Forest & Bird Magazine 328 May 2008

FOREST BIRD N u m b e r 3 2 8 • M AY 2 0 0 8

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

Manapouri • Mokihinui • Awarua Wetlands Ulva Island • Te Ara Kakariki • Envirovote

Binoculars, rangefinders and spotting scopes for nature observation

Binoculars, rangefinders and spotting scopes for successful hunting Ultravid BR

Televids

Nature constantly challenges those willing to brave it‌ and for over 100 years Leica have produced optical instruments designed to operate perfectly even in the most gruelling environmental conditions. Leica binoculars and spotting scopes will bring you closer to nature with images rich in contrast and outstanding colour rendition.

Leica Ultravids are purpose built to handle extreme conditions with their lightweight rubber armoured construction. The superior Leica optics display distant objects with extreme sharpness and contrast. Waterproof to a depth of 5 metres the Ultravid BR is available in a range of both standard and compact models. Combining the latest technical advances with legendary Leica ruggedness makes the Ultravid the class leader in binocular precision.

Ultravid Compacts

Leica Televid Spotting Scopes guarantee an intensely exhilarating viewing experience that’ll put you right there amongst the action.

Both the 77mm and 62mm models are waterproof, feature the patented Leica dual focusing device and offer a choice of standard, zoom and wide angle eyepieces.

Superior optics coupled with robust and precision mechanics make every Leica Trinovid model the optimal companion for all outdoor activities. Strong aluminium die cast housing and soft-touch armouring protects the binocular and ensures slipproof handling even when wearing gloves or when wet. Impact resistant and waterproof to 5 metres, the Trinovid is a proven performer that won’t let you down.

Trinovid BN

For your nearest retailer or more information on Leica Sport Optics including the full range of Geovid, Ultravid, Trinovid, Duovid and Televid models, contact Lacklands Ltd on 09 6300753, www.lacklands.co.nz, email: info@lacklands.co.nz

FOREST BIRD

Number 328 • MAY 2008 www.forestandbird.org.nz

Proposed windfarm site, Otago

Janet Ledingham

Regulars

Features

Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc.

2 Comment

14 Manapouri: A Green Awakening

General Manager: Mike Britton Communications Manager: Helen Bain Advocacy Manager: Kevin Hackwell Services Manager: Julie Watson North Island Field Coordinator: Mark Bellingham South Island Field Coordinator: Chris Todd

3 Conservation Briefs

Central Office: Level 1, 90 Ghuznee St, Wellington.

PO Box 631, Wellington 6140.

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

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

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

Tel: (07) 576-5593 Fax: (07) 576-5109 Email: basilann@nettel.net.nz

A vote for the future by Peter Maddison

1000th ONE kiwi, New yellow-eyed penguin reserve, Vatthe wins award, Kakapo breeding, Race for Our River, Maui’s and the Minister, Robins move to Secretary, Frogwatch, Seaweek, Death by chocolate, More morepork, Kiwi finds monkey, Pateke released, The world’s biggest totara, High country park growing, New staff, Holy bat boxes!

40 Going Places Kaikoura – Walk on the Wild Side Kip Brook on the Kaikoura Wilderness Walkway

42 In the Field A Change in the Weather Ann Graeme looks at the impact of global warming on our native plants and animals.

Illustrations by Pamela Robinson.

44 Itinerant Ecologist Keeping Resolution Geoff Park contemplates Richard Henry’s watch on Resolution Island

46 Branching Out

Editor: Helen Bain PO Box 631, Wellington.

Tel: (04) 385-7374 Fax: (04) 385-7373 h.bain@forestandbird.org.nz Designer: Dave Kent Design dave@idiom.co.nz Prepress/Printing: Astra Print Advertising: Vanessa Clegg, Tel: 0275 420 337 Email: vanclegg@xtra.co.nz Karen Condon Tel 0275-420 338 Email: mack.cons@xtra.co.nz

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

National Bank sponsorship, Ruapehu Lodge warden, Film festival, KCC on Matiu/Somes, Obituary: Ian Barry, Environmentally driven, KCC kids grown up, Countdown at Kaipupu, Kiri Kiwi Awards.

50 Annual Report Report to members for the year ending 28 February, 2008

Helen Bain talks to the pioneering protagonists in this groundbreaking campaign and asks what we can learn from it today

17 The Big Wet Kathy Ombler explores the wildlife-rich Awarua Wetlands in Southland

20 Ulva Island – A Decade On Kathy Ombler checks up on Ulva Island 10 years after it was declared pest-free – is Stewart/Rakiura Island next?

23 Envirovote We ask the 20 most urgent conservation questions this election

25 Opinion Environment NZ 2007 – Must Try Harder?

Kevin Hackwell takes issue with the State of the Environment report

27 Readership survey Your chance to have your say on your magazine – and win!

31 Te Ara Kakariki Greenway – Joining the Green Dots Ian Spellerberg reports on an exciting restoration project in Canterbury

35 Mokihinui Magic Debs Martin visits the Mokihinui – a beautiful river under threat from hydro development

38 Ghost Birds Brent Stephenson describes what it is like to rediscover an “extinct” bird

COVER: The tomtit, photographed on Bench Island, is just one of the many bird species which are thriving thanks to pest control on Stewart/Rakiura and surrounding off-shore islands. See page 20.

PHOTOGRAPH: BRENT BEAVEN

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

1

Comment A vote for the future

Craig Potton

L

AST election, New Zealand voters were apparently most concerned with taxes (to cut or not to cut?), the trustworthiness (or otherwise) of the main protagonists Helen Clark and Don Brash, and the shadowy dealings of the Exclusive Brethren.

How quickly time has passed (and how quickly those “pressing” election issues have become the issues of yesterday) and already we are again in election year.

It feels as though there has been a real change in the air since the last election.

New Zealanders have become increasingly concerned about the growing pressures on our environment. The alarming frequency of reports of “one in 100 year” weather extremes of floods, droughts and storms suggests their concerns are well founded.

Certainly issues such as climate change, sustainability, and the need to achieve actual substance behind New Zealand’s often undeserved clean green reputation have become high profile topics for public debate.

We need to harness this re-invigorated public and political interest in environmental issues, and make sure that the environment is right up there as a top election issue. Health, education, welfare and of course the economy are typically the big election issues. We need to make sure the environment is up there with them.

That’s why this year we want to make sure that all political parties vying for your vote are aware of the important environmental challenges we are facing – and ensuring that they make a serious commitment to providing genuine solutions in terms of policy and legislative change that will last long after the electionyear brouhaha is over.

Our advocacy team has put together what we see as the most pressing environmental issues on which our elected representatives can make a real difference.

The focus is on the achievable – whether the issue is protecting our most pristine river catchments from hydro development, or saving our most vulnerable endemic species from extinction.

You can read those questions in this issue of the magazine, and we hope you (and the political candidates) will be hearing more of them as we head into the election.

The Save Manapouri campaign of several decades ago, which is also covered in this issue, highlights how much influence can be exerted on national decision-makers by an effective campaign which truly captures the support of the New Zealand public, especially in an election year. Manapouri showed that public opinion can make a real difference on conservation issues.

With this in mind, Forest & Bird plans to put the most pressing conservation questions we face today to our candidates at national level in the lead-up to the election, and I strongly encourage all our branches to also put them to candidates in their own electorates at local “meet the candidates” meetings.

By ensuring that those who wish to represent us in Parliament hear loud and clear that the environment is a high priority for voters, we can achieve real and significant gains for conservation this election.

Peter Maddison Forest & Bird President

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

PATRON: His Excellency the Hon. Anand Satyanand, Governor-General of New Zealand NATIONAL PRESIDENT: Dr Peter Maddison DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Dr Barry Wards NATIONAL TREASURER: Graham Bellamy EXECUTIVE COUNCILLORS: Rob Brown, Anne Fenn, Mark Fort, Dr Philip Hart, Donald Kerr, Janet Ledingham, Suzi Phillips, Craig Potton, Dr Gerry McSweeney, Associate Professor Liz Slooten.

DISTINGUISHED LIFE MEMBERS: Dr Bill Ballantine MBE, Stan Butcher QSM, Ken Catt QSM, Audrey Eagle CNZM, Dr Alan Edmonds, Gordon Ell ONZM, Dr Philip Hart, Hon. Sandra Lee-Vercoe QSO JP, Stewart Gray, Les Henderson, Joan Leckie QSM, Prof. Alan Mark DCNZM CBE, Dr Gerry McSweeney QSO, Geoff Moon OBE, Prof. John Morton QSO, Margaret Peace QSM, Guy Salmon, Lesley Shand MNZM, Gordon Stephenson CNZM, David Underwood.

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

2 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

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

Kylie Day

conservationbriefs

Hupai, the 1000th kiwi hatched in Operation Nest Egg.

A Grand Kiwi

O

PERATION Nest Egg celebrated the hatching of its 1000th kiwi chick in February.

Hupai (Maori for “to overcome”) hatched at Rotorua’s Kiwi Encounter on February 17 – an important milestone for the BNZ Save the Kiwi Trust as the 1000th chick to hatch in its Operation Nest Egg programme.

A month after hatching Hupai was released into a “kiwi crèche”, the 98-hectare predator free Bushy Park site near Wanganui. There Hupai will learn to forage and live independently.

When Hupai reaches a weight of one kilo – big enough to fend off predators – the kiwi will be returned to Waimarino to replenish kiwi populations in the area.

Caption

The trust’s executive director Michelle Impey says the arrival of this special North Island brown kiwi is a symbol of hope for our national icon.

Without BNZ Operation Nest Egg small kiwi populations would face an uncertain future, she says.

A century ago, kiwi numbered in the millions. Today there are less than 100,000 and without intervention they could face extinction. The main reason for their decline is the loss of chicks to predators such as stoats, ferrets, weasels, cats and dogs.

After release Operation Nest Egg kiwi stand a 65% chance of surviving their vulnerable first year of life. Without the programme, only 5% of kiwi reach adulthood.

Paul Gibson/Unique Pictorials

“Bug Man” Ruud Kleinpaste releases Hupai at Bushy Park.

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

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

3

conservationbriefs

Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick

Yellow-eyed penguins

New reserve for yellow-eyed penguins

T

HE Department of Conservation and the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust have bought farmland on the Catlins Coast to set up a new reserve to protect yellow-eyed penguins.

The 50 hectares of land at

Long Point is home to 10% of yellow-eyed penguins found on mainland New Zealand – nearly 50 breeding pairs.

The Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust raised $450,000 in just six weeks through a public appeal

to help buy this land, including a $130,000 donation from Forest & Bird’s Dunedin branch.

Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick said the reserve will also support New Zealand fur seals and sea lions, numer-

ous species of seabirds, rare coastal plants, small remnants of native forest and an archaeological site.

“It’s a stunning part of the picturesque Catlins coastline, which will now have better access and protection for existing animal and plant life.

It also has the potential for habitat restoration and for reintroducing sea bird species.”

Vatthe wins award

4 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

Forest & Bird Field Officer Sue Maturin, who has been instrumental in helping local people protect the forest.

Participants in recent Forest & Bird tours have undertaken successful trials in poisoning big leaf vine and it is hoped that wide-scale eradication will be possible.

Vatthe guides Bill, Phelda and Phelma dwarfed by a giant Nakatambol tree.

Sue Maturin

ATTHE, Vanuatu’s first conservation area, has been recognised for leadership in responsible tourism.

Vatthe Conservation Area, along with Wilderness Lodges NZ, has been awarded an Islands Hot 100 certificate by Florida-based magazine Islands in its inaugural Blue List and Islands Global Sustainable Tourism Awards.

The magazine selected 100 people, places and projects worldwide that are models of responsible tourism.

Vatthe Conservation Area covers about 3700 hectares and is possibly the largest intact lowland forest on a tropical island in the South Pacific. It is home to 44 species of birds, 11 species of bats and 10 species of skinks and geckos.

It is under threat from “big leaf” vine (Merrimia pelentata) which can smother forest, as well as introduced pigs, rats, cats and other pests.

Visitors to Vatthe can explore and help protect its natural and cultural diversity, guided by

Vatthe Conservation Area

Sue Maturin

V

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

Maui’s and the Minister

F

OREST & Bird’s proposal for a marine mammal sanctuary to protect Maui’s dolphins has been received by Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick.

With just 111 individuals remaining, Maui’s dolphin is the world’s rarest marine dolphin, hence the urgent need to establish a marine mammal sanctuary off the north-west coast of the North Island to protect them from threat of extinction.

Forest & Bird undertook wide public consultation before submitting its formal proposal to the minister in February and asking her to use her powers under the Marine Mammals

Protection Act to declare a marine mammal sanctuary.

Forest & Bird Conservation Advocate Kirstie Knowles says that while set nets are recognised as the biggest single threat to the species, other threats include pollution, boat strike and entanglement in trawl nets.

A marine mammal sanctuary is the only measure which can provide comprehensive protection across the dolphins’ range against all these threats, she says. Population projections show that any further humaninduced deaths increase the risk of extinction of Maui’s dolphin.

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

Simon Fordham/NaturePix

Steve Dawson/NZ Whale and Dolphin Trust

conservationbriefs

Kakapo breeding season off to a great start

T

HE breeding season of New Zealand’s most endangered bird, the kakapo, got off to a great start with five chicks hatched on Whenua Hou/ Codfish Island by April and two more on the way.

Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick says it is hugely exciting that two six-year-old kakapo females, Rakiura and Aparima, have laid eggs, because it was previously thought the minimum breeding age was nine years.

While seven chicks might

seem like a relatively small birth rate, for the Department of Conservation staff who monitor and protect the kakapo, it’s fantastic news.

Kakapo are extremely slow breeders and the new chicks are a crucial boost to the previous total kakapo population of just 86 birds. Kakapo last bred in 2005 when four chicks were produced, but the record year was in 2002 with 24 chicks.

To give kakapo chicks the best chance of survival, volunteers keep a nightly vigil to mind their nests, making sure the female incubates the eggs properly, and even using heat pads on the eggs to make sure they don’t go cold.

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

5

More morepork

M

OREPORK (ruru) are thriving in areas where introduced predators have been eradicated, new research shows.

Research by University of Auckland student Elisabeth Fraser, published in the New Zealand Journal of Zoology, suggests morepork numbers are higher in areas where poisons have been used to eradicate predators.

Previously there had been fears that morepork would be at risk of secondary poisoning

through feeding on rodents and insects that had eaten the poison.

Morepork are New Zealand’s only native species of owl and are found in North and South Island forests.

Fraser collected data on the number and frequency of morepork calls, an indication of the number of morepork present, at sites across the Waitakere ranges, including sites at Ark in the Park, a joint project involving Forest & Bird and Auckland Regional Council. More than twice as many calls were heard inside the Ark site, where rodents are controlled, than at unmanaged sites.

Fraser says there had been fears that poison used in pest control could have ongoing effects along the food chain, affecting species such as morepork, but this did not appear to be the case.

“In fact, the birds are thriving in these areas, probably due to the eradication of the rats and mice which feed on bird eggs and compete with the owls for food resources.”

Frogwatch

R

ESEARCHERS are seeking information from the public on any frogs they may have spotted.

Resident in Conservation Medicine at Auckland Zoo,

Stephanie Shaw, is continuing a project started by Phil Bishop of Otago University in 2001, looking at abundance, distribution and health of frogs in New Zealand.

As part of that work, she is distributing a questionnaire seeking information on frog sightings around the country. If you would like to receive a questionnaire, email: stephanie.shaw@aucklandcity.govt.nz

Robins move to Secretary safe haven

Department of Conservation/Te Papa Atawhai

Department of Conservation/Te Papa Atawhai

conservationbriefs

T

HIRTY Kakaruai/South Island robin have been transferred to Secretary Island in Fiordland National Park.

Department of Conservation Area Manager Reg Kemper says removal of stoats and deer from Secretary Island has provided a safe haven for the robins and other endangered species.

Robins are highly vulnerable to rat plagues and have disappeared from many areas on the mainland, so establishing populations on predator-free islands is vital in ensuring their survival, Kemper says.

In 2004 the Government announced $7 million funding over 10 years for the removal of stoats and deer from Secretary and Resolution Islands. Secretary has never had established rat or possum populations, making the 8000-hectare island an ideal target for restoration and protection of species.

Stoat trapping began on the island in 2005 and 168 stoats have since been caught. This 6 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

summer there was evidence of only one stoat on the island and DOC is confident that this poses no threat to the robins.

Intensive deer control has also removed 496 deer from Secretary Island since October 2006.

The introduction of the robins to Secretary Island is the first of several planned transfers of species that are most vulnerable to predators on the mainland. The transfer is the first project to be undertaken by the Fiordland Conservation Trust.

Intensive stoat control will take place on 20,000ha Resolution Island this year, which will be the largest island pest eradication undertaken in New Zealand. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

conservationbriefs

Forest & Bird cleans up for Seaweek BEACH clean-up held

by Forest & Bird during Seaweek in Wellington collected a mountain of rubbish to raise awareness of the harm littering can cause in the marine environment.

Forest & Bird Conservation Advocate Kirstie Knowles says the amount and volume of rubbish collected in just two hours by Forest & Bird – with the help of Minister for the Environment Trevor Mallard – along Oriental Bay was a shock.

“We just couldn’t believe how much rubbish was collected in a relatively small area: 30 kilograms. Not only was most of the rubbish a threat to the marine environment and marine life – some of it, such as a used syringe, sanitary pads and condoms, and broken glass, posed a direct risk to people using this popular beach.”

The most common material present was plastic, which comprised 89% of the total number of items of rubbish collected. This was concerning because plastic can remain in the marine environment for up to 250 years.

Volunteers were also surprised by the number of cigarette butts found – more than 2000. While many people think cigarette butts easily break down in the environment, they are made of plastic fibre and remain in the environment for up to five years.

“Many smokers don’t think of throwing their butts on the ground as ‘littering’. We’d like people to know that it is not OK – the beach is not an Minister for the Environment Trevor Mallard and Forest & Bird troops cleaning ashtray!” Kirstie Knowles says. up the beach at Oriental Parade.

“Wellingtonians love their beautiful harbour and the last WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP thing they want is to see it • Be careful about how you dispose of litter – put it in rubused as a rubbish dump. We bish bins or take it home to dispose or recycle. just ask that people enjoying food and drink at the beach • Don’t discard used fishing gear, such as lines and nets, in take care to dispose of it careor near the sea. fully in rubbish bins or take it • Reduce the amount of you litter you produce in the first home.” place, especially plastic and Styrofoam. Take re-usable The amount of rubbish shopping bags instead of accepting plastic bags at the found during the Wellington supermarket. beach clean-up would not be much different from that found • Recycle as much of your rubbish as possible. at other beaches around New • Don’t put waste substances, such as paint, oil and deterZealand, Kirstie Knowles says. gent, down drains – it will end up in the sea where it can “Littering affects our oceans harm marine life. and our beaches right around • Join a beach clean-up, and get your friends and commuthe country – and around the world. We can all do our bit nity involved. You could even “adopt” a piece of coastline to help stop our oceans being and regularly hold clean-up days. treated like rubbish dumps.”

Helen Bain

A

“Nature Tours” Australia & Beyond

Informative Naturalist / Birding leaders Small groups (Between 6 -14 Participants) • Scheduled tours or private charters.

Either fully accommodated or camping tours.

Inspiring NATURAL HISTORY destinations include: WA’s Kimberley • Canning Stock Route • Pilbara, Rudall River & South West.

Anne Beadell Highway & Flinders Ranges • Abrohlos, Christmas & Lord Howe Islands Plus Thailand, Bhutan, South Africa, Antarctica and Borneo For full tour details or a copy of our 2008 /09 tour program contact Tom or Sylvia at COATES WILDLIFE TOURS Phone (61 8) 9330 6066 • Fax (61 8) 9330 6077 Suite B8 Attadale Business Centre, 550 Canning Highway Attadale, West Australia 6156

E-MAIL: coates@iinet.net.au • WEB: www.coateswildlifetours.com.au GSA Coates Tours Licence no 9ta1135/36 w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

7

conservationbriefs

Pouakani: the world’s biggest totara

into the bowels of the earth.

The last significant volcanic ash eruption of the central North Island’s volatile past occurred about 1800 years ago ETWEEN Mangakino and – about the age of Pouakani the Pureora Forest Park itself. turn-off on State Highway 30 As well as totara, other stands one of the greatest living native species to reach great monuments in New Zealand: heights in the central volcanic the giant totara Pouakani. plateau include rimu, matai, Situated in a slight hollow, miro, rewarewa and kawaka. It Pouakani’s massive trunk was nearby at Pureora that one might at first be mistaken for of New Zealand’s most signifia silver-grey cliff or great rock cant conservation battles took outcrop glimpsed through the place in 1978, when protestors surrounding foliage, till one opposed to logging in the park stumbles into the clearing occupied platforms built in the around it and gets a clear view treetops. of this forest giant.

Some great walks can be It is not just its sheer size – enjoyed through ancient 39.5 metres high, with a diampodocarp forests in Pureora eter of 3.6 metres – that makes Forest Park yet none of the Pouakani so impressive. Its vast trees approach the sheer size bole emerges from a great earth of Pouakani. And, unlike its mound like a volcano, and it is younger brothers, Pouakani heavily textured, with knotted is bereft of the climbers and and convoluted roots heading dense masses of mosses, ferns

Barry Brickell

Barry Brickell

B

Kiwi finds monkey

A

NEW Zealand primatologist has discovered a new species of monkey.

Dr Jean-Phillipe Boubli, a primatologist at Auckland University, discovered the previously unknown type of uakari monkey after following native Yanomamo Indians on their hunting trips along the Rio Aracá, a tributary of the Rio Negro.

“They told us about this black uakari monkey, which was slightly different to the one we knew from Pico de Neblina National Park, where I’d worked earlier,” Boubli says.

Uakaris normally live in flooded river forests, but this one – named Cacajao ayresii after Brazilian biologist José Márcio Ayres – was finally found after a five-year search in a mountainous region on the Brazil-Venezuela border, far from its nearest relatives.

The Ayres uakari is confined to a very small area in a remote and rarely-visited region, where it is hunted by local people.

Boubli hopes a reserve will be created to protect the small, vulnerable population.

Little is known about the monkey’s habits, but Boubli’s 8 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

and other epiphytes that cling to many large forest trees.

Although located on private land just outside the park, Pouakani is protected and accessible to the public via a 20-minute bush track.

Despite its great age, Pouakani appears healthy.

Much of its centre may have rotted away but it has an abundance of vigorous new growth, and I could see no sign of large boughs having fallen in recent times.

Perhaps it was the ancient storms that “topped” the tree in its relative youth, causing it to grow back laterally, rather than developing the top-heavy growth of other old trees, which has made it more stable – rather like trimming a hedge.

Whatever the reason, Pouakani appears to be enjoying a period of well-earned tranquillity in its old age.

Barry Brickell

Jean-Phillipe Boubli

Pateke released

T

HIRTY pateke (brown teal) have been released into the open sanctuary at Tawharanui Regional Park in Auckland.

Auckland Regional Council Ayres Parks and Heritage Committee uakari Chairwoman Sandra Coney says New Zealand’s poor record observations of other ukaris suggest it lives in social groups in draining and clearing wetand probably eats seeds. Some land means much waterfowl habitat has been lost. of Boubli’s students will return Work at Tawharanui is an to Pico de Neblina to learn important part of turning that more about the monkey – information that could be vital around, Coney says.

The release was part of a in ensuring its survival. long-term restoration plan for Finding a new monkey species is “pretty cool,” Boubli says. the region’s only open sanctu“It shows how little we really ary that has already included the introduction of robin, know about the biodiversity whitehead, mokomoko and of the Amazon. If we are still finding monkeys, imagine how North Island brown kiwi. Other species, such as bellbirds, have many invertebrates and things returned and thrived naturally, like that are still out there. It’s thanks to predator control in pretty amazing.” the sanctuary.

Dave Hansford

Once widespread, the pateke is listed as nationally endangered and is considered one of the four rarest waterfowl in the world, with fewer than 1000 remaining in the wild. Their decline has been attributed to habitat loss and predation by introduced pests.

Although the pateke is present in small numbers on the Auckland mainland it has not established viable breeding populations, so the Pateke Recovery Group has been selecting release sites that will allow new populations of captive-bred pateke to thrive in the wild in protected areas such as Tawharanui.

Further releases this year are planned for Tutukaka in Northland, Cape Kidnappers in Hawke’s Bay and Tuhua (Mayor) Island. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

conservationbriefs

T

ing to exploit their toxic effects to control pests.

Beans of the cacao plant (Theobroma cacao) are rich in caffeine and its chemical relatives theobromine and theophylline, collectively called methylxanthines. To humans these are little more than benign stimulants, but to a number of animals they are highly toxic.

Veterinary journals are peppered with stories of dogs, cats, parrots, foxes, badgers and other animals dropping dead after finding chocolate or being fed it by well-meaning humans.

Humans are essentially immune to the toxic effects

Tan Suryadi Irvan

HE death of a kea from an overdose of chocolate highlights the potential for the toxins naturally found in chocolate to be used to control pests, New Scientist magazine has reported.

The dead kea was found outside a hotel kitchen in the Mount Cook Village. It had eaten more than 20 grams of dark chocolate, presumably pilfered from the kitchen garbage.

Kea, and many other species, are acutely sensitive to chemicals in chocolate that are harmless to humans in all but huge doses. Scientists are now studying these chemicals hop-

Black-naped terns have been seen nesting on Vatuira for the first time since rats were eradicated.

Fijian island now rat-free

R

ATS have been successfully eradicated from a Fijian island, home to internationally important numbers of seabirds, thanks to a partnership between BirdLife International and the Nagilogilo clan of Vatuira.

The small island of Vatuira, 15 kilometres from the coast of Fiji’s largest island Viti Levu,

is an Important Bird Area (IBA) for several seabird species.

Introduced Pacific rats were eating eggs and chicks, threatening the long-term survival of the 28,000 breeding pairs of black noddies, as well as bridled and black-naped terns.

The eradication process involved techniques that have been used successfully in New Zealand. Rat-specific poison baits were laid down in 2006 and subsequent monitoring had revealed that the island is now rat-free. Breeding seabirds are already showing signs of recovery.

Ground-nesting species such as bridled tern and blacknaped tern have been observed raising chicks on Vatuira for the first time since the eradication was completed, BirdLife International Pacific Region Director Don Stewart says.

Fiji is one of the few nations in the tropical Pacific with a

High country park growing

F

OREST & Bird has applauded the Government purchase of Central Otago high country property Twinburn to add to w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Shaun Barnett/Black Robin Photography

Death by chocolate

Non-toxic: Kea chewing tramper’s boot, Kahurangi National Park, Nelson.

of chocolate because of the speed at which our bodies metabolise theobromine, the most abundant methylxanthine in chocolate. An average adult human would have to gorge on around 50 kilograms of milk chocolate in a single sitting to get anywhere near a lethal dose.

Researchers are making progress towards finding ways of using the toxic chemicals found in chocolate as a safe and “natural” method of controlling pest animals, including coyotes in the United States and Caribbean tree frogs that have caused ecological damage in Hawaii.

high diversity of seabirds. Of a total of 19 seabird species known to breed within the region, seven rear young on Vatuira. It is now hoped that these species and others will establish significant populations on the island.

BirdLife worked closely with the Nagilogilo clan of Vatuira who actively supported the rats’ eradication and subsequent monitoring work. Local people are now being trained in bio-security to ensure visitors don’t accidentally re-introduce rats or other invasive species to Vatuira.

Vatuira village leader Sione Qoneiwai is now looking forward to the future for birds on the island, and says the eradication has provided new opportunities for eco-tourism for the community. A limited number of visitors will soon be offered trips to the island to view the birds, hosted by

local guides.

“Guides would be able to talk about the eradication, the islands birdlife and changes they were seeing on the island,” Qoneiwai says.

The work was funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund and the Australian Government Regional Natural Heritage Programme, with technical support from the New Zealand Department of Conservation and Pacific Invasive Initiative.

Following on from the success on Vatuira, BirdLife is now working with landowners on both the Ringgold and Mabualau Islands to collectively restore up to eight more islands of importance to seabirds. By working in partnership with local communities, BirdLife aims to replicate the success at Vatuira to protect and enhance more internationally important seabird colonies within Fiji.

the proposed Oteake Conservation Park.

The Government announced the $4.8 million purchase of the 8000-hectare former pastoral lease earlier this year. The property is adjacent to Michael Peak Station, which the Government also purchased last year for inclusion in the park.

Forest & Bird has identified Oteake as a priority for high country protection in its proposed “six-pack of parks”.

Otago/Southland Field Officer Sue Maturin says it was exciting to hear Minister for Land Information David Parker and Central Otago Mayor Malcolm Macpherson speaking passionately at the

Twinburn announcement about the future of conservation in the high country and the potential for the proposed Oteake Park.

“The approach they are now bringing to high country conservation reinforces the importance of Forest & Bird’s high country campaign, and the contribution the Society has made towards inspiring greater protection in the high country.”

Forest & Bird wants to see more full property purchases like Twinburn and Michael Peak, where there is a win-win outcome, both for farmers and for conservation, Sue Maturin says.

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

9

conservationbriefs • Bats (pekapeka) are New Zealand’s only native land mammals.

Department of Conservation/Te Papa Atawhai

• There are three species: the long-tailed bat and the lesser short-tailed bat (both are listed as nationally endangered) and the greater short-tailed bat, which is thought to be extinct.

• The chestnut brown long-tailed bats are smaller than their short-tailed cousins, weighing just 8-11 grams (less than an average-sized mouse) and they can fly at speeds up to 60kph. They are insectivores, feeding on moths, midges, mosquitoes and beetles. They are believed to produce just one pup a year.

• Long-tailed bats were common throughout New Zealand in the 1800s but had become scarce in many areas by 1900-1930.

Holy bat boxes! bats detected in the surveys suggests they are either in very low numbers or are no longer present at sites where they were once found.

The South Island population of long-tailed bats is listed as JANUARY night with nationally endangered, yet not slightly overcast skies, much is known about them – temperatures above 10 degrees that’s where the bat surveys can and no wind. Those are your help. DOC’s 1995 threatened ideal bat-finding conditions. species recovery plan for bats Even then, finding a bat can be concluded that if monitoring challenging. found that numbers were Department of Conservation declining then protection measSt Arnaud ranger Kate Steffans ures should be implemented. has organised surveys of longHowever, studies of bat tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberpopulations have been sporadic culatus) around the Nelson in the Nelson/Marlborough Lakes/Buller area over the past Conservancy. Although poputwo years, and even she has lations were located, there has trouble finding them. been no dedicated monitoring This year she has been joined work or comprehensive underby Forest & Bird members and standing of threats to the bats other volunteers in her nightor how they could be better time searches – but during protected. Forest & Bird aims recent surveys the bats have to help paint a clearer picture remained elusive, despite volun- by helping with bat location teers covering tens of kilometres and surveys across the top of in a night in their search. the South Island.

Bats are tracked down with Steffans hopes the work the help of “bat boxes,” which will help find populations convert the high-frequency and establish a monitoring echo-location calls made by the programme – perhaps fitting bats to a pitch audible to the transmitters. human ear.

That information may then be If you are lucky you may used to determine how the bats catch sight of a bat on the can be best managed. Loss wing at dusk, its fluttering of roosting sites (bats love old, flight distinctively different from hollow trees) and rat predation that of birds, but they are more are two of the biggest threats. often heard than seen, thanks Forest & Bird’s help with the to the bat boxes. bat surveys may find remaining The survey’s transect sites are pockets of bats in the conbased on historical sightings, servancy area, which can help so the absence of bats in these direct effective management locations causes Steffans some to protect them against these concern. She says the lack of threats, Steffans says.

Finding a tiny, darkcoloured, endangered, nocturnal, fast-flying creature is not easy, Debs Martin discovers.

• They are widely distributed across the mainland and on offshore islands but are considered to be at risk of extinction in the medium term if they are not better protected.

• The main threats to their survival are thought to be predation by cats, possums, rats and stoats, and destruction of habitat, especially roosting sites.

1 0 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

Heather Anderson

A

Race for Our River

F

OREST & Bird ran a multisport event with a difference with the Race for Our River in April.

The family fun multi-sport event at Centennial Lagoon in Palmerston North saw competitors run or walk, cycle, kayak, negotiate a bouncy obstacle course – and take water samples from the river for analysis

by Horizons Regional Council.

More than 400 discharges affect the Manawatu River catchment, including sewage and industrial and agricultural effluent, and the run-off of nutrients and eroded sediment from surrounding farmland.

These all compromise the quality of the river which is a recreational asset and important habitat for native species including eels, native fish, white herons, bitterns, wrybills, banded dotterels, royal spoonbills and fernbirds.

The results of analysis of the

water samples were presented

by Horizons water quality scientist Kate MacArthur, who said the biggest success of the day was the increased community awareness of water quality in the Manawatu catchment.

Forest & Bird Horowhenua Branch Secretary Joan Leckie says the event was made possible through a joint effort

by Forest & Bird, Horizons, Fonterra, Palmerston North City Council and other community groups.

The event also included stalls and displays by local schools, Fish and Game, Fonterra, Forest & Bird and Horizons, and talks by local politicians.

Lower North Island Field Officer James Griffiths said the event was a great way to provide a positive forum to discuss solutions to water quality issues faced by the region, and Race for Our River may become an annual event. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

conservationbriefs New Forest & Bird staff Marina Skinner has been appointed as Communications Officer, based in Forest & Bird’s National Office. Marina was previously Travel Editor and subeditor at the Dominion Post.

Andy Warneford is Forest & Bird’s new Buffer Zone Coordinator for the Ark in the Park project in the Waitakere Ranges. He is working with private landowners around the Ark project.

Helen Bain, who has been Forest & Bird Communications Officer for the last two years, now becomes Communications Manager and Editor of Forest & Bird magazine.

Catherine Burns has been appointed as Membership Officer. Catherine has a background in fundraising and database management, having previously worked for Presbyterian Support Services, NZ Aid and the Correspondence School.

Conservation Diary 17 May • Reel Earth – Aotearoa Environmental Film Festival opens, Globe Theatre, Palmerston North.

Tours nationally June - November. See www.aeff.org.nz June 3 • Green Ribbon Awards recognising contribution to conservation announced.

June 5 • Arbor Day. Planting and restoration events held around the country. Contact your local Forest & Bird branch or DOC office for details.

Letters to the Editor

F

orest & Bird welcomes readers’ letters on conservation topics.

Letters must be no longer than 200 words and must include the writer’s name (no pseudonyms please), residential address and daytime contact phone number (not for publication).

Due to space limitations, we are not able to publish all letters. The writer of the best letter will receive a copy of New Zealand’s Wilderness Heritage by Les Molloy with photographs by Craig Potton (RRP$89.99).

Please send letters to: Editor, Forest & Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington, or email to h.bain@forestandbird.org.nz.

June 5 • World Environment Day. Events globally and in New Zealand exploring the theme “Towards a low carbon economy.”

June 27-29 • Forest & Bird AGM, Lower Hutt.

If you have a conservation-related event coming up and would like it to be listed in Conservation Diary in the next issue of Forest & Bird, please email the details to: h.bain@forestandbird.org.nz

Fiona McKenzie has been employed on contract as Forest & Bird’s South Island-based lawyer. Fiona previously worked as a resource management lawyer in Christchurch.

BirdLife Community Fund Applications are invited from Forest & Bird Branches, and from BirdLife International Partners, Partners Designate and Affiliates in the Pacific Islands Region for assistance for community conservation projects for the 2008-2009 year.

Jenny Lynch has been appointed as part-time Kiwi Conservation Club Officer, based in the national office.

Jenny has previously been a science teacher and quarantine officer.

The purpose of the fund is to provide assistance for community projects which conserve or restore globally threatened bird species and/or important bird areas in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands region.

Melissa Ho has joined Forest & Bird to assist with membership in the National Office, having just returned from overseas travel.

Mark Bellingham

The fund is administered by Forest & Bird.

Art in the Park: Ark in the Park volunteer Maia Bellingham catches the bus to Swanson School from the new Ark in the Park bus stop. Local artist Derek March has painted a range of wildlife found in the Ark on the bus stop at the entrance to the park to highlight Forest & Bird’s largest restoration project.

Application procedures, forms and further information can be obtained by contacting Samantha Partridge at s.partridge@ forestandbird.org.nz or phone 04 801 2762.

Applications close 31 July 2008

Driving Creek Wildlife Sanctuary Trust As from early April 08, our sanctuary area is now fully enclosed by an Xcluder-type fence. This is the first fully protected area on the Coromandel. Donations are still sought to help cover the cost of the fence and the building of the interpretation centre. Please help us by buying a post for $100 and a named plaque will be attached. Or become a Friend of the DCWST and receive newsletters.

Enquiries to: DCWST, P O Box 87, Coromandel or email: sanctuary@drivingcreek.co.nz Phone: 07 866 8703

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

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

11

abundant “Find a spot anywhere in the NT just before dawn to hear the waking chorus of the birds.

Shut your eyes and just listen.”

Glen Ericson, Territory Wildlife Park

Mt Borradaile - birdlife

Aurora Kakadu

Ossies Outback 4WD Tours

Experience nature at your door Set amidst 10 hectares of lush bush land, Aurora Kakadu offers tropical gardens, manicured lawns and abundant relaxation areas. Magpie geese, Wallabies and Corellas freely wander the landscaped gardens and pool area. With its own stunning Billabong walk on the property Aurora Kakadu offers unparalleled bird watching opportunities. Within minutes of Mamakala Observation Point – one of the park’s top bird watching points and the South Alligator River this is the perfect base for your bird watching experience in Kakadu.

Outback Birding, Nature & Heritage Experience Birding in the Central Australian & Simpson Desert areas.

Small group personalised Eco Touring. Charter & customised itineraries with accommodation &/or camping options.

Email: kakadu@auroraresorts.com.au Website: www.auroraresorts.com.au

Email: ossies@ossies.com.au Website: www.ossies.com.au

July 2008 Newhaven Sanctuary Birding & Nature Experience in conjunction with Dr Tonia Cochran.

t www.australiasoutback.com/birdwatching

NT Immersions

Alice Springs Desert Park

Perpetual Discovery 220+ species lie within 200km of Katherine.

We provide General Birdwatching activity introducing an array of tropical birds, or, ‘Focused’ activity targeting the rare, uncommon and endangered; such as Greatbilled Heron, Gouldian Finch, Hooded Parrot, Purple-crowned Fairy-wren, White-throated Grasswren and Red Goshawk.

A unique dawn bird watching tour The only early morning bird tour in Central Australia reveals the diversity of desert bird life at the Alice Springs Desert Park.

Accompanied by a local bird specialist, wander through the Desert Rivers, Sand Country and Woodland habitats.

Quality birding depends on extensive local knowledge and our passionate bird experts have it.

Utilising local knowledge and relationships, plus a mix of access modes (river touring, walking and 4WD), we are able to view a diversity of species.

Email: birds@ntimmersions.com.au Website: www.geckocanoeing.com/au/birding

Email: asdp@nt.gov.au Website: www.alicespringsdesertpark.com.au

Manapouri: A Green Awakening The Save Manapouri campaign has been lauded as “the birth of the modern conservation movement” in New Zealand.

Helen Bain talks to some of the pioneering protagonists of this groundbreaking campaign.

F

ORMER Dominion cartoonist Eric Heath’s cartoon says it all: a hand waving desperately above the waters of Lake Manapouri, with the caption “All those in favour of raising Manapouri raise your hand.”

Heath’s cartoon was one of many striking images from the campaign featured this year in the National Library exhibition Manapouri: Art Power Protest “exploring the powerful place Lake Manapouri holds in New Zealand culture.” The exhibition brought back many memories for an entire generation of conservationists – and still has important messages that are just as relevant to the conservation cause today.

The Save Manapouri campaign began in the late 1950s with the proposal to build a power station to supply power to an aluminium smelter in the far south of New Zealand, and gained momentum in the late 1960s when it was proposed that the level 1 4 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

of Lake Manapouri would be raised 8.2 metres to harness its hydro-electric potential for the project.

Opposition to the proposal became New Zealand’s first mass environmental movement, and the Save Manapouri campaign has been credited with awakening a “green consciousness” in New Zealand.

As part of the National Library exhibition, Save Manapouri campaigners, Forest & Bird Distinguished Life Member and former President Alan Mark and Executive Member, publisher and photographer Craig Potton, gave a public talk with Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell on the impact of the campaign on political and environmental debate.

Forest & Bird was a key participant in the fight to save Manapouri. In 1970 Forest & Bird delivered a petition bearing a then record 264,000 signatures (almost 10% of the population) to Parliament, demanding that the Government reconsider its decision to raise the lake level.

Manapouri became a major issue in the lead-up to the 1972 election, and soon after winning the election Labour Prime Minister Norm Kirk announced that the lake level would not be raised.

He also established a group of Lake Guardians, its members drawn from among the leaders of the Save Manapouri campaign, to advise the Government on lake management – a move Alan w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

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

Helen Bain

Craig Potton

describes as “courageous”. The Electricity Department was to use “best endeavours” to manage the lake in accordance with guidelines agreed by the Guardians.

As Alan put it, “We were now calling the shots.”

During the 1975 election campaign, National Leader Rob Muldoon promised that his party would not alter Labour’s stance if elected, and was true to his word.

Alan, who chaired the Lake Guardians for 26 years, says there is no doubt that the resolution of the Manapouri conflict, by integrating conservation with the demands of hydro-electric development, was a milestone in sustainable management of important natural resources.

The Manapouri debate foreshadowed today’s emphasis on sustainable management that has become enshrined in legislation such as the Resource Management Act, he says. It also demonstrated that the power of public opinion could make a significant difference in the democratic process.

He also believes that the passing of the Official Information Act was in large part due to the public reaction to the Government’s veil of secrecy over issues such as Manapouri. And the Commission for the Environment (the precursor to the Ministry for the Environment) probably wouldn’t have been set up without the Save Manapouri campaign, he believes.

“We’ve come a long way.”

Craig Potton, who cut his teeth as an environmental campaigner by collecting signatures for the Save Manapouri petition while still a schoolboy, says Save Manapouri demonstrated that you can achieve change through activism.

“The fact that it was successful is incredible … The fact that we won is something that I am eternally grateful for.”

While Craig describes himself as “a fledgling hippie” at the time of the campaign, he says that one of the Manapouri campaign’s biggest achievements was that it took conservation mainstream. It wasn’t only passionate activists who supported Save Manapouri – middle New Zealanders were just as strong in supporting the cause.

Kevin Hackwell agrees: “The campaign worked because New Zealanders have an incredible love of nature and of ‘our place’.

Ordinary New Zealanders were saying ‘This is absolutely not on’.”

But, while much was learned from the Manapouri experience, demand for power generation (and other activities such as intensification of agriculture and mining) in New Zealand continues to threaten our natural environment. As Kevin Hackwell says, there are still plenty of modern-day “Manapouris” to be fought.

“We may have saved a beautiful lake but New Zealand has done a very poor job in using our power efficiently so that we don’t have to keep generating more. We have been profligate, and if we don’t resolve this issue we will lose more of our precious natural resources.”

Manapouri revisited: Save Manapouri campaigners Alan Mark, Kevin Hackwell and Craig Potton visit the National Library exhibition Manapouri: Art Power Protest.

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

15

Today’s “Manapouris” Current power generation proposals still pose serious environmental threats to New Zealand’s natural environment; demand for water for irrigation of farmland is also an increasing threat: Mokihinui River, West Coast

Waimangaroa Valley, West Coast State-owned coal mining company Solid Energy plans to expand mining into the untouched Upper Waimangaroa Valley. Forest & Bird is lobbying for mining to be confined to the Stockton Valley, which is already being mined.

Sue Maturin

Debs Martin

Power company Meridian plans to build an 85-metre-high dam across the Mokihinui River gorge that would flood the river valley, which is clad in native forest, including rimu, kahikatea and beech, and is an important habitat for native birds, including kiwi and blue duck. The proposal would also have a serious impact on fish and recreational use of the river, and, in the event of an earthquake, could potentially unleash serious effects below the proposed dam site.

Project Hayes, Lammermoor Range, Otago

Craig Potton

Resource consent has been granted for Meridian to build a 176-turbine wind farm (which would be the world’s biggest wind farm) on the Lammermoor Range.

However this decision has been appealed to the Environment Court on the grounds that it would cause irreparable harm to

Wairau River, Marlborough Power company TrustPower has sought to build a hydro scheme that would re-route a significant proportion of the Wairau River’s flow through a 49km canal system – a proposal that would cause significant harm to one of New Zealand’s most magnificent braided rivers, and the wildlife that lives there, including endangered black-fronted tern and wrybill. Interim consent has been granted but has been appealed to the Environment Court.

1 6 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

the environment and landscape. While wind farms may appear to have less environmental impact than other forms of energy generation, this is only true if they are developed in areas where their environmental and visual impact does not outweigh the benefits.

Hurunui River, Canterbury A proposal has been made by a consortium of power companies and irrigators to dam Lake Sumner and the South Branch of the Hurunui River. The proposal threatens a range of native birds and fish, as well as some of Canterbury’s best recreational opportunities amid stunning landscapes. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

I

The big wet In February the Awarua Wetlands in Southland became New Zealand’s newest and largest site recognised under the International Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

Kathy Ombler explores these

Kathy Ombler

P. Langlands

wildlife-rich southern wetlands.

T’S a long trip to Southland, even by godwits’ standards. The deep south of New Zealand is about as far as these long-distance travellers get from their Northern Hemisphere breeding grounds.

The godwits are not the only international travellers here: more than 20 other Arctic species also make the annual migration from the far side of the planet to the Awarua Wetlands. Regulars include several species that are rarely seen in New Zealand, including the grey-tailed tattler, sanderling and greenshank.

The wetlands are also frequented by shorter-distance avian commuters: about a third of the entire southern New Zealand dotterel population fly here from the mountain tops of Stewart Island/Rakiura to winter over in Awarua Bay. Then there are the locals, who don’t bother going anywhere – like the fernbirds which flit about year-round among the boggy Awarua peatlands and shrublands.

Awarua Wetlands’ 16,000 hectares form one of the five major wading bird habitats in New Zealand, and a total of 81 bird species have been recorded here.

The wetlands are also rich in diverse and unusual plant communities. Plants normally found in alpine areas grow near sea level here. Alpine-like bog cushion, bladderworts, sundews and southern shore gentian mosses, and the largest coastal lowland red tussock remnant in New Zealand grow alongside an incredible diversity of wetland habitats and plants: bogs and peatlands, pea gravel beaches

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

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

1177

Rod Morris

P. Langlands

Rod Morris

Purple bladderwort

White-fronted terns

Fernbird

and shell banks, manuka shrublands and mudflats, saltmarsh and mature kahikatea forest.

Such diversity supports not only birds, but an outstanding variety of freshwater fish, lizards and invertebrates – including more than 100 moth species.

Bluff Hill is a good vantage point from which to absorb the sheer scale of the wetlands, sprawling their way further than the eye can see across Southland’s south-eastern tip. The viewpoint also

reveals man’s intrusions on nature: the aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point, Invercargill city, industrial estates and dairy farms.

With all this human activity come threats: land reclamations, the outfall from Invercargill’s sewage treatment plant, risk of fires in the peatlands and oil spills in Bluff Harbour, and rapid increase in dairying across Southland leading to water quality concerns for the rivers that feed the wetlands.

But Brian Rance of the Department of Conservation in Southland says some good things are happening.

“Attitudes are changing from the traditional mindset, where peat bog was seen as wasteland to be drained and manuka shrubland as scrub to be cleared. There has been a major change of attitude at New River, for example, from it being treated as a tip site and raw sewage outlet to the recipient of restoration and replanting.”

margins support the greatest diversity of birds in Southland and the greatest number of summer visiting migrants.

forest, numerous ponds, a pea gravel beach and the 1400ha Waituna Lagoon.

Awarua Wetlands Awarua Bay – a large, shallow arm of Bluff Harbour that encompasses extensive intertidal mudflats and salt marshes, edged by the red tussock cover of Tiwai Peninsula and low-lying peatland of Awarua Plain.

New River is the largest estuary, fed by the Oreti and Waihopai and several smaller rivers. Invercargill city sits against its eastern margin. The estuary’s tidal mudflats, shellbanks and saltmarsh

Bushy Point, on the northern New River shoreline, extends from mudflats through saltmarsh into manuka shrubland and mature swamp forest.

Waituna Wetlands Scientific Reserve, immediately north of Awarua Bay, includes unmodified peatlands, manuka shrublands, 1

Aparima River

Oreti River

Makarewa River

Seaward Moss and Toetoes Conservation Areas are strongholds for wetland birds, including Australasian bitterns, fernbird and marsh crake.

Toetoes Harbour – the northernmost and smallest estuary, fed by Southland’s largest river, the Mataura, forms an integral part of Southland’s coastal wader habitat.

Southland’s Estuaries and Coastal Wetlands

1

Waimatuku Stream

Pourakino River

1

Mataura River Waihopai River

Jacobs River Estuary

Waimatuku Mouth

1

Invercargill

Waituna Creek

Riverton/Aparima Oreti Beach

New River Estuary

Muddy Creek

1

Awarua Bay

Toetoes Harbour Waituna Lagoon

Bluff Harbour

Foveaux Strait

To e t o e s B a y Bluff

Tiwai Peninsula

0

1 8 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

5

10

15 km

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

P. Langlands

Rod Morris

Kotuku

Banded dotterel nesting on beach adjoining estuary.

Juvenile Royal Spoonbills at Riverton Estuary.

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

Rod Morris

Australasian Harrier

P. Langlands

Giant kokopu

Short-finned eels inhabit Southland’s estuaries in large numbers.

Rod Morris

In 1994 Invercargill City Council initiated a restoration programme and walkway development along the estuary margins and, in 2004, closed a city landfill on the New River shoreline.

The highly invasive spartina grass, introduced to help reclamation, had spread across and silted up 800ha of New River estuary, but was brought under control in what is regarded as a world-leading eradication programme.

At Bushy Point, where conservation land and two privately-owned QEII Trust covenants are included in the Ramsar area, a community restoration group is undertaking pest control and wetland restoration.

The Awarua-Waituna Community Advisory Group, made up of landowners, DOC, Fish and Game, Southland District Council, Environment Southland, Aparima Runaka and Fonterra, has been working on a range of community initiatives to restore and protect the wetlands.

Living Streams, a pilot communitybased programme for the Waihopai River, is working with adjoining landowners, monitoring water quality and planting and fencing off waterways.

Rance says the new Ramsar recognition can only help increase the community’s appreciation of its wetland treasures.

“A lot of people in Southland still aren’t aware of the significance of these wetlands – that we have these estuaries and open coastline and lagoons and peat bogs and the Bushy Point swamp forest growing right onto the estuary. All these values should be integrated and managed as one.

Ramsar status can help achieve this, and raise the profile of the wetlands.”

Rod Morris

P. Langlands

P. Langlands

Australasian bittern

Pouched lamprey F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

19

I

Island robin were brought in from nearby Freshwater River forests. South Island saddleback, mohua (yellowhead) and rifleman were re-introduced. The (not so common) common skink was the first reptile to be re-introduced, and further reptile releases are in the pipeline.

For Brent Beaven, the Department of Conservation’s Biodiversity Manager on Stewart Island/Rakiura, the highlight of Ulva has been the island’s ability to regenerate itself.

“No one really believed the impacts rats were having on the forest under storey.

Now when we walk around we see layers of forest that weren’t there before. The diversity of the forest has expanded and it’s ongoing. Every year, as the trees’ ability to fruit increases and you get more capacity for birds, the diversity grows.”

Ulva Island Charitable Trust Chairman, Peter Goomes, says every year there are Bent Beaven/Department of Conservation/Te Papa Atawhai

MAGINE New Zealand how it used to be. Imagine the forests before the ravages of introduced animal pests took their devastating toll, before the centuriesold trees were burned and felled, and the forests resounded with native birdsong.

Ulva Island, nestled in Paterson Inlet/ Te Whaka a Te Wera of Stewart Island/ Rakiura, has to be as close as it gets today.

The giant podocarp forest of Ulva was never felled. There were never browsing possums, nor goats, nor bird-eating stoats and ferrets on the island. Deer and rats were the only “aliens” let loose to do their dastardly deeds – which they did with a vengeance until 1997 when, following one of the largest rat eradications undertaken in New Zealand, the 260-hectare island was declared pest free.

Eradication cleared the way for the re-introduction of native species that had been long absent from Ulva. Stewart

20

more birds on Ulva.

“There are more kakariki, more kaka – and what is really good is that there is opportunity for people to come here and see them.”

Other pest-free islands, such as Whenua Hou and Breaksea, aren’t accessible, but people can easily get access to Ulva and its easily walkable tracks.

Growing numbers of nature lovers and birdwatchers from around the world are coming to Ulva Island. With the decline of Stewart Island’s fishing industry, the community is increasingly reliant on nature tourism to sustain the local economy.

There was an added boost in 2006 when kakapo Sirocco was placed on public display for 10 weeks on Ulva – this unique opportunity to “meet” a kakapo was an international drawcard, and there are plans to repeat the experience this year.

The Sirocco experience was a good example of how conservation and nature tourism can have a strong, symbiotic relationship, Goomes says.

The community-based Ulva Island Charitable Trust was established in 1998 to help upgrade tracks and facilities, which greatly improved visitor access.

The trust went on to help fund bird releases, monitoring, research, the Kakapo Encounter, and a promotional DVD celebrating the 10th anniversary of Ulva’s pest-free status.

Brent Beaven says long term research by the University of Otago’s Department of Zoology, which has a research facility based on Ulva, is looking into the genetic

Ulva Island’s coastline remains vulnerable to re-invasion by pests – constant vigilance is required to maintain pest-free status. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Bent Beaven/Department of Conservation/Te Papa Atawhai

Kaka are thriving on Ulva island a decade after it was declared pest-free.

Bent Beaven/Department of Conservation/Te Papa Atawhai

Bent Beaven/Department of Conservation/Te Papa Atawhai

Tomtits are one of the many bird species thriving on Stewart and surrounding islands now pests are being tackled.

Kakariki – flourishing due to pest eradication.

diversity of introduced species and effects of inbreeding, focusing on robin and saddleback. Information gathered here could be vital for management of species introduced to other pest free areas.

“We always think they are safe on the

island, but is that really the truth? If you take 30 birds of one species to restart a population does that give you enough diversity to sustain a species long term?

We hope we can find answers to these questions on Ulva.”

All in the family

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

Brent Beaven/DOC

D

R Ian Jamieson is spearheading research on the introduced robin and saddleback populations of Ulva Island.

He says many re-introduced populations are founded with small numbers of individuals, and there tends to be little or no subsequent gene-flow between these and mainland populations (if they exist).

“This raises questions about the effects of inbreeding and loss of genetic variation on the … viability of island sanctuaries.”

Genetic diversity is the main ingredient upon which natural selection operates; loss of genetic diversity will mean a reduction, for example, in a species’ ability to defend itself against new pathogens and disease.

While scientists have plenty of theory about the effects of loss of genetic diversity, there is relatively poor understanding of how this is manifested in real populations. Island sanctuaries such as Ulva are ideal places for conducting research to try to answer these questions in a “real-life” situation.

Since 2001 researchers have tracked saddleback and robin populations on Ulva Island.

Each season researchers find all the territorial pairs and any single birds each spring, monitor their activity to find nests, record their nesting success,

Robins have been successfully reintroduced to Ulva Island – but how wide a gene pool do we need to sustain our isolated island populations of rare species? Research into genetic diversity of robins and saddlebacks on Ulva may provide vital information to help translocations on other offshore islands.

and colour-band any nestlings – a tricky process but one that yields vital information.

“My students and our hard working volunteers have become some of the best saddleback nest finders in the country!”

Jamieson says.

These field observations are then entered into a software programme that draws the birds’ “family trees” and calculates how inbred each individual bird is.

Jamieson says the main aim of the research is to estimate the rate of increase in inbreeding and what its consequences are, if any, for the viability of each population.

It is hoped that the research will provide guidelines for Department of Conservation managers for managing inbreeding and loss of genetic diversity in other relocated populations.

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

21

Jana Newman

“R

ATS, cats and possums – it’s starting to look like we can do all three,” Beaven says.

Total eradication over Stewart Island’s nearly 200,000 hectares may sound like mission impossible, but Beaven is staunchly optimistic.

The scoping project is funded by the Tindall Foundation through the Stewart Island/Rakiura Community and Environment Trust, which has contracted the Department of Conservation to conduct the feasibility study. Beaven, Stewart Island biodiversity manager, has been granted a year’s secondment to manage the project.

Tindall Foundation manager Trevor Gray says the community-driven nature of the project appealed to the foundation, and it was also encouraged by results of a more limited-scale eradication project at Ackers Point Peninsula at Halfmoon Bay. Since 2003 residents and volunteers have trapped hundreds of possums and thousands of rats on the 210ha peninsula.

This has cleared the way for translocations of Stewart Island robin and weka from off-shore islands, while tui and bellbird numbers have increased an impressive 230% since bird counts began in 2004.

The rewards are being experienced by locals in the flurries of dozens of tui

chasing each other through residents’ gardens, and the occasional weka wandering inside their houses – and the stirrings of a dream of trying for something far more ambitious.

For those who live in the habitat restoration area it is not hard to imagine what the whole of Stewart Island could be like without rats, trust chairwoman Margaret Hopkins says.

The Stewart Island community is very supportive of the whole island becoming rat free, she says. “I haven’t heard of any detractors, only that some think it will be impossible to achieve.”

Beaven believes it is possible, but says there are logistical issues to sort out.

Much of the first half of the scoping project has involved meeting local landowners and iwi, community and interest groups, as well as DOC staff and communities involved in other island eradications.

Hopkins says her only concern is maintaining pest-free status once it is achieved.

Many boats visit Stewart Island, making it forever vulnerable to re-invasion, and Hopkins says extra vigilance at the Port of Bluff will be needed.

Beaven is considering options for

quarantine checks of any vessel or aircraft coming into Stewart Island, including the possibility of using dogs to detect rats in vessels and luggage.

Of course eradication over such a huge area is not cheap: an early estimate puts the cost at $34 million. However, Beaven says spending that money makes economic sense.

“You could spend $34 million on the mainland trying to save a number of species and get nowhere. Here we would get 174,000ha of pest-free environment.

We would take South Island saddleback, kaka and fernbird off the endangered list.”

There is also economic benefit from eco-tourism. Tourism earned $260 million in Southland last year – achieving even a small increase in tourist numbers would mean the eradication project would more than pay for itself.

Beaven believes there is a good case for central government funding of the project.

“They spent all those millions on the America’s Cup … not to mention $240 million for an upgrade to Eden Park. I think this project is guaranteed to have a better result. We can present three areas of benefit: environmental, economic and social, and I think we will have a strong case.”

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

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

2 2 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

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

Rod Morris

PESTS/CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT

1

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

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

2

20 Conservation questions that really count this election THIS year is election year, and this election we are determined that conservation and the environment will be right up there as a top election issue.

We want to make sure that protecting our precious natural heritage for future generations is just as high a priority for both voters and candidates this election as the economy, taxes, education, health and crime.

That’s why we have compiled a list of what we believe are the 20 most urgent political questions facing New Zealand – on which we also believe our elected leaders have the ability to make a difference.

We will be putting these questions to party leaders and environmental spokespeople during a national political forum later this year, and will be encouraging our branches to also put these questions to their local candidates.

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

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

3

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

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

4

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

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

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

DoC/David Mudge

By making it clear that we expect our politicians to deliver solid policy commitments to environmental protection in return for our votes, we can make a real difference this year.

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

23

Eugenie Sage

DoC/Erin Green

ENERGY

HIGH COUNTRY

MARINE

5

10

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

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

6

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

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

Rod Morris

Will you also support similar protection for properties with special conservation and biodiversity values?

FRESHWATER

7

The Mokihinui River Valley on the West Coast is clad in pristine native forest, including rimu, kahikatea and beech, and is important habitat for native birds, including kiwi. However, the valley would be flooded if a proposal by power company Meridian to build an 85-metre-high dam across the river valley goes ahead.

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

8

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

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

9

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

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

2 4 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

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

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

11

Maui’s dolphins are the world’s rarest marine dolphin, with just 111 individuals remaining.

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

12

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

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

13

Significant numbers of the endangered New Zealand sea lion are killed each year as by-catch in the southern squid fishery.

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

14

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

16

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

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

17

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

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

18

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

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

19

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

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

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

20

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

The Resource Management Act provides a legal framework for communities to be involved in protection of biodiversity in their area.

Often they must fulfil this responsibility against opposition from well-resourced developers.

15

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

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

We will report back to you, our members, on candidates’ responses to the questions ahead of the election to help you make an informed choice at the polling booth.

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

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

soapbox

Dave Kent

Environment New Zealand 2007 – Must Try Harder?

Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell reviews the Government’s recent 10-year progress report on the environment. He concludes that a more courageous approach would have served the environment better.

T

HE Government’s major “State of the Environment” report issued earlier this year opens with the statement: “People who make decisions about the environment need accurate information.”

Indeed they do. Interesting, then, that the phonebook-sized report delivers little information that allows the public to understand exactly how our key environmental indicators have changed in the 10 years since the last report was published. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Are we doing better or worse than we were 10 years ago? Is our air any cleaner, our rivers any less polluted, our forests less infested by pests? Do we have more – or fewer – native birds in our forests or fish in our seas? How are our kiwi doing? Or our blue duck, our kakapo, our Maui’s dolphins? Are we looking after these natural treasures any better than we were a decade ago?

Reading the report’s 455 pages, it is not always easy to tell. Despite providing an enormous mountain of figures, in many

places the report appears to go to an awful lot of trouble to avoid comparing the 2007 picture with the last report in 1997, where such comparisons would not look good. It did have plenty of excuses about why such comparisons are not possible for many key indicators. What was that about the need for accurate information again?

But even allowing for the lack of comparisons on which to measure progress, and dodging the many “fact boxes” containing feel-good stories applauding various Government initiatives, the report still makes disturbing reading.

For example, of the seven native species designated as “core national indicators” by which native biodiversity is measured (lesser short-tailed bat, kiwi, kaka, kokako, mohua, wrybill and dactylanthus or woodrose), all have experienced reduction in range since the 1970s.

“Both the North and South Island subspecies of Hector’s dolphin are acutely threatened,” the report states. Elsewhere it notes that “the largest single pressure on the marine environment in New Zealand is fishing.” Might these two points, by any chance, be connected?

Such a softly-spoken report shields the reader (if anyone actually made it to page 317) from the rather harsher reality that there are just 111 individuals remaining of the North Island sub-species, Maui’s dolphin, and it is listed as critically endangered, at immediate risk of extinction.

The biggest threat to the dolphins is entanglement and drowning in set nets.

This somewhat timid approach, and reluctance to join the obvious dots, lest they lead to anyone actually being held accountable or forced to act, is not helping our environment. To set targets to improve performance we need benchmarks against which we can assess progress. If we don’t know if things are getting better or worse, how do we know whether or not we are doing the right thing – or whether we should try something different?

The report does not draw any conclusions, or make any recommendations for action. How can we do better? What should we improve on, and what is the best way to do it? On this the ministries and departments are silent.

The report could have been so much: a benchmark against which to measure future progress, and a signpost to show the way forward.

Our environment deserves nothing less.

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

25

soapbox

Environment by Numbers Solid waste disposed in landfills – down from 3.180 million tonnes in 1995 to 3.156 million tonnes in 2006

New Zealand’s population – up 11% (1996-2006) Household consumption – up 39% (1997-2006)

Average number of vehicles per household – up 13% (from 1.6 per household to 1.8, 1998-2004) Number of diesel-fuelled vehicles – up 39% (2001-2006)

Gross domestic product – up 30% (1997-2006)

Total consumer energy demand – up 21% (1995-2005) Imports of oil – up 38% (1995-2005)

Carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere over New Zealand – up from 324 parts per million in 1970 to 379ppm in 2006 Total greenhouse gas emissions – up 25% (1990-2005)

New Zealand’s ecological footprint – up 15.4% (1998-2004) Number of people travelling to or from New Zealand (almost all by air) – up 83% (1995-2005)

CO2 removed from the atmosphere by forest sinks – up 29% (1990-2005)

Number of landfills – down from 327 in 1995 to 60 in 2007

CO2 emissions – up 41% (1990-2005)

Number of people using public transport – up 45% (1999-2006)

Total area designated as marine reserve – up from 7602 square kilometres in 1997 to 12,764 square km in 2007 (but 99% of this is in two off-shore reserves)

Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture – up 15% (1990-2005)

Number of dairy cows – up 24% (1996-2006) Amount of water allocated – up 50% (1999-2006)

Native forest and vegetation – down 0.15% (1997-2002)

Erosion-prone hill country in use as pasture – down 3.09% (1997-2002)

Total area of land being irrigated – up 52% (1999-2006)

Amount of energy supplied by coal – up 100% (1995-2005)

Range of kiwi – reduced about 20% (1970s-2007)

Number of wind farms – up from one (plus one turbine) in 1997 to eight in 2007

Number of marine species listed as acutely or chronically threatened or at risk – up 30 (2005)

Total area of public conservation land – up 4.56% (2004-2007)

Value of fish in the quota management system – up 40% (1996-2006)

Private land under legal protection – up 51% (2004-2006)

Area targeted for possum control by DOC – up 60% (2000-2006)

Land area developed as human settlements – up 3% (1997-2002)

Range of kokako – reduced 90% (1970s-2007)

(source – Environment New Zealand 2007 – Ministry for the Environment) 2 6 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

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

FOREST & BIRD MAGAZINE READERSHIP SURVEY Your views as members of Forest & Bird and readers of Forest & Bird magazine are important to us. If you could take the time to fill out our readership survey and return it (Freepost) by June 30, it will help us produce the best magazine we can in accordance with what you would like to see in Forest & Bird.

Every reader who sends in a completed survey form will go in the draw to win a copy of Rare Birds Yearbook 2008. One survey per member please!

PLEASE NOTE THAT ANY DETAILS YOU PROVIDE WILL REMAIN STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. ANY INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE WILL BE USED FOR STATISTICAL AND EDITORIAL PURPOSES ONLY AND WILL NOT BE PASSED ON TO ANY OTHER ORGANISATIONS OR USED FOR DIRECT MARKETING. Your name and postal address:

(this information is required only for the purposes of sending you your prize if you are the winner of the draw.)

How long have you been a member of Forest & Bird?

Less than 1 year Name:_____________________________________________

Address:___________________________________________

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

1-2 years 2-3 years 3-4 years 5-10 years 10-20 years 20 years +

Your age: (please tick one) What is your household income?

(THIS INFORMATION WILL REMAIN STRICTLY PRIVATE AND

20 or under

CONFIDENTIAL)

21-30

Less than $20,000 a year

31-40

$20,000-40,000

41-50

$40,000-60,000

51-60

$60,000-80,000

61-70

$80,000-100,000

70+

$100,000+

Gender:

male

female

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

continued overleaf F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

27

How would you rate your enjoyment of Forest & Bird magazine?

Photographs

Excellent

Illustrations/drawings

Very good

Stories about Forest & Bird campaigns

Good

Branch news

Average

Practical “how-to” conservation advice

Poor

Letters to the editor President’s editorial

Which of the following features of Forest & Bird magazine would you enjoy most?

Book reviews

(tick as many as you like) Feature articles Shorter “news” articles Photographs Illustrations/drawings

Conservation-related travel stories “In the Field” “Itinerant Ecologist” Other (please specify _________________________________________________

Stories about Forest & Bird campaigns _________________________________________________ Branch news _________________________________________________ Practical “how-to” conservation advice

_________________________________________________

Letters to the editor President’s editorial Book reviews Conservation-related travel stories

What changes or additions to the magazine would you like to see? (please specify)

_________________________________________________ _________________________________________________

“In the Field”

_________________________________________________

“Itinerant Ecologist”

_________________________________________________

Other (please specify

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

_________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________

What topics would you most like to read about in Forest & Bird magazine? (tick as many as you like)

Birds Marine mammals (eg dolphins, sea lions)

What things would you enjoy least in the magazine?

(tick as many as you like)

Plants and forests

Feature articles

Fish

Shorter “news” articles

Freshwater (eg rivers, wetlands)

2 8 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

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

Invertebrates (eg butterflies, weta)

Travel/holiday overseas

Reptiles/frogs

Plants/gardening equipment

High country

Camping equipment (eg tent, sleeping bag)

Energy and climate change

Tramping equipment (eg tramping boots, pack)

Branch projects

Books

People involved in conservation

Bicycle

Other (please specify)

Kayak

_________________________________________________

Hunting/fishing equipment

_________________________________________________

Books on conservation/outdoors/wildlife topics

_________________________________________________ Which of the following activities do you take part in regularly?

Tramping/walking Camping

What services (other than the magazine) could Forest & Bird provide to make your membership more valuable?

More field trips/branch activities More/better newsletters and information

Mountain climbing

More campaigning on national conservation issues

Birdwatching

More involvement in conservation issues at local/ regional government level

Photography

More “hands-on” restoration projects

Travel/holidays in New Zealand More activities for young people Travel/holidays overseas Other (please specify) Gardening _________________________________________________ Ecological restoration (planting, pest control) _________________________________________________ Reading Cycling/mountain biking Kayaking/boating Hunting/fishing

_________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ Are there any other comments about the magazine you would like to add?

_________________________________________________ Which of the following purchases would you be likely to make in the next 12 months?

House/real estate Car Camera/binoculars Travel/holiday in NZ

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

_________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ Thanks for taking the time to complete the survey.

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

29

Freepost Authority Number 669

Forest & Bird PO Box 631 Wellington 6140

Fold on dotted lines and seal with tape

Te Ara Kakariki Greenway – joining the green dots The original native plant communities have almost disappeared from the lowlands of the Canterbury Plains. But a new, largescale community initiative plans to connect and expand the remaining native plants and habitats of the Canterbury lowlands, Ian Spellerberg reports.

I

Rod Morris

T is a sad fact that less than half of 1% of native plant cover remains on the Canterbury plains and downs.

Yet among the remaining native plant cover you’ll find almost a quarter of New Zealand’s threatened flowering native plant species, highlighting the area’s botanical importance.

So it’s heartening to know that there are many local native plant restoration projects dedicated to preserving these last few remaining plant treasures. Groups such as Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust and Waihora Ellesmere Trust have been very successful in their local areas – but until recently the bigger picture was not being acknowledged.

Would it be possible to link the remaining remnants of native plant communities and restoration projects into a “greenway” – a biodiversity network of patches and corridors of native vegetation?

So it was that Te Ara Kakariki Greenway Canterbury was launched in 2006, the name inspired by the kakariki, New Zealand’s endangered yellow-crowned and orange-fronted parakeets.

Orange-crested parakeet F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

31

Rod Morris

Kahikatea

Waimakariri River in the north and Rakaia River in the south form the greenway’s natural boundaries, forming a biodiversity network spanning the plains from the mountains to the sea. Covering nearly 650,000 hectares, it is possibly the largest project fostering use of native plants on public and private land in New Zealand.

Connections between people as well as places are important: the project has maintained close liaison with a range of like-minded groups, including Environment Canterbury, Selwyn District Council, Ngai Tahu, the Department of Conservation, Landcare Trust, Landcare Research, New Zealand Plant Conservation Network, Forest & Bird, Lincoln University and local plant nurseries.

The trust plans to develop and expand native plantings, promote the benefits of native plants, animals and ecosystems, support private landowners’ efforts to restore native vegetation, and establish education programmes in schools. It is a long-term vision spanning generations – perhaps centuries.

The Canterbury Plains, now largely comprised of farmland and exotic plant species, was once home to many diverse habitats: shrubland and woodland on the vast areas of dry, shallow soils; coastal and dune plant communities, swamps,

Developing greenways helps populations of birds such as kereru expand.

32

Rod Morris

Rod Morris

Coprosma propinqua

Rod Morris

riverbeds and wetlands, dry grasslands, kahikatea forests, podocarp forests dominated by totara and matai, and beech forests on the foothills. Demand for farmland has seen almost all of this diversity of vegetation replaced by a monotonous uniformity of exotic grasses.

Te Ara Kakariki Greenway Canterbury Project aims to bring back native plants at many levels, from small plantings in local gardens to mass-scale native planting throughout the landscape. A greenway can utilise shelterbelts, roadsides, waterways, existing community and private plantings to link up remaining areas of native vegetation.

Among the endemic bird species which once inhabited the Canterbury Plains, many are sadly now extinct, among them the New Zealand quail, South Island goose, New Zealand owlet-nightjar, bush wren, South Island piopio, several species of moa, and the main pre-human predator of the moa, Haast’s eagle.

Obviously these species won’t be returning, but it is hoped that others which have declined in the area, such as kereru and tui, will. Greenways support native animal life as well as plant life by allowing wildlife to move freely between previously isolated pockets of suitable vegetation, and providing valuable sources of food, shelter and nesting sites.

Kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides) fleshy seed cones

Rod Morris

Pink treebroom (Carmichaelia torulosa) flowers

Cabbage Trees (cordyline australis) among limestone bluffs – once habitat for moa.

Rod Morris

Rod Morris

Small-leaved kowhai (Sophora microphylla)

33

There are also potential economic benefits: native plants can be used as shelter and crops, and can support insects that are beneficial to horticulture; they add value to properties and have diverse amenity and educational uses. Native plant communities could also help alleviate drought, reduce fire risk and form carbon sinks.

It is an ambitious plan – but if successful, Canterbury’s lowlands may again be restored to the wonderful mosaic of its original variety of native plantlife.

Rod Morris

Ian Spellerberg is Professor Nature Conservation at Lincoln University and President of the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. He is a founding member of Te Ara Kakariki Greenway Canterbury Trust.

Tui feeding on kowhai

BIG BIRD

3 4 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

Recreation of Haast’s eagle (with NZ falcon below) – once found on the Canterbury Plains. It was the world’s largest eagle.

Rod Morris

T

HE size of a hang-glider, with talons comparable to a tiger’s, and enough strength to bring down a moa – or even a human – Haast’s eagle was the largest and most powerful eagle the world has ever known.

The female Haast’s eagle (Harpogornis moorei) weighed up to 13 kilograms and its wings spanned almost three metres (the male is believed to have been smaller). As herbivores, such as the moa, evolved large body sizes, the eagle did too, allowing it to occupy a niche as top predator – a role equivalent to the big cats in other countries.

Studies of skeletal remains suggest that Haast’s eagle was a forest eagle that could not soar but probably hunted by perching on a high branch until prey came within range and then diving on it at speeds of up to 80kph. It is calculated that the impact could knock even the largest moa off its feet, and the eagle then crushed and pierced the neck and skull of its prey with its massive talons.

Its bones were first found in 1871 during excavation of moa bones at Glenmark Swamp in Canterbury, and they were described in 1872 by Dr Julius von Haast, first director of the Canterbury Museum, who named the bird after George Moore, owner of Glenmark Station.

The eagle was still around at the time of first Polynesian settlement – and historic accounts suggest it may have even occasionally carried off humans. But by 1400 AD large areas of South Island forest were burned off, reducing the habitat of the eagle’s main food source, the moa, and both eventually became extinct.

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

Mokihinui magic THE Mokihinui River on the West Coast is one of New Zealand’s most stunning rivers and home to some of our most threatened wildlife. Yet a proposed hydro-scheme could destroy the Mokihinui River as we know it. Debs Martin visits a river under threat.

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

Debs Martin

T

Proposed dam site on the Mohikinui River Pete Lusk

It is a volatile river, reflecting the intense downpours for which the West Coast is notorious. In times of flood, the water frequently turns the Mokihinui Forks confluence into a vast lake as water builds up behind the bottleneck formed by the narrow gorge.

Venturing into the gorge, we see tall podocarps festooned with kiekie, rata making a glorious late summer show, and dense beech forest clothing the hills.

Lower terraces provide a moist, warm haven for rimu, kahikatea, matai and miro.

Abundant in the rich alluvial soils of the bottom slopes of the gorge, their rangy heights lifting them above the canopy of beech. Patches of broadleaf forest and a densely packed understorey of small-leaved rata and luxuriant ferns thrive on welldrained river terraces.

Wide-girthed nikau flourish on the frost-free slopes. Poorly drained surfaces provide boggy patches for dense moss

Debs Martin

HE thunderous roar of nearby rapids envelopes me as I watch the early morning sun penetrate the dark green depths of the Mokihinui Gorge, highlighting its smooth granite surface where the mountain appears as if it has been sliced in half and trees stand parallel to the hillside.

I’m at Welcome Creek – site of a proposed 85-metre hydro-electricity dam. This place is indeed welcoming: a curve in the river at the bottom entrance to the gorge, with giant rock outcrops, deep pools, and the constant cascading of water over greywacke boulders. Its future prospects, if the hydro scheme goes ahead, are anything but welcome.

We have come to see the river under the expert guidance of long-time Forest & Bird member, tramper and “Old Blue” recipient Pete Lusk, whose connections with the Mokihinui River date back more than 30 years, to see what Meridian Energy, a New Zealand State-owned enterprise, is planning for this beautiful, free-flowing river.

Nestled under the western shoulder of Kahurangi National Park, the Mokihinui is the West Coast’s third largest river, draining the vast uplands and mountains of the Lyell, Radiant, Glasgow, Allen and Matiri Ranges, falling steeply through granite and limestone gorges, emerging to meander across open flats, before gathering all its waters together and making a determined charge for the coast through a steep earthquake-shattered gorge.

Released from the gorge, it flows briefly through alluvial flats and a small series of limestone outcrops near the small settlements of Seddonville and Mokihinui before finally flowing into the Tasman Sea.

35

Meridian Energy

mats and regenerating kahikatea and rimu forests. Slips are frequent and mosses, lichens and herbfields quickly take hold in the nooks and crannies among the blocks of granite and greywacke.

The gorge is home to a number of endangered fauna. Eleven bird species, two giant land snail (Powelliphanta) species, and South Island long-tailed bats have all been recorded in this 16km stretch.

Blue duck (whio) is one of the most vulnerable species found here – recent surveys found seven birds on the river.

Little is known about this population and how it survives the frequent floods that regularly lift the river flow up to six

Harold Johnston (supplied by Doug Johnston)

View looking upstream from the dam, showing the reservoir lake before and after the flooding of the river valley.

Historic photographs of the Mokihinui after the 1929 Murchison earthquake demonstrate the power of the seismic forces active in the area – and the damage they can wreak.

Mokihinui

e

am

Kar

ay

hw

ig aH

Summerlea

M 67 Nikau

Miko

3 6 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

ok

ih

in

Seddonville

ui

Ri

ve

r

Dam site

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

Debs Martin

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

Debs Martin

metres high along the gorge walls – it is suspected the whio may retreat to the many tributaries streaming into the gorge.

Native wildlife also flourishes below the river’s surface: long-finned eel and giant and short-jawed kokopu are abundant here.

Mokihinui means “big raft” – one traditionally made from raupo and used by Maori to cross major waterways, suggesting that this was the mode of transport used by early Maori travellers here.

It is also a gorge steeped in history of early European exploration, with the original pack route to Karamea clinging to the steep valley sides before crossing the river and winding its way up a delightfullynamed tributary, the Rough and Tumble.

Evidence of ancient campsites and the twisted remains of the original bridge can be accessed from today’s Department of Conservation track.

Debs Martin

Western weka

Forest in the river valley is virtually untouched by human exploitation.

Rough and Tumble Creek

There are sober reminders of the power of the seismic forces at play in this earthquake-prone land as the track passes by two memorial crosses of men who died in massive slips brought down by the 1929 Murchison earthquake.

Forest & Bird already fought to save this magnificent rainforest once – in the 1980s the Society sought to save it from the ravages of logging and have it protected

as public conservation land. Now, decades on, it seems the battle to save the Mokihinui is being fought all over again.

The proposed dam would flood more than 330 hectares – drowning the forests, river terraces and the river gorge itself under a 14-kilometre-long lake. The inevitable question has to be asked: what are we doing still damming our wilderness rivers?

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

37

New Zealand has lost 58 bird species since humans first arrived here – but sometimes birds can come back from the dead, Brent Stephenson discovers.

M

ORE than a quarter of New Zealand’s birds have vanished forever – the giant moa, the huia, the world’s largest eagle … the list goes on. The only place we can see them now is in a museum, stuffed.

Yet, every now and then an “extinct” species comes back to life. The ivory-billed woodpecker, previously considered extinct, was “sighted” a few years ago in the United States, though the search for concrete evidence that confirms its existence continues.

Closer to home the Chatham Island taiko, the takahe, Campbell Island teal and the Campbell Island snipe have been resurrected from the dead. But I would never have expected to be part of one of these conservation comebacks myself.

In January 2003 I snapped four or five photos of a blackbird-sized bird as it zipped across the waves in front of us on a trip off the Coromandel.

“Black-and-white storm petrel coming in!” my colleague Sav had called and we all scrambled to a hopeful vantage point, and everyone who saw the bird thought it was most likely a black-bellied storm petrel.

But, looking at the photos, that identification just didn’t seem to fit. But what was our mystery bird?

Alan Tennyson, then curator of birds at Te Papa museum, hit us with a surprising theory. “How about this for a suggestion way out of left field: it is Oceanites maorianus – the plumage matches!”

3 8 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

Rifling through my library to find out more about the New Zealand storm petrel, as it is more commonly known, I found it was thought to have been extinct for more than 150 years. As far as anyone knew, the storm petrel existed solely as three stuffed specimens collected in the 19th century, two now in Paris and one in London. New Zealand couldn’t even claim to have any dead specimens, let alone live ones.

The storm petrels comprise a group of 22 species of small seabirds. Found throughout the world’s oceans, they roam from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and range in size from the least storm petrel (with a wingspan of just 35 centimetres) to the slightly larger Tristram’s storm petrel (which has a wingspan of 56cm).

Known as the furious fifties and the screaming sixties, the waters surrounding Antarctica are given these names with good reason. Amazingly, three species of these diminutive birds are found here, and one, the Wilson’s storm petrel, actually breeds on the Antarctic continent. Watching these tiny birds flit from 10-metre wave to 10-metre wave in a force-12 gale really is one of the wonders of nature – how does something so small survive in such a vast and often violent place?

Storm petrels feed on a wide range of small prey living near the surface.

Pattering their feet on the surface of the water as they feed, appearing as if they can walk on water, they have earned the nickname “Jesus bird.”

Returning to land only to breed, storm petrels come and go under the cover of darkness to avoid predation by skuas and gulls, and nest in small burrows, where they lay a single egg. When the chicks leave the nest they won’t return to land for at least 2-3 years.

Six species of storm petrel breed within New Zealand, and a seventh, the Leach’s

Sandra Anderson

Ghost birds

storm petrel, has also been found in the Chatham Islands.

Could the mystery bird we had seen off the Coromandel really be the supposedly extinct New Zealand storm petrel? Opinion was divided into those who thought it was a black-bellied storm petrel, and those who were picking that it was a white-bellied storm petrel. And then there was the minority who believed that the bird we had photographed really was a New Zealand storm petrel.

An article on our possible discovery published in European magazine Birding World led two British birdwatchers, Bob Flood and Bryan Thomas, to realise that the small black and white storm petrels they had seen in the Hauraki Gulf were probably our “extinct” bird.

I was obviously keen to help unravel the mystery. With Halema Jamieson and Richard Griffiths of the Department of Conservation, seabird biologist Mike Imber, Karen Baird and Chris Gaskin from Pterodroma Pelagics, and Brett Rathe, an enthusiastic charter fisherman, we set about trying to learn more.

Expeditions into the Hauraki Gulf began seeing the birds with regularity between the months of October and April. However, several trips to the Mokohinau Islands in the Gulf in late 2004 disappointingly failed to find any sign of the birds.

The next plan was to try to capture birds at sea. Astonishingly, one virtually handed itself in. In November 2005, perhaps attracted by the lasagne dinner being prepared by skipper Geordie Murman, a small bird flew on board a small fishing boat anchored off the northern end of Little Barrier. After fluttering around the cabin, it landed on Geordie’s shirt. He kept it overnight, and it was photographed and examined before being released.

In our own catching attempts a giant butterfly net proved completely inadequate to snare these very agile little birds. Richard Griffiths designed an ingenious “cannon” that fired a fine mist net out over the water. We lured the birds as close as possible with fish oil, chopped pilchards and pungent salmon berley, and to our relief and amazement the net actually worked.

In January 2006 we captured three birds, took measurements, photos, and DNA samples, which subsequently proved that the birds were indeed New Zealand storm petrels. Bruce Robertson of Canterbury University has been comparing DNA from the captured birds with that of other storm petrels – a challenging work in progress.

We fitted our three captured birds with tiny radio transmitters, which could help w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Jacky Geurts

Sandra Anderson

Richard Griffiths designed an ingenious “cannon” that fired a fine mist net.

Sandra Anderson

Our ghost bird was flitting over the waves all along, just waiting for someone to find it. It just shows that even today, with few corners of the planet unexplored, surprises still exist.

Nature has a way of reminding us that she still has many secrets.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP Report any suspected sightings of New Zealand storm petrels, including the date, time and location. An information sheet can be obtained from DOC’s Warkworth Area Office: ph 09 425 7812, warkworth@doc.govt.nz, PO Box 474, Warkworth, 0941.

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

Jacky Geurts

Brent Stephenson

find their breeding site – a factor critical to assuring their survival – but although we did detect a signal from one bird at sea a week later, we were unsuccessful in tracking down a breeding colony.

A research grant from National Geographic allowed us to undertake further work, and we spent a frustrating month on the Gulf in late 2006. Although we spotted the birds in small numbers, we failed to capture any.

Continuing the search in late 2007, we met with success. Miraculously I managed to capture two birds with one shot of the net, and a total of three birds were caught. Again we had hoped to fit transmitters, but as none of the birds showed signs of breeding, we did not fit them with the expensive devices.

But every bird captured yields more data, photos and DNA samples. We also fitted colour bands to the birds’ legs, in the hope that they may be seen again at sea and help give us some idea of population size and movements.

The more we know, the greater the chance that we can save these birds from becoming truly extinct – this time for keeps. Every clue is vital.

Who would have believed that a seabird could hide in New Zealand’s busiest maritime area, close to a city of over a million people?

39

goingplaces

T Kaikoura – walk on the wild side

Dave Hansford

The Kaikoura Wilderness Walkway is gaining a reputation as arguably the best weekend walk in New Zealand. Kip Brook walks the walk.

4 0 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

Shaun Barnett

HE 17-kilometre Kaikoura walk has been lauded by two famous Sir Bobs: Sir Bob Jones and Sir Bob Charles, and many other New Zealanders who love the bush and the birds. The relatively new walk is already regarded as one of the finest short guided walks in the country.

Ready for our walk, we were picked up from the Kaikoura township by our hosts and driven to the start of the track at the valley floor about 40 minutes away. We didn’t have to carry our bags – they magically appeared at our Shearwater Lodge rooms at the end of our first day’s hike.

The first part of the walk was a mix of bush and forest environments: kanuka/manuka, beech and fern dominated but there were some specimens of rimu and totara.

We climbed for about an hour and a half to the Totara Saddle, where our lunch appeared out of nowhere – yummy food in a chilly bin waiting by a wooden table. We then pushed on downhill to cross the stream below – with the expert help of our guide Don Cameron.

Don is a real man of the land, who knows the forest, flora and birds like the back of his weather-worn hands. He has a great way about him and you feel in his company that you would be comfortable climbing Everest with him.

Next stage was not quite Everest, but a steep climb through beech forest for about an hour, before we headed through an ancient totara forest and suddenly emerged in alpine meadows covered in mountain daisies.

We sighted deer grazing as we climbed to another saddle, up over the top, and in the distance was the welcome sight of the lodge. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Rod Morris

Shearwater Lodge is just a few years old and has six double rooms. It is set in a spectacular alpine valley and is serviced by a modern eco-friendly electricity supply – so there was plenty of hot water for the much-needed showers after the long uphill slog.

Afterwards we relaxed in the lodge’s lounge with a big fire roaring and enjoyed the breath-taking views from the deck of steep mountain slopes clad in golden tussock.

We were joined by Bucket, the resident friendly kea and her mates (this is the eastern-most habitat of the kea), and waking to the sound of the bellbirds in the morning confirmed we were in paradise.

After a great meal of crayfish and venison we had crashed into bed early to recover for the next day’s exertions. We headed to Surveyors Peak and the Happy Valley Summit, about a four hour walk through dramatic rugged mountains which rise steeply from each side of the valley.

We returned to the lodge for lunch, before taking the two-hour walk back out to Kaikoura.

The walk covers a large chunk of the Seaward Kaikoura Range which has been protected by a Queen Elizabeth II National Trust covenant because of its national environmental significance.

The protection agreement on the regal Puhi Peaks property north-west of Kaikoura is the highest privately owned land in the country.

The area contains many rare and endangered endemic bird, animal and plant species, and has been identified as a natural area of international importance.

Possums, goats and stoats are controlled in the area, and the walk protects and maintains the internationally important Hutton’s shearwater colony which is located high in the mountains.

Kea fledglings playing.

The shearwater are situated on an extremely steep slope among snow grass, and are very difficult to access, either on foot or by air.

Leading New Zealand botanist Brian Molloy says the walkway is full of wildlife, including the shearwater, kea, falcon, harrier, bellbird, tomtit, warbler, rifleman, pipit, South Island robin, fantail, kereru and kingfisher, and the rare black-eyed gecko was first discovered in the walk area in the late 1970s.

Walkers also experience incredibly expansive scenery from these heights – from Banks Peninsula in the south to Cape Palliser to the north.

For urban-dwellers who don’t have a lot of time to make weeklong expeditions, or the grit to haul heavy equipment in packs up steep mountainsides, yet miss the smell of the bush or the sound of the birds and unforgettable sights of our wilderness areas, this is a fantastic trip.

Fact file: Kaikoura Wilderness Walkway Kaikoura Wilderness Walks offer 2-3-day guided walks through the Puhi Peaks Nature Reserve, 30km from Kaikoura.

For bookings and prices: phone 0800 WILDERNESS (0800 945 337, or 03 319 6966, or email info@kaikourawilderness.co.nz. Website: www.kaikourawilderness.co.nz.

The walk requires moderate fitness over varied terrain. Luggage is transported but walkers are required to carry day packs and wet weather clothing.

Hutton’s shearwater chick in burrow

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

Mangamaunu Rod Morris

Departure times are flexible but walks normally depart several times a week, with no more than 12 people at a time allowed on the walkway.

Shearwater Lodge accommodates up to 12 people in six double rooms and provides meals and drinks.

1

1

Hapuku River

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

41

in the field

Climate change is bringing bad news for the future of some of our rarest species.

Ann Graeme looks at the likely impact on some of our native species – and an alien invader.

Illustrations by Pamela Robinson.

Moth Plant – heading south

Rock wrens – squeezed up and out?

HE fast-growing and vigorous moth plant was brought to New Zealand as a garden plant in the 1880s.

Its fragrant flowers attract and trap moths, butterflies and bees. Up to a thousand seeds blow like thistledown from each of its many pods.

It is not surprising then that moth plant has burgeoned in the past decade and is now a listed pest plant in all the regions in the top half of the North Island. It can smother lowland forest and coastal cliffs, invade off-shore islands and sneak into gardens, parks and reserves. And, as the climate warms, it’s spreading south. Look out, Dunedin, the pest plants of Auckland are on their way!

LTHOUGH rock wrens can’t fly very well they hop nimbly amongst the jumbled rocks above the bushline of the Southern Alps. Their home is so remote and its terrain so harsh that neither people nor predators (other than the native falcon) used to trouble them.

Now the summers are a little longer and a little hotter and the alpine grasses flourish and set more seed. Mice follow the seed, and stoats and weasels follow the mice.

Forest & Bird members Alec and Marian Milne are part of a team of volunteers who “mind” a group of rock wrens which live along the Peel Range in Kahurangi National Park.

The volunteers have trapped stoats and weasels over the past seven summers. Over that time rock wren numbers have been maintained but the volunteers have recorded many fledglings that later disappeared.

This suggests that without the pest control this wren population would be in decline, but it’s not that simple. Some of the wrens nest amongst the boulders and some prefer the bluffs. Predation may have caused a change in behaviour, eliminating the boulder field nesters and favouring the bluff nesters. Another factor may be the introduced dunnock, a summer visitor, who may compete with the wrens for food.

And if, as Tim Flannery suggests in his book The Weather Makers, about six metres of alpine habitat are being lost every decade, the very landscape to which the wrens are adapted may be diminishing.

We don’t know how all these factors work upon the rock wren population. Perhaps in the long run, the climate-driven loss of habitat will prove to be the ultimate threat, squeezing the birds into smaller and smaller populations isolated along the alpine ranges.

Meanwhile, we salute the resourceful volunteers whose trapping helps the rock wrens on the Peel Range.

T

42

A

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

Mangroves – nowhere to go

B

Y themselves, mild temperatures are no threat to mangroves and salt marshes. Our mangrove, manawa, loves the warmth. As the only member of the tropical mangrove community that lives this far south, its ability to grow and photosynthesise increases with a small rise in temperature.

But the warming that comes with climate change is melting the glaciers and the fringes of the polar ice caps, and that melt water will cause sea levels to rise – which may doom the mangroves and salt marshes.

Mangroves and salt marshes exist in the narrow zone between land and sea, flooded up to twice a day by the tides. The mangroves grow furthest out and need to be flooded with seawater for a just a little longer than the salt marsh community growing behind them.

When the sea level rises, the balance between being flooded and being exposed to the air will be altered. Mangroves and salt marshes will die as their roots drown. The growing conditions they need will shift inland to higher ground.

For a time the mangroves can migrate, colonising the places where once the salt marsh grew.

The salt marsh too, can migrate to higher ground – if there is any. But here’s the rub. Most of our wetlands are now constrained by embankments and causeways, roads, land reclamations and other man-made development. For most of our mangroves and salt marshes, there will be nowhere to go.

Tuatara – turning macho

T

UATARA have been on earth since the time of the dinosaurs. They lived when the world was much warmer and kauri grew in today’s Antarctica. They also lived through the Ice Ages when lower sea levels meant that New Zealand was part of a great continent. It seems incredible that a little climate change could threaten such a dogged survivor – but it does threaten them in a most extraordinary way.

A female tuatara digs a hole and lays10-18 eggs in it.

Then she covers them with soil and leaves them to incubate.

When the eggs are laid, their sex is not determined.

The eggs will only hatch if the soil temperature stays between 20-23 degrees Celsius.

If the soil temperature is 20-21 degrees, most of the eggs will hatch as females. If the soil is at 22-23 degrees nearly all the hatchlings will be males.

In the past, tuatara lived all over mainland New Zealand. In cold times they survived in coastal places to the north. In warmer times they would have thrived in the mountains or further south.

But now tuatara only survive on a few islands and in small mainland sanctuaries. All of these places are coastal or lowland, so their range is very limited and their choice of incubation sites relatively small.

Even a few degrees rise in global temperatures may change their hatching patterns, producing more and more males – not good for the future breeding success and survival of the species. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

43

Itinerant Ecologist – Geoff Park

Keeping Resolution

Resolution – site of Richard Henry’s lonely vigil.

O

N one of the myriad wee islands at the mouth of Dusky Sound, a sometimes-pebbled track leads to a cliff top where a gnarly old inaka stands sentinel above the surging swirl of kelp and diving shags.

Its lichened trunk seems the stuff of centuries, inviting you to linger, to lean out, sure of its ancient grip on the cliff as you gaze at the maze of islands meeting with the southern ocean. As I imagine he did. Many, many times.

Taking a break from the bush-clearing and building in the dark late-winter of his arrival in 1895. Jubilant in those first weeks at the immediate success of his kakapo and kiwi catching, and the discovery that he could indeed gather them up in serious numbers, and whisk them away from the wave of weasels spreading west from Otago, to the sanctuary of the new Resolution Island Reserve.

Courtesy of my pilgrimage to the sites where conservation began, I’ve stood in some poignant spots recently. Not least here, in the lee of Resolution, at Richard 4 4 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

Henry’s Pigeon Island Lookout.

Something very important had its beginning in this wild, wet, far-west corner of New Zealand: the first governmentfunded endeavour to preserve the native flora and fauna that it seemed, in the late 19th century, to be fast committing to extinction.

Only on islands, it was believed, would it be possible for New Zealand’s unique native plants and animals to survive.

At the urging of the colony’s scientific societies, two islands were proposed as Government gazetted sanctuaries: Little Barrier Island, or Hauturu, in the Hauraki Gulf, and Resolution Island in Dusky Sound.

Early in 1892, Resolution Island became the world’s first island sanctuary for native flora and fauna. Soon after, Richard Henry became the first person appointed to ensure such an objective, on the ground.

There are few men, gentleman naturalist and collector Walter Buller remarked, “Who would banish themselves from the world, as it were, by living on Resolution Island.”

Fearing what his dog might possibly do off the leash, if they lived on Resolution itself, and what his visitors’ boats might let ashore unseen, Richard Henry set up his operation nearby, on tiny Pigeon Island.

As for the loneliness, he wrote soon after arrival “I have a young fellow with me, and intend to keep him as long as I can.”

In earlier times, as Richard Henry soon discovered, he wouldn’t have been lonely at all.

When Richard Henry first came into the little harbour that was to be home for the next 14 years, he thought that no one had ever lived there before “until we cleared and dug the ground, when we found it neatly paved with Maori ovens.”

Soon after, when he systematically surveyed Outer Dusky’s myriad islands, he found signs of human habitation on virtually every one. But Richard and his “young fellow” Andrew Burt’s main mission wasn’t so much with their living conditions, but with the birds – for which the Maori umu were presumably made.

To James Cook, who gave his ship’s name to Resolution Island, Dusky Sound w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Sara McIntyre Sara McIntyre

Resolution’s abundant forest – goats might help, Richard Henry thought, “keep it in check”.

in 1773 was a country of “shores and woods … not destitute of wild fowl.”

The wild mouth of Dusky Sound was the Resolution’s first anchorage in four months. Not liking the place where he first anchored, Cook sent his lieutenant, Richard Pickersgill, over to the southeast side of the sound to find something better. Cook himself went in the other direction, to Resolution Island, and found the “exceedingly snugg harbour” he called Facile.

By the time Richard Henry was appointed the Government’s resident on Resolution Island, he knew more about the habits of New Zealand’s uncertain-fated ground birds than anyone. But Resolution, for kakapo, he soon discovered was “as a whole, not a good place.”

Nonetheless he moved the flightless fowl to it in numbers that seemed to surprise even him.

Henry’s first report as Government Resident in charge of Resolution Island Reserve inventoried the capture and transfer of 46 kakapo and 11 little grey kiwi from the mainland to the island. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

By the end of the following year (1896) he and Andrew Burt had laboriously transferred 404 birds in cages.

By the time Richard Henry saw a weasel on a Resolution Island beach, in the winter of 1900, they had lifted over 700 kakapo from the mainland to their new island home.

But Resolution was from the start, in bird terms, an island of disappointment to Richard Henry, far from Cook’s place of “shores and woods not destitute of wild fowl.”

Within a year of his arrival, Henry was reporting that he and young Burt had “been often on Resolution, in many places … all around it,” ... and had “cut tracks upon two mountains ... which we have been up on six different occasions” on the side adjacent to Pigeon Island. But they had seen “no signs of life above the bush except parakeets and the tracks of rats.”

The reserve had plenty of “high, rough mountains,” he reported. “But there is nothing like a flat anywhere.” Birds were plentiful enough in the ubiquitous bush, “but there are no kakapos nor grey kiwis.”

As Richard Henry knew from his close watching of kakapo at Te Anau Downs, “the best place for them was near grassy openings.”

But where he hoped to find grassy, kakapo-pleasing openings, “the scrub follows down the alluvial land … covering every foot, and even reaching out over the tide, so that nothing else has a chance

under present circumstances.”

‘If I had a few pairs of goats,” he wrote, “I think I could provide … grass-plots in suitable places at the ends of bays.” He found that “surface-sown rye-grass grows here more quickly and richer than I ever saw, but there are hundreds of seedling forest trees and shrubs growing up among it, so that some animal is required to keep them in check that the grass may continue.”

Next year it will be a century since Richard Henry finally left his Outer Dusky islands, task undone, undo-able, believing that nothing now could save his beloved, benign, flightless friends. But he would have thrilled at what I witnessed.

The air in the mess of Southern Winds, the servicing vessel for the Department of Conservation’s Resolution Island stoat eradication project, thick each morning with the talk of who to drop off, where; who was being sent up through the sodden, dripping Resolution forest, shouldering pack-loads of new mustelid traps to the tussock tops; where, and when, the southern men of the contract track-cutting gang were being picked up. The network of new tracks awaiting the 2300 traps currently being set out up almost every Resolution ridge. The great regard for Richard Henry’s stoicism among everyone involved, and their quiet determination that the plan was going to work. This time.

I wish there was some way I could tell him.

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

45

branchingout

F

OREST and Bird is better off by $5000 as a result of unique and environmentally friendly fundraising by National Bank staff.

Faced with a large number of vinyl advertising billboard “skins” that were no longer required, rather than throwing them away into landfills, the bank cut them up and recycled them into laptop bags. The bags were then sold to National Bank’s staff – with the proceeds going to Forest & Bird.

“It was fantastic that this initiative created a unique solution to an environmental problem at the same time as raising funds for conservation,” Forest & Bird general manager Mike Britton says.

Managing Director of National Bank Retail Banking Craig Sims says the bag project had another positive spin-off: they encouraged bank staff to think more broadly about living and working sustainably.

The billboard bags are just part of the bank’s wider waste reduction strategy, he says.

“We’re focused on changing our business processes to save paper, turning off lights and computers when not in use and developing recycling programmes. Such measures may seem very small on an individual basis, but the cumulative effect is making a big difference to the goal of reducing our environmental impact.”

Helen Bain

Bags of money

National Bank’s Craig Sims presents the $5000 cheque to Forest & Bird’s Mike Britton.

Film festival success

Tracy Hinton

T

Warden for Ruapehu Lodge

A

WARDEN is required for Forest and Bird’s Ruapehu Lodge during the winter of 2008.

Ideally we are looking for someone to start end of April or beginning of May through to end of September. However, we will also consider applicants who may be available for a portion of the season.

Free accommodation (own double bedroom) is offered in return for cleaning and supervision of maintenance.

The lodge is located just 600m from Whakapapa Village at the foot of Mount Ruapehu, providing ample opportunity for the successful applicant to enjoy skiing, tramping, wildlife and a variety of other outdoor pursuits in the magnificent surrounds of Tongariro National Park.

A list of duties is available on our website www. forestandbird.org.nz or contact Debbie Allison on d.allison@ forestandbird.org.nz or phone 04 385 7374

4 6 F4 O 6 RFEOSRT E &S T B &I R BD I R• DN •O VMEAMYB 2E 0R 0280 0 6

HE inaugural Forest & Bird Film Festival was a great success during Seaweek.

The festival, organised by Marine Conservation Field Officer Jacqueline Geurts, attracted short film entries covering a wide range of marine themes, including an inside look at the fisheries quota management system, marine reserves, marine mammals and stunning footage of French Pass and marine ecosystems.

Judges – Auckland Regional Councillor Christine Rose, Bill Trusewich of the Department of Conservation, and Sandra Jack and Nick Beveridge from Forest & Bird’s Auckland office – chose Amy Taylor’s Beyond the Kelp as the overall winner.

The judges commented that Taylor’s work was a spine-tingling, informative and magical portrayal of Hector’s dolphins, and Taylor picked up a $500 first prize for her efforts. Her film, and others entered in the festival, also get free entry into the Reel Earth film festival.

The festival screenings, which ran throughout Seaweek, were enjoyed by thousands of cinema-goers, with proceeds going towards protection of little blue penguins.

Forest & Bird is again seeking short films from amateur and semi-professional film-makers for its next film festival. Entry details will be available at www.forestandbird.org.nz from August.

Obituary: Ian Barry

I

T is with sadness that the North Taranaki Branch records the sudden death of Ian Barry, committee member, immediate past chairperson and long-time member of Forest & Bird.

Ian was active in a variety of activities on behalf of the society, attending community meetings, writing and making submissions, assisting with plantings, and looking out for the many small things that

needed attention on behalf of the environment.

As a teacher he fostered an interest in many children over a number of years for our native plants and animals, and was a constant advocate for taking action to safeguard the environment for the future.

We will miss him.

North Taranaki Branch Chairperson Carolyn Brough

ww ww w. w f o. fr oe rs et as tnadnbdi b r di r. d o .r og r. g n .zn z

branchingout

HREE very lucky families from Lower Hutt Kiwi Conservation Club were invited to attend the naming and release ceremonies of the two baby tuatara and to be the first campers on Matiu/ Somes Island.

Matiu/Somes is located in the middle of Wellington Harbour and is a sanctuary for giant weta, tuatara, North Island robin, various skinks and geckos and many little blue penguins.

We all met at Day’s Bay Wharf in time for the 10.30am harbour ferry sailing, loaded down with camping equipment and food, and arrived on the Island 10 minutes later.

Our first stop was the whare kiore (rat house) for seed and pest checks to ensure that no hidden visitors were inadvertently smuggled ashore. All the carefully packed tents and bags had to be unpacked, checked and repacked. Jo and Matt, the island’s Department of Conservation rangers, gave us a very informative talk on the island’s history and wildlife.

After pitching our tents at the campsite near the centre of the island and grabbing a quick lunch we headed back down to the wharf for the official welcoming ceremony and blessing. This was followed by the release of ornate skinks, forest geckos and green geckos.

Finally the time came to announce the names of the tuatara and release them.

The little critters were just 13 centimetres long – 3cm more than when they hatched in incubators at Victoria University three months earlier.

They have been named after Wellington Harbour’s two taniwha, Ngake and Whataitai.

We stood in the guard of honour leading to the site of their release not far from where their eggs had been found on the island.

After the formalities were over and most visitors had left on the last ferry we were able to return to our campsite, have a well earned rest and plan our night walk. Matiu/Somes is a very special place at night: you are surrounded by the lights of Wellington and the Hutt Valley glittering in the distance, and a full moon made torches almost unnecessary.

We came across penguins, giant weta and tuatara going about their business right on the walking tracks. After the children had returned to the tents two of us went out again and came across a tuatara eating a giant weta!

We were serenaded to sleep by black-backed gulls, sheep, penguins and a recording of fluttering shearwaters (hopefully this will attract the island’s next residents).

The next day dawned

View of the camp ground on Matiu/Somes Island

India Hansen, 10, Lower Hutt KCC

T

India Hansen, 10, Lower Hutt KCC

KCC goes to Matiu/Somes

The tuatara makes its way to its new home on the island, through a guard of honour.

sunny and windless and we unfortunately had to pack up our tents and return to the mainland, but we have lots of

fantastic memories that will stay with us forever.

Karen Baker, Lower Hutt KCC Co-ordinator

David was also instrumental in changing the Forest & Bird magazine from a small black and white magazine to the coloured A4 size it is today. All 25,000 magazines were delivered to Forest & Bird’s 6th floor office, and they had to come before 8am in the morning because getting the bundles up in the lift took half an hour when other people wanted to get to work in the building.

A small group of local members would put the magazines into envelopes ready to be posted out. It was all hands on deck – but also lots of chat-

ting, cups of tea, and discussing the issues of the day.

Another of David’s projects which is still going today is the Pauatahanui Wildlife Reserve.

David negotiated for Forest & Bird to take over the management of the reserve from the Wildlife Service. He planned a gate on one of the ditches so that the tide would flow in to cover the wetland area, but not flow out again. The gate is still in operation today.

While an era of Forest & Bird’s history has passed away, David’s contribution remains with us.

Joan Leckie

Obituary: David Collingwood

A

N era of Forest & Bird history has passed away with the death of David Collingwood.

The 1970s were changing and turbulent times for Forest & Bird. Roy Nelson was the Society’s National President for 20 years, and before he resigned he appointed the Society’s first Conservation Officer – David Collingwood.

David served at a time of significant change for the Society. The Society’s policy at the time supported selective logging in native forests, and a whole new Executive was

elected to take over from the “old brigade” and firmly stand against selective – or any – logging in native forests.

David’s previous experience had been as a civil engineer, but he had joined Forest & Bird as a junior member, and had a wide knowledge of our native flora and fauna.

Environmentalists in those days could be pretty fiery.

Those were the days of sitting in trees to stop the bulldozers in Pureora and similar “frontline” action – and a lot of the fieriness ended up in loud discussions in David’s office.

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

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

47

branchingout

Kiri Kiwi Awards

O

UTSTANDING contribution to KCC was recognised with the inaugural Kiri Kiwi Awards presented at the KCC co-ordinators gathering in Auckland in February.

Conservation Minister Steve The two awards for Chadwick makes friends with outstanding service to the the Forest & Bird crayfish at the Kiwi Conservation Club were Sea Festival at Mt Maunganui, presented by Forest & Bird which was held during President Peter Maddison to Seaweek. The Tauranga and Muriel Fanselow, who began Te Puke branches took part in the North Shore KCC in 1988 the family fun day, including and is still an active member organising a seashell safari. of the team, and to Donna The biggest buzz of the day Sherlock, who has re-invigoratwas a “visit” by several orca, ed Wellington KCC, extending which swam close to shore, to it and collaborating with Kapiti the delight of festival-goers.

Mana to combine KCC activities throughout Wellington and up the Kapiti Coast.

KCC National Co-ordinator Ann Graeme says the gathering was attended by many new co-ordinators as well as stalwarts who have run KCC clubs for decades, and discussion and ideas were stimulating and wide-ranging.

The event was also a good opportunity for co-ordinators to meet new KCC Officer Jenny Lynch – and participants still had time to enjoy a walk in Forest & Bird’s Matuku Reserve and Ark in the Park.

Photos: Steve Dawson, DOC, Don Geddes, Henk Haazen, Peter Morris, Rod Morris, Brent Stephenson, Kim Westerskov

Forest & Bird Waitakere Branch Vice-Chairman James Smith presents Prime Minister Helen Clark with a Maui’s dolphin toy at the Waitakere Eco Festival in March. Forest & Bird has been campaigning for better protection of Maui’s dolphin – the world’s rarest marine dolphin – and its proposal for a marine mammal sanctuary off the north-west coast of the North Island was presented to the Government earlier this year.

KCC co-ordinators take a break.

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

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

The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Incorporated is the leading independent voice for conservation. Our vital conservation work couldn’t continue without the generous gifts we receive from supporters. By leaving toN Forest 4 8 F4 O 8 aRFgift EOS RTin E& Syour TB& I RWill B D I R• D •O VMEAMY& B2 EBird 0 R 0 28you 0 0 6 will help ensure our vital conservation work continues to make a difference.

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

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

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

Kerin Welford, Senior Fundraiser Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Incorporated, PO Box 631, Wellington 6140. ww w w w. w f o. fr oe rs et as tnadnbdi b r di r. d o .r og r. g n .zn z Email: k.welford@forestandbird.org.nz www.forestandbird.org.nz

branchingout

Countdown at Kaipupu Point

Helen Bain

ARLBOROUGH Forest & Bird has been undertaking bird counts on Kaipupu Point, a peninsula just west of Picton, in preparation for the building of a predator-proof fence there.

The area is to become a mainland island, with funding well under way for planned construction of a predator proof fence later this year.

The bird count was conducted to find out how many ONDA has provided six energy during deceleration and birds were in the area before predator trapping and fencing vehicles, including four braking, which charges the began, to compare with numhybrids, for use by Forest & Bird electric engine. field staff.

The Civic Hybrid uses just 4.6 bers in future years.

As only basic tracks had With eye-catching paintwork litres of fuel per 100 kilometres, been cut they were difficult for depicting Forest & Bird’s compared to 6.9L used by a volunteers to navigate but the conservation campaigns, the petrol-powered Civic, and was group still managed to set up cars are part of a partnership the Supreme Winner of the six count stations, and hope to arrangement between Honda 2006 AA EnergyWise Rally. set up more once better access and Forest & Bird.

“As an environmental is established.

Forest & Bird General organisation Forest & Bird has Volunteers were surprised by Manager Mike Britton says a responsibility to ensure its the lack of birdlife on the point: Honda’s generous support environmental footprint is as silver eye was the most domiwill be a great help in getting light as possible,” Mike Britton nant species, and chaffinch, Forest & Bird’s campaign says. messages out to the public, as “The nature of our work, well as providing fuel-efficient which takes field staff to many transport for staff. remote places not served by Powered by a conventional public transport, means that petrol engine in combination private vehicles are often with an electric motor, hybrids necessary, so we want to make use less fuel and produce fewer sure that those vehicles are emissions than their traditional as environmentally friendly as counterparts by recapturing possible.”

Environmentally driven

H

JS Watson Conservation Trust Applications are invited from individuals or conservation groups for financial assistance for conservation projects for the 2008-2009 year.

This Trust is administered by Forest & Bird.

Application procedures and forms can be downloaded from our website – www.forestandbird.org.nz.

For further information email office@forestandbird.org.nz or write to: JS Watson Conservation Trust Forest & Bird PO Box 631 Wellington Preliminary applications close Wednesday 4 June 2008

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

Dianne John

M

bellbird, grey warbler, shining cuckoo, blackbird, dunnock and thrush were also counted.

The low count is probably due to predators, especially cats, which are often abandoned in the area. Other areas of bush in the vicinity appear to have a more diverse and larger bird population.

The group would like to thank the local Ornithological Society and Vince Cowie from the Kaipupu Trust, who slashed gorse from paths, reducing the number of prickles requiring removal from hands and legs over the following few weeks – for which the bird counters are truly grateful.

Dianne John

EA B UP RLY OO TO & K SA VE

15

%

ANTARCTICA CHILE & PATAGONIA 17 DEC 2008

15 NIGHTS FROM

CHRISTMAS CRUISE

$11,235pp

INCLUDES • Flights* to Buenos Aires / returning from Santiago • 2 night Buenos Aires hotel stay • Morning sightseeing tours in Buenos Aires & Santiago • Charter flights from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia LANDINGS & Punta Arenas to Santiago ASHORE IN • 10 night cruise from Ushuaia to Punta Arenas ANTARCTICA • 3 nights Santiago hotel stay • Port and air taxes, gratuities and transfers HIGHLIGHTS Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, Deception Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctic Sound, Hope Bay, Paradise Harbor (Christmas Dinner onboard), Half Moon Island, Cape Horn, Punta Arenas, Santiago For cruise bookings contact your travel agent or for a brochure call: 0800 CRUISE (278 473) www.CruiseHolidays.co.nz Price is per person, share twin, based on lead in, inside cabin. Gratuities, port & air taxes included.

Special conditions, currency fluctuations and availability restrictions apply. All fares and taxes remain subject to change without notice up until date of sailing. Accommodation, airline and routing is at the discretion of Cruise Holidays (NZ) Ltd. *Flight to/from Auckland only VOD1466

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

49

DOC

annualreport

Grey Warbler – Bird of the Year 2008

2008

REPORT TO MEMBERS For the year ended 28 February 2008

T

HE past year has seen conservation gain a higher profile than ever, and Forest & Bird has risen to the challenge in continuing to be New Zealand’s leading non-Government conservation organisation.

As environmental issues - such as climate change, the impacts of intensification of agriculture, allocation of water resources and power generation, and protection of our endangered species – have become ever more to the fore in terms of public awareness, Forest & Bird has been at the forefront of campaigning for the best outcomes for the environment.

As we reach our 85th anniversary, making us New Zealand’s longest-serving conservation organisation, we have continued to develop and adapt to ensure that we also remain a relevant, modern and dynamic force for change.

The year has seen a number of significant victories, many of them the result of many years of campaigning, and it is particularly pleasing to be able to report some of those successes to you in this annual report.

Dawn Chorus Forest & Bird continued to sustain New Zealand’s native birdlife through its involvement in restoration projects throughout the country. From major predator-proof “mainland island” projects such as Bushy Park and Maungatautari, through to the many smaller reserves and projects maintained throughout New Zealand by our branches, this work has been invaluable in helping birdlife to flourish.

Of particular note is the success of the transfer of hihi (stitchbirds) to Ark in the Park in the Waitakere Ranges – the first hihi on the Auckland mainland for more than a century. The birds which were transferred just over a year ago have now successfully nested and their first chicks have fledged – a fantastic result. We are now looking forward to release of kokako at the Ark this year.

Forest & Bird has continued to build its role in partnerships such as BNZ Save the Kiwi Trust and Central North Island Blue Duck Trust, and it is great to see positive results being achieved in protecting these species: for example, the 1000th chick hatched under Operation Nest Egg, and breeding successes among whio/blue duck populations.

Another pleasing development in our “hands-on” Dawn Chorus restoration work is a move towards joining up the many smaller areas of “green” to form networks or “greenways” that will allow bird populations to move from place to place and expand, rather than be restricted to isolated pockets of suitable habitat. Initiatives such as the North-West Wildlink Accord signed in Auckland in 2006 is proving the merits of this approach, and plans to develop similar green networks in the Wellington region look promising.

Pest control is probably the most important factor in protecting New Zealand’s indigenous species, and the decision by the Environment Risk Management Authority this year confirming the well-managed 1080 operations are a safe and effective method of controlling introduced pests and preventing the serious damage they inflict on our native environment and threatened species.

Forest & Bird’s representation (by Field Officer Sue Maturin) on the ministerial panel reviewing the status of deer, pigs, chamois and thar will hopefully result in our wilderness areas having better protection against these noxious introduced species.

Strengthening international alliances, Forest & Bird this year became a full BirdLife International partner, which will enhance our ability to contribute to global conservation efforts. A commitment of $135,000 a year for five years 5 0 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

by an English couple has also enabled us to establish the BirdLife International Community Conservation Fund to support conservation projects.

Marine and Coastal Protection of Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins was a high priority for Forest & Bird this year. We proposed to the Minister of Conservation that a marine mammal sanctuary be set up off the north-west coast of the North Island to protect Maui’s dolphins, and have lobbied for a nationwide set net ban and other protection measures to protect Hector’s dolphins. It is hoped that these measures will be put in place this year.

Forest & Bird launched the third version of its Best Fish Guide with the help of respected chef Martin Bosley, allowing consumers to make the best possible choice for our oceans when they buy fish. Still no fisheries are included in the “green” section, indicating that they are sustainably fished, but several came close, and I am optimistic that future guides may see some make it into the green. For the first time the guide also provided information on what methods of fishing are most sustainable.

Forest & Bird also challenged the Marine Stewardship Council’s decision to recognise New Zealand’s hoki fishery as sustainable. The international panel’s comment that hoki was awarded its “green tick” only by “the skin of its teeth” and that significant improvements are needed, highlighted the serious environmental concerns about this fishery.

Reductions in fisheries quota announced later in the year were a step in the right direction, but need to go much further before we can truly have sustainable fisheries.

Continued deaths of albatrosses and other seabirds highlighted concerns about seabird by-catch in the fishing industry – including one incident this year in which 34 albatrosses were killed – but it appears that Government proposals to introduce stronger mitigation measures may finally take decisive action to stop the seabird slaughter.

The appointment of a full-time seabird campaigner, Susan Waugh, will be a tremendous boost to Forest & Bird’s work in this area.

The number of New Zealand sea lions which the squid fishery is permitted to kill was lower this year than in the previous season, but is still too high and risks further decline of this endangered marine mammal. Forest & Bird’s Mother’s Day promotion was supported by MPs from all parties in Parliament and we hope that our ongoing work will eventually see the sea lion kill quota reduced to near zero.

Forest & Bird also celebrated the opening of Tapuae Marine Reserve off Taranaki, and looks forward to the imminent opening of the Kevin Smith/Kupe Marine Reserve off Wellington’s south coast – both important additions to a proposed network of marine reserves around New Zealand’s coast.

Freshwater The recent State of the Environment report shows intensification of agriculture, particularly dairy farming, poses one of the biggest challenges to our environment – and our clean, green image overseas. Forest & Bird has been lobbying for the farming sector to take greater responsibility for its environmental costs, and hopefully these efforts will contribute to better controls on environmental impacts of primary production.

Forest & Bird has been active in lobbying for protection of some of our most ecologically valuable rivers. We supported an application by Fish and w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Game for a Water Conservation Order for the Hurunui River in Canterbury.

We have also opposed a plan to build an 85-metre-high hydro dam on the Mokihinui River on the West Coast, which would flood this pristine river valley. An Environment Court ruling that the existing Water Conservation Order on the Gowan River would not be altered to allow hydro development was also welcome, while we continue to fight for protection of the Wairau River against inappropriate hydro development.

High Country A major win in our High Country campaign was the announcement that lakeside pastoral lease properties in the South Island high country would be excluded from tenure review in order to protect their special values.

This means they will be protected from inappropriate development for the enjoyment of future generations of New Zealanders.

It was also satisfying to see the purchase of more high country stations to go into the development of further high country parks, most notably the purchase of Michael Peak and Twinburn, which will be added to the proposed Oteake Conservation Park. This announcement, and the creation of Hakatere Conservation Park, were great steps forward towards achieving the vision outlined by Forest & Bird in its proposed “Six Pack of Parks.”

Energy Forest & Bird also joined forces with Greenpeace and Oxfam to form Be the Change, a campaign to show New Zealanders how they can make simple changes to help stop climate change. The nationwide tour by the bio-diesel Be the Change bus was a great way of taking this very important message to Kiwis.

We were also pleased by the announcement that the Tui Mine near Te Aroha will finally be cleared up, at a cost of $10 million, after years of lobbying by Forest & Bird and others.

Membership and Promotion Through the continued support of our valued members and donors Forest & Bird can continue to speak out for our country’s most vulnerable environments, flora and fauna.

We are currently reviewing our processes in an effort to streamline the way we communicate with our members and donors to provide better quality service in an efficient and helpful manner.

Online membership subscriptions, donations and merchandise purchases have now been made easier through our fully revamped website pages that allow greater efficiency and are more user-friendly.

Growing Forest & Bird’s membership is one of our top priorities and we are thinking creatively how to foster a passion for the environment among a wider potential membership.

The Hector’s Dolphin Appeal launched in early 2007 received a great response. Increase of publicity surrounding the plight of the Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins was reflected in the appeal’s results.

Our new Sustain regular giving programme was launched in 2007 and has also been met with a great response from our members.

This year we have approached many grant providers in an effort to gain funds to support our work. We have had a great response to our submitted applications from various philanthropic trusts and will continue to seek funding on an annual basis. The appointment of a full-time fundraiser has seen an increase in fundraising income and opportunities.

We also have had great support from the business community, and have had many proposals to increase the Society’s profile as well as providing much needed financial assistance. We look forward to developing these partnerships further.

Forest & Bird’s Art for Conservation auction, hosted by our patron, Governor General Anand Satyanand at Government House, raised $90,000 for the high country and Hector’s dolphin campaigns with the sale of works by some of New Zealand’s best-known artists.

Forest & Bird maintained a high-profile presence at public events, such as Ellerslie Flower Show, Fieldays, Conservation Week, Seaweek and Marine w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Bioblitz. Not only does attendance at these events result in many more members joining Forest & Bird, they are also a great opportunity to educate the public about our work.

Both Prime Minister Helen Clark and Opposition Leader John Key spoke at our AGM, indication of the growing recognition of the importance of conservation by our political leaders. We look forward to heightening that political awareness as we move into election year.

Our children’s section, Kiwi Conservation Club, goes from strength to strength as it nears its 20th birthday. To celebrate this milestone a major revamp is planned for the KCC programme and funding has been successfully obtained to produce extra resources.

About 10,000 children and 2000 schools are involved in KCC and enjoy its educational and inspiring trips, activities, and magazine.

And it was fantastic to see Izzy, our four-metre-long tui take his place on the rooftop of our national office – a fine ambassador who is literally raising the profile of Forest & Bird.

Finances The 2007-08 financial year has been a watershed for Forest & Bird, in which we have had significant success in increasing income.

Key to this has been recognition that while Forest & Bird’s work has been supported by membership fees, if we are to continue to maintain the professional capacity to meet conservation challenges, then we need to generate other significant sources of income.

This year, due to the generosity of the T-Gear Charitable Foundation and Trust, we now have a fulltime fundraiser and have been successful in generating income from a variety of sources, including trusts, grants and new partnerships.

However, our biggest source of income continues to be the enormous generosity of our members and donors, and those who leave a legacy to Forest & Bird. We are in the process of establishing an endowment fund and it is hoped this will grow to provide a significant stream of income to support our work.

Overall expenditure exceeded income for the year, but the gap was significantly less than that in the previous year, and the Executive and general manager are budgeting for a surplus in 2008-09.

Thanks Of course none of our work or our victories would have been possible without the generosity and tireless support of our members. I cannot give enough thanks for the commitment to conservation by thousands of our members who put in countless hours planting trees, battling invasive weeds, manning trap and bait lines, making submissions to local and regional councils, organising local trips and gatherings, writing letters to newspapers and MPs … the list goes on and on.

I would also like to give particular thanks to our Patron, Governor-General Anand Satyanand and his wife Susan Satyanand, who have both been outstanding supporters during the year, giving generously of their time to assist Forest & Bird at a number of important events.

Without your membership fees and generous donations and bequests, we could not afford to support the paid work carried out by our staff around the country. Every cent is appreciated and you can be assured goes towards real and urgent campaigns that make a significant difference to conservation.

The contribution of each of us makes a difference – and the combined efforts of all of us, staff and members, in Forest & Bird makes a remarkable difference, as the successes of the year demonstrate.

Peter Maddison National President F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

51

annualreport Large Donations

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE for the year ended 29 February 2008 2007-2008 2006-2007 $ $

Surplus/(Deficit) for the year ended 29 February 2008

$(474,985)

561,850 581,481 64,071 89,139 266,378 209,428 122,860 138,644 245,656 227,798 406,229 74,511 16,209 16,885 269,166 69,228 0 1,344,607 1,952,419 2,751,721 602,252 458,361 141,754 148,463 243,909 213,311 439,032 512,086 338,203 247,188 259,352 239,746 189,083 202,329 156,164 138,522 2,238 (7,459) 55,417 57,815 2,427,404 2,210,362 $541,359

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION as at 29 February 2008

Members Funds Opening Balance Surplus / (Deficit) Closing Balance Current Liabilities Accounts Payable Deferred Income

Other Liabilities Restricted Funds Total Members Funds & Liabilities Current Assets Cash Deposits (On Call) Deposits (Fixed Term) Accounts Receivable Inventory

Investments Shares and Other Securities

Fixed Assets Other Assets Restricted Funds TOTAL ASSETS

2007-2008 2006-2007 $ $ 3,696,746 3,155,387 (474,985) 541,359 3,221,761 3,696,746

297,182 270,896 364,640 437,955 661,822 708,851 1,164,789 1,171,632 $5,048,372 $5,577,228 102,822 71,904 212,576 2,071,986 3,108,403 1,831,487 98,679 53,210 13,912 24,591 3,536,392 4,053,178 24,775 24,775 24,775 24,775 322,416 327,642

Please note these financial statements have not been audited. Once they are available a full set of audited statements, including the auditor's opinion, will be made available by Forest & Bird.

Income Subscriptions - Forest & Bird

- Kiwi Conservation Club General Donations Appeals Interest Received Grants Other Income Bequests Sale of Assets TOTAL INCOME (Note 1) Expenditure Terrestrial Biodiversity Freshwater Marine Communications & Promotions Membership & Fundraising Branch Support Governance Education Properties Planning and Reporting TOTAL EXPENDITURE

R W R Archibald $1,500; M G Baker $550; C Barnes $600; B Barrett $500; H Bedford $600; J Berks $500; R L Bourne $500; R H Briant $1,000; S Butcher $600; J Chappell $10,000; Cockburn Development Ltd $500; R F Cooper $3,000; R Dameron $500; B Davidson $500; T H L Davies $500; Dominican Friars $615; B Duffy $2400; Dunedin Branch $11,090; Hastings-Havelock North Branch $1,200; Kapiti-Mana Branch $5,000; Lower Hutt Branch $3,660; Manawatu Branch $5,000; Mercury Bay Branch $1,311; Napier Branch $1,000; North Canterbury Branch, $15,000; Te Puke Branch $3,000; Upper Coromandel Branch $500; Upper Hutt Branch $3,000; Waikato Branch $10,000; Waitakere Branch $500; Friends of Nature $2,000; P & V Friedlander $2,600; N Goldwater $500; D Gordon $600; R M Greenwood $1,200; S Hanbury-Sparrow $575; Heseltine Trust $500; L Horrell $540; Infinity Investment Group Ltd $500; S D Ingram $600; M & C Jacobson $600; S James $548; Jones Fee Barristers and Solicitors $1,000; M King $1,020; J & P Lammerink $2,000; J Lapsley Miller $500; J Leckie $1,000; P C Levin $1,000; M H Lovelock $500; C P Mason $1,848; L N McFarlane $5,000; D Miller $500; J Milne $600; B F Morrissey $1,500; P A Morton $1,530; T Norman $12,869; C Nyce $500; J C Olsen $500; P & V Osborne $1,220; A Pearson $500; R Pugh $1,405; D Stanley & G L Purdie $600; Rio Tinto Iron Ore $1,000; S M Rowledge $500; A P Ryan $900; M Schlup $608; R Schuckard $504; W & J K Smith $550; T Tasman-Smith $1,100; Tenob Wholesale Marine $575; The David & Genevieve Becroft Foundation $4,961; D Underwood $1,050; J A Williams $500; D J Wright $1,500.

Bequests E M Andrews $1,000; E I Beck $23,611; L C Bell $1,800; H E Bridges $500; Davis Trust $2,000; M Divers $3,000; J Feeney $10,000; E Feist $10,000; J Fruin $30,000; R D Greenwood $5,000; J Keny $5,000; I W Matthews $500; M S Munro $82,000; O G Poole $59,000; B B Stoker $4,000; H M Taylor $9,135; C L Turner $500; M Williams $20,000.

Forest & Bird acknowledges the following organisations for their generous support

1,164,789 1,171,632 $5,048,372 $5,577,228

G Bellamy, Treasurer For and on behalf of the Executive, April 2008

Note 1 • Income offsetting Expenses During the financial year the following income from donations, grants and events was classified as ‘income offsetting expenses’ and is in addition to the year’s total income figure. These figures will be included in the above income and expenditure figures for future years.

Rent Freshwater Marine Terrestrial Biodiversity Magazine Advertising Royalties Marketing/ Promotions Vanuatu Trip Cost Recoveries AGM/ Council Meeting

5 2 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

2008 2007 1,387 20,770 1,425 0 55,000 0 115,604 0 58,199 51,438 15,146 15,943 72,194 9,994 49,465 49,570 12,771 20,654

The Ron Greenwood Environment Trust Ministry for the Environment Pacific Conservation and Development Trust Stout Trust Ralph & Constance Silvester Education Trust T-Gear Trust Gama Foundation Packard Foundation Gordon Harris Hewlett-Packard Buddle Findlay

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

Bush & Beyond

Fiordland Fiordland Ecology Ecology Holidays Holidays

Guided Walks

65ft Motor Motor Yacht Yacht Breaksea Girl 65ft

Patagonia

Latin America

Unique Small Group Tour. Dep Feb 09 Freephone 0800 874 748 www.southernexposuretours.co.nz

Unique Small Group Tours Freephone 0800 874 748 www.southernexposuretours.co.nz

The Original Kahurangi Guides

Concerned about your carbon footprint when traveling?

So are we!

Details on our website together with our trip schedule schedule for 2008/2009. for 2008.

5% discount for F&B members.

Money back back guarantee. guarantee.

Money

From Comfortable Lodge stay to Off track wilderness backpacking.

Including: Heaphy and Cobb Valley and much more!

Conservation values PO Box 376, Motueka 7143 T/F: 03 528 9054 E: info@bushandbeyond.co.nz

Ph/Fax: 03 249 6600 Freephone 0800 249 660 PO Box 40, MANAPOURI Email: info@fiordland.gen.nz www.fiordland.gen.nz

White Heron Sanctuary Tours Come with us, RAINFOREST, NATURE and JETBOATING TOURS, all year round.

Viewing of nesting colony from October to March.

Ph. 0800 52 34 56

www.bushandbeyond.co.nz

Waikava Harbour View 4 bedroom luxury lodge Peaceful native setting

www.whiteherontours.co.nz

Waipohatu bush walk Curio Bay fossil forest Hector’s dolphins, yellow-eyed penguins, seals 14 Larne Street, Waikawa, Southland

OKARITO COTTAGE Well appointed cottage. Sleeps 3 but room for more in the attic. Close to West Coast beach, bush walks and lagoon.

Southern Alps form a backdrop and Franz Josef approx.

30 kilometres on tarsealed road.

Cost $70 PER FAMILY Extra Adults $10 per night

Tel: 03 246 8866 Email: waikawa@southcatlins.co.nz

Website: www.southcatlins.co.nz

LORD HOWE ISLAND 22-29 Nov ’08 $2995 twin share Leader: Ian Hutton Contact: TravelSmart Napier 06 835 2222 john@tsnapier.co.nz

Further enquiries contact Elspeth Scott, 19 Ngamotu Rd, Taupo 07-378-9390 email: ElspethScott@xtra.co.nz

BIORESEARCHES CONSULTING BIOLOGISTS AND ARCHAEOLOGISTS ESTABLISHED 1972

NGAPOURI HUT

New 2 bedroom cottage, rural views, quiet and peaceful, set on edge of Lake Tutaeinanga – home of rare dabchick and many other native birds.

20 mins south of Rotorua, 40 mins north of Taupo, 5 mins to Waikite Hot pools.

Cost $100 per night Extra adults $10 per night Further enquiries: 07 333 1883 or Email: fiske@xtra.co.nz

Environmental Impact Studies Surveys of Marine, Freshwater & Terrestrial Habitats Pollution Investigations Resource Consent procedures Archaeological; Historic Places Appraisal bioresearches@bioresearches.co.nz www.bioresearches.co.nz P.O Box 2828 Auckland PH: AUCKLAND 379 9417 Fax (09) 307 6409

PHILPROOF PEST CONTROL PRODUCTS WIPEOUT: Possums, Rodents, Mustelids, Rabbits Standard & Mini Philproof Bait Stations & Timms Traps Rodent Bait Stations and Block Baits. Rodent Snap Traps Fenn Traps (MK4 & 6), Trap Covers – Double or Single Also available: Monitoring Tunnels & Bird Nesting Chambers Phone/Fax 07 859 2943 Mobile 021 270 5896 PO Box 4385, Hamilton 2032 Website: www.philproof.co.nz Email: philproof.feeders@clear.net.nz

To advertise in Forest & Bird please contact Vanessa Clegg: 0275 420 337 or Karen Condon: 0275 420 338.

For Stewart Island Accommodation in the Bush Rakiura Retreat Motels overlooking Braggs Bay/ Halfmoon Bay • Access to beach • Complimentary cars/bikes • Warm & comfortable • Transfers & Professional guides available • Sleeps up to 22 Individuals & Groups welcome.

www.rakiuraretreat.co.nz info@rakiuraretreat.co.nz • 03 2191096

RON GREENWOOD ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST

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

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

The Real Vanuatu With Forest & Bird Helping Vatthe

rea

Conservation A

Get off the beaten track and contribute to the future of Vatthe Conservation Park. Fourteen days visiting four islands, one live volcano, snorkelling over vibrant coral reefs, and helping with a weed project to help save Vatthe’s tropical forest. Stay in locally owned village accommodation.

You will travel with Sue, who has lived and worked with the landowners of Vatthe.

Sue Maturin, Forest and Bird, Box 6230, Dunedin Ph: 03 477 9677 • Email: s.maturin@forestandbird.org.nz Party limited to 12. Trip departs June 2008

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

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

53

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

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

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

$

Your annual membership/Sustain Programme

Annually (January)

$

Gift membership for___________________________

Twice a year (January and July)

Member number (if known) ____________________

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Authorisation Code

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

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

Daytime telephone number

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

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

Information to appear on my/our bank statement Payer Particulars

Payer Code

Payer Reference

Your Signature/s

Approved 1035

Date /

/

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

Recorded by:

Checked by:

Bank Stamp

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

The advance notice will include the following message:- “The amount of $...... will be direct debited to your bank account on (initiating date)”. (b) May, upon the relationship which gave rise to this Authority being terminated, give notice to the bank that no further Direct Debits are to be initiated under the Authority. Upon receipt of such notice the Bank may terminate this Authority as to future payments by notice in writing to me/us.

(b) In any event this Authority is subject to any arrangement now or hereafter existing between me/us and the Bank in relation to my/our account. (c) Any dispute as to the correctness or validity of an amount debited to my/our account shall not be the concern of the Bank except in so far as the direct debit has not been paid in accordance with this Authority. Any other disputes lie between me/us and the Initiator. (d) Where the Bank has used reasonable care and skill in acting in accordance with this authority, the Bank accepts no responsibility or liability in respect of:

- The accuracy of information about Direct Debits on bank statements.

- Any variations between notices given by the Initiator and the amounts of Direct Debits.

The Customer may: (a) At any time, terminate this Authority as to future payments by giving written notice of termination to the Bank and to the Initiator.

(e) The Bank is not responsible for, or under any liability in respect of the Initiator’s failure to give written notice correctly nor for the non-receipt or late receipt of notice by me/us for any reason whatsoever. In any such situation the dispute lies between me/us and the Initiator.

(b) Stop payment of any direct debit to be initiated under this authority by the Initiator by giving written notice to the Bank prior to the direct debit being paid by the Bank.

The Bank may: (a) In its absolute discretion conclusively determine the order of priority of payment by it of any monies pursuant to this or any other authority, cheque or draft properly executed by me/us and given to or drawn on the Bank.

The Customer acknowledges that: (a) This Authority will remain in full force and effect in respect of all direct debits made from my/our account in good faith notwithstanding my/our death, bankruptcy or other revocation of this Authority until actual notice of such event is received by the bank.

(b) At any time terminate this authority as to future payments by notice in writing to me/us. (c) Charge its current fees for this service in force from time-to-time.

FOREST BIRD

FOREST BIRD Forest & Bird Membership

Join Forest & Bird and you will receive Forest & Bird magazine, including Conservation News, and our email newletter, e-News, four times a year. You will have free entry to more than 30 Forest & Bird reserves around the country and discounted entry to the Society’s seven lodges at Ruapehu, Piha and other scenic locations. You can also take part in conservation projects and enjoy talks and field trips through our 55 branches around the country.

Sustain Programme Join Forest & Bird’s new monthly giving programme and you will receive all of the membership benefits above, our regular Sustain email update, and invitations to attend special events.

Gift Membership To give a gift membership simply fill out the form below and send it in with your payment.

Kiwi Conservation Club (KCC) Membership Join KCC, our award-winning club for children, and you will receive five copies of KCC magazine a year, a membership certificate, KCC stickers and notice of activities closest to you from one of our volunteer coordinators.

Join online: www.forestandbird.org.nz • Freephone 0800 200 064

Join online at: www.forestandbird.org.nz Freephone: 0800 200 064 Membership Single or

Fold here

Forest & Bird Memberships (Prices include GST). Please print clearly.

Family (# in family ____) $52

Senior single or

Senior family (# in family____) $39

Student/School $35

KCC single $12

KCC family (# of children ____) $20

Overseas NZ$95

Sustain Programme ($20+ per month)

KCC Overseas NZ$28

First name _______________________________________ Last name________________________________________________ Address___________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Telephone_____________________________________Email________________________________________________________ Gift Membership

Please select from the categories above. If you wish to continue paying for this gift membership each year please use the Direct Debit payment option described below. (Gift donor details over page.)

Gift recipient's first name________________________________ Last name___________________________________________ Address___________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Telephone_____________________________________Email________________________________________________________ Fold

here

Payment Options Yes, I would like to join Forest & Bird’s Sustain Programme and give $________ per month ($20 minimum).

Full name (block capitals) Address Membership no.

Daytime telephone number Please charge my credit card (please fill out your credit card details below).

Yes, I would like to pay my Membership / Gift Membership / KCC Membership / Sustain Programme by Direct Debit.

(Please fill out all of the Direct Debit authorisation form on the opposite page. Tear out using the perforation, fold in four and post it inside this tear-off freepost envelope. To assemble, moisten the gummed edges and fold in three before posting).

I enclose a cheque payable to Forest & Bird Please charge my credit card:

Visa

Mastercard

Amex

Diner

Expiry date__________________________ Cardholder's signature_____________________________________________________________ w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

55

Forest & Bird is New Zealand's leading independent conservation organisation This gift membership is from: First name:______________________________________ Last name_______________________________________ Address: _________________________________________________________________________________________ Phone:_________________________________ Email: ____________________________________________________ Please send the first gift pack to me for personal presentation.

Please write your gift membership message here______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________

Join online: www.forestandbird.org.nz • Freephone 0800 200 064

Forest & Bird PO Box 631 Wellington 6140

FOREST BIRD

Freepost Authority Number 669

branchdirectory Upper North Island Central Auckland: Chair, Anne Fenn; Secretary, Isabel Still, PO Box 1118, Shortland St, Auckland, 1140.

Tel: (09) 528-3986.

Far North: Chair, Vacant; Secretary, Michael Winch, PO Box 270, Kaeo, 0448. Tel: (09) 405-1746.

Franklin: Chair & Secretary, Keith Gardner, 5 Stembridge Ave, Pukekohe, 2120. Tel: (09) 238-9928.

Great Barrier Island: Secretary, Bert Vowden, 37 Medland Rd, RD1, Gt Barrier Is, 0991. Tel: (09) 429-0402.

Hauraki Islands: Chair, Brian Griffiths; Secretary, Simon Griffiths, PO Box 314, Ostend, Waiheke Island, 1843.

Tel: (09) 372-9583.

Hibiscus Coast: Chair, Philip Wrigley; Secretary, Jane Bone, PO Box 310, Orewa, 0946. Tel: (09) 424-7171.

Kaipara: Chair, Suzi Phillips; Secretary, Suzi Phillips, Private Bag 1, Helensville, 0840. Tel: 021 271 2527.

Mid North: Chair, Warwick Massey; Secretary, Raewyn Morrison, PO Box 552, Warkworth 0941.

Tel: (09) 422-9123.

Northern: Chair, Vacant; Secretary, Beverly Woods, PO Box 1375, Whangarei, 0140. Tel: 09 432 7122.

North Shore: Chair, Jim Lewis; Secretary, Jocelyn Sanders, PO Box 33 873, Takapuna, North Shore City, 0740.

Tel: (09) 479-2107.

South Auckland: Chair, Dene Andre; Secretary, Vacant, PO Box 23 602, Hunters Corner, Manukau, 2155. Tel: (09) 267- 4366.

Thames/Hauraki: Chair, Marcia Sowman; Secretary, Hazel Genner, PO Box 312, Thames, 3540.

Tel: (07) 868-9057.

Mercury Bay Section: Chair, Eve McCarthy; Secretary, Gay Hart, PO Box 205, Whitianga 3542.

Tel: (07) 866 2986.

Upper Coromandel: Chair, Tina Morgan; Secretary, Jeanette McIntosh, PO Box 108, Coromandel, 3543. Tel: (07) 866-7248.

Waitakere: Chair, John Staniland; Secretary, Janie Vaughan, PO Box 60 655, Titirangi, 0642. Tel: (09) 817-9262.

Central North Island Eastern Bay of Plenty: Chair, Rosemary Tully; Secretary, Vacant, c/o Ezebiz Tax, PO Box 582, Whakatane, 3158. Tel: (07) 308-5576.

Gisborne: Chair, Dick McMurray; Secretary, Vacant, 43 Muir St, Gisborne, 4010. Tel: (06) 867-4081.

Rotorua: Chair, Vacant; Secretary, Sue Werry, PO Box 1489, Rotorua, 3040. Tel: (07) 348-6558.

South Waikato: Chair, Anne Groos; Secretary, Jack Groos, 37 Waianiwa Place, Tokoroa, 3420. Tel: (07) 886-7456.

Taupo: Chair, Anne Gallagher; Secretary, Vacant, PO Box 1105 Taupo, 3351. Tel: (07) 376-5907.

Tauranga: Chair, Vacant; Secretary, Cynthia Carter, PO Box 487, Tauranga, 3140. Tel: (07) 552-0220.

Te Puke: Chair, Carole Long; Secretary, Colin Horn, PO Box 237, Te Puke, 3153. Tel: (07) 573-7345.

Waihi: Chair, Ian Bradshaw; Secretary, Krishna Buckman, 17 Reservoir Road, Waihi, 3610. Tel: (07) 863-8455.

Waikato: Chair, Dr Philip Hart; Secretary, Jim MacDiarmid, PO Box 11 092, Hillcrest, Hamilton, 3251.

Tel: (07) 849-3438.

Wairoa: Chair, Stanley Richardson; Secretary, Glenys Single, 72 Kopu Rd, Wairoa 4108. Tel: (07) 838-8232.

Upper Hutt: Chair, Dr Barry Wards; Secretary, Vacant; PO Box 40 875, Upper Hutt, 5140. Tel: (04) 970-4266.

Wairarapa: Chair, Geoff Doring; Secretary, David Aldersley, 75 Kent St, Carterton, 5791. Tel: (06) 379-7446.

Wanganui: Chair, Vacant; Secretary, Ray Hutchison, PO Box 4229, Wanganui, 4541. Tel: (06) 345-2651.

Wellington: Chair, Marc Slade; Secretary, Janet Coburn, PO Box 4183, Wellington, 6140. Tel: (04) 971-8200.

South Island Ashburton: Chair, Edith Smith; Secretary, Val Clemens, PO Box 460, Ashburton, 7740. Tel: (03) 308-5620.

Dunedin: Chair, Janet Ledingham; Secretary, Mark Hanger, PO Box 5793, Dunedin, 9058.

Tel: (03) 489-8444.

Golden Bay: Chair, Jenny Treloar; Secretary, Jo-Anne Vaughan, Puponga Rd, Ferntown, RD1, Collingwood 7073. Tel: (03) 524-8072.

Lower North Island Kaikoura: Chair, Sue Jarvie; Secretary, Barry Dunnett, Central Hawkes Bay: Chair, Max Chatfield; Secretary, Pooles Rd, RD1, Kaikoura, 7371. Tel: (03) 319-5086.

Barrie & Judith Bayliss, PO Box 189, Waipukurau, 4242.

Marlborough: Chair, Andrew John; Secretary, Vacant, Tel: (06) 858-8765.

PO Box 896, Blenheim, 7240. Tel: (03) 573-5509.

Hastings/Havelock North: Chair, Ian Noble; Nelson/Tasman: Chair, Dr Peter Ballance; Secretary, Doreen Hall, Flat 1, 805 Kennedy Rd, Hastings. Secretary, Tony Bryant, 49 Motueka Quay, Motueka, 4120. Tel: (06) 876-5978.

7010. Tel: (07) 528-5212.

Horowhenua: Chair, Robert Hirschberg; North Canterbury: Chair: Lois Griffiths; Secretary, Joan Leckie, 44 Makahika Rd, RD 1, Levin 5571. Secretary, David Ellison-Smith, PO Box 2389, Tel: (06) 368-1277.

Christchurch Mail Centre, Christchurch 8140.

Kapiti Mana: Chair, David Gregorie; Secretary, John Tel: (03) 981-7037.

McLachlan, 78 Langdale Ave, Paraparaumu, 5032.

South Canterbury: Chair, Marijke Bakker-Gelsing; Tel: (04) 904-0027.

Secretary, Margaret McPherson, 29 Mountain View Lower Hutt: Chair, Stan Butcher; Secretary, Kevin Road, Timaru, 7910. Tel: (03) 686-1494.

Bateman, PO Box 31194, Lower Hutt, 5040.

Southland: Chair, Craig Carson; Secretary, Jenny Tel: (04) 970-9264.

Campbell, PO Box 1155, Invercargill, 9840.

Manawatu: Chair, Brent Barrett; Secretary, Anthea Tel: (03) 248-6398.

McClelland, PO Box 961, Palmerston North, 4440.

South Otago: Chair, Carol Botting; Tel: (06) 353-6758.

Secretary, Verna Gardner, 973 Owake Highway, Romahapa Napier: Chair, Neil Eagles; Secretary, Margaret Gwynn, RD1, Balclutha, 9271. Tel: (03) 418-1819.

23 Clyde Rd, Napier, 4110. Tel: (06) 835-2122.

Upper Clutha: Chair, John Turnbull; Secretary, Angela North Taranaki: Chair, Carolyn Brough; Secretary, Brown, PO Box 38, Lake Hawea, Hawea, 9345.

Murray Duke, PO Box 1029, New Plymouth 4340.

Tel: (03) 433-7020.

Tel: (06) 751-2759.

Waitaki: Chair, Ross Babington; Secretary, Annette Rangitikei: Chair, Tony Simpson; Secretary, Betty Officer, 21 Arrow Crescent, Oamaru, 9401.

Graham, 41 Tutaenui Rd, Marton, 4710.

Tel: (03) 434-6107.

Tel: (06) 327-7008.

West Coast: Chair, Vacant; Secretary, Carolyn Cox, South Taranaki: Chair, Rex Hartley; Secretary, Lynda 168 Romilly St, Westport, 7825. Tel: (03) 789-5334.

Sutherland, 39 High St, Eltham, 4322. Tel: (06) 764-7479.

lodgeaccommodation Arethusa Cottage An ideal place from which to explore the Far North.

Near Pukenui in wet-land reserve. 6 bunks, fully equipped kitchen, separate bathroom outside. For information and bookings, contact: John Dawn, Doves Bay Road, RD1, Kerikeri.

Tel: (09) 407-8658, Fax: (09) 407-1401.

Email: johnfd@xnet.co.nz.

Tai Haruru Lodge, Piha, West Auckland A seaside haven set in a large sheltered garden on the rugged West Coast, 38km on sealed roads from central Auckland. Close to store, bush reserves and tracks in the beautiful Waitakere Ranges. Double bedroom and 3 singles, plus large lounge with wood burner, dining area and kitchen. Self-contained unit has 4 single beds. Bring food, linen and fuel for fire and BBQ. Off peak rates apply.

Booking: Jean and Peter King, 10 La Trobe Track, Karekare, Waitakere City. Tel: (09) 812 8064.

Email: hop0018@slingshot.co.nz Waiheke Island Cottage Located next to our 49ha Wildlife Reserve, 10 mins walk to Onetangi Beach, general stores etc. Sleeps up to 8 in two bedrooms. Lounge, well-equipped kitchen, separate toilet, bathroom, shower, laundry.

Pillows, blankets provided. No pets. Ferries 35 minutes from Auckland. Enquiries with stamped addressed envelope to: Robin Griffiths, 125 The Strand, Onetangi, Waiheke Island.

Tel: (09) 372-7662. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Ruapehu Lodge, Tongariro National Park Situated 600 m from Whakapapa Village, at the foot of Mount Ruapehu, this lodge is available for members and their friends. It may also be hired out to other compatible groups by special arrangement.

It is an ideal base for tramping, skiing, botanising or visiting the hotpools at Tokaanu. The lodge holds 32 people in four bunkrooms and provides all facilities except food and bedding. Bookings and inquiries to Forest and Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington.

Tel: (04) 385-7374, Fax: (04) 385-7373.

Email: office@forestandbird.org.nz

dining room, just 20 mins sailing by ferry from the centre of Wellington or 10 mins from Days Bay. Ideal place to relax in beautiful surroundings, with accommodation for 8. Bring your own food and bedding and a torch. Smoking is banned everywhere on the island, including the house. For information sheet, send stamped addressed envelope to: Accomodation Officer, PO Box 31-194, Lower Hutt.

Tel: (04) 934-0559 or (04) 569 2542.

Mangarakau Swamp Field Centre, North West Nelson Borders Kahurangi National Park and Te Tai Tapu William Hartree Memorial Lodge, Hawkes Bay Marine Reserve. New, 10 bed lodge with two Situated 48km from Napier, 8km past Patoka on the bathrooms, fully equipped kitchen. Sleeping bags, Puketitiri Rd (sealed). The lodge is set amid a 14ha towels and food required. Contact Jo-Anne Vaughan – Golden Bay Branch Secretary for details: scenic reserve and close to many walks, eg: Kaweka Range, Balls Clearing, hot springs and museum. The javn@xtra.co.nz or phone (03) 5248072. lodge accommodates up to 15 people. It has a fully Tautuku Lodge, Otago equipped kitchen including stove, refrigerator and State Highway 92, Southeast Otago. Situated on microwave plus tile fire, hot showers. Supply your Forest and Bird's 550ha Lenz Reserve 32km south own linen, sleeping bags etc. For information and of Owaka. A bush setting, and many lovely beaches bookings please send a stamped addressed envelope nearby provide a wonderful base for exploring to Mike and Linda Hay, 172 Guppy Road, Taradale, the Catlins. The lodge, the Coutts cabin and an ANapier 4112. Tel: (06) 8444651. frame sleep 10, 4 and 2 respectively. No Animals.

Email: hayhouse@clear.net.nz.

For information and rates please send a stamped addressed envelope to the caretaker: Matiu/Somes Island, Wellington Harbour Diana Noonan, Mirren St, Papatowai, Owaka, RD2.

Joint venture accommodation by Lower Hutt Tel: (03) 415-8024, fax (03) 415-8244.

Forest and Bird with DOC. A modern family Email: diana.n@clear.net.nz home with kitchen, 3 bedrooms, large lounge and F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 8

57