take note New Zealand – no hot-air credits. Actual emissions reductions are required.

“But targets remain voluntary and the required actions remain daunting,” he added.

At 4°C degrees warming, it is likely that there will be no more male tuatara leading to extinction of the species.

Photo: David Brooks

HELPING NATURE SURVIVE CLIMATE DISRUPTION Forest & Bird is already taking action to help nature deal with the disruption caused by climate changes. By Caroline Wood.

E

ven with bold international efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, nature will still need protection from “locked-in” climate disruption – changes that are already happening or going to happen.

“We need to start planning now for the disruption caused by this warming,” says Forest & Bird’s Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell.

“We must remove other threats so unavoidable climate change is the only stress our wildlife faces. We can do this through bigger and better connected protected areas, more pest eradications and control, and by restoring ecosystems.”

A major problem for our wildlife and native flora is that they have so few options. Before humans arrived in New Zealand, nature had plenty of room to adapt to change.

Tuatara populations, for instance, could move if temperatures were too warm or too cold in one place.

Now they are restricted to a few, small, pest-free locations because of predators and development.

Planning for climate change is already on Forest & Bird’s radar. For example last year we raised the issue of sea level rises squeezing the coastal habit available for both humans and nature.

In many areas, rising water levels will reduce areas of estuarine vegetation, flooding nesting sites, such as the fragile seashell banks favoured by the New Zealand fairy tern.

Forest & Bird is making the case to councils that their district plans need to consider coastal habitat resilience.

Habitat fragmentation is another major risk to nature because small reserves are vulnerable to extreme weather events and fire. By expanding and joining fragmented habitats within landscapes – such as those of Banks Peninsula – nature has more of a chance of survival.

Protecting nature will also help humans survive climate disruption. For example, frost-sensitive mangroves are expanding in New Zealand because of warmer weather. We have the most southerly mangroves in the world.

“Healthy mangroves and dunes reduce the impact of storm surges and sea level rise. Native forests protect downstream farms and towns from flooding and prevent erosion of soils from the hill country. Protecting riverbanks with native forest keeps streams cooler and helps maintain water quality,” Kevin Hackwell explains.

“Healthy forests also retain soil moisture for longer, which keeps our rivers flowing during periods of drought. Much of New Zealand’s remaining native forest was originally protected to defend farms and streams downstream from flooding and erosion. We need to remember that lesson as we look ahead to a disruptive future. It’s a virtuous circle of assistance with people protecting nature from climate disruption, which then protects people.”

How can you help?

It’s not the future anymore. Climate disruption is happening right here – in the place we call home. Together we will be the voice of climate disruption. Make a donation at www.forestandbird.org.nz/climatedisruption and help New Zealand lead the way.

An environment that is thriving is better able to withstand climate disruption.

With your help, Forest & Bird will continue to protect our country from destructive climate change. Getting rid of pests, restoring forests and wetlands, and protecting dunes and coastal ecosystems are all practical steps we can take.

Forest & Bird will take the lead in developing solutions that strengthen the natural world’s defence against climate disruption. With your support we can make this a reality.

More in our special climate change issue Be the change: p16 Joining the dots on forest collapse: p28 n Former KCC member sues government: P30 n Native forests as carbon sinks: P48. n n

Forest & Bird

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Cover story

BE THE CHANGE

Blenheim climate march co-organiser Penny Wardle shares some ideas for reducing your carbon footprint while saving money and living more healthily.

1

Be political: Stand for election as a councillor or MP. Otherwise lobby for policies promoting low carbon transport, renewable energy and efficient buildings.

Ask MPs to help by putting a bigger price on carbon, spending more on public transport instead of roads and making roads cycleand-walking friendly. Say you don’t want your tax dollars to subsidise fossil fuels.

4 5

Home help: Unplug your phone charger when it’s not in use, turn off your computer at the end of the day, switch to energy-efficient light bulbs and buy Energy Star appliances. Reduce, re-use and recycle rubbish and compost food and garden waste.

Renovate smart: Cut back on energy use by installing double glazing/insulation/passive solar heating. Convert the sun’s heat to household energy for heating, lighting and hot water. Solar panels are coming down in price and you can even go off the grid if you have a big enough array, see p46.

7

Restore nature: Contact your local branch of Forest & Bird to ask about controlling pests in your area, tree planting or weeding. All these will help the forests flourish and capture more carbon (see p48). If you have land, you may be able to get money for restoring native forest from the Permanent Forest Sinks Initiative.

Control pests: Photo: Nga Manu Nature

8

Go pet-free: You’ll save money on pet food while making your backyard safe for native birds and lizards.

Wairarapa Forest & Bird branch member and Masterton local councillor Chris Peterson.

2

Get physical: Walk, cycle or use public transport where you can.

Save driving for long journeys.

Buy an electric bike – the prices are coming down and it’s a great way to get fit and healthy.

6

Go vegetarian, grow your own fruit and veges and/or buy locally produced foods.

Organic or low-input farms use minimal inputs such as chemicals and fertiliser and run low numbers of stock per hectare. This means lower greenhouse gas emissions plus less damage to soils and waterways.

9

Be the change: Calculate your household carbon footprint then track improvements via Landcare Research’s carboNZero, WWF-affiliated Earth Day Network Footprint Calculator or carbonfootprint.com.

10

Join us: Support Forest & Bird’s work on climate resilience by donating to Forest & Bird’s appeal www.forest&bird. org.nz/climatedisruption, or give someone you love a free membership to Forest & Bird or our Kiwi Conservation Club.

The Wood family tests their new electric cargo bike in Wellington.

3

16

Share the journey: Check out Chariot, a car-pooling app being tested in Wellington and Palmerston North ahead of public release in autumn. It will cover commuting, one-off short rides and long distance driving. And car-sharing app Roam is now trialling in Wellington.

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Corinne McBride grows more than enough vegetables and fruit to supply family and friends’ needs in her Blenheim garden.

*Tell us what you are doing to reduce your carbon footprint so we can share your story. Email editor@ forestandbird.org.nz

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Forest & Bird

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Predator-free New Zealand Ship rat

It’s unusual to have two beech mast years so close together – the last one in 2014 prompted the Department of Conservation’s Battle for our Birds aerial 1080 operations.

Graeme Elliott is a Department of Conservation (DOC) scientist and large-scale pest control advisor. He has been involved in research on protecting forest birds from predators for most of his career.

He explained how scientists are tracking this year’s beech mast and planning for the coming predator invasion.

We know at best it’s going to be a mediocre beech mast and at worst a whopper Graeme Elliott

MEGA MAST THREAT

A beech mast year is on its way but how bad will it be? Department of Conservation predator-control scientist Dr Graeme Elliott explains how the threat is assessed. By Caroline Wood.

“We know the beech forests have flowered. Next we check whether the seed has set and is fertile. We already know that at best it’s going to be a mediocre beech mast and at worst a whopper,” says Graeme.

Scientists are monitoring the same sites as the 2014 beech mast – 40 in total. The DOC local rangers shoot samples out of the trees in January and February to see how much seed there is. At the same time rodents are tracked. Then in May they track the number of rodents again to see if they are increasing.

“There will almost certainly be a plague of mice and stoats this year even if there are only moderate amounts of seed,” says Graeme. It doesn’t take much seed for the mice to multiply, providing a ready food source for the stoats.

Less predictable is whether there will be a rat plague.

Rat plagues occur when there is lots of beech seed, explains Graeme, or when there are moderate amounts of seed in the forest and moderate numbers of rats early in the year.

The best way to combat a rat, mice and stoat plague, says Graeme, is to do large-scale 1080 aerial drops, as DOC did during Battle for our Birds during the last mast year.

“Where rat densities are very high, you have to do a bigger job over a larger area and ensure consistent coverage.”

T

here are worrying signs in the beech forest. An early and prolific flowering of beech trees is threatening to produce a massive amount of seed this autumn.

The extra food will lead to an explosion of rat and mice numbers that in turn feed the stoats and they produce more young.

When the beech seed runs out (it rots or germinates), the plague of rats, mice and stoats will turn on our native wildlife. Particularly vulnerable are native birds (such as mohua, the orange-fronted kākāriki, whio, kiwi, kākā and kea), bats and our giant land snails..

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| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Stoat sensitive birds: Hole-or-ground-nesting larger birds such as whio (pictured), kiwi, and kākā are highly susceptible to stoat predation.

Timeline JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016 – DOC staff began testing beech trees and tracking rodents. Will it be a whopper mast year? It depends on how many areas have abundant seed falls.

MAY 2016 – DOC tracks rat numbers in affected areas to rank priority areas for 1080 drops. The areas chosen will depend on numbers of rats, whether particularly vulnerable species live there, and the availability of funds.

WINTER 2016 – With lots of food, rats breed and multiply through the winter – a plague in the making. Stoats feed off the rats and mice and produce more offspring than usual.

MID WINTER to SPRING 2016 – DOC’s 1080 drop begins to knock back rat and mice numbers (this in turn significantly limits stoat populations).

SUMMER 2016 – DOC tracks the success/failure of the 1080 drop.

Beech tree, Mt Aspiring National Park. Beech masts are triggered by a summer that is warmer than the previous one. By tracking temperatures scientists can predict when this will occur. Photo: Kimberley Collins

A lesson learned from 2014 was that if pest control doesn’t happen early in the season, rats may not be controlled successfully. So DOC will likely start 1080 operations in the middle of winter onwards and make sure they have all been done by mid-spring.

“Spring comes and that’s when predators start to take a heavy toll on the birds. Rats and mice run out of seeds and stoats run out of rats and mice. Everyone eats the birds especially those on nests. This carries on for months, and in the past we have underestimated the longer-term impact,” says Graeme.

“But it requires resource consents and operations that cost an arm and a leg. You need people who can do it, helicopters and bait. I hope we can get more resources, but we also need to have the staff.”

DOC doesn’t have the resources to do aerial drops of 1080 across all of our conservation forests.

It will decide the order of priority, starting with the ‘jewels in the crown’– biodiversity hotspots and places where a species will become locally extinct without predator protection.

Graeme says areas are ‘triaged’ by priority. It’s a tradeoff between risk (to wildlife) and resources (the funding and staff available), he added.

Rat-sensitive birds: Rapid expansion of the rat population is disastrous for small forest birds, such as rock wren and mohua (pictured). Photo: Craig McKenzie

Helping our bats survive the 2014 mast year, see overleaf

For no pests go to www.keyindustries.co.nz

Forest & Bird says During the last beech mast in 2014, DOC allocated significant funds towards pest control by delaying staff appointments.

“That funding option is not available to DOC this year as those positions are now filled, so we urgently need the Government to allocate emergency funding for pest control in this mast year,” says Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell.

Eradicate rabbits, rats, possums and more.

Forest & Bird

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Predator-free New Zealand CASE STUDY

Saving the

BATS

Long-tailed bats were still widely seen as recently as the early 1900s before being overwhelmed by rats, stoats and cats.

Forest & Bird’s Bat Recovery Project Manager Debs Martin explains the massive effort required to protect a small but precious population of long-tailed bats during the 2014 mast year.

O

ne of the few remaining populations of South Island long-tailed bats lives in Marlborough at the 200-hectare Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve/Te Hoiere.

During the 2014 beech mast year, Forest & Bird launched a huge effort to bring rat numbers down in the reserve and helped the bats survive.

“The mast year in 2014 was off the planet. It was awful,” recalls Debs. “The rats were running everywhere – up and down trees 30-40m high in broad daylight. They were coming through the campground in the evenings. You'd often see them running across the walking tracks during the day.”

Bats are very vulnerable to predators such as rats, in part because of the way the reproduce. Female bats get together in a maternity roost in December. Each one has a baby – a pup – who is left in the tree roost while mum goes out to find food. The rats are attracted to the roost by the smell. They can run up the trees, get into the roosts and devour the babies in one sitting.

The beech mast started in the spring of 2013, when the beech trees flowered heavily. The setting of seed led to an abundant supply of food for rats through the winter of 2014. The rats fed voraciously on beech seed and their numbers – rather than dying back during the colder months – escalated exponentially.

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Come spring 2014, a rat plague was in full swing. Debs and some Forest & Bird volunteers launched into intensive rat-killing action using specially installed bait stations (baited weekly over four months). They also doubled the clearance rate of existing trap lines.

The project has 100 tracking tunnels in the reserve, which are monitored four times a year. The aim is to have under 15 percent of them showing rat presence – but for good species survival rates five percent is preferable.

Anything over 30 percent is dangerous and could lead to a catastrophic collapse in vulnerable species such as bats.

“We needed to proactively do pest control at the right time. We didn’t have the opportunity to do a 1080 drop but we managed to keep it down to 30 percent through intensive bait stations and trapping,” explains Debs.

“We found stoat and weasel numbers went up as well.

Usually we don’t get weasels but we were killing three to four a month. We also saw a spike in stoats killed and they are hard to trap.”

Their efforts succeeded, the rat and stoat numbers were controlled and the precious bat population survived.

But Debs is concerned that 2016 is shaping up to be even worse than the 2014 mast year. “I’m not sure we can repeat that effort again. We pulled out every stop – and to have to do it again just two years later is pretty soul destroying.”

Number of rats caught in traps at the Pelorus reserve during the 2014 mast year compared with a normal (non-mast) year.

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Citizen science

Water quality How do citizen scientists stack up against the experts when it comes to testing water quality in local streams? Kimberley Collins finds out.

Citizen science projects allow anyone to contribute to scientific research, but one question always comes up – is the information collected by “non-experts” reliable?

Dr Richard Storey, from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) has been leading a study to answer this question. Nine community groups were asked to monitor a local stream using inexpensive monitoring kits based on NIWA’s Stream Health Monitoring and Assessment Kit (also known as SHMAKs). By comparing their results with those collected by regional council staff, who used professional water testing equipment, the study confirmed just how reliable information collected by volunteers can be.

The results are encouraging. With the right support, volunteer community groups can collect reasonably accurate data on stream health, which can be valuable for monitoring the overall health of a catchment.

“Streams and rivers are like blood vessels in the body.

They carry things around the catchment – good stuff and sometimes bad stuff. Regional councils can monitor the arteries, but if community groups can help to monitor the smaller veins and capillaries, we can get a better idea of what the blood is carrying and how healthy the wider catchment is. Citizen scientists help to fill the gaps,” says Dr Storey Forest & Bird’s Upper Hutt branch was one of the groups that took part in the study. It monitored Mawaihakona Stream. They visited the stream once a month taking a range of water samples that can tell scientists how healthy the stream is.

“We do quite a few different measurements – dissolved oxygen, nitrates, phosphates, clarity of the water, how 22

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

many invertebrates are living in the stream. We even test for E. coli by taking water home, incubating it overnight and putting it on an agar plate to see what grows. It gives us a good idea of how polluted the stream is,” said project coordinator Sue Miller.

The Upper Hutt branch has also been restoring Hull’s Creek at Silverstream for many years by planting natives along the river. Learning these new monitoring techniques will give them the ability to find out what difference their planting has made on the overall health of the creek.

“It was a great way to actually understand what’s happening in the stream because you can’t tell by just looking. You need to be able to show people the hard work they have put into restoring something has actually changed the stream health,” added Sue. Dr Richard Storey agrees it’s important to use meaningful evidence to show that a restoration project is making a difference to the ecology, water quality and overall health of a stream or river.

“It can be challenging because it’s not always exciting and results won’t change immediately. But stick with it because you can gather some good data and build a picture of the difference a stream restoration project is making.”

He said the best indicators of stream health for groups who don’t have access to equipment are the temperature, periphyton (or how much algae is attached to the stream bed) and invertebrate populations.

“You can be sure you have made a difference if the invertebrates are coming back and you’re seeing a lot of mayflies, stoneflies and caddis flies. They’re the really sensitive ones and need a clean habitat.”

Community conservation

Mokaihaha – a hidden gem Forest & Bird members are helping protect an important kōkako population near Tokoroa. By Katherine Hay, Waikato branch.

Few people know where Mokaihaha Ecological Area is, or that it contains one of the Department of Conservation’s (DOC’s) top-rated kōkako populations. Situated just east of Tokoroa, hidden away up forestry roads, Mokaihaha is the largest example of surviving Mamaku Plateau native forest and, significantly, contains a top-ranking population of kōkako in terms of genetics.

Public access to this 2,000-hectare South Waikato gem is limited through forestry operations in adjoining areas.

But the newly formed Mokaihaha Kōkako Recovery project is aiming to facilitate breeding and create awareness of this special place through improved access and community involvement. The group, which includes local iwi, community groups, forestry businesses and councils, is in the process of setting up a trust to administer the project with DOC. A May 2015 survey of kōkako numbers by DOC staff, principally in the 850-hectare block previously under pest control, has resulted in Mokaihaha being bumped up the department’s list of priorities. Staff were excited to find there are still at least 70 adult birds in the area, possibly more, despite no pest control for a number of years. To halt a possible decline in an ageing population, pest control was carried out in the area in August 2015.

At present there are many unknowns within the scientific community about the efficacy of translocations of kōkako, and Forest & Bird Waikato Branch is hoping to support future research on factors influencing the success, or otherwise, of translocations.

The project is an exciting one for the local community, with potential for the public to experience the thrill of seeing these beautiful grey, blue and black birds and hearing their haunting long organ-like notes. All in a block of native forest relatively close to an urban area.

While there is currently no public track through the habitat of the kōkako population, the project group is planning to organise easier access and educational signage.

Kōkako became endangered throughout the North Island through loss of habitat and arrival of possums, rats and mustelids. After management and advocacy activity by the Kōkako Recovery Group, community groups and agencies, numbers are reported to be recovering with over 1000 pairs in 2014 at 20 sites around the North Isand. Being genetically distinct, the Mokaihaha population is particularly significant and could help increase genetic diversity in other populations in the future. Photo: Tara Swan

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09 307 8005 fullers.co.nz Forest & Bird

| 23

Freshwater

Troubled waters Forest & Bird is challenging Environment Canterbury (ECan) over deteriorating water quality and Lake Ellesmere is the latest legal battleground. Our General Counsel Peter Anderson explains.

I

t is no surprise that Lake Ellesmere/Te Waihora has become the latest battleground in the debate about water quality in Canterbury. The lake, which is located west of Banks Peninsula, is an internationally significant wetland, home to a number of threatened and at-risk species, and has highly significant cultural and sports fishery values. It also fluctuates between being the most polluted and second most polluted lake in New Zealand.

The boom in dairying has caused elevated levels of nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorous, to flow through the tributaries and into the lake. Adding to the pollution, Central Plains Water, a massive irrigation scheme with a command area of 60,000ha, recently commenced irrigation.

The situation is further complicated following the Environment Canterbury Act in 2010 when the New Zealand Government sacked the elected regional councillors and replaced them with appointed commissioners with a mandate to increase irrigation. Critically, the Act also removed the right of appeal to the Environment Court and replaced it with appeals to the High Court limited to questions of law. The Government recently reneged on its promise that democracy would be returned in three years (see panel).

The removal of councillors and the right of appeal to the Environment Court paved the way for the intensification of land use across Canterbury, which has subsequently happened. Now nearly a third of the sites where ECan monitors freshwater quality are not meeting standards, up from a quarter five years ago.

Against this backdrop, in 2014, ECan proposed water

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quality/nutrient limits for the Selwyn-Waihora catchment.

A number of submitters, including Forest & Bird, sought to provide for healthy ecosystems in time. ECan did not accept this submission – instead it allowed increases in pollution from the Central Plains Water scheme and further intensification of some land uses. Some of the limits were set at a level considered toxic to freshwater ecosystems.

On the positive side, there was a requirement that some land uses, including dairy, reduce their pollution. While outweighed by additional pollution, the approach signalled that ECan may be willing to require land uses to reduce nitrogen losses to address water quality concerns.

Forest & Bird appealed ECan’s decision to the High Court. The removal of Environment Court appeals meant this was an appeal on questions of law and (unlike an Environment Court appeal) could not challenge the merits.

The appeal was settled with some improvements. The effect was that catchment-wide nitrogen pollution would be allowed to peak at 20 percent above current state before reducing to seven percent above its current state in 2037.

ECan optimistically says water quality in Lake Ellesmere/ Te Waihora is going to get worse before it gets better. It would be more accurate to say that water quality is just going to get worse. There is no provision for it to get better and this is not expected to happen.

What does this mean for the rest of Canterbury? Over the past few years, ECan has permitted irrigation at a rate far higher than the environment can cope with. The result is decreasing water quality and quantity – and the rivers are getting dirtier and drier.

It may look clean but Lake Ellesmere is one of our most polluted waterways – it fluctuates betweeen being the worst and second worst polluted lake in New Zealand.

Photo: Peter Anderson

NOF no good for freshwater The August 2014 issue of Forest & Bird magazine expressed concerns that the bottom lines for the water qualities standard in the National Objectives Framework (NOF) for nitrates were set at levels toxic to aquatic life, rather than levels which provide for ecosystem health.

These concerns have been borne out in Selwyn te Waihora, where some of the limits have been set at the bottom line. The NOF, which is part of the Government’s National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management, is due for review in 2016 and Forest & Bird has been active in seeking that the review sets limits at ecological health.

Australasian bittern: Te Waihora is a stronghold for this nationally endangered species. Photo: David Hallett

Democracy denied

Ellesmere’s longfin eels have declined over time. Photo: Rod Morris

ECan’s record in the Hurunui catchment is not much better than Selwyn-Waihora. In 2015, despite the fact the catchment was fully allocated, ECan put out an advice note to the effect that it would not enforce a rule in its plan relating to dryland use. The effect of this was to overallocate the catchment, despite the plan making it clear that the limits should not be breached.

While this may paint a bleak picture, there are some positives. There is a growing acceptance the deteriorating water quality in Canterbury is unacceptable and that pollution must be reduced. ECan recently acknowledged the reduction in water quality and committed to ‘urgent action’.

If the approach in the Selwyn-Waihora catchment of

The Government intends to return democracy to Canterbury in 2019, nine years after it was removed and six years after its promised return. In late 2015, Forest & Bird appeared before a government select committee on the issue asking for a full return to democracy (including appeals to the Environment Court) in time for the 2016 elections. Despite lauding ECan as one of the best performing regional councils in the country, the Government considered the ‘risk’ of returning democracy to Canterbury was too high.

It appears the Government does not want to interfere with the Commissioners’ work in Canterbury.

requiring certain land uses to reduce pollution is adopted and enforced across Canterbury, there may be improvements in water quality. We intend to lodge submissions on upcoming plan changes to ensure this occurs.

Lake Ellesmere/Te Waihora has high ecological values despite the pollution it receives. This may be in part caused by the shallow bed and high winds combining to reduce the impact of algal blooms that would otherwise suffocate the life from the lake. Millions have been spent on restoration. While improvements in water quality are not evident, improvements have been made in habitat restoration, as the photographs show.

Forest & Bird

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Seabirds Black-fronted tern, Clutha River.

Photo: Craig Mackenzie

Critical sites for

seabird conservation A Forest & Bird project to identify a network of globally important seabird areas across New Zealand has finished but now we need your help to protect them. By Chris Gaskin.

T

he Important Bird Area (IBA) programme is global in scale with more than 12,000 IBAs already identified worldwide, using standard internationally recognised criteria for selection. To have such sites recognised as IBAs provides objective endorsement of their global importance. Adding the New Zealand component to the global IBA assessment fills a vital piece of the puzzle in our understanding of the critical sites for bird conservation worldwide.

We have now completed identifying sites for New Zealand’s seabirds and four reports are

available via Forest & Bird’s website.

Why start with seabirds and not our other special birds such as kiwi, kea, kōkako and rock wren, when elsewhere in the world the general approach has been to look at all bird populations and identify IBAs on that basis? In New Zealand, where seabirds make up over half our endemic and native bird species, identifying IBAs for seabirds first and foremost recognises New Zealand’s rich and diverse seabird fauna.

Also, we have: n more threatened seabird species than anywhere else in the world n the highest number of breeding

Proclamation Island, part of the Bounty Islands group, a world heritage site 670km southeast of New Zealand. Photo: Paul Sagar

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seabird endemics in the world (36 species), seven times higher than Mexico in second place (5 species) n more than one-third of seabird species known to occur within New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone, including species breeding outside the region n approximately 14 million pairs of breeding seabirds.

In New Zealand to date we have identified 141 sites of global significance for seabirds on land, and a further 69 in the marine environment (marine IBAs). This sitebased approach presents a mosaic of locally identifiable sites that meet global criteria.

Taken as a whole, the network provides a comprehensive overview of New Zealand’s seabirds, including a greater understanding of seabird distribution, temporally and spatially – on land (breeding sites/colonies, moult and roost sites) and at sea.

Taken individually, or in regional sets, we can all work together to ensure conservation values of these globally important sites are retained. *Chris Gaskin was contracted by Forest & Bird to coordinate the Important Bird Area Programme. http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/ important-bird-areas

We can all play a role Forest & Bird encourages you to become involved, especially with IBAs in your home patch: n download the online IBA resources and sending the links to interested people n find out where the IBAs are in your region (remember there will be more IBAs to be identified) n champion the value of your IBA to local people and government; talk to your community – to neighbours, friends, schools or special interest groups n join a team, if one already exists, or join with others to create a local IBA support group or a larger regional group n observe and monitor an IBA. Use social media to let others know n practical conservation: volunteer for pest control and revegetation projects in an IBA n campaign and vote for conservation using the global values of IBAs as a key argument

Planting day at Te Rere Point, the Catlins. Photo: Fergus Sutherland

(Forest & Bird is already doing this through regional planning processes), and make sure your local site has adequate legal protection too.

An integral part of any conservation management programme is monitoring. Not only does this help identify the need for particular conservation actions, but we can also estimate their success. Importantly, particularly with long-term monitoring, we can also discover trends which may assist in better planning of future conservation management. This is important as we grapple with the impacts of climate change and other real and potential threats.

The IBA network for New Zealand will only be complete when sites are identified for all groups of birds.

Birds capture people’s imaginations.

They and their habitats are also indicators of other biodiversity.

While ecosystems have increasingly taken priority in conservation management planning, iconic and highly threatened bird species (and we have no shortage of those) can help drive the sort of broad support we need to protect critical habitats. We all can play a role.

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15 Day Camping/Accomodated Tour – Departs Broome 4th June 2016 Enjoy a wonderful outback experience as we discover the Kimberley’s wildlife, spectacular outback scenery, and many wonderfully refreshing waterholes as we explore Purnululu N.P, the many gorges of the Gibb River Rd, El Questro and Mornington Stations.

12 Day Camping Tour – Departs Perth 17th September 2016 Join us and experience the diverse wildlife and spectacular wildflowers of the world’s largest temperate woodland, including the historic woodlines (where timber cutters operated from 1899 to 1964) and the ironstone Helena Aurora Ranges which are currently under threat of being mined.

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12 Day Camping Tour – Departs 25th June 2016 A different twist on the Kimberley, we include the best of the Gibb River Road but add a visit to the Mitchell Plateau. On the plateau experience the spectacular Mitchell and Mertons Falls plus great examples ancient rock art along with the regions wonderful flora and fauna.

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14 Day Camping Tour – Departs Kununurra 14th July 2016 This trip is packed with highlights including a Lake Argyle cruise, the Keep River National Park, Duncan Highway, Wolf Creek Crater, Lake Stretch, the Tanami Road, New Haven Sanctuary and the West MacDonall Ranges

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Forest & Bird

| 27

Forest collapse Dying trees, Tangowahine Forest, Northland. Photo: Brad Windust

Tipping point Today’s great native forests north of Auckland survived waves of human colonisation, native forest logging, being burnt for farmland or bowled for conversion into pine plantations. Now their greatest threat is introduced pests and climate change impacts.

By Dean Baigent-Mercer.

A

cruel drought six years ago prompted a raft of local news stories showing skinny kiwi staggering around during the daytime because they were severely dehydrated. It was said that the ground had become so dry that kiwi couldn’t poke their beaks into the ground to feed and people made serious suggestions of putting out bowls of milk, water and even pet food on back doorsteps to keep our national icon alive.

This was the summer friends and I started to see a change in Northland. We saw different species of native trees in the bush, in paddocks and on stream sides, pass a tipping point and die.

Initially I thought it was the drought alone, but there was far more to it than that.

We realised there were dots to be joined between collapsing native forests, possum density, thinning leaf litter, topsoil loss, dehydrated kiwi, and what this means in the context of the climate emergency.

Last year Forest & Bird released drone footage filmed above some of Northland’s native forests giving a tui-eye view of the skeletal limbs of dead and dying pōhutukawa,

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rātā, tōtara and pūriri.

One hundred years ago possums were encouraged to invade lower North Island native forests to create jobs in a fur trade. Possums have been in Northland since the start of the 1960s. Before that there were flocks of kākāriki, kākā and kūkupa. This is no longer the case. This is the toll of possums on top of introduced stoats, weasels, rats and cats.

Trees that have had their leaves repeatedly scoffed by possums are under severe stress. They often have some leaf buds in reserve beneath the bark (epicormic shoots, they’re called) but after these are eaten there are not a lot of options. As the canopy gets thinner, branches die and the whole tree’s health goes downhill. Throw in a drought and some gales and down they come.

Let’s call it ‘native forest collapse’. You can watch the result in the drone footage: forestandbird.org.nz/ stoptheforestcollapse. This is not a phenomenon unique to Northland. You may have seen examples of forest collapse near you.

Leaf litter is an insulating layer of the forest floor with a massive surface area that holds moisture. It’s a habitat

full of bugs, fungi, seed and much more. High possum densities mean marsupials turn canopy tree leaves into poo instead of leaves naturally falling to the ground to form leaf litter. Over many decades in areas of little or no consistent pest control, leaf litter has become thinner and thinner.

Over time, forest top soils are more exposed and prone to erosion, compacting and washing away (and that’s not counting the impacts of goats or pigs).

Ultimately more sunlight hits the forest floor and dries it out, and this hits already weakened trees hard during droughts. But it is within this rotting detritus that the many species that wriggle and crawl live – the insects that make up the diet of kiwi.

We realised there were dots to be joined between collapsing native forests, possum density, thinning leaf litter, topsoil loss, dehydrated kiwi, and what this means in the context of the climate emergency So it doesn’t matter how many dogs we restrain, or stoats or feral cats we kill. When we have severe droughts, kiwi feeding habitat shrinks and makes them vulnerable.

This is much more extreme in areas where there is little or no pest control.

In the Northland summer of 2010, those who were taking notice saw many māmaku tree ferns die along with swathes of taraire and other native trees.

We need living native forests as carbon sinks for survival.

On the surface of the land, what else can lock up carbon with so many interlocking layers of forest giants, vines, ferns, epiphytes and sub-canopy shrubs? All have their equal balance of roots below the earth locking up carbon.

As Northland’s native forests have been falling apart, what impact has this had on the climate? The Washington Post recently reported these words following a study of climate change impacts on the Amazon Rainforest that neatly sums it up:

Trees store large amounts of carbon while they’re alive but when they die, they release all that carbon back into the atmosphere. The release of carbon from forests has the potential to contribute to a kind of climate feedback loop: warming temperatures cause drought, which kills trees and releases carbon into the atmosphere, which contributes to greater warming, which brings about more drought – and so on.

My alarm bells are ringing.

Demoralising restructures, underfunding and institutional paralysis within the Department of Conservation have played their part. Governments have fiddled while our native forests have fallen apart and all the while fed the climate catastrophe.

There are all sorts of measures we need to take to urgently rein in greenhouse gas emissions. Sure we can plant trees, but we need our greatest living carbon sinks on land to be as healthy as possible to retain carbon and survive the turbulent times ahead.

The Government bringing five million hectares of public conservation land under sustained multi-species pest control would be a commitment in the right direction. And Northland itself needs a 10-year financial commitment from the Government to bring these native forests back.

We need our native forests in a healthy state more than we probably realised. *A version of this article first appeared on www.pureadvantage.org

Taraire fruit in Tangowahine Forest. Photo: Brad Windust

Dehydrated brown kiwi photographed in the daytime during the 2010 drought near Kerikeri. When the ground dries hard as concrete the kiwi's feeding habitat shrinks, making them more vulnerable in their hunt for food and water. Photo: Dean Wright

Taraire are a cousin of tawa and inhabit northern lowland forests from Kawhia Harbour and East Cape, northwards. They sport large fat black-purple fruits. In years when taraire mast, they become the powerhouse of these forests by producing so much fruit that kūkupa (New Zealand pigeon) can produce chicks year round. Kūkupa have even been spotted on the ground eating taraire fruit.

However, taraire are sensitive to drought. A deadly mix of drought and high possum density (the situation also gets worse with goats or cattle undergrazing) triggers large-scale dieoffs such as the dying tairare trees that can be viewed across Tangowahine Forest in Northland.

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Young conservationist

Climate change champion Sarah Thomson is suing the Government over its weak climate targets.

Megan Hubscher finds out why.

It’s a modern-day David and Goliath scenario and New Zealand’s media is paying attention.

Last year law graduate and former Kiwi Conservation Club member Sarah Thomson announced she would sue the government over its “irrational” climate change targets.

The 25-year-old claimed ministers had failed to set emissions targets that reflect the science on climate change and called on the Government to review the targets.

She was quickly adopted as a national climate champion, appearing alongside well-known environmental activists such as Lucy Lawless and Robyn Malcolm, at the Auckland Climate March last November.

She is currently preparing for the High Court hearing, due to take place in June.

Speaking on the phone from Hamilton, Sarah takes a few seconds to think over what makes her different from all the other New Zealanders who aren’t attempting to litigate against the Government right now.

“I don’t know. Climate change is a really scary thing, and there doesn’t seem to be enough being done about it. It is really urgent. This is something we all need to act on now – so why not me?”

In fact, Sarah’s background is steeped in conservation and environmental activity. Her father is the inventor of the Philproof Bait Station and was featured in the November 1996 issue of Forest & Bird magazine, alongside his young family, including – yes – a small blond six-year-old child, armed with a potato peeler, trimming the edges off her dad’s newly manufactured bait stations (see image below).

Sarah says she received the KCC magazine while growing up but “I only went to one KCC event, because I was too shy. I just hid behind my father’s legs, and cried!”

That shy little girl is now a confident law graduate who laughs and says she’s never thought of herself as an activist: “I’d describe myself more as a concerned citizen,” she says.

“That kind of activism, trespassing and tying yourself to buildings, isn’t my thing. I’m not that courageous. But using the law is really effective. The Government can’t ignore you if you call them to court. They have to face a legal challenge. They have to turn up.”

The Thomson family was frequently “dragged out” (Sarah’s words) on tramps and work expeditions to places such as Great Barrier, Waiheke, and the Mercury islands, while her father carried out pest control and other conservation work.

Sarah credits her exposure to the outdoors as a child with helping create an awareness of our amazing and fragile environment. But she didn’t enter law school with any preconceived notions of what she might end up doing.

In fact, after the case ends, Sarah has no plans to work in law. She wants to see some of the world and then has some ideas for starting a sustainability-focused business. “There’s more than one way to make a difference,” she says.

And her message for today’s KCC kids? “The planet needs you. There are a lot of young people out there doing awesome stuff – for example, helping making their school sustainable. You’re never too young to make a difference.” *A Givealittle page has been set up to raise money to cover Sarah’s court costs. Auckland law firm LeeSalmonLong is acting pro bono in the case.

Using the law is really effective. The Government can’t ignore you if you call them to court. They have to face a legal challenge. They have to turn up.

Speaking at the Auckland climate change march last year.

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Sarah’s family was featured in Forest & Bird magazine 20 years ago. She is pictured front.

RMA heroes

A WIN FOR NATURE We go behind the scenes to find out how Forest & Bird’s legal win in the Taranaki means more significant natural areas will now be protected across New Zealand.

By Caroline Wood

T

he precedent-setting legal win in the Taranaki region was the result of a team effort by the local branch, Forest & Bird’s legal team and barrister Sarah Ongley, supported by expert witnesses from the Catalyst Group.

The case was part of a long-running campaign by Forest & Bird to have Significant Natural Areas included in the New Plymouth District Plan.

Following Environment Court mediation in 2005, the New Plymouth District Council agreed to identify Significant Natural Areas and put them in the plan within two years.

However, despite identifying the areas, the council did not include them in its plan.

After many years trying to persuade the Council to honour its commitment, Forest & Bird referred the matter back to the Environment Court. In December 2015 the court ruled that the Council had contravened its duty to protect the environment by failing to add known Significant Natural Areas to its district plan.

Forest & Bird General Counsel Peter Anderson said the council will now include Significant Natural Areas currently missing from its plan. These number more than 300.

“Many of these are home to the most threatened plants and animals in Taranaki and should be given protection. The court has given a very strong signal to the council that it needs to include rules to do so in the upcoming plan review. We will be actively involved in this process to make sure it occurs.

“The court decision also provides important guidance to other councils when fulfilling their obligations in their district plans with regard to Significant Natural Areas. It confirms that councils are required to take active steps to ensure that SNAs are protected in district plans.”

Mr Anderson paid tribute to Forest & Bird branch liaison Carolyn Brough and barrister Sarah Ongley. The expert evidence presented by witnesses Greg Carlyon and Fleur Maseyk was of a very high standard, he added.

RMA HERO – Carolyn Brough Former president of the North Taranaki branch of Forest & Bird, Carolyn Brough, has been fighting for 10 years to make sure New Plymouth District Council met its obligations under the Resource Management Act. Carolyn was determined to see significant native habitats protected in the New Plymouth District Plan.

She represented Forest & Bird at council meetings on the district plan from 2006 until 2014, putting in countless hours as a member of the SNA liaison group, making delegations to council and attending hearings.

She said: “The gain from this long process is a new awareness about the importance of Significant Natural Areas in our region. Hopefully Taranaki will now become part of national efforts to preserve our very diminished significant native habitats.”

Carolyn has a tip for other branches going through a similar process: “Now would be the time to point out this ruling to local councils as they are in the process of reviewing their district plans. It is a win for nature by Forest & Bird but it took quite a lot of years – and cups of tea – to achieve.” *We think Carolyn Brough (pictured centre with members of the North Taranaki branch of Forest & Bird) is a RMA hero. Do you know of any others?

Contact editor@forestandbird.org.nz.

A Significant Natural Area (SNA) is defined as one of significant indigenous vegetation, or habitat of indigenous fauna, and can range from a tree to a wider area. Pictured above is Tom & Don’s Forest & Bird reserve near Okato, which must now be included in the New Plymouth District Plan.

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| 31

Conservation in history Upland moa, Megalapteryx didinus, collected Mar 1987, Honeycomb Hill, Enduro Passage. Image courtesy Te Papa

MOA BONE

TRADE

Museum curators are calling for more action to protect moa remains and those of other extinct bird species. By Caroline Wood.

T

he last of New Zealand’s nine species of giant moa died out 500 years ago but this iconic bird still captures the imagination of every Kiwi child and is an important part of our natural heritage. Moa remains have the potential to unlock new discoveries about bird biology and extinction in general. But they are not being adequately protected, says a group of museum curators and moa experts.

For some years now there has been a thriving trade in moa remains, some of it legal, some illegal. It is causing experts to worry about the number of skeletons, bones, eggs and feathers being dug up, removed from the site they were found and sold off to the highest bidder.

Concerns have been raised about the unrestricted online trade but little has been done to stop it.

The trouble is that some of the online trade is not technically illegal. A loophole in the Wildlife Act 1953 means the remains of extinct birds, such as moa and the Haast’s eagle, can be bought, sold and owned by anyone but only if they were collected on private land.

It is already illegal to sell the remains of extinct birds found on archaeological sites, or on DOC land, or public

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land. But often the provenance cannot be proven one way or another.

“So you can trade moa bones, huia feathers, or any extinct bird remains if you say they were found on private land. It’s a kind of loophole that people have been able to exploit,” says Mike Dickison, Curator of Natural History at Whanganui Regional Museum.

“For example one Trade Me user had dozens of lots of moa bones ‘found on a beach’ and local iwi were unhappy because they thought someone was probably digging them up on their land. Heritage NZ investigated and the trade ceased.

“Most traders are not so silly as to show where they got the bones from. Most most up stories. For example, they’ve been ‘in the family for many years’ but in fact they’ve been freshly picked up.”

A moa bone skull was posted on Trade Me last year and sold for $500. The skull was said to have come from a ‘very reliable person in the South Island who got this from some old guy who found it in a cave.’ In another recent example, leg and toe bones – said to have been found in a Southland peat bog – were listed for a starting price of $1,000.

Mike Dickison is concerned that future scientific breakthroughs are being lost because of the unregulated trade.

“What happens is people break up whole skeletons to enhance the sale value. Then they remove them from the place they were found. It destroys the scientific context.

Skeletons, even partial ones, are of enormous value to science. They provide information about the actual bird in an actual place. That information is always lost when these traders move the bones.

“It’s a real concern. Cavers are now reporting that moa bones deliberately left in caves for preservation are disappearing. We also don’t know how much is being smuggled overseas.

“This is part of the natural heritage of New Zealand. I’m sure many Forest & Bird members will feel strongly about this. We’re never going to get any more moa. That’s it, the bones are all that we have left, the only evidence that they ever existed.”

Moa experts from New Zealand and Australia were so concerned about the issue a delegation visited the Trade Me head office in January 2015. They asked Trade Me to stop the online trade in moa bones but the company declined.

We’re never going to get any more moa. That’s it, the bones are all we have left, the only evidence they ever existed.

Mike Dickison We asked Trade Me what it was doing to help. A Trade Me spokesman said it had set up a special section for animal bones, including moa, and was keeping an eye on trades, especially around prolific sellers.

“We kicked off the initiative to proactively check for sellers who start multiple listings for moa bones on Trade Me. To date, no member has tripped the volume threshold and only one-off sales are occurring.”

Mike Dickison says he is disappointed Trade Me hasn't acted to stop the trade all together. His group is considering its next steps and would like to see the Government take action by amending the Wildlife Act to cover moa remains and those of other extinct birds.

Meanwhile the trade continues. In January 2016, a collection of 100 moa bones was posted on Trade Me with a starting price of $500.

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REAL MOA SKULL

Listing #: 945181346

Current bid: $500.00 Reserve met

Closes: Sun 13 Sep, 12:55 pm

you are bidding on a real moa skull - sad to depart with this but needs must. This is really nice. Happy bidding

Model of a coastal moa, Euryapteryx curtus. Purchased 2006. CC BY-NC-ND licence. Te Papa (S.044281)

NO PROTECTION FOR EXTINCT SPECIES The Wildlife Act 1953 gives automatic, absolute protection to wildlife in New Zealand and its surrounding marine Exclusive Economic Zone. This means no-one may kill, or have in their possession, any living or dead wildlife, unless they have an appropriate authority. ‘Wildlife’ means any animal that is living in a wild state, and includes eggs or offspring held, hatched or born in captivity.

The Act only applies to living species – not those that are extinct. So the bones, eggs and feathers of extinct birds are currently unprotected

by New Zealand law. They include moa, the flightless native goose, New Zealand quail, adzebill, and the giant Haast’s eagle.

Celina Yapp, Director of the Waitomo Caves Museum, has been monitoring moa bone Trade Me transactions over the past five years. She has logged more than 320 trades in that time, comprising about 5,400 pieces of bone bringing in over $30,000 to the sellers.

She said: “From a scientist’s point of view these bones are irreplaceable and therefore priceless.

There have only ever been a handful of intact moa eggs found. It seems strange to me that if you find a moa egg shell on private land you could put it on your garden for fertiliser without breaking the law but you can’t do that with much of the wildlife that you still see around today.”

details About the seller or authenticity of TradeShipping me sellers don’t have to prove the origin To be arranged 32288 (92 ) allows pick-ups 96% positive feedback the moaSeller artifact they are selling.

Seller location: Hastings, Hawke's Bay, NZ Member since Dec 2005 Payment details

Seller's other listings Seller's feedback Read our safe buying advice

NZ bank deposit Cash

Closes: Sun 13 Sep, 12:55 pm. This auction may auto-extend.

Bid history $500.00

7 Sep

2:10 pm

Yyyyy (911

)

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Marine

Changing fortunes in Five years ago the Hauraki Gulf Forum’s State of our Gulf report found most environmental indicators showed negative trends. Today processes, such as Sea Change, Treaty settlements and carefully moderated conversations about whales, seabirds and fisheries management, are unlocking positive changes.

Tim Higham, Hauraki Gulf Forum Executive Officer, takes us on a virtual boat trip around the gulf to see some of the changes.

Bryde’s whales slowdown Large vessels are now going slower through the Hauraki Gulf, which means they are less likely to hit and kill a resident Bryde’s whale. The average speed is 10.8 knots compared to 14.2 knots in 2011. Previously Bryde’s whales were washing up at an average of two per year killed by ship strike. To tackle the problem a collaborative group was formed, which led to the development of a 2013 Ports of Auckland transit protocol covering boat speeds. Today all four shipping industry associations are committed to an internationally accepted 10 knot target speed whenever possible.

Monitoring information is being shared quarterly for accountability.

HAURAKI GULF

A

Iwi involvement In the past few years important conservation islands have been transferred to iwi ownership then generously gifted back to the Crown. On Hauturu/Little Barrier, the New Zealand storm petrel – presumed extinct for 100 years – has been discovered breeding in its forested valleys: its future enshrined in co-management arrangements with Ngäti Manuhiri, through its 2012 Treaty of Waitangi settlement.

A Conservation Management Plan for Rangitoto, Motutapu, Te Motu-a-Ihenga (Motuihe) and Motukorea (Browns Island) is being developed by the Department of Conservation in partnership with the 13 iwi that are part of the 2014 Tämaki Makaurau collective Treaty settlement.

I

Black petrel boost About 2,700 pairs of black petrels/taikö breed only on Great and Little Barrier Islands. In 2011 they were identified as the New Zealand seabird most at risk from commerical fishing, with an accidental capture rate 14 times higher than the population could sustain. Today the 55 long-line fishing boats operating in the Gulf have embraced ‘seabird smart fishing practices’, attend training courses, have onboard seabird management plans and use mitigation techniques. A working group of agencies, fishing companies and environmental NGOs – including Forest & Bird – monitors progress, coordinated by Southern Seabird Solutions Trust.

Firth on alert Monitoring in the central Firth of Thames water column shows dissolved inorganic nitrogen has increased at five percent per year over the past decade. A recent NIWA report, commissioned by Dairy NZ and Waikato Regional Council, suggests riverine inputs of nitrogen have stabilised from the intensively dairy-farmed Hauraki Plains.

However if the Gulf’s denitrification capacity has been compromised (decomposing algal matter suppresses bacterial action on the seafloor) careful attention will be required. The Forum has called for close monitoring and further research. The Regional Council has deployed additional monitoring buoys.

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B

Little Barrier Island

Motutapu Island Rangitoto Island

H

Waiheke Island

G

F

E

the Hauraki Gulf Fast track restoration

C

Rotoroa Island has been transformed from an abandoned Salvation Army alcohol rehabilitation centre into a new education and conservation destination backed by the Next Foundation. In 2012 a partnership between the Rotoroa Island Trust and Auckland Zoo was established to populate the island with endangered species that require active human intervention. Brown teal/ päteke is the latest species to join saddleback/t eke, whitehead/pöpokotea, kiwi, shore skinks and takahë on the island. More than a dozen more species are planned for release by 2018, providing hands-on conservation training and learning visits for schools. It’s another stepping stone in a network of Gulf island restoration success stories.

Great Barrier Island

Mussel power In the first half of last century extensive green-lipped mussel beds were dredged to collapse around the Hauraki Gulf. Today new mussel reefs are emerging on barren seafloor. About 3.5 million ‘reject’ mussels grown for supermarket sale have been repurposed by the Revive our Gulf project. A pioneering underwater restoration movement is emerging.

Fisheries management Hauraki Gulf snapper stocks are fished to about 20 percent of original biomass, half the target level considered optimal. There were 12,450 trawl shots in the marine park area between 2011 and 2014, accounting for 30-40 percent of snapper landings. Sanford CEO Volker Kuntzsch said last year the company was prepared to end commercial fishing in the Hauraki Gulf if recreational fishers play their part and report catch. As many as 1,859 pleasure boats have been observed fishing the gulf on a single day and recreational fishers take about half the snapper caught in the inner gulf. A Snapper 1 Strategy Group is considering options to improve snapper stocks. In January a recreational fishing park in the Hauraki Gulf was proposed as part of the Government’s reform of Marine Protected Areas legislation.

D

Port process Tired of flotillas and “Make Love not Wharf” placards protesting consented wharf extensions, Auckland Council has invited parties to make recommendations for the future of the city’s port facilities. An independently chaired, stakeholder and Mäori Consensus Working Group has commissioned research on the social, economic, cultural and environment dimensions of potential options. Its report to the Council is due later this year.

Sea Change The Sea Change/Tai Timu Tai Pari project is using a co-governance and collaborative stakeholder process to produce a Hauraki Gulf marine spatial plan, a first for New Zealand. It aims to safeguard the abundance, productivity and mauri of the Gulf/T kapa Moana/Te Moananui a Toi. A stakeholder working group – including Forest & Bird – expects to complete the plan later this year.

Firth of Thames

Coromandel Pennisula

*The Hauraki Gulf Forum is charged with the promotion and facilitation of integrated management under the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Act and has been the catalyst for many new initiatives. It is looking at ways it can further lead and influence change in the Hauraki Gulf during 2016 and beyond.

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Bequest

Peter’s passion for nature lives on Peter Shadbolt was a proud New Zealander who loved the bush, rivers and the sea and wanted future generations to have the same opportunities to enjoy our great outdoors. Peter died in 2009 but his passion for nature lives on through his much-loved family and through a generous bequest to Forest & Bird.

“He was always an outdoors guy and he wanted others to be able to have the same experiences. He wanted his family to have them and he wanted those opportunities to always to be there for Kiwis,” says his son Ben, who shares his father’s love of the outdoors.

Forest & Bird Relationship Manager Jess Winchester said Peter’s generous bequest of $42,000 will boost our efforts to protect and enhance the New Zealand he loved.

“He’s contributing to our work to protect the birds, forests, freshwater and oceans that were so important to him. It’s a wonderful gift and I just wish we were able to thank Peter himself,” she said.

Fishing, tramping and surfing were among Peter’s loves. In later years he established a native coastal garden at his Wellington home and for nearly a decade in retirement he was a regular volunteer on the project, initiated by Forest & Bird’s Lower Hutt branch, to

Mary Shadbolt with Peter’s poetry books.

Photo: David Brooks

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| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Peter Shadbolt loved the great outdoors and his generous bequest will boost Forest & Bird’s efforts to protect the landscapes he loved. Photo: supplied

revegetate Matiu/Somes Island.

Despite his death more than six years ago, it is clear that Peter is very much alive in the minds and hearts of his family and friends.

There was much more to him than a passionate outdoorsman – he was an inspirational teacher and educationalist and was keenly interested in jazz, geology, politics, literature and story-telling.

A love of literature ran in the family; his late brother Maurice Shadbolt was one of New Zealand’s most prominent authors. Later in life Peter took up writing poetry and his second collection, Artefacts and Ventifacts was published by Steele Roberts Aotearoa (www.steeleroberts.co.nz) in December, following the 2014 release of his first volume, Voyage Around a River – the Hokianga.

The first book is a series of reflections on the places, history and people of the Hokianga, one of the places Peter lived during his teaching

career. The second reflects his rich life and some of his many interests.

Mary initiated the project to get the poetry published and says it reveals much about a man who was interested in everything – an attribute that, along with his enthusiasm, made him such a good teacher.

His final position before retiring was Deputy Primary Principal of the Correspondence School, Te Kura.

“People tell me he was a superb teacher. He taught at Miramar North School (in Wellington) for a long time and when we launched his first book at the school, people he taught with, people he had taught and parents of people he had taught came along.

It was quite obvious he was highly regarded,” says Mary.

Thanks to his bequest to Forest & Bird and his poetry collections, Peter’s influence will continue to be felt, even among those who were unable to share his life. n David Brooks

If you want to find out more about helping to protect New Zealand’s natural treasures by leaving a bequest to Forest & Bird, contact Jess Winchester on (04) 801 2219 or email legacy@forestandbird.org.nz.

Tussock landscape loss is ongoing and their ability to withstand and recover from disturbances is being threatened by human activities. Photo: Kimberley Collins

Amazing facts about...

TUSSOCK LANDSCAPES Changing land uses affect ecosystems and the services they provide. Michelle Harnett looks at the role of New Zealand’s unique grasslands.

T

ussocks are tough. Scorched in summer and snowcovered in winter, the giant grasses of genus Chionochloa are an instantly recognisable feature of the dry high country landscapes of the South Island and the North Island’s central plateau.

Early European settlers saw the open grasslands as potential pastures, burnt the tussocks and sowed grasses and clover. Less than half of the grasslands that existed in 1840 remain, and all have been modified to some extent.

Tussocks themselves are amazing plants, adapted to survival in harsh environments. They are almost immortal, continually growing new stems or ‘tillers’, making it impossible to tell the age of individual plants. The thin, tough leaves reduce water loss through transpiration, and long roots help hold and conserve it. The leaves also provide a microclimate that protects more vulnerable plants, invertebrates and even sheep seeking shelter from the cold.

Tussock ecosystems also benefit humans. The services they supply include maintaining and promoting biodiversity, regulating water supply and quality, conserving vulnerable soils, capturing carbon and recreation and tourism opportunities.

Water regulation is a service that has a significant impact on people. Together with the bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) that form a major (and often unrecognised) component of tussocklands, the ecosystem acts as a reservoir, holding snow melt and rain, which helps prevent erosion and flood damage, keeps silt out of rivers, harbours and fisheries, and provides water for energy generation, fishing, swimming, boating, and drinking.

A picture of just how important tussock landscapes are to the environment and human wellbeing can be formed by assigning economic values to the services they provide. For example, the water that Dunedin draws from the tussocky hills of the Te Papanui catchment has been valued at $136 million per year. Economists are also assigning values to erosion prevention, water quality, biodiversity and tourism, to name a few.

Despite the benefits New Zealand’s tussock grasslands provide, its loss is ongoing and the ability of the grasslands to withstand and recover from disturbances is being threatened by human activities. The most immediate threat is probably from the much-debated change from nonarable to intensive land use that is happening in areas such as the Mackenzie Basin.

Changing land uses affect ecosystems and the services they provide. More intensive agriculture may be attractive in terms of profit from meat, wool or dairy, but it has negative effects on other services. Replacing tussock with pastures affects water quantity and quality which has flow on effects for downstream ecosystems and human communities. It is only by looking at both sides of the balance sheet that the true cost of changing land use activities can be appreciated.

Water regulation and other services provided by New Zealand’s unique grasslands will become increasingly important as climate change brings more extreme weather conditions. Recognising the dollar value of these services, along with the cumulative effects of land intensification, is a first step in reversing the decline of tussock lands and maintaining a resilient ecosystem that benefits the country and its inhabitants.

Water regulation and other services provided by New Zealand’s unique grasslands will become increasingly important as climate change brings more extreme weather conditions. Photo: Kimberley Collins

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Biodiversity

The Hochstetter’s frogs of Aotea The Hochstetter’s frogs of Aotea are now thought to be a stand-alone race endemic to Great Barrier Island. Sarah Herbert of EcoGecko Consultants and Judy Gilbert from the island’s Windy Hill Sanctuary explain the results of the latest frog survey.

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otea/Great Barrier Island is a special place in many ways and it turns out that its frogs are also special.

We had known for a long time that it was home to the only island population of Hochstetter’s frog but genetic evidence also suggested that the frog we currently know and love as Leiopelma hochstetteri is actually a complex of 13 distinct ‘races’. Each of these races has been earmarked in the most recent Department of Conservation (DOC) threat classifications as potentially being different enough to be species in their own right. As for the Aotea ‘race’– you guessed it – these frogs form a distinct group that are endemic to Aotea and have been earmarked as Leiopelma aff. hochstetteri “Great Barrier”.

We didn’t realise that we could be dealing with a distinct species when our group started working on Aotea’s Hochstetter’s frogs. But we were concerned about them because none of the places on the island where they are found are pest-controlled. Aotea is missing some of the species of introduced mammals plaguing mainland New Zealand (namely mustelids, goats, Norway rats, possums and deer). This is because of either their eradication or their never having reached the island, which is good news for the

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frogs indeed. However, because of the lack of mustelids, ship rats tend to reach very high numbers on the island.

Last year, a PhD thesis by Dr Bastian Egeter confirmed that ship rats do eat Hochstetter’s frogs, but it remains unclear whether ship rats alone threaten them with extinction.

So we were worried about the frogs. While quite a lot of surveying work has been done on Aotea since the frogs’ discovery in 1981, it has been done by different teams. So unfortunately while we do have an insight into these frogs’ historical and current distributions, we don’t know if their numbers are increasing, decreasing or remain stable. In 2012, we joined forces with Halema Jamieson to set up 15 permanent survey sites covering 1.5km of stream bed habitat for these frogs. We have since been lucky enough to receive support from Ngāti Rehua and DOC, and funding from a WWF New Zealand grant, the Windy Hill Rosalie Bay Catchment Trust (which manages the Windy Hill Sanctuary) and Foundation North. This support allowed us to repeat our searches of the survey sites in April 2015.

So far, things look ok, despite the continued presence of rats, cats and pigs and some large slips caused by a cyclone that hit the island in June 2014. Across all of our

survey sites we had a slight increase in the average number of frogs found, although our frog finds seemed to be more tightly clustered together this year. We encountered 11.7 frogs per transect (a 100m section of stream bed where a researcher records frog sightings) in 38 percent of the survey areas in 2015, compared with 9.2 frogs in 46 percent of the survey areas in 2012. The presence of slips right in the middle of some of our study sites probably explains why our ‘frog finds’ were more clustered in this year’s surveys. We never found frogs right in the middle of the muddy mires in the streambed caused by the slips. We did, however, find them both upstream and downstream of slips. While Hochstetter’s frogs have now been found at least once in all transects, it is concerning that froglets were found in only eight out of 15 of the sites, which leads us to believe that only certain areas are suitable for breeding.

Generally, these ‘breeding areas’ were undisturbed and supported densities of at least six frogs/100m. In particular, new froglets were never seen in transects that were surrounded by regenerating kanuka forest. It seems that the legacy of logging and land clearances for farming that occurred in this part of Aotea during the early days of European exploration is reflected in the frog populations

even now. Unfortunately, we cannot be sure about the long-term security of populations that aren’t producing juvenile frogs.

So, while these frogs seem to have done ok for these past three years, we can’t yet comment on their population trend until we have completed the surveys planned for 2017 and 2019. We hope these resurveys will indicate that the Aotea population will be resilient in the long term, but for now we are crossing our fingers. With the impacts of climate change predicted to possibly make Great Barrier Island uninhabitable for Hochstetter’s frogs by 2080, we need to do everything we can to identify and minimise any threats operating now to give them the best shot at surviving.

With the impacts of climate change predicted to possibly make Great Barrier Island uninhabitable for Hochstetter’s frogs by 2080, we need to do everything we can to identify and minimise any threats operating now to give them the best shot at surviving.

Genetically special Hochstetter’s frogs (Leiopelma hochstetteri) are one of four surviving species of endemic New Zealand frogs. While they are the most widespread and least threatened, their range has become considerably reduced because of habitat destruction and the introduction of mammalian pests such as rats, mustelids, goats, pigs and cats that are suspected to predate on frogs and/or degrade their fragile bush stream habitats.

In the 2010 and 2013 New Zealand threatstatus rankings for New Zealand’s frogs, they were classified as an ‘At Risk’ species, as populations are thought to be declining in numbers. The Hochstetter’s frogs on Aotea/Great Barrier Island represent the only island population for this species and are genetically distinct from mainland populations. Because of this, the Great Barrier form of these frogs have recently been earmarked as a potential stand-alone species, Leiopelma aff. hochstetteri “Great Barrier” that appears to inhabit Aotea only.

Henry Cookson uses a transect tape to measure out 100m of streambed to survey for Hochstetter’s frogs.

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Our people

Face-to-face fundraising Many people don’t realise face-to-face fundraising raises vital funds for Forest & Bird. Adria Lopez Mackay explains.

Face-to-face fundraising has been key to Forest & Bird’s fundraising efforts for the past six years. It is currently our largest source of income. Last year regular donors contributed more than $1.7 million to our conservation and advocacy work and this year they are expected to give in excess of $2.3 million. New regular donors and members who have joined and contributed to the Society through face-to-face campaigns have enabled Forest & Bird to accomplish an enormous amount and to reverse declining membership.

In 2015 more than 5,000 people signed up to donate monthly to Forest & Bird thanks to our agency Aida for Good. Aida has established teams of fundraisers in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The fundraisers hit the streets six days a week to speak with potential new donors, as well as our existing members and supporters from time to time. This means each individual will speak to roughly 50 people a day or 1,200 a month! That is a lot of conservation conversations.

Chris Higgins and Juliette Tan are two experienced and enthusiastic fundraisers, who were happy to give some insight into their experiences representing Forest & Bird.

Chris, originally from Birmingham, England, has been on the Forest & Bird campaign for a year and a half. “The

Aida’s fundraisers leave no stone unturned. Freddie the fundraiser was surprised when Forest & Bird president Andrew Cutler opened the door to him in Wellington last June.

reason I came to New Zealand was to experience the environment and the natural wildlife. I really enjoy working for Forest & Bird because I get to meet all the Kiwis out there, get the real Kiwi experience and travel across the country.”

“The best thing about it is we get to raise funds for great causes. I love what Forest & Bird does and I enjoy my job helping you do your job.”

John Oates, Chair of the South Auckland branch, saw Chris in action at South Auckland’s Eye on Nature film night in November. John observed Chris sign up a family to a KCC membership and he was “impressed with his knowledge and the way he represented Forest & Bird.”

I speak to about 50 people a day, about 300 people a week and [each week] I hope to inspire about 15 new donors for Forest & Bird.

Chris Higgins, face-to-face fundraiser

Face-to-face fundraisers like Chris Higgins and Juliette Tan helped raised $1.7m for Forest & Bird last year.

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Juliette is a native Kiwi from North Shore, Auckland.

Having worked for Forest & Bird for seven months, she has found there is some confusion about Forest & Bird and what it does. “The most common misconception is that we are like Greenpeace or we’re with the Department of Conservation.” She clears up the confusion quickly and moves on to talking about Forest & Bird’s need for support.

She says she always finds time in her busy day to chat with long-time members and listen to their experiences and memories of Forest & Bird. “I think the best thing about talking to people every day is the stories that they share.

People that used to be in the kids’ club…and they receive the magazines and love talking about it.” With fundraisers like these, it's no surprise that many people start their journey with Forest & Bird on a doorstep or street corner! *For more information about regular giving and our faceto-face programme, please contact Adria Lopez Mackay on 04 8031011.

Biodiversity

Sea spider hunt An American PhD student tracked down an elusive semi-aquatic spider at Katikati, thanks to a little help from Forest & Bird members Bryce McQuillan, Angela Simpson and renowned naturalist Peter Maddison.

Desis marina (Desidae) is a semi-aquatic spider endemic to the coasts of New Zealand. Incredibly, these spiders can survive up to three weeks submerged under high tides. New Zealand, with its vast aquatic biodiversity, is a prime location for these semi-aquatic spiders but little is known about their biology. In the 1980s Colin McLay reported locating D. marina under the holdfasts of kelp on the Kaikōura Peninsula. In other places these spiders have been observed living on coastal banks in rock crevices and under shells.

Last year, the American Philosophical Society gave American PhD student Sandra Correa-Garhwal a grant to travel to New Zealand to collect Desis marina and study the unique characteristics of its silk.

After an unsuccessful time tracking down Desis marina in Otago and Kaikōura, Sandra travelled to Rotorua to team up with wildlife photographers Angela Simpson and Bryce McQuillan in Katikati in the Bay of Plenty. It was her last hope of finding these elusive spiders.

They took Sandra to Katikati and introduced her to Peter Maddison, a renowned entomologist and naturalist who was very excited to learn about their expedition. Peter is a Distinguished Life Member of Forest & Bird.

Bryce is a macro and wildlife photographer and coauthor of A Photographic Guide to New Zealand Spiders.

He suggested searching at night, during mid tide, when they were thought to be out of their retreats in the sandstone cliffs.

After a daytime recce, the team drove back to Kauri Point, Katikati, at about 11.30pm. Unfortunately the tide was still pretty high and they had no access to the sandstone where the spiders reside. They waited for a few hours but it started to rain adding a further delay.

The team plans to write a scientific paper about Desis marina.

The intrepid spider-hunting team were determined to find Desis marina. Pictured: Angela (left), Peter and Sandra with Bryce (front). All Photos Bryce McQuillan

“Just before dawn, around 4am, the tide was about one third of the way out to low tide, the humidity was high and we had clear access to the collection site. We started by walking next to the sandstone cliff and within the first five minutes we found our first D. marina spider. Excitement overtook us and we overcame the fatigue from having been awake for more than 20 hours straight,” recalls Sandra.

“We kept asking each other questions and watched their behaviour closely. We very quickly learned this spider was an active hunter and not a sit-and-wait predator. It was unknown to us what prey they prefer. After about 10 minutes into the search, we found a few individuals feeding on amphipods (sand hoppers). We believe that D. marina is unlikely to be habitat bound, but is instead found in places where there is a sustainable food source. We now know that this food source includes amphipods,” explained Bryce.

Sandra was able to collect specimens to take back to the US for her research. The group is now planning to write a scientific paper on their exciting sea spider find. *Sandra Correa-Garhwal is a fourth-year doctoral student at the University of California Riverside. She is investigating the molecular and structural composition and evolution of silk from semi-aquatic spiders.

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Our people

Visionary legacy of a farmer conservationist

The great-grandfather of New Zealand conservation passed away in December aged 91 years. Gordon Stephenson’s achievements for nature and sustainable farming will live on, as Katherine Hay and Jon Wenham explain.

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G

ordon Stephenson was always convinced that given the right opportunities farmers and other community members would become actively involved in environmental stewardship. And, with a bit of his typical gentle persuasion, many did. His legacy of 4,000 QEII covenants, celebrated in May 2015, was a wonderful testament to his ability to get others involved – more than 180,000ha of native bush are now protected in perpetuity on private land.

Gordon was a long-time Forest & Bird member and was honoured with a Distinguished Life Membership in 2000, following years of involvement with the South Waikato branch. He served on Forest & Bird’s National Executive from from 1988 to 1990.

His commitment endured to the end of his life; recently, aged 91, he rode his trusty farmbike to meet Waikato and South Waikato Forest & Bird members at Jim Barnett Reserve and talk about the reserve, its history and the ongoing work there.

Gordon was the driving force behind the establishment of many organisations and initiatives that at the time were innovative and groundbreaking, and are now cemented into local, regional and national life. He worked tirelessly with communities, iwi, councils, researchers, businesses and government agencies to achieve agreement on actions needed to address environmental issues.

Despite suffering Guillain-Barre Syndrome in 2005 at the age of 81, which left him completely paralysed for some time, Gordon continued to work on environmental projects.

Gordon and Celia emigrated from the UK in 1958, and came to the South Waikato in 1960 as 50:50 sharemilkers on a farm at Lichfield, and bought their farm at Waotu (near Putaruru) in 1964 that they transformed from a weed-infested and only recently ‘broken in’ property, into a productive modern dairy farm with quality pasture and fenced off bush. It was an exemplar of how productive farming and the protection of indigenous biodiversity can go hand in hand.

Gordon’s first public involvement was with Federated Farmers. He moved up the ranks to become Chair of the dairy section from 1973 to 1977.

He realised farmers had a strong interest in preserving natural areas on their land but no mechanism to do so. This seeded an idea and a seven-year campaign followed, with Gordon lobbying farmers, politicians and public servants and persuading Federated Farmers of the merits of the idea. His work resulted in the establishment of the QEII National Trust in 1977. He was deputy chair for 10 years.

In 1976 Gordon was invited to join the Environmental Council, a role he filled for 12 years, including many as Deputy Chair. He initiated a landscape study of the Karioi area near Raglan. He also headed a team undertaking the first national study of the state of New Zealand’s wetlands, which resulted in the comprehensive Wetlands: A Diminishing Resource in 1983. In 1986 his own book entitled Wetlands: Exploring New Zealand’s Shy Places was published, a personal and very accessible account of the wonders of wetlands. The wetland story continued when he and David Lawrie joined forces in 1999 to set up the National Wetland Trust to be a national advocate for these special ecosystems.

When regional councils were established in 1989, Gordon saw an opportunity to establish a regional version of the Environmental Council.

He gained the agreement of the new CEO and Chair of Environment Waikato, and the Advisory Committee for Regional Environment (ACRE) was born.

In 1990 he was appointed Chair of the newly established Waikato Conservation Board. Gordon suggested there needed to be recognition for the many farmers who were looking after their land in a sustainable way. This led to the Farm Environment Awards for the Waikato region. Twenty years later a national awards scheme was set up. In 2011, the first supreme national winner received the ‘Gordon Stephenson Trophy’.

Good conservation is about getting the right people working together, for the best results Gordon Stephenson Gordon was instrumental in setting up the South Waikato Environmental Initiative (SWEI) that allocated the mitigation funding from Kinleith Pulp and Paper Mill to support farmers to voluntarily undertake riverside fencing and planting. This approach was used as a model by Environment Waikato for its ‘Clean Streams Project’. He was also involved in setting up the Waikato Catchment Ecological Enhancement Trust to allocate mitigation funding from Mighty River Power. He was also a trustee of the New Zealand Landcare Trust and a member of South Island High Country Review Committee.

The Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust, in the Waikato, is possibly the most remarkable example of Gordon’s confidence in getting community members onside. The ancient forest offers a

sanctuary for populations of many of our most endangered species. The original vision was David Wallace’s but Gordon was involved with the trust from the outset, being deputy chair from the inception in 2002, with a later stint as Chairman. Years of hard work have seen the 3,400ha of forest enclosed with 47km of pestproof fence (the longest in the world) and near-complete eradication of all mammalian predators.

Gordon also had an interest in research and scholarship, serving on the Council of Lincoln College, later to become Lincoln University, from 1979 to 1988. He was an assessor for the Foundation for Research Science and Technology, and supported several university research programmes in their development phases, including the FRST Forest Fragments programme (in partnership with Landcare Research). He chaired the Science Committee of Maungatautari Ecological Island from 2003 and oversaw a wide range of research projects.

Gordon was the recipient of many awards: Honorary Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects (1983), New Zealand Medal (1990), Loder Cup (with Celia) 1992, Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (1998), Biodiversity Accolade Award (2000), and 2014 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Waikato.

New Zealand and the Waikato region continue to reap the benefit of his wisdom and leadership, as well as the long-term outcomes of the many environmental stewardship initiatives he established and supported over 50 years.

Family farewell Gordon Stephenson passed away on Boxing Day 2015 with his wife Celia and family at his side. He was farewelled firstly at Pikitu Marae, Waotu, where he was an honorary kaumātua. The following day, at a ceremony at Waikato University, he was honoured with tributes from family and friends, who all spoke of his many qualities: modesty, vision, determination, respect and being a wonderful father and husband.

Gordon Stephenson (1924-2015)

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Going places

Kings of the ocean It’s the place to see seabirds, whales, seals and dolphins up close by boat or on land.

David Brooks explores the natural wonders of Kaikōura, our marine life capital.

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northern royal albatross glides effortlessly just centimetres over a gently rolling sea before gently turning towards our boat, furrowing a line in the water with the tip of its three-metre wing span. Impressive but far less graceful was its later takeoff. Wings straining and legs galloping over the surface, the albatross looked more like a fully laden jumbo jet struggling to become airborne.

A trip with Albatross Encounter in Kaikōura was a very special experience. I admit to being a bit of a bird nerd but I’d had never before seen albatrosses and petrels close up on the ocean. Kaikōura was the perfect place to meet some of these awe-inspiring birds.

Our skipper Gary told us the warm weather and flat seas meant we would have to go further out to sea than usual to find the birds. Once we were well offshore, he stopped the boat and placed netting filled with fish scraps into the sea against the hull. Cape and Westland petrels soon appeared, followed by Salvin’s albatrosses, aggressive northern giant petrels and a couple of white-capped albatrosses.

Two northern royal albatrosses off the coast of Kaikōura. All photos: David Brooks

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Several huge northern royal albatrosses landed nearby, cautious at first but soon edging in to feed. The birds showed no fear as faces peered at them from just a metre or two away. Unusually, no wandering albatrosses came to feed but Gary, who has been leading these trips for 17 years, said the seven northern royals were probably a record.

The trip to Kaikōura was a long overdue first for me and I want to return soon. While the marine life is the focus, there are also nice bush walks on the lower slopes of the Kaikōura mountains as well as more challenging trips for keen trampers.

Whale watching tours are one of the biggest attractions and the Whale Watch Kaikōura company claims 95 percent of its trips include a sighting of a giant sperm whale. Just 15 minutes after setting out, we saw one, although most of its giant bulk remained concealed underwater. The most visible sign was the telltale plume of spray every time it breathed out.

As the whale dived, its massive tail rose out of the water before gently sinking out of view. We didn’t find any other whales that morning but saw the same one resurface more than an hour later out of the depths of the Kaikōura Canyon. Anyway, there were other things to see during the two-and-a half-hour trip, including dusky dolphins and several species of seabirds.

The canyon plunges up to 1200 metres below the sea’s surface just south of Kaikōura. The mixing of cold and warm currents draws nutrients towards the surface, triggering a food chain that stretches from plankton up to the predators we love to see – whales, dolphins, seals and seabirds.

A walk around Kaikōura Peninsula provides great views of the mountains that appear to burst straight out of the Pacific

and of large colonies of red-billed gulls. Point Kean, on the side closest to the town, is a good starting point, although some of the parking spaces may be occupied by seals.

If the tide is out and seals aren’t blocking the way, you can walk around the peninsula along the base of the cliffs.

During spring and summer, you also need to take care not to disturb the red-billed gull colonies, although they will almost certainly disturb you with their noise and odour.

When we visited early in the breeding season in November, only a few fluffy grey chicks were visible.

If you take the path along the top of the cliffs, you will pass a fenced off area created by The Hutton’s Shearwater Charitable Trust as a new nesting site for the seabird claimed as Kaikōura’s own. This site is an insurance policy against the risk of disaster at the shearwaters’ only two remaining natural nesting sites high in the seaward Kaikōura mountains. The trust is just one of the local conservation projects the Kaikōura branch of Forest & Bird has been closely involved in.

Seabirds nesting in mountains are an oddity. So are seal pups playing in a waterfall pool a quarter of a kilometre into hillside bush. The pool at Ohau Point, 27km north of Kaikōura, has become famous with visitors from all over the world.

Following the path next to the stream, we saw pups lolling in small pools or clambering over rocks on their way up to the waterfall. Seven pups were at the waterfall, chasing, lunging and playfully nipping at each other to perfect the skills needed to survive as adults.

Back by the shore, there is plenty to see too. Seals twirl in the surf in a marine ballet or snooze on rocks, red-billed gulls screech and white-fronted terns diligently bring tiny silver fish back to nests. All of this is happening right on the edge of State Highway 1.

New Zealand fur seals at Ohau Point, near Kaikōura.

Getting there Directions:

Kaikōura is about two hours’ drive from Picton and about two and a half hours from Christchurch.

Staying there:

Plenty of options from luxury to camping and backpackers’ hostels. It’s popular in the warmer months especially, so booking ahead is a good idea.

More information: Go to www.kaikoura.co.nz

A sperm whale dives into the depths of the Kaikōura Canyon before resurfacing more than an hour later.

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Our partners

SOLARCITY Solarcity is a solar power business that wants to help people reduce their carbon footprint. Jess Winchester explains why the new Solarcity partnership with Forest & Bird fits with our vision.

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limate disruption could be the worst environmental danger of our age, threatening to tip many of our most vulnerable species over the brink of extinction.

Forest & Bird is committed to taking action to reduce carbon emissions and building strong ecosystems that can withstand this threat to their survival.

Solar power systems generate clean pure energy from the sun. All of the science suggests that when you install solar panels on your home, you help combat greenhouse gas emissions and their effects on global warming. So partnering with Solarcity, which shares Forest & Bird’s determination to protect the environment, was a logical step.

Solarcity has been around since the early days of solar energy. CEO Andrew Booth was an international director of Greenpeace and always believed there had to be a better way than using fossil fuels to generate power.

He said: “Protecting the environment is central to everything we do and in 2011 we were the first solar energy company in the world to gain carboNZero accreditation. We are committed to reducing New Zealand’s carbon footprint and helping our nation to become powered 100 percent on renewable energy.

“Following the historic climate agreement at the end of 2015, it’s now up to all of us to take meaningful action to reduce the planet’s carbon emissions. Tackling climate change can seem daunting but going solar is something many of us can do. If five percent of households in New Zealand installed solar to meet their daytime energy needs New Zealand’s carbon emissions would decrease by 56,400 cubic tonnes.”

Solarcity has signed a sponsorship agreement with Forest & Bird that will help suppport our work. It has also pledged to donate $200 to Forest & Bird every time one of our supporters signs up for one of its solarZero energy services or buys one of its solar panel systems.

“With our smart, new solarZero plan you can now buy solar power without having to buy the panels. The solar * Solarcity is the only solar power supplier to offer a donation to Forest & Bird when its product is purchased by a supporter. When making a financial commitment we actively encourage our supporters to research and identify those products that best match their needs. Forest & Bird does not take responsibility for the operation of Solarcity products.

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power is still generated on your rooftop, but we install, monitor and repair the system over its 20-year lifetime. You just pay a low, fixed monthly fee for solar. That’s clean, inflation-free power which is good for the wallet and great for the planet,” Mr Booth added.

To find out more about going solar, go to solarcity.co.nz/ residential/enquire and note ‘Forest and Bird’ in the promo code so you’re identified as one of our supporters.

How solar energy works

1 Solar panels – Panels are made of photovoltaic (PV)

cells, which convert sunlight into direct current (DC) electricity throughout the day.

2 Micro-inverter – Sits underneath the solar panel and

converts the DC electricity into the alternating current (AC) electricity.

3 Switchboard – The AC electricity is sent from the

inverter to your switchboard and then into your home to power your lights and appliances.

4 Two-way meter – Measures your energy use. When

the solar system generates more power than you immediately need, the excess is sent back to the grid.

5 Power grid – You will still need grid power at night and

when sunlight levels are low.

6 In-home monitoring – You can monitor your solar

generation and usage in real time.

7 Solar battery – stores excess solar energy generated

during the day so it can be used at night and when grid prices are high.

SOURCE: SOLARCITY

Focus on flora

Rare native no longer

‘extinct’

Volunteers are needed for the New Zealand Indigenous Flora Seed Bank project, which was involved in an exciting discovery last summer.

By Craig McGill and Jessica Schnell An international project to safeguard New Zealand’s unique plant biodiversity is aiming to ensure that pygmy goosefoot will never be ‘extinct’ again. Dysphania pusilla, or pygmy goosefoot, was believed extinct until its rediscovery in the summer of 2015. Seed from the rediscovered plants have been collected and are now secured in cold storage ready to help re-establish the population should it disappear again.

The collection and banking of the Dysphania pusilla seed is part of a bigger project to collect, study and conserve seed of New Zealand’s flora for future use. The project is being led from Massey University in partnership with the Department of Conservation, AgResearch, Landcare Research, the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in the United Kingdom. The project is part of the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership – the largest ex-situ conservation programme in the world, with a network that covers 80 countries. The

Dysphania pusilla. Photographer: Aalbert Rubergen

Millennium Seed Bank Partnership is based at Kew’s country garden, Wakehurst Place in West Sussex.

The New Zealand project has been training collectors throughout the country who will collect and send seed of New Zealand’s flora to Palmerston North. So far, nearly 100 collectors have been trained. Once the seed reaches Palmerston North a dedicated group of volunteers extract, clean and dry it in preparation for banking.

Before banking, a small portion of the seed is x-rayed to make sure the seed is full and free from pests.

Not all seed is able to be dried for banking. For example kohekohe seed dies if dried below 30-40 percent moisture. Part of the project is to try and determine which seed can be dried for banking and what other ways seed that cannot be dried can be stored.

The project is funded though the Massey University Strategic Innovation Fund and the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board. The George Mason Charitable Trust has also provided funding for the purchase of equipment.

Since the project began in October 2013 over 88 species have been collected and banked. The project is always looking for volunteers to help with the collecting and processing of the seed (see panel). *For general information on the project please contact the project leader Craig McGill (C.R.McGill@ massey.ac.nz).

Anthea McClelland cleans Pseudopanax arboreus (five finger tree) seeds she helped collect (above) in the Waitakere Ranges.

Seedbank volunteer Anthea McClelland, Forest & Bird Manawatu branch chairperson, is a volunteer seed cleaner at the project’s base at Massey University, in Palmerston North.

Her job is to clean and weigh the seeds and check they are viable – using x-rays and a germination test.

“I put my hand up because I was interested in it. It was something different. It’s fascinating work. I’m not a scientist but I was trained up on how to do this work.

“If something isn’t done then a lot of these species are going to be lost because of climate change, especially our alpine species.” *If you would like to contribute to this national conservation effort, please contact seed bank coordinator Jessica Schnell. Seed collectors are needed from around the country.

Seed processors need to be within commuting distance of Palmerston North. Email J.L.Schnell@massey. ac.nz.

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In the field

NATIVE FORESTS MATTER

Pests are destroying our biggest sink of plant carbon – native forests. Here you can see possum damage at Tangowahine Forest, Northland. Photo: Brad Windust

It’s time the Government valued the role our native forests play in storing carbon and reducing our global emissions, as Ann Graeme explains.

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arbon dioxide is the bulk greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. It absorbs the sun’s heat, warming the atmosphere. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that we can do something about it. We can keep carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere by keeping our stores of carbon intact. This means keeping fossil fuels in the ground, protecting the world’s great forests, and growing more plants to capture more carbon.

Green plants capture carbon dioxide gas from the air and change it by photosynthesis into roots, stems and leaves, which become a store or “sink” of carbon. A tree is about 50 percent carbon. With its massive trunk and branches, a tree represents a big store of carbon.

Nearly a quarter of our country is clothed in native forest, storing about 300 tonnes of carbon per hectare. Of all the carbon stored in living vegetation in New Zealand, native forests hold 83 percent – the lion’s share.

But many native forests are sick, the emaciated trees browsed by possums, the saplings stripped by 48

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deer and goats, the seeds and fruits eaten by rats. The deep layer of dead leaves and twigs that covered the forest floor is now thin and bare.

The vast carbon store is diminishing.

Instead of growing and taking in more carbon, some native forests are losing it back to the air as carbon dioxide and methane.

Some forests have had pest control since 1990. It is estimated that these forests have been able to take in or “sequester” between 50 and 90 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. But all of our forests need possum, rats, deer, goat and pig control and the control techniques are getting better and cheaper every year.

Possums, rats and stoats can now be controlled for around $7 per hectare per year – so for less than $40 million a year we could carry out significant pest control over all our publicly owned conservation forests. If goats were targeted too the total annual cost would still be less than $70 million. This would slash the carbon emissions from our deteriorating forest sink and start to lower our national emission level by

sequestering carbon back into the recovering forest.

The spin-offs would be priceless!

Not only the atmosphere would benefit but native forests would flourish and so would the birds, lizards and insects that depend upon them. Water catchments would also be boosted because the revitalised forest soils would intercept and store more rain. Storm flooding and erosion would be reduced and there would be more constant flows from streams in summer, which would mitigate droughts.

But what about pine plantations?

While they are a much smaller store of carbon – about five percent of the total – and they store per hectare on average only a third of the carbon of native forest, they are very effective in sequestering carbon because they grow so fast. The government rewards them with carbon credits.

So far, so good. But growing pine trees comes at a cost – between $2,000 and $50,000 per hectare. This cost reflects the fossil fuels used in their creation. Land must be cleared and the trees planted, cared and,

harvested, and then the wood needs to be processed. Timber may be used in buildings and its carbon will endure for the life of the building. But a lot of our pine trees go into newspaper or toilet paper and in a flash (or a flush) will be decaying and releasing carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.

But let’s not knock growing pine trees. We need to take action quickly and pine trees are a fast option. Pine trees planted now are going to take in carbon dioxide and store carbon for decades to come. If and when they are harvested the end use of that timber could be more permanent.

We could adopt different types of forestry. At present our commercial plantations are almost entirely devoted to fast-growing, low-value trees. We could grow better quality wood for more enduring uses. We could grow it in ‘continuous cover forest’, meaning a forest of mixed species where trees are selectively logged and the land never left bare to wind and erosion. Such a forest would be a continual carbon sink and provide high-value timber.

Shrublands or scrub already accounts for eight percent of our vegetation carbon store and twothirds of this, six million hectares, is in private ownership. Shrubland is short, dense vegetation of shrubs, ferns and young trees. If it was destocked and managed to control the pests, in time it would grow into permanent native forest, storing carbon, restoring biodiversity and providing good water catchment management. The Government is offering shrubland owners incentives in the form of carbon credits. This could lead to better land use of the steep and eroding hill country in places such as the East Coast. Like pine trees, regenerating shrubland is very effective at sequestering carbon dioxide from the air.

Pine forestry and reverting shrublands are part of the carbon picture but they are dwarfed by the actual and potential carbon sink that is in our vast native forests.

And yet there is no financial carrot to encourage the protection of the existing forest sink or enhance its ability to grow and store more carbon. New Zealand’s standing native forests receive no carbon

credits and this reveals a gaping hole for developed (and developing) countries in the international system derived from the Kyoto Accord.

The United Nations has a programme to bring forests into the fight against climate change, to measure their contribution and to pay for it. The plan is called REDD, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation. So far over US$280 million has been contributed, most of it from Norway, but much more is needed to turn the tide.

Meanwhile here in New Zealand we continue to neglect our native forests – day by day letting pests destroy our biggest sink of plant carbon. We are squandering the opportunity to have cheap carbon storage, protect our catchments, reduce erosion and the impact of droughts, and allow our hard-pressed native wildlife to flourish.

Even if we cannot persuade the international community to reward us for our pest control, we could – and should – take this initiative ourselves.

It would be a win-win situation for climate change, our carbon-catching forests and our biodiversity.

Location of native forest and shrubland plots on an 8km2 grid across New Zealand.

Image: Landcare Research

Carbon cycle Carbon dioxide is part of a cycle in nature. Plants remove carbon dioxide from the air and convert it into a store of vegetation.

This process is called ‘sequestration’. The stores of carbon are called ‘sinks’.

We give carbon credits for growing pine trees. Why aren’t there financial incentives for the protection of existing native forest carbon ‘sinks’? Photo: Caroline Wood

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Going places

Magical marine mammals

Group of southern elephant seals, the largest species of seal in the world. All photos: Kat Goddard

Our marine expert Kat Goddard describes her once-in-a-lifetime voyage to the subAntarctic Islands on a recent Heritage Expeditions Forest & Bird partnership expedition.

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n abundance of marine mammals, vast seabird colonies and brightly flowering megaherbs make New Zealand’s uninhabited sub-Antarctic islands a fascinating place to visit. I was lucky enough to see them all during the Heritage Expeditions Forest & Bird partnership expedition to the islands in December.

Waking up at 4am on Day 5 to see the sun rise in Perseverance Harbour, exposing the eroded remains of a shield volcano that erupted some 6-11 million years ago, I had my first glimpse of Campbell Island. It was an amazing sight and a good omen for what was to be my most magical day (of many) on this adventure.

Campbell Island/Motu Ihupuku, is New Zealand’s southernmost sub-Antarctic territory, approximately 660km south of Bluff. A smaller group of passengers along with our expert guides, including Rodney Russ, expedition leader and founder of Heritage Expeditions, disembarked to walk over to the island’s Northwest Bay. Rodney’s wealth of knowledge and passion was contagious. He knew where to find the rare flightless teal and endemic snipe and could point out every kind of plant and seabird that we passed.

The spectacular meadows of megaherbs (large leafy flowering plants) that we saw will forever be etched in my mind. Their recovery on the main island after the removal of cattle and sheep shows that restoration following pest control is possible.

Beyond the plant life, the bird life was fantastic. From watching the endemic Campbell Island snipe play, to

Campbell Island landscape with mega herbs flowering.

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walking among many giant petrel chicks and seeing numerous southern royal albatrosses on nests, we were spoilt. Could this day get any better?

It could! As we wriggled along an overgrown riverbed to get down to Northwest Bay, we were welcomed by a New Zealand sea lion letting us know we were in his territory. We had seen many previously during the trip but no matter, he still made my heart melt.

Then a lone elephant seal greeted us. Never having seen one in real life before I was so excited to watch him blob around. It wasn’t until we walked further around we realised that we were surrounded by elephant seals, fur seals, New Zealand sea lions and even a single leopard seal.

Southern royal albatross on nest.

On our way back to the ship we were lucky enough to see a pair of southern royal albatross go through their elaborate greeting rituals and display of affections as they returned to their nest.

This magical day was just one highlight of a memoryfilled trip. I met some incredibly passionate people on this adventure and I hope I have inspired some of you reading this to visit the ‘forgotten islands’ of the South Pacific.

Heritage Expeditions sponsors Forest & Bird and over the years company donations like theirs have helped fund work to protect critically endangered marine mammals, seabirds and the wild places they inhabit. Join Heritage Expeditions and Forest & Bird on the next incredible voyages to the subAntarctic Islands this December. See the advert on page 3 or www.heritage-expeditions.com

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Forest & Bird

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Forgotten species

Kawakawa looper Visitors to our native forests will often see holes in leaves of kawakawa, Piper excelsum. Holes in leaves that are webbed together are made by one of several species of leafroller caterpillars (Tortricidae). However, most of the holes are made by caterpillars of the kawakawa looper, Cleora scriptaria (Walker, 1860).

If you look on the underside of young kawakawa leaves you may see small green looper caterpillars.

Sometimes they are seen dangling down from a leaf, suspended on a silk thread. Older caterpillars are green or brown, often with long white stripes.

They hide away during the day. At night they loop their way

2mm “Looping” is faster than crawling: small caterpillar of Kawakawa looper.

up the plant stems and feed on young leaves. Take a torch and look for them once it becomes dark. The caterpillars are typical loopers with three pairs of true legs near the head and two pairs of false legs (prolegs) at the rear end.

Looping is faster than crawling.

When the caterpillars are fully grown they make a chamber in the litter used for pupation. The adult moth pushes itself out of the pupal case and climbs onto a plant or stick where it hangs and pumps up its wings. When the wings are hard and dry, it can fly. The moths are triangular shaped and mottled shades of brown. The colouring is similar to other species found in the forest and identification of this moth requires practice.

Kawakawa looper caterpillars also feed on leaves of other trees and shrubs. A list of known host plants is at http://plant-synz.landcareresearch. co.nz/SearchForm.aspx.

5mm

Kawakawa looper, Cleora scriptaria (Lepidoptera: Geometridae).

The holes are made by caterpillar feeding.

All photos: Tim Holmes

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Parting shot

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n spring New Zealand’s coastal waters experience an annual phenomenon known as the plankton bloom.

It drives most scuba divers crazy. When we transition from winter into spring the sunshine hours increase. The extra energy from sunlight, coupled with nutrients built up during winter, spurs a rapid growth in phytoplankton – microscopic chlorophyll-containing plants. The plankton reduces visibility and turns the water green, which is what bothers divers. But for salps, life couldn’t be any better.

Salps are transparent barrel-shaped animals that move through the ocean gulping up plankton by pumping water through their gelatinous bodies. When plankton is abundant salps may reproduce rapidly. I’m talking about a population explosion. In just a few days the sea can be turned into a pulsating soup. Salps are sort of gloopy so they also don’t find much favour with divers.

I usually shoot underwater with my macro lens in spring, as the reduced visibility doesn’t scream landscape photography. This year the salps accumulated in such dense numbers that I found myself grabbing my wide-angle lens and embracing the weirdness of diving in a salp soup.

It was out of this world.

Check out Alison’s underwater video Salp Soup: https://vimeo. com/146873587 Alison Perkins, Auckland www.inspiredtodive.com

PARTING SHOT PRIZE Send us a stunning photo of one of New Zealand’s special native plants or animals. The winner will receive the lightweight and easy-touse VANGUARD ESPOD CX 203AGH TRIPOD RRP $140.00.

The aluminium tripod provides a stable and lightweight (1.72kg) support with an innovative pistol-grip head. The tripod extends to 155cm and folds down to 59cm. It is extremely fast to set up with just one hand leaving the other on the camera.

The tripod legs have three sections that can be quickly adjusted by way of flip locks. An anti-shock ring on the centre column helps absorb shock, thereby reducing camera shake, while a bull’s eye bubble level ensures accuracy when levelling your camera to the horizon.

This prize is courtesy of CR Kennedy for more details see www.crkennedy.co.nz

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

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