Forest & Bird Magazine 365 Spring 2017

ISSUE 365 • SPRING 2017 www.forestandbird.org.nz

GREEN GOLD Too precious to lose PLUS

Nobody

noticed

A remarkable idea

Life in our aquifers

MEMBER SINCE 200,000,000 B.C.

Forest & Bird has been defending New Zealand’s natural environment since 1923. In that time, we have campaigned for the protection of some of our most precious wildlife and wild places, planted hundreds of thousands of trees, removed millions of predators, and created safe forests so our native birds can return.

As New Zealand’s leading independent conservation organisation, we speak up for the rivers, oceans, and forests in your local community and defend vanishing nature in courtrooms and councils throughout the country. But Forest & Bird is needed now more than ever. Nature is in crisis, and our environment is degrading around us. With your support, we can do more

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to protect the natural world. Join us today at www.forestandbird.org.nz/joinus.

ISSUE 365

• Spring 2017

www.forestandbird.org.nz STAY IN TOUCH Forest & Bird National Office Ground Floor, 205 Victoria Street 6011 PO Box 631, Wellington 6140.

Tel: (04) 385-7374 FREEPHONE 0800 200 064 EMAIL office@forestandbird.org.nz

Contents

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

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

Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/ ForestandBird

Editorial

Auckland issues

2 Vote for nature 4 Letters

34 Time to tackle kauri dieback

Conservation news

36 Forest & Bird’s branch and youth award winners 38 Old Blue turns 30

6 Ruahine win for nature 8 Special economic zones 10 Motiti latest

Conservation heroes

Cover story 11 12 14 16

Too precious to mine Green gold: Archey’s frogs Kauri felled Coal and climate

Engaging iwi

Post to Instagram and tag @forestandbird

40 Dame Anne Salmond

Follow us on Twitter @Forest_and_Bird

Freshwater 42 Then and Now: Ashley River

Watch us on YouTube

Our partners

www.youtube.com/ forestandbird

43 Sponsor a penguin

Citizen science

JOIN FOREST & BIRD

44 Morepork Mondays

0800 200 064 membership@forestandbird.org.nz www.forestandbird.org.nz/joinus Members receive four free issues of Forest & Bird magazine a year.

EDITOR

Caroline Wood MAGAZINE ENQUIRIES AND LETTERS

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

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

Webstar FOR ALL ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES

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

Nature in crisis 18 The Jan Wright interview 20 Local extinctions

46 James Crowe

Research

General election 2017

47 Trapdoor spiders

22 Party policies on threatened species

Going places

Special report 24 Our dying aquifers 26 Save our springs

Our people 28 Playwright Roger Hall 46 Nature’s future 52 Passion for change

Biodiversity 30 Remarkables National Park

Predator-free NZ 32 No myna impact

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

Young conservationist

48 A botanical odyssey

Canterbury tales 50 Lizard love

Marine 51 Ironsand mining

Obituary 54 Stewart Gray

Books 56 Caves

Parting shot IBC Fantail family

COVER SHOT Archey’s frog. Photo: Neil Fitzgerald www.neilfitzgeraldphoto.co.nz

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Editorial MARK HANGER

Vote for the planet Clean fresh water, unpolluted air, a stable natural environment, and sustainable food sources are the key life-giving forces that enable us to live our very privileged lives here in Aotearoa.

Yet when we vote, we don’t choose the party that will best manage these critical mauri that will give the best possible future for our children and grandchildren. Instead we choose what is best for us, for our house resale value, our financial wellbeing. What has happened to all of us? When did we become so self-oriented – so me-oriented and so now-oriented?

We are failing ourselves, our children, and our mokopuna.

At the last two Forest & Bird conferences, we have heard loud and clear the anger from teens and young adults. They know they will have to clean up the appalling environmental mess previous generations have been instrumental in creating.

“It is the ‘wee bit more’ that has done so much to damage our environment. Just a few more cows per acre, just a wee bit more water for irrigation, just another water bore in case it doesn’t rain, just a wee bit more sewerage mixed with a wee bit more storm water, just a few more years of raping our already depleted fish stocks.”

It is heartening to hear the likes of Bruce Plested, founder of Mainfreight, one of our larger companies, publicly speaking out about the appalling state of our waterways.

Once a near solitary voice for swimable and liveable water, Forest & Bird applauds such voices. While it is great to hear business leaders speak out, we are yet to see this now-widespread concern lead to real change.

There is, of course, a general election in the very near future. While little can be done to influence party policies at this stage, Forest & Bird’s members can have a significant impact. We are nearing the tipping point in changing public perception.

There is now a real appetite for quantum environmental change in New Zealand.

We all know that ecological crises are among the biggest issues facing this country and the planet. We can and must ensure that voters consider the environment before they cast their votes.

If each and every member keeps these issues – clean water, clean air, sustainable oceans, the impacts of climate change – to the forefront, be it in the newspaper, on social media, in conversations in the pub, around the coffee table, or at a sports fixture, then we will have achieved a real impact.

We must do our darnedest, not just for us, our children, and our grandchildren, but because it is the right thing to do and, with no alternative planet, the right thing for Earth’s life as we know it.

Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. (Founded 1923) Registered Office at Ground Floor, 205 Victoria Street, Wellington 6011.

PATRON Her Excellency The Rt Honourable Dame Patsy Reddy, Governor-General of New Zealand CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Kevin Hague PRESIDENT

Mark Hanger TREASURER

Graham Bellamy BOARD MEMBERS

Brent Barrett, Lindsey Britton, Tony Dunlop, Kate Graeme, James Muir, John Oates, Ines Stäger CONSERVATION AMBASSADORS

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

Ken Catt, Linda Conning, Audrey Eagle, Alan Edmonds, Gordon Ell, Stewart Gray, Philip Hart, Joan Leckie, Hon. Sandra Lee-Vercoe, Carole Long, Peter Maddison, Sir Alan Mark, Gerry McSweeney, Craig Potton, Fraser Ross, Eugenie Sage, Guy Salmon, Lesley Shand, David Underwood Forest & Bird is a registered charitable entity under the Charities Act 2005. Registration No CC26943.

Ka kite anō Mark Hanger Forest & Bird President Perehitini, Te Reo o te Taiao Forest & Bird is published quarterly by the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. Opinions expressed by contributors in the magazine are not necessarily those of Forest & Bird.

From left: Grenville Christie, Sharleeen Baird, Mark Hanger and Tom Kay.

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

Registered at PO Headquarters, Wellington, as a magazine.

ISSN 0015-7384. Copyright.

All rights reserved.

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TRAVEL TO ANTARCTICA & SAVE! Limited cabins available this summer.

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

The best contribution to the Letters page will receive a copy of Caves: Exploring New Zealand’s Subterranean Wilderness by Marcus Thomas & Neil Silverwood, RRP $79.99, WHIO Publishing, distributed by Potton & Burton (see p56).

Please send letters to the Editor, Forest & Bird magazine, PO Box 631, Wellington 6140, or email editor@forestandbird.org.nz by 1 November 2017.

Thin end of the wedge

A rose by any other name

It may be of interest to the Forest & Bird executive and membership that one of, if not the, main proponent of the government’s Special Economic Zones (SEZs) is the mayor of Westland, Bruce Smith. Pressuring central government to legislate for such zones, especially on the West Coast, was his principal election campaign platform, which received considerable support because many Coasters hearken back to the “good old days” of encouraged, and relatively unregulated, extractive industries, such as mining and logging. Mr Smith is a miner, so of course he wants SEZs on the Coast, which would favour his ambitions, and those of his sector. SEZs will surely be the thin end of the wedge in opening conservation lands to extractive exploitation throughout NZ. Conservationists need to be particularly vigilant with regard to the West Coast.

In reply to Grant Svendsen’s letter (Winter 2017), may I quote from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Interestingly, there are considerable numbers of species that have no Māori name and others that have several Māori names and/or several English names. Is this issue really of consequence? What is certain is the consequences of the multitude of real [conservation] issues in our faces right now.

Paul Elwell-Sutton, Haast, Westland *Best letter winner. See our article about SEZs on p8.

On being political In an editorial (Winter issue), Forest & Bird President Mark Hanger expresses his surprise at a long-standing member saying the organisation was getting a bit too political. I’m not surprised at his surprise. We don’t readily perceive our own bias, or that of our “in” group. That makes such bias no less real, and rather more dangerous. As a Forest & Bird member for 25 years, I share the same concern, even if I’m only a visitor to New Zealand these days, not a resident.

In New Zealand you’re (or so I hope) somewhat protected from the crisis affecting most of the rest of the Western world, this terrible, ever-increasing polarisation between the Left and conservatives. It has cost the Australian and German Greens a large part of their electoral base, and environmental NGOs all over the world have seen declining support. Some Europeans are already predicting the imminent demise of the Green movement. Please do try to stay non-partisan. The more “political” you become the more you risk your conservative base. And that base may turn out to be larger (and more essential in financial terms) than you think.

Hans Peter Dietz, Australia Editor’s note: Please be assured Forest & Bird is (and always has been) politically independent and non-partisan.

We speak for all New Zealanders who love nature and want to protect and restore it.

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Alan Fielding, Masterton

Cut cow numbers The planting of riparian strips on dairy farms is a good start, but it is not nearly enough to stop pollution of rivers.

Ditches and drains in paddocks are mostly unplanted and unfenced. On some farms, the stench from hillside seepage is disgusting. So is the sight of cowpats at one metre intervals on recently grazed pasture. Let’s have some real care of our environment – reduce cow numbers to an ecologically sustainable level and use the excreta as fertiliser.

Viola Palmer, Waikanae

Sparrow smarts I was very interested in your article on sparrows and the stories accompanying it (Winter 2017). I too have a pretty amazing story about the intelligent little sparrow. One morning, I was sitting with friends outdoors at a cafe in the Town Basin here in Whangarei when I heard a loud chattering of sparrows nearby. When I turned to look I was totally astounded by what I saw. One bird had a little packet of sugar off the table and a group of them were enjoying the contents under the table. To my amazement, another bird flew up and took another sachet from the unused table, took it underneath, tore the end off it, shook the sugar out, and they all enjoyed the contents. If I had not witnessed it myself, I doubt if I would have believed it, but I have seen them fly in front of sensors to open doors on many occasions. They really are much more intelligent than I had ever given them credit for – I don’t know where the expression “bird brain” came from.

Briar MacDonald, Whangarei

Dairy ads I have been intrigued at the recent intense television and newspaper advertising campaign being run by a major New Zealand dairy product exporter. Clearly, they are not spending to this level to promote their product in the local market. In fact, it is obviously aimed at convincing New Zealanders they are a clean, responsible, and essential component of the New Zealand economy. Imagine a political party trying to do the same job on the New Zealand public but within the constraints of the Election Advertising Rules as specified in the Electoral Act 1993.

In my view, this company is effectively running an election advertising campaign without having the political party, with which it has close affiliations, encroach on any of its allowable election campaign advertising spend! I hope all those in New Zealand concerned with the state of our waterways see this tactic for what it is.

Allan Brown, Christchurch

Penguins and predators In the winter 2017 magazine, there was a special report on penguins. It was reported that photographer Martin Sanders was concerned about the lack of protection for yellow-eyed penguins from predators at Katiki Historic Reserve. As a volunteer trapper in Coromandel, I realise we can’t get every animal with traps (hence my appreciation of Forest & Bird being supportive of 1080 use), but sighting a cat doesn’t signify an absence of protection. The measure of successful trapping is reduced losses from predation. To my understanding, the Department of Conservation does

WIN A BOOK Forest & Bird is giving away two copies of New Zealand on Foot

by Denis Dwyer, RRP $35, New Holland. The retired journalist rediscovers his country through 200 day walks. Part walking guide, part travel narrative, this book also stresses the importance of conserving our walkways and the environment for future generations.

To enter the draw, email your entry to draw@ forestandbird.org.nz, put FOOT in the subject line, and include your name and address in the email. Or write your name and address on the back of an envelope and post to FOOT draw, Forest & Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington 6140. Entries close 1 November 2017.

The winners of New Zealand’s Great White Sharks by Alison Ballance were Ann Haynes, of Mahia, Myrna Carson, of Oamaru, and AC Winkworth, of Upper Hutt. not trap at Katiki, but the volunteer group Penguin Rescue does. I would suggest looking at numbers of penguins predated in that area before saying whether it is managed well or not. It is the only place on the mainland where yellow-eyed penguins are increasing, so something must be going on there.

Carol Sutherland, Coromandel

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Conservation news

Together, we made history It took two years, three court cases, and the support of thousands of you all around New Zealand.

Nature’s voice was heard because of our members and supporters. We defended nature and won – and we couldn’t have done it without you!

In a precedent-setting decision, the Supreme Court has ruled to protect Ruahine Forest Park from being partly inundated by New Zealand’s largest irrigation dam.

We stood up against the Minister of Conservation, who attempted to illegally downgrade 22ha of specially protected conservation land so that it could be exchanged, enabling a private company to build the Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme.

Long-tailedl bats, fernbirds, New Zealand falcons, and the rare wetlands of the Ruahine Forest Park are now protected.

Thanks to this ruling, ALL of New Zealand’s forest parks have legal protection from development through land exchanges.

Forest & Bird chief executive Kevin Hague said: “New Zealanders have fought for generations to defend our conservation land, and now we have legal confirmation that this land is protected from private development interests acquiring it by exchange.”

The Supreme Court also ruled the Minister must administer 6

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conservation land in accordance with Conservation General Policy and the relevant conservation management strategy when making decisions about conservation land status and land swaps. And it confirmed that, when land is exchanged, the Queen’s Chain (riparian margins) is preserved alongside rivers and remains in Crown ownership.

When the news was announced by the Supreme Court on 6 July, emails and phone calls started to flood into Forest & Bird’s National Office with messages of support, congratulations, and donations.

But we can’t relax just yet.

The government has signalled its intention to change the law. It has ruled out any pre-election law change, but Mr Hague says Forest & Bird is determined to fight any future moves to amend legislation to allow high-value conservation land to be swapped for low-value land.

Forest & Bird is keeping a close eye on proposals to raise Falls Dam, in Central Otago, that could lead to part of Oteake Conservation Park being flooded. The Manuherikia WaterCo irrigation group wants to raise the dam to allow more irrigation for farming.

Currently, thanks to the Supreme Court ruling, flooding any specially protected conservation park land, including at Oteake, would be illegal.

“The appeal was never over just 22ha in the dam flood footprint but about the terrible precedent [the government] was trying to establish,” Central Hawke’s Bay Forest & Bird co-chairman Grenville Christie. The branch was the first to alert Forest & Bird’s legal team about plans to build a huge irrigation dam to allow further dairy farm intensification in the droughtprone Tukituki Valley area.

“It is going to set a precedent for the the way in which specially protected conservation land in New Zealand is dealt with. And beyond that I think there’s a real flavour in this decision of the importance of the permanence of protection of conservation land — that it’s not just protected until we need it for something else.”

Sally Gepp, who represented Forest & Bird in the Supreme Court.

“FANTASTIC; So satisfying that my donation went towards the cost of such a monumental and highly significant legal decision at the highest level. Best wishes from a former President and Distinguished Life Member.”

[Sir] Alan Mark, Forest & Bird Ambassador, who helped support the campaign with a financial contribution.

Saved: 22ha of specially protected land at Ruahine Forest Park will not be flooded.

Alternative facts The Minister of Conservation Maggie Barry presented some “alternative facts” in her response to the Supreme Court ruling on whether specially protected conservation land can be swapped. Here we set the record straight with some verifiable facts.

Alternative fact 1: The Minister of Conservation told journalists the 22ha she tried to remove from the Ruahine Forest Park is “low value” conservation land.

In fact, the land has been ecologically assessed, and the Department of Conservation accepted that it has high conservation values. The Supreme Court said “there is no suggestion that the values identified on the 22 hectares were not

significant and did not in themselves warrant continued protection in the absence of the exchange”.

Alternative fact 2: The Minister of Conservation also said land swaps of this kind occur “a couple of times a year”.

In fact, it has always been possible to exchange stewardship areas, and that remains the case. But revocations of specially protected areas to enable land exchanges have occurred just a handful of times in the last 10 years.

The previous instances we are aware of where DOC has downgraded specially protected land to swap it have been cases where the land clearly did not deserve its specially protected status. In one case, it was a paddock. In another, it was a formed road, accidentally built on conservation land.

Alternative fact 3: The law needs to be changed to allow these land swaps to go ahead.

Forest & Bird lawyers Peter Anderson and Sally Gepp outside the Supreme Court earlier this year.

In fact, land swaps are already allowed for stewardship areas and even specially protected areas that have lost their conservation values or have no conservation values. The Minister of Conservation says highvalue conservation land should not be available for land swaps. This is exactly what Forest & Bird has said all along, and the Supreme Court agreed with us.

Damn the dam Artist Paul Gadsby painted this image as a protest to the plans to flood forest park land to make way for the Ruataniwha dam. It was inspired by the 1973 protest song Damn the Dam, by John Hanlon, which was retrospectively associated with the Save Manapouri Campaign. The song is recognised as an anthem in tribute to one of New Zealand’s longest and hardest-fought environmental campaigns.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has signalled that the Supreme Court decision means the $330m Ruataniwha dam scheme is dead in the water. The dam can’t be built without the Ruahine Forest Park land.

The council could apply to take the land under the Public Works Act, but council leaders have said there is little appetite for this.

Clear skies at Ruapehu Forest & Bird’s Ruapehu Lodge offers warm, comfortable accommodation a short drive from the Whakapapa ski field. There are cafes and restaurants in the village, which is a 10-minute walk from the lodge. You can find interesting and

varied day tramps in the area, and DOC’s visitor centre is well worth a visit. To make a booking, contact National Office 0800 200 064 and we will be delighted to help. Members receive subsidised rates. Photo: Bryce McQuillan

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Conservation news The pristine waters of Port Pegasus are being eyed up for salmon farming. Photo: Jake Osborne

Nature’s not for sale The near pristine waters of Port Pegasus, in Stewart Island, are being targeted for a salmon farm under special economic zone considerations. By Caroline Wood Forest & Bird is warning that the public should be very alarmed that government ministers are still considering introducing “special economic zones” (SEZs) despite their own officials warning against the idea.

In July, Forest & Bird revealed the Government had been secretly working to circumvent environmental protections to allow a string of new coal mines on the West Coast that would be unlikely to get consent under existing laws.

Special economic zone legislation would apply to certain parts of the country and give the Government new powers to take conservation (and private) land, provide tax breaks for favoured developers, and override overseas investment controls.

It would allow government ministers to green-light controversial ecologically damaging developments such as mining on high-value conservation land, aquaculture in the pristine waters of Stewart Island/Rakiura, irrigation dams in Canterbury, and housing projects in Auckland and other cities.

Forest & Bird’s Chief Executive Kevin Hague said: “The scope of law and regulation that the Government is proposing to suspend to facilitate these developments is breath-taking. We’re talking about zones where normal environmental, social, and democratic safeguards don’t apply.

“If SEZs go ahead, the Government can carry out development anywhere it wants. Roading through national parks, irrigation dams, energy generation, aquaculture, controversial tourism developments – you name it.”

Documents obtained through the Official Information 8

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Act (OIA) show that Southland was a region considered for special economic zoning. A key site being investigated is Port Pegasus, in Stewart Island, which the briefing paper described as containing “some of the largest areas of nearpristine marine habitat in New Zealand, with significant natural heritage values”.

The advice showed salmon farming would be inappropriate in this area under the Resource Management Act (RMA), but the documents say an SEZ with significant powers could be used to “override RMA issues”.

Sue Maturin, Forest & Bird’s Southland regional manager, said: “This area is one of New Zealand’s most remote and pristine marine environments, and marine farming is currently prohibited. Our big concern is that they will try to circumvent the usual environmental protections, which could be bad news for sea lions, yellow-eyed penguins, and black corals.”

The OIA documents reveal that officials from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment advised Ministers not to proceed with SEZs because local authority and industry players gave “cautious” feedback, which suggested the proposals were not particularly wanted.

Significant social licence issues and risk of litigation were also identified.

Despite these reservations, the documents make clear that several key ministers and some regional and district councils favour SEZs, and that Local Government New Zealand “remains strongly committed to the concept”.

Economic Development Minister Simon Bridges confirmed in July that SEZs were still on the table.

MINISTER LIMITS LEGAL CHALLENGES The Government has quietly introduced new criteria for for legal challenges on environmental grounds under the the Environmental Legal Assistance (ELA) fund that could Resource Management Act, in the Environment Court or restrict not-for-profit groups such as Forest & Bird from board of inquiry hearings. being able to access the fund.

“The recent changes are very concerning. It is hard to Court battles such as the Mokihinui Dam proposal imagine an Environment Court case that does not delay or couldn’t have been fought without support from the fund, impede the project it relates to. That is the nature of the which Forest & Bird believes has become increasingly Resource Management Act process, which relies in part “politicised” in recent years. on public input to identify and test environmental impacts.

The ELA fund provides an annual pool of $600,000 to This change will further reduce environmental groups’ support not-for-profit organisations advocating for matters ability to participate in RMA processes on anything close to of environmental public interest. a level playing field.”

Last year, Nick Smith, who is both Environment Minister Dr Smith defended the criteria changes, telling MPs in and Minister for Building and Construction, took over July: “Yes, I have changed the criteria. A new consideration the role of granting or declining ELA fund applications, is the issue of housing and infrastructure. The Government replacing the Chief Executive of the Ministry for the makes no apologies for making it harder for groups to get Environment.

Government money to stop houses and infrastructure from The ELA fund’s existing criteria include the being built. It does not prevent funding merits of the case and the significance of the being provided in those sorts of cases, but environmental issues raised. However, in June, it requires the panel to give consideration to Nick Smith introduced a new criterion that the broader public interest.” requires the panel to consider whether granting However, the new criterion is actually the money will “contribute to impeding or significantly wider than the Minister has delaying the ability of people and communities suggested and is particularly concerning to provide for their social, economic and given the Minister’s dual portfolios. cultural well-being in relation to important ELA funds were recently used to needs, including employment, housing and successfully challenge the controversial infrastructure”.

Basin Reserve flyover in Wellington and Eugenie Sage MP Forest & Bird regularly applies to the fund to the Three Kings Housing development in support expert witness costs for Environment Auckland.

Court cases, including funding to challenge Bathurst Green MP Eugenie Sage believes the Government Resources’ proposed coalmine on the Denniston Plateau in is trying to shut down opposition to controversial 2012, which didn’t stop it going ahead but helped secure developments. significant conditions protecting biodiversity.

She said: “This is a deliberate political intervention to “For organisations like Forest & Bird, access to such prevent NGOs from being involved in controversial cases. funding goes some way to levelling the playing field,” says National halved the fund, and now they are trying to the Society’s lawyer Sally Gepp. further strangle environmental opposition.

The maximum grant from the ELA fund is usually “There are already quite tight criteria to make sure that $50,000 per case and helps pay for expert witnesses such the cases that do get funding are soundly based and raise as ecologists and water quality scientists. It can be used important issues of environmental law.”

National halved the fund, and now they are trying to further strangle environmental opposition.

Forest &.Bird used ELA funding to successfully challenge proposals to dam the Mokihinui River, north of Westport.

Marine news

Putting the “plenty” back into the Bay of Plenty: Fish life is prolific around the remains of the Rena shipwreck at 35m on the Astrolabe Reef after five years of protection from fishing. Photo: Darryl Torckler

Legal win heralds new era of

marine protection A landmark High Court ruling confirmed councils can use the Resource Management Act to protect the ocean and the coastal wildlife that depends on it. By Penny Wardle.

A sea change could be coming in the way fishing is managed to protect the marine environment, after the High Court confirmed that regional councils can manage fishing to promote marine biodiversity.

In July, High Court judge Christian Whata made important in-principle findings that the Resource Management Act (RMA) empowers regional councils to regulate fishing to preserve marine biodiversity, significant habitats, and aspects of Māori relationships with the ocean and taonga species.

Forest & Bird backed the Motiti Rohe Moana Trust case that regional councils can set policies, objectives, and rules controlling fishing to avoid ecosystem damage and promote non-commercial relationships with the sea.

Our lawyer, Sally Gepp, represented the organisation at the High Court appeal in June, where the Government tried to claim exclusive powers to regulate fishing under the Fisheries Act. She said: “We are delighted with this judgment, which confirms regional councils can regulate fishing activity to protect native marine species.”

It means pathways would open for environmental advocacy groups such as Forest & Bird and local communities to pursue conservation in New Zealand’s territorial waters.

Marine ecologist Te Atarangi Sayers, of Ngā Hapu o Motiti, is linked by 15 generations of whakapapa to Motiti Island, which is north of Papamoa, in the Bay of Plenty.

“It’s good to have clarity that the RMA charges councils with managing the effects of fishing on the environment.

But councils cannot make rules that impact on the sustainability of fishing resources – this comes under the Fisheries Act,” says Mr Sayers.

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“We now know where the line is drawn and on what grounds.”

The decision also clarified that Māori interests in customary fishing were covered by the Fisheries Act, Te Atarangi Sayers is while the RMA covered wider cultural linked by 15 generations of and spiritual connections with the whakapapa to Motiti Island sea, he adds. in the Bay of Plenty.

For eight years, the Motiti Rohe Moana trust has worked towards protection of degraded marine habitats around Motiti Island, off Papamoa Beach, near Mt Maunganui.

Last year, trustees asked the Government to impose a two-year fishing ban around the Astrolabe Reef, damaged by the grounding of the Rena in 2011. This was to protect undersea ecosystems that flourished during a five-year closure to shipping that was imposed to enable salvage operations. The Government declined.

Mr Sayers says the Government’s refusal to extend protection of the reef, the resumption of commercial fishing, and subsequent impacts on key species highlighted deficiencies in the Fisheries Act. As a student, he was warned that his generation of marine ecologists would document degradation of the marine environment. But the High Court decision gives him hope that instead he’ll witness the dawning of a new era of communities creating and communicating frameworks for sustainable marine management. *At the time of writing, the Government submitted an appeal of the High Court's landmark Motiti decision. An Appeal Court hearing is likely to take place later this year, and Forest & Bird is preparing to return to court to defend our oceans on this important principle of law.

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23/02/17 3:05 pm

Cover story A small Forest & Bird branch is taking on a large international mining company in a bid to stop gold mining on conservation land in the Coromandel.

By Caroline Wood and Caitlin Carew.

TOO PRECIOUS TO MINE

Forest & Bird is concerned that gold mining could pollute the Parakiwai River, which runs through the prospecting area.

Photo: Laura Keown

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The Parakiwai Valley is a popular tramping area in Coromandel Forest Park. The valley’s hundred years of regeneration mean kauri are beginning to dominate the canopy. A river winds through the valley, providing many picturesque swimming holes and beautiful walks frequently enjoyed by residents and visitors. This valley, which is south-west of Whangamata, is also home to the critically endangered Archey’s frog, one of the few places in the world they are found.

Gold mining is part of Coromandel’s history, and this part of the peninsula has been under threat from gold mining before, most recently in 2013, when the community launched a successful campaign to stop gold mining on the specially protected forest park land at Parakiwai.

And before that, in 2010, the Government proposed that the adjacent Otahu ecological area should be removed from its Schedule 4 (highest value conservation land) classification to allow mining to go ahead but was forced to back down after a campaign to save the Archey’s frogs living there.

Now there’s a new kid on the block. Oceana Gold, the company that owns the massive opencast mine in Waihi, is currently prospecting in the Parakiwai Valley. The Canadian/Australian-owned company took over Newmont Gold Corporation’s New Zealand interests last year, including permit 40813, which covers this area.

In June, the Department of Conservation abruptly notified closures of some of the conservation land around the renowned Wharekirauponga Track, in the Parakiwai Valley, on the grounds of “protecting public safety” while prospecting operations went ahead.

It took Forest & Bird’s Mercury Bay branch by surprise, and its members are angry and upset.

“This is an area of high natural value and is not suited to industrial activities – especially not ones that are by their very nature so destructive. For example, it is one of only a few places where the endangered Archey’s frog are found and this company is drilling there?” says Chairperson of Forest & Bay’s Mercury Bay branch, Augusta MacasseyPickard.

“We are very lucky, here in Aotearoa New Zealand, to have such outstanding areas in public ownership. Surely the Department of Conservation’s role is to do their utmost to protect and conserve these areas for us all?” adds Augusta, who is also spokesperson for Coromandel Watchdog of Hauraki.

Gold mining is a boom and bust industry, relying on the price of gold for prospecting and extraction to be profitable. As well as leaving a scar on the landscape, it produces tonnes of toxic waste as a legacy for future generations.

In July, Forest & Bird’s new Central North Island regional manager Rebecca Stirnemann visited the Parakiwai Valley to see for herself what is happening (see our story overleaf).

She said: “I was shocked how much clearing had occurred already. It’s not a small impact. They have built a massive platform and helipads. They’ve cut down kauri.

“This is Archey's frog habitat and a buffer for the ecological area. We need big areas for them to thrive in.”

Rebecca says the community should be consulted on any proposed gold mining because it could impact on Whangamata’s water supply and the cleanliness of its popular beach.

“If they find gold and move to underground mining, there’s a potential ridge-to-reef impact. The local river joins the Otahu river, which ends up at Whangamata beach, which is popular with families and home to New Zealand dotterels and oystercatchers,” adds Rebecca.

Oceana said it was too early to say what kind of mining method it would be using and it would depend on the kind of ore found and where it was.

A spokesperson said: “At Wharekirauponga we are

targeting high grade deposits capable of being mined by underground methods. The technology exists to construct long access tunnels so as to avoid disturbance of the surface. Until we have a full understanding of the ore body from our current drilling programme it is not possible to be more specific.”

Archey’s frog. Photo: Neil Fitzgerald

“We know that both native frogs occur in the general area and their distribution there is likely to be patchy, as in other parts of the Coromandel.

“Archey’s frogs are not nearly as common as they used to be before the mid-1990s when the decline started. At that time, the study population crashed by almost 90%, so any future impact on their habitat should be minimised and that includes mining.

“Mining has a direct impact on the frogs’ habitat through ground works. There are also downstream affects that could impact on both Archey’s and Hochstetter’s frogs. Even with the best efforts at mitigation, there is going to be an impact on them.”

Oceana confirmed to Forest & Bird that Archey’s frogs were discovered in the permit area during an ecological survey of the area ahead of prospecting work going ahead.

The survey which, involved a herpetologist, found a total of 63 Archey’s frogs at 13 potential locations where the company wanted to drill, camp, and pump. If five or more critically threatened frogs were found in a location, then the site was deemed unsuitable for prospecting and alternative sites were explored. Four sites were disqualified due to “faunal values”.

At the locations that were developed, frogs found on site during vegetation clearance were moved to suitable habitat nearby.

Forest & Bird’s chief conservation advisor Kevin Hackwell said: “It’s clearly good Archey’s habitat. This survey shows that there is a pretty good density of frogs in this valley.

With these numbers, you could expect several hundred frogs per hectare within the wider permit area.

“Archey’s frogs are in the top 50 notable species in the Government’s draft Threatened Species Strategy.

“The Government should be protecting these precious Archey's frog populations, not allowing gold mining to destroy this specially protected conservation land.”

RARER THAN GOLD Archey’s frogs are one of the most critically endangered frogs in the world. Often referred to as a living fossil because it hasn’t changed much in the last 150 million years, these tiny creatures offer a window into what life was like before New Zealand broke away from Gondwanaland. Like New Zealand’s three other native frogs, it’s pretty strange – Archey’s have no ears, makes only occasional chirping sounds, lives in the forest, and doesn’t leap like most frogs.

Once widespread, today Archey’s frogs can be found only in a few patches of higher altitude forest in the Coromandel and at Whareorino in the King Country, a translocated population also lives in the Pureora Forest.

Archey’s are top of the Zoological Society of London’s Amphibian EDGE List, which ranks species according to how evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered they are.

Adjunct Professor Ben Bell has been monitoring Archey’s frogs in the Coromandel for more than 35 years and serves on the Native Frog Recovery Group. Ben says the Parakiwai area, with its high forested ridges, is the kind of habitat that Archey’s and another at-risk native species, Hochstetter’s frogs, like.

Local guide Clive Duxfield takes Forest & Bird's regional manager Rebecca Stirnemann into the Parakiwai Valley, see our story overleaf

Cover story

GOLD RUSH

Kauri were felled to make way for this drilling platform.

Photo: Caitlin Carew

Forest & Bird staff venture into the stunning Parakiwai Valley to find what is happening at Oceana Gold’s prospecting area. By Caitlin Carew.

Local guide Clive Duxfield knows the Wharekirauponga track like the back of his hand. He can tell you the story behind every fallen tree, each storm, every flood. That’s because Clive has been the volunteer caretaker of this track that is part of Coromandel Forest Park for nearly 25 years.

Deeply alarmed by the current gold prospecting activity going on here, Clive is showing us the way to Oceana’s drilling site, a four-hour return walk from the end of Parakiwai Quarry Road.

We follow the beautiful river upstream. The water is clear and green, and there are numerous swimming holes.

There was a sizeable gold mining village here in the late 19th century, and there are numerous reminders along the route.

I ask Clive about the impact of mining on the tiny and critically endangered Archey’s frog that this area is known for. He says there are frogs in the valley as well as a larger population in the adjacent Otahu ecological area, which is Schedule 4 and off-limits for mining. He is worried about the impact of mining on the tiny frogs’ habitat, including any sediment or toxic run-off from the drilling sites. He is also concerned about the impact of mining contractors walking around the frogs’ habitat. They are notoriously hard to spot. “The more people you have in there, the greater the risk the frogs will get trampled,” he says.

As we get further in, we hear a helicopter buzzing around in the upper valley ferrying equipment to the drilling sites. We come to a swing bridge over the river, overlooking a stunning waterfall cascading down through the gorge in several stages.

As we soak up the beauty of the spot, Clive explained why mining poses such a risk to this valley.

Underground goldmining can lead to subsidence, sediment, and disruption to groundwater systems. There is also the risk of toxic contamination of waterways above and below ground (gold-bearing rock in the Coromandel contains arsenic, lead, copper, and cadmium, and these

14

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

can leach out when the rock is exposed to air and water).

If Oceana strikes gold in this valley, it plans to move the ore to its giant Waihi mine. How they plan to do this remains to be seen, but one possibility is an underground tunnel.

A little further up the track we find a side track leading to a helipad, and two mining contractors approach to ask us to keep away for health and safety reasons. We ask what they are doing and they say just “mapping and whatnot”.

We decide not to engage in a confrontation and retreat back down the track, where Rebecca and Clive have discovered an enormous wooden platform in the bush, cordoned off with a “Danger – Drilling Rig Operation” sign.

We were dismayed to see a large area of regenerating kauri had been cleared to build the platform.

As he looks at the platform, Clive is visibly moved to see the extent of mining related activity in an area he loves so much. “This is really scary for me,” he says.

By now it was 4.30pm. We walked back out, donning head torches on the way and hearing the ruru/moreporks wake up around us.

It wasn’t until we reached the end of the track that we noticed a small DOC sign erected on a post, advising the public that Oceana Gold was carrying out drilling operations, and a map showing 10 sites where activity was taking place.

We let that sink in. The platform we’d found was just one of the sites – 10 areas of forest that were being cleared, 10 areas of conservation land where the public weren’t allowed.

And this is just at the prospecting stage – the damage to conservation land will be far greater if mining goes ahead.

We said our goodbyes to Clive and left with a deep appreciation of why locals and visitors love this special valley Clive Duxfield so much.

NATIONAL’S MINING AGENDA This National Government has an agenda of facilitating more mining, including on conservation land. Following the much publicised backdown on its proposal to allow mining on Schedule 4 lands, the Government instead made it easier to mine on other conservation lands. In 2013, government ministers added an “economic benefit” criterion to the decision-making process for mining on conservation land.

A requirement for considering “the direct net economic benefit and other benefits” of the proposed mine was added when the Crown Minerals Act was amended in 2013. In addition, access decisions escalated to Ministerial level now need to be made jointly by the Minister of Energy and Resources, and the Minister of Conservation.

As the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright said at the time: “Both changes mean that mining is now even more ‘favoured’ than other commercial activities on areas of conservation land that are not listed on Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act.”

People's protest

South of the Parakiwai Valley, the community is protesting against the decision to allow New Talisman Gold Mines access to specially protected conservation land at the world-renowned Karangahake Gorge.

New Talisman started a three-year prospecting operation in May, and recently announced it had found a large amount of high-quality gold in an existing mine above the gorge, which runs between Paeroa and Waihi.

Protesters have been trying to raise awareness of the gold mining operation, which is being allowed despite the gorge being an internationally renowned nature destination, part of the popular Hauraki Rail Trail, and popular with locals and international tourists alike.

Regenerating native forest has been cut down in the permit zone to make way for a helicopter pad (pictured), drilling rig and miners' accommodation.

DRILLING STARTS

Since Forest & Bird visited the site in July, Oceana has started drilling operations in the Parakiwai valley. Coromandel resident and Forest & Bird board member James Muir describes the impact of the work on the once silent forest.

As I began the next ascent through the old tram track I thought I could distinguish the sound of an engine. It was strange, up here two hours walk into public conservation estate, in a beautiful forest with natural and historical significance, a machine was being operated. I walked on and the noise grew clearer. Then, as I rounded the next bend, the noise of the engine was replaced by the sound of rushing water. Not far ahead were the waterfalls. A suspension bridge allows hikers to stand over the falls and look down the river gorge. It is a stunning sight, but then not far from the falls I could hear the engine again.

I walked further and followed the sound until I came to a path that lead down into the bush.

Here the entire valley was filled with the sound of a huge engine running. Down near the river, I found a pump house running a pump taking water directly from the pristine stream running through the bush. The pump house was loud and vibrated the ground and nearby trees.

A cloud of diesel fumes wafted out into the forest. Further on, I could hear activity so I decided to investigate. Across the stream and deeper into the bush, there was an even louder noise. It was the thumping, growling, and clanking of a huge mining drill. The rig was being run by three men, concentrating hard on their job at hand, pulling cores from the ground. To stand in the lush forest and witness industrial machinery tearing at the earth, filling the valley with noise and smell, was frightening.

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| 15

Cover story Mt Rochfort with Whareatea West in the foreground and right. Photo: Neil Silverwood

COAL AND THE CLIMATE Forest & Bird is fighting to stop a string of coal mines being built on the West Coast. Climate advocate Adelia Hallett explains the impact they could have on CO2 emissions.

The environmental impact of building up to 13 new coal mines on the Buller Plateau will go beyond the destruction of the endangered wildlife that lives there to affect the climate that sustains all life on Earth.

Coal from the mines, when burnt, will release about 9.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year – the equivalent of increasing New Zealand’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions by 10%.

To put it another way, mining coal on the Buller is like adding another three million cars to the roads or building – and using – another five Huntly power stations.

The future of the world as we know it depends on cutting emissions to zero by the middle of the century.

The burning of coal and other fossil fuels is the single biggest cause of climate change. Data shows that, since the Industrial Revolution, when humans started using fossil fuels for energy, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen from 280ppm (parts per million) to more than 400ppm – the highest it’s been in 15 million years. Over the same time, the average global temperature has risen more than 1°C. Forest & Bird revealed in May how officials from the Department of Conservation and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment were working on secret plans to build new coal mines on high-value conservation land.

The Government has refused to release briefing papers on the proposal, but Forest & Bird understands that up to 62 million tonnes of coal could be mined over a 20-year period.

The mining and burning of this much coal is likely to release 186 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, with an 16

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

average of 9.4 million tonnes a year according to our calculations. New Zealand’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions was 80.4 million tonnes in 2015.

Technically, because the coal will probably be burnt in India or China, only 1.4 million of fugitive emissions (the gases released as part of the mining process) will go on New Zealand’s scorecard when it comes to the country’s pledge to cut emissions under the Paris Agreement on climate change.

But tell that to the climate. No matter where the coal is burnt, it’s all taking us in the same direction, towards dangerous climate change.

Wildlife around the world is already experiencing the effects of a warming climate. Here in New Zealand, it is affecting a whole raft of things, from the breeding of tuatara to causing more frequent mast years.

It will also be argued that using the coal for making steel is also somehow “cleaner” than burning it for electricity.

That is a myth. In most steel-making processes, coal is used to generate heat, and the vast majority of the carbon ends up in the atmosphere. However, there are new ways of making steel that don’t involve coal. Many steel producers are now using electric furnaces, steel can be recycled, and a New Zealand company is developing a form of “green” coking coal made from wood.

Opening new coal mines when the rest of the world is cutting coal use shows that we have not yet got our heads around the reality of life in a low-carbon economy. It’s 19th-century thinking, and has no place in a modern world.

HERE WE GO AGAIN Debs Martin explains what is special about the area under threat from coal mining.

This is the sixth time we’ve had to protect the Denniston and Stockton plateaus. Now they want to get access to the ancient coal deposits under the last remaining areas – on some of the most highly valued conservation land in the country.

Although much of this area has been idenitified as some of the most precious conservation land in the country, it languishes as stewardship land – with mining interests resisting its reclassification.

Forest & Bird’s Official Information Act requests have revealed that the Department of Conservation and Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment are negotiating away this unique coal plateau ecosystem because the Government wants to sell off Solid Energy’s remaining assets – and make it easier for overseas mining company BT Mining, a joint venture between Bathurst Resources and Talley’s Group, to get to the coal.

The Government knows that, under the Resource Management Act, it will be hard to get consents because the whole plateau is at tipping point. So it is planning in secret, negotiating to change the law, introduce Special Economic Zones, or push aside legislative protective measures, to get it over the line.

Over the years, we managed to hold on to some bits, but we are still losing the Denniston and Buller plateaus bit by bit. Every other time it’s been one mine, but this time it is up to 13 mines.

The area under threat is huge. It’s the whole Waimangaroa Valley, its virtually all of the Denniston Plateau, and it’s the last remaining intact landscape left on the Stockton Plateau. It’s all too precious to lose.

Every time they take a little bit more, it brings the biodiversity on the plateau to the brink, species such as the giant Powelliphanta land snail and great spotted kiwi.

The rare red tussocklands will disappear, so will the diverse river and stream habitats, and the hidden gorges dripping with mosses and liverworts.

Debs Martin on the Denniston Plateau in 2011.

In 2012, Forest & Bird undertook a logistically challenging bioblitz on the plateau. We recorded new species. We’ve seen the birdlife up there, the giant invertebrates, the unique habitats, so we know what is at stake.

We mustn’t let the Government get around the Resource Management Act and the Overseas Investment Rules to permit these mines. This will see people come and dig up coal, and send it overseas, and it will not benefit New Zealand. We need the Government to do its job properly and protect the rare coal ecosystems of the Denniston and Buller plateaus.

Giant native land snails and great spotted kiwi will likely be lost to new mining developments, bringing them closer to the brink of local extinction.

NOT FOR MINING During 2017, Forest & Bird has been highlighting the disturbing trend of public conservation land being exploited for private development. Thanks to your support, we had a big win in July when the Supreme Court ruled in nature’s favour on the Ruahine Forest Park legal case.

Despite this cause for celebration, the Government’s focus on resource extraction and bending the rules for favoured industries such as mining, farming, and fishing continues around the country.

When New Zealand’s best ecological experts agree that further mining of our natural resources is almost certain to push some species into extinction, why is our government seemingly prepared to destroy nature in order to make a quick dollar?

You can value nature but you can’t put a price on it. Please make a donation online today at www. forestandbird.org.nz/oursnotmine.

Forest & Bird

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Nature in crisis Bush wren by Paul Martinson, from the series: Extinct Birds of New Zealand 2003, courtesy of Te Papa.

Changing public perceptions

The sad decline of the bush wren (green wren, Mātuhituhi, Xenicus longipes) ended with the last bird dying out in 1972 despite last-ditch attempts to save the species.

It is related to the rock wren, another of our native species that is currently in serious trouble, according to the PCE’s latest report.

The outgoing Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Jan Wright, talks to David Brooks.

When Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright said most of our native birds are in trouble in a report in May, New Zealanders sat up and took notice. Dr Wright is due to depart her job in October after a decade building a reputation for making policy makers and the public take notice of reports that have been both scientifically rigorous and easy for non-experts to understand.

Earlier in her life, Dr Wright was a teacher, and she still believes that, if you explain something simply and clearly, people will take the message on board. “People like that approach – they can actively enjoy learning and it empowers them to do something about it. The worst thing you can do is talk a whole lot of jargon they can’t follow,” she says.

Her reports on climate change, 1080, and freshwater quality among many others made major contributions to public knowledge about issues that are often obscured by technical jargon and the spin of vested interests. The native bird report – Taonga of an island nation: Saving New Zealand’s birds – includes the stark warning that 32 percent of our native birds are in serious trouble, 48 percent are in some trouble, and only 20 percent are holding their own.

Another issue where perceptions and reality diverge for some is the need for the toxin 1080 to give native wildlife a chance to survive in large, often remote areas. “One of the messages of this endangered bird report is we need to be controlling predators on a landscape scale and 1080 is really the only way we have of doing it at the moment, supplemented by other means.” She says the opposition 18

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

to 1080 is declining, and others have cited her reports on its use as an important factor in changing public opinion.

The Predator Free 2050 vision has played a role in attracting more funding and interest in programmes aimed at protecting native species. But Dr Wright is concerned that working towards this vision should not be at the expense of ongoing predator control work. “I’ve used the metaphor that you spend years building a flash high-tech hospital but, by the time it’s built, the patient is dead. So we have to keep on doing what we are doing.”

There are a number of good reasons why protecting our native species is important, she believes. New Zealanders’ identity is closely linked to our landscapes, animals, and plants, and these are what make tourism our most valuable export industry.

“Another reason is biodiversity on a global scale is important, and New Zealand is a significant contributor to that. One of the things I enjoyed learning in doing the report was that 93 of our birds Outgoing PCE Dr Jan Wright are endemic, found nowhere says environmentalism has moved from fringe to else. In the UK, there is only mainstream over the 10 one, and I think even that is years she has served as an controversial.” independent watchdog for all things conservation.

But conservation is not

Data: Department of Conservation

about trying to return large swathes of New Zealand to a Once widespread across southern New Zealand forests, pre-human state. We cannot afford to be too purist, she kōkako was listed as extinct says, citing a visit to Cape Kidnappers in Hawke’s Bay, until 2013, when its status where she saw kauri growing well outside their natural was reclassified as “data deficient” by the Department range in the top part of the North Island. of Conservation. The “Some people would say you must plant them within re-classification provided their natural range, and you must have seeds that are local renewed hope and the South Island Kōkako Trust has but, given kauri dieback disease, you can argue it makes launched a campaign to find sense to plant them as far away as possible from where and protect any remaining the disease is. We have to be constantly rethinking what birds. There is a $10,000 reward for anyone who conservation means, looking forward rather than back.” finds definitive proof that Dr Wright is one of three officers of Parliament – the they still exist! See www. others are the Auditor-General and the Ombudsman southislandkokako.org.

– meaning she answers only to Parliament and is independent of the government of the day. This 1840s independence means she can carry out investigations on environmental topics of her own choice and make Kōkako 1870s recommendations for change that may be unpopular with 2000s the governing political party.

She and her staff can take as long as they need to 1840s investigate an issue because they are not working to anyone Mohua 1870s else’s timetable. Sometimes investigations take longer than 2000s she would like, but getting it right is paramount.

“I’ve always felt I needed to be able to come out at 1840s the end and say I was very sure of my report and very comfortable with it.”

1870s Kiwi Independence means she can tell the uncomfortable 2000s truths that would be difficult or impossible for others to say. “When I said we should use more 1080, no minister 1840s could ever have said it. The party would never have let 1870s Kākā them because there are votes in it.”

2000s This independence also allows the PCE to take a long view, free of the three-year election cycle. In her final 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 records finding 60 grasshoppers in the crop of one night hawk PRESERVE YOUR BIRDS AND ENRICH YOUR released in July, Drworms Wright called and 500report mosquitoes in another; 30 cut in the crop for a Climate COUNTRY. Current range (% of pre-human range) of a black bird; 70 canker worms in the crop of a cedar bird.

Change map out action (Extract from lecture by Prof. Fitzsimons, Port Elizabeth A female martin's Act crop to contained nearly 2000 needed mosquitoes.to reach Museum, S.A.) is the geographical area within The range of a species Our own fantail, how�ver, would probably easily beat some of New Zealand’s emissions target by 2030 under these figures.

Watch one carefully for ten reduction minutes and count which it can be found.

Kōkako, mohua, kiwi, and kākā In our struggle for food and life we have Nature's the number of its catches. the Paris Agreement. Crucially, she said the legislation helpers. Birds are stand all deep endemic birds once roamed over much in the front rank as that our allies, and insects and areas lizardsthan come they second usefulness. We larger doinnow. would need cannibal cannot stem the assaults of our enemies with 'poison sprays appliances supplemented by useful carni­ to be agreedand other artificial Source: Taonga of an island nation. vorous and parasitic insects. The birds alone can turn the NEW ZEALAND'S ENDEMIC SPECIES OF BIRDS. The following seventy-eight species of native birds are found indige­ by all politicalscale in our favour. nous in no other part of tihe earth. It will surely be the desire of every _ Man cannot exist upon this world without the active help true New Zealander to cherish and safeguard such a her1tage:­ governments between andconquest then, so you can’t have The only obstacle to hisnow complete parties to of wild birds. of Mother Earth is the insect hordes which effectively bar his this flipping and flopping and changes avoid the risk way. It is now an even fight between insect and man for in direction. That White-fllppered Penguin Laughing Owl Yellow-crowned Penguin Kakapo victory. Dwellers in cities do not realise the intensity of this became theofcentral theme of that report for me.”

Red-fronted Parakeet Pied Shag it would be struggle for the survival the fittest.

Yellow-fronted Parakeet Rough-faced Shag If we are going to continue resting in fancied security, Orange-frontied Parakeet Campbell Island Shag Reflecting on the last decade, Dr Wright says she is undermined we shall, for a surety, be upon the rocks.

Before the advent Chatham Island Parakeet Bronze Shag Antipodes Island Parakeet Spotted Shag of man the balance of nature was of quickly readjusted when pleased the scope conservation and environmentalism by later Kaka Chatham Island Shag it, for some reason, was upset. Insects in those days had a Kea Black-fronted Tern hard struggle live with wildand plantbecome life ortly for food, broadly and hastobroadened more accepted. governments.

Rifleman Black-billed Gull active watchful birds on all sides. On the advent of man Stephen Island Wren (extinct) Sub-Antarctic Snipe Green Wren Black Stilt the lands “When were tilledI and the into face of the job, worldI was coveredenvironmentalism came this thought “Before we Rock Wren N.Z. Dotterel with tender succulent crops. In the presence of such a food South Island Tomtit Wrybill mustn’t just beenormously. the green fringe, it must be mainstreamed. life increased get to 2030, supply, insect North Island Tomtit Sandplover Now that is the point. When we increased the food Chotham Island Robin Auckland Island Rail think that is one the that into have been great in this there are fivesupply of Ithe Snares Island Robin Mangere Rail insect armies did weofput thethings same energy South Island Robin Dieffenbach's Rail (extinct) correspondingly increasing the chief enemies of insects-viz., Norbh Island Robin North Island Woodhen job.

When I go to a select committee the wild birds? No! On the contrary, we did most illogicalnow, MPs from all the Grey Warbler South Island Woodhen things. We made war on the birds; with gun, catapult, and Chatham Island Warbler Black Woodhen parties aredown. there,We they’re and they’re listening.”

Pied Fantail Brown Woodhen trap we mowed them burnt interested, or otherwise de­ Black Fantail Notornis stroyed their “Conservation leafy shelters, and their breeding places. is not just for those hardworking, North Island Thrush Dabchick Yea, truly, we are reaping the harvest of ignorance, Soutih Island Thrush Brown Kiwi This extract isbrutality, "As ye sow,their gumboots on and cruelty sown by our ancestors.

Fernbird Little Grey Kiwi wonderful Forest & Bird people with from Birds, thethat also shall ye reap."

Chatham Island Fernbird Great Grey Kiwi Chatham Island Bellbird N.Z. Quail (extinct) who haveBIRD beenPESTS. out there for years, but it’s something for journal of Forest Yellowhead N.Z. Pigeon Whitehead What about these bird pests?

Yes, what about them?

Chatham Island Pigeon & Bird, in about all of us.”

Brown Creeper "Paradise Duck The bird pests could be counted on the fingers of one's hands.

Bellbird 1926. Sadly, 10 ofWould that I could burn this into vour minds-viz.: "It Brown Duck Auckland Island Duck (flight- Stitchbird After DrforWright hands over the commissioner’s is an urgent necessity us to take ·every possible means the native New Tui less) to not onlyreins safeguard our wildUpton bird life, but Pipit also to do our she will return to Blue Duck to Simon in mid-October, Zealand birds Huia Scaup utmost to increase the bird population to prey on the count­ Saddleback Auckland Island Merganser on this list have less numbers of insects which breedshe and was multiply in ourup. “I won’t be Christchurch, where brought Oia nge-wattled Crow Quail Hawk cultivated lands."

Surely it is obvious that if an army Blue-wattled Crow disappeared off Sparrow Hawk or Bush Hawk doubles itsworking numbers it becomes essential for theopposing Morepc,rk full-time, but I’ll be finding some things to keep my the face of the 12 13 mind going. The body is tired but the mind is still sparking.” earth.

Forest & Bird

| 19

In the field A native New Zealand praying mantis (Orthodera ovaevealandiae) with its distinctive blue foreleg spot.

Photo: Bryce McQuillan

And then there

were none Extinctions happen when nobody notices. By Ann Graeme.

Do you know the native praying mantis, with its broad green body and the bright blue spot inside its foreleg?

It is different from its relation, the anorexic South African mantis, which was accidentally introduced some years ago.

It has been several years since I saw a native mantis. I suspect they are gone from my garden, and the culprit is that temptress, the female South African mantis, who eats any male native mantis who is foolish enough to try to mate with her.

I am not suggesting that they are near to extinction throughout New Zealand, but they do seem to be gone from our area. Perhaps – probably – our local population is extinct.

This is a trivial observation, not backed by proper surveys, but it illustrates some important issues. The first is the vulnerability of our native species. The second is that we often don’t notice when a species is disappearing.

Local extinction is happening all the time. Long before the very last individual dies and the species is completely extinguished, local populations will have been shrinking and disappearing. This means that, in the practical sense, that species is lost to that local ecosystem.

How do you recognise that a native species is well down the path to extinction? One good indicator is that the population is fragmented. Instead of being spread throughout a habitat, the populations are widely separated.

This seems likely to have been the case with Whitaker’s skink (see right). Weka on the West Coast are another 20

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

example. They used to be found in forests all along the Coast. Now there are big, weka-less tracts of forest.

What can we do?

We can be vigilant. We can be observant. Extinction happens when nobody notices.

And here is the rub. Most of us only see the familiar species, the cheeky weka or the red flowers of the mistletoe. It is much harder to observe the camouflaged lizards or the nocturnal bats and weta and frogs.

Noticing the decline or absence of a species is like seeing a red flag waving. It is drawing attention to the degradation of the ecosystem. So, saving a species such as kiwi really means saving the forest that the birds depend on.

This, as much as the intrinsic worth of the species itself, makes conservation work important. Every pest you kill, every tree you plant, every submission you write, every friend you tell about the plight of the natural world helps to push back the tide of extinction that is creeping over the natural world.

We do it because we love nature and value it for itself, but it is more than this. Our living world is a system of unimaginable complexity. The variety of species are the glue that holds it together and sustains our lives here on planet Earth.

NOBODY NOTICED – BROWN KIWI

GONE – WHITAKER’S SKINK

We knew we had brown kiwi in the Kaimai forests. When we went camping, we would hear them calling. But just to make sure, in 1981, Te Puke branch of Forest & Bird set up a kiwi survey in the Kaimai Mamaku forests and the outlying forests encircling the western Bay of Plenty.

Dorothy Mutton, a Te Puke branch member, was living on a farm a couple of kilometres from the township. She helped with the survey.

“The first kiwi the survey recorded was in the wooded gully at the back of our farm. We were so excited! We called it our kiwi!”

More kiwi were heard, sometimes singly, sometimes a few, scattered along the Kaimai and the nearer forested margins of the Mamaku ranges. Four pairs and single birds were recorded at Otawa, in Department of Conservation forest designated “stewardship land” and the place where the Te Puke branch waged a Herculean battle against an illegal mining proposal. The largest population was 50 birds recorded in Otanewainuku, a protected outlier of virgin bush.

The volunteer surveyors were pleased. The years went by. “It was a long time before we noticed that ‘our’ kiwi had stopped calling,” Dorothy recalled. “We heard that it was killed by a dog.”

Then, in 2001, kiwi were surveyed again in Otanewainuku. Only five birds were found.

“That spurred us into action. Volunteers from our branch began doing pest control. The project grew and grew, and now it is the large, well-funded Otanewainuku Kiwi Trust.

With birds reintroduced by Operation Nest Egg, there are now about 20 kiwi in the forest.”

Otanewainuku is a success story, for kiwi and all the native plants and animals that live there, but the kiwi are all gone from the rest of the western Bay of Plenty forests.

They are extinct in those forests.

Most local extinctions of lizard populations go unnoticed and undocumented. Whitaker’s skink is the exception.

These skinks live on the Mercury Islands, east of Coromandel, and until five years ago they also lived on the cliffs of Pukerua Bay, on Wellington’s Kāpiti Coast.

Despite the efforts of a community group to control pests along the Pukerua Bay cliffs, the skinks’ situation became so dire that the Department of Conservation brought all the individuals they could trap into captivity.

The last Whitaker’s skink was caught five years ago.They are all in a breeding programme, and it is hoped they may eventually be translocated to pest-free Kāpiti Island.

Whitaker’s skinks are now deemed extinct on the Pukerua Bay cliffs. This is a shame because they were celebrated by the local community as one of their own.

Trent Bell, Forest & Bird member and lizard expert, knows more than most of us about what is happening to our many lizard species.

He says: “Population extinction of our lizard fauna is happening all around us right now. Lizards are losing their habitat when land is converted to farms, housing, roads, and other uses. And lizards are losing their lives every night to introduced predators.

“Our lizards are running the gauntlet every day and every night, as they struggle to survive.”

This photo of a Whitaker’s skink was taken in 2007 in Pukerua Bay. The species is now locally extinct in the area. Photo: Tony Jewell

Forest & Bird member Dave Edwards with a brown kiwi about to be released at Otanewainuku. Photo: Otanewainuku Kiwi Trust

Have you noticed a local extinction in your neighbourhood? Tell us your stories, email editor@forestandbird.org.nz or write to the Editor, Forest & Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington.

Forest & Bird

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General Election 2017

VOTE FOR

NATURE Kiwis rated the environment as the most important factor in how they defined New Zealand in a recent Statistics New Zealand survey. The other joint top characteristic was “freedom, rights, and peace”.

With the general election approaching on 23 September 2017, we asked the same question of each party’s conservation spokesperson: “Onethird (54) of our endemic bird species are ‘in serious trouble’, according to the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s 2017 report Taonga of an island nation. What will your party do to protect and restore ALL the threatened native species in our forests, rivers, and oceans?”

Here are their responses.

ACT – David Seymour ACT values the environment – clean water, fresh air, and the preservation of natural and historical features is vital for the quality of life all New Zealanders enjoy. Our native species are part of our national identity, and ACT is committed to ensuring their survival and ability to thrive in rivers, forests, and oceans where possible.

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| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

ACT has fought for road pricing, ride sharing, and RMA reform, and advocates for the introduction of a Sanctuary Trust where communities and a range of applicants can apply to operate inland sanctuaries for wildlife.

We believe Kiwis want to save and preserve wildlife, and ACT will give communities and organisations the tools to protect and advocate for their local environments.

Green Party – Mojo Mathers Our first action will be to significantly increase Department of Conservation funding and restore DOC’s advocacy role for nature beyond the conservation estate. We will ensure there are more people on the frontline defending nature — more DOC rangers and scientists — and better co-ordination of volunteer and community partnerships.

We will properly fund Predator Free 2050 via a $20 levy on international tourists.

And stop any new mining and exploration on the conservation estate, clean up our dirty rivers, and work to stop fisheries bycatch.

We’ll increase funding for the Nature Heritage Fund and improve the co-ordination of conservation work on Māori and private land. Under a government with a Green heart, New Zealand’s natural treasures — our wildlife, forests, rivers, and oceans — will be in safe hands.

Read our full policy at https://www.greens.org.nz/page/ conservation-policy.

Labour – Nanaia Mahuta Protecting New Zealand’s native species is a priority for Labour.

We released New Zealand’s first biodiversity strategy in 2000.

We are committed to protecting our native species, eradicating predators, and expanding the size of protected areas.

We will review the progress made in implementing the New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy and action the review’s findings.

We will promote mainland islands, recognising that dedicated sanctuaries are the most effective incubators for rejuvenating wildlife populations.

These could include large peninsula areas with natural sea barriers such as the Coromandel, Mahia, Banks, and Otago peninsulas. We will support the recovery of Maui’s and Hector’s dolphins by ensuring that only dolphin-safe fishing methods are used in their natural range, in areas less than 100m deep.

The Māori Party – Te Ururoa Flavell

National – Maggie Barry

The Māori Party will protect, enhance, and restore our natural habitats of our native birds through Te Hauora o Te Taiao (the wellbeing of our environment). We advocate a rethink of our national environment policies, seeking to re-establish roles for iwi, hapū, and whānau as kaitiaki of the taiao.

Our advocacy on the recently reformed Resource Management Act introduced further kaitiakitanga provisions through Mana Whakahono-aRohe. These agreements reflect the spiritual and cultural relationship Māori have with the natural environment and will facilitate greater engagement with Māori, and will enhance the environment.

We welcome the recent report from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment and endorse the recommendations that seek to address this challenge of ensuring the long-term survival of our native birds and their habitats and look forward to engaging with interest groups.

National was the first party to commit to achieve Predator Free New Zealand by 2050.

Eradicating rats, stoats, and possums is the most effective way of saving and protecting our vulnerable species. New Zealand’s first Threatened Species Strategy will focus all of DOC’s work on native species protection and biodiversity recovery across the country.

DOC’s expenditure has grown 20% since 2008. We’re spending more on biodiversity protection than ever before.

Through the War on Weeds, the DOC Community Fund, a $16m wilding control programme, the $100m Freshwater Improvement Fund, and our marine protected area reforms, we have policies in place to restore and protect our natural taonga. New Zealand was a key player in the establishment of the Ross Sea MPA, and we remain committed to establishing the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary.

New Zealand First – Clayton Mitchell

Opportunities Party – Geoff Simmons

New Zealand First is the only credible party committed to completely ending the use of 1080 in New Zealand as soon as possible, and doing so without compromising our pest control requirement.

We will resource and initiate trapping and other ground-based measures in areas where this is already feasible. We will support thorough research of alternatives to 1080 and will survey populations before any further aerial application of 1080 takes place in inaccessible areas.

1080 has been spread across the country for nearly 60 years, yet we still have the problem it was meant to solve.

Clearly, it isn’t working, it is causing serious harm to our native species, and something else must be done. It seems only New Zealand First understands this.

The Opportunities Party (TOP) would give predator and pest control an immediate $60m per year boost through a levy on tourists. In the longer term, we can boost conservation and water quality funding by making polluters and commercial users of fresh water pay.

To improve water quality and combat climate change, the priority has to be planting the 1.1 million hectares of erosionprone land with native trees. TOP would also hasten the development of a National Policy Statement on biodiversity with the immediate aim of no net loss of biodiversity.

We need to undertake a marine spatial planning process to establish a network of representative marine reserves in our Exclusive Economic Zone and territorial ocean (including 10% no-take reserves).

For more policies, please check out www.top.org.nz/top3.

HAVE YOUR SAY

This is what the main political parties have to say about saving our threatened birds and other native wildlife.

Do you think it’s good enough? Forest & Bird is encouraging its members and their families to attend local election hustings and ask candidates about their party’s conservation policies. Together, we can raise awareness and encourage lawmakers to do more to protect our unique natural heritage for future generations to enjoy.

Check out Forest & Bird’s election website at www.votefornature.org.nz. We have asked the main political parties for their policies on a variety of key environmental issues, including freshwater, climate change, DOC funding, illegal fishing, and more.

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Special report

Our dying aquifers We need to do more to understand, value, and protect the water beneath our feet.

By Annabeth Cohen, Forest & Bird’s freshwater advocate.

The Government’s freshwater standards are currently focused on river, lake, wetland, and natural spring habitats, but these make up a tiny part of our total freshwater ecosystem. With 80% of our liquid fresh water located underground in aquifers, we should be protecting groundwater ecosystems too.

We use groundwater for irrigation, drinking water, public use, industrial processing, bottling, recreation, and tourism. This vital resource is inherently protected under the Resource Management Act, while the DWSNZ 2008 (Drinking Water Standards for New Zealand) stipulate limits to drinking water contaminants. But there are no regulations that truly protect groundwater quality or quantity, let alone groundwater ecosystems.

This is alarming given that New Zealand’s surface water

ecosystems are in a dire state and essentially dependent on the health of our aquifers.

The perils of over-extraction and pollution of our groundwater were recently highlighted by Environment Canterbury, which revealed the deep aquifers supplying Christchurch’s exceptionally pure drinking water may become contaminated with nitrates from intensive agriculture. Contamination of groundwater aquifers is already happening in other parts of Canterbury and across the rest of New Zealand, along with aquifer depletion – caused by over-extraction.

As Forest & Bird’s recent submission to the Governmen’s Clean Water package pointed out: “A 2015 study by GNS found that the state of groundwater had not improved in the previous two decades, and most

THE WATER CYCLE: The relationship between the groundwater in our aquifers and surface water is direct and dependent. Groundwater discharge provides a substantial volume of water to our rivers, lakes, wetlands, and natural springs, while the surface usually returns the favour through groundwater recharge. Illustration by Andy Heyward/fat-spatula.com

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monitored sites (62%) don’t meet the ANZECC values for ecosystem health, while 9% exceeded toxicity levels.”

Warning sirens are sounding. But we have a problem – no single regulatory body is concerned with groundwater quantity. This means the government doesn’t take stock of how much water we have or where the water is being used faster than the natural water cycle can replenish it. This is like spending money without knowing how much is in the bank.

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) and aquifer augmentation are two names for an engineered solution to a dying aquifer. New Zealand’s first MAR is, unsurprisingly, in Canterbury, and another is proposed for Gisborne. The new-to-New Zealand technology sees water taken from another location and injected or percolated into aquifers that are depleted or polluted. The impact of MARs on our groundwater ecosystems is not yet known because this is

LIFE UNDERGROUND

New Zealand's unique aquifer species provide many essential water cleaning services, including eliminating harmful viruses and bacteria.

In complete darkness, located underground, you’ll find New Zealand’s largest freshwater habitat: groundwater.

Making up 94% of the world’s liquid fresh water, groundwater can be found sometimes kilometres under the Earth’s surface and is scientifically recognised as its own distinct ecosystem.

There is a mysterious and wonderful world of creepycrawlies and microscopic organisms up to hundreds of metres below our feet, working hard to clean up the water and keep it flowing.

These creepy-crawlies, also known as stygofauna, are invertebrates that can be found above and below ground – colourless and, in some cases, nearly transparent with poorly developed eyes, if any at all. They tend to be elongated, yet have small bodies complete with antennae and many limbs.

The most abundant microscopic organisms in groundwater are bacteria, and they are important because

experimental technology in New Zealand.

What we do know is that our weird and wonderful groundwater ecosystems (see below) are undervalued and poorly understood. Conversations on groundwater rarely go beyond access to an economic resource, and environmental protection is generally disregarded.

Groundwater ecosystems must be valued, protected, and better understood. This will require a shift in priorities – we need to recognise groundwater as the lifeblood for all Aotearoa’s freshwater ecosystems, not as a limitless economic resource.

The Government will need to get behind this shift by financially supporting scientific research into groundwater and our aquifers, and halting MAR trials so that full ecological assessments can be conducted before agreeing to finance these potentially ecologically damaging experiments.

More importantly, we have to end aquifer depletion by truly accounting for groundwater extraction and recharge.

they regulate many chemical reactions, such as the nitrogen cycle, and are an essential part of the stygofauna diet.

While the basic dietary requirement for all life is carbon, groundwater specific stygofauna, which are called stygobites, have an unusual relationship with water because they live in an environment devoid of light or oxygen. They depend on bacteria and biofilms to survive.

It is presumed there are limits to how far below ground life can exist because of the lack of light or oxgyen. Yet in the US, under the Rio Grande Basin, in Texas, two catfish species were identified in the Edwards-Trinity aquifer between 400 and 600 meters below ground, indicating that life can exist up to great depths.

New Zealand is unlikely to have groundwater vertebrate species like catfish, although we don’t know the full extent of what is down there. What we can say for certain is that Aotearoa’s stygofaunal diversity is remarkably high when compared to the rest of the world.

The more we investigate, the more we uncover, and scientists such as NIWA ecologist and crustacean expert Graham Fenwick are finding species that are completely unknown to science.

Some genera from ancient lineages that are structurally unchanged for more than 300 million years have been discovered here, from the Gondwanan suborder. From more than 900 Canterbury and Nelson groundwater samples, a preliminarily analysis identified a potential 38 new species of amphipods.

Unfortunately, these unique invertebrates with ancient lineages are currently classified with a conservation status of data deficient. Much work is still needed to understand and value New Zealand’s groundwater fauna species – across all stygofaunal groups and unsampled aquifers in New Zealand.

What’s happening at Te Waikoropūpū Springs? See overleaf

Special report

SAVE OUR SPRINGS If Te Waikoropūpū Springs can’t be saved, what hope is there for New Zealand’s other aquifers? By Cherie Pascoe.

Underwater view of the main spring at Te Waikoropūpū showing a blast of water from the spring hitting the surface. The crystal clear waters are an iconic tourist attraction that more than 90,000 people visited last year. Photo: Darryl Torckler 26

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

N

estled in the Tākaka Valley of Golden Bay, between Abel Tasman and Kahurangi National Parks, are the largest cold-water springs in the southern hemisphere. The springs contain some of the most optically pure water in the world (the third-clearest after Nelson’s Blue Lake and Antarctica’s Weddell Sea). Rich in calcium and home to all kinds of unique plant and marine life, they are a veritable Garden of Eden.

Home to tiny creatures called “stygofauna” that are responsible for its clarity, the springs discharge 14,000L/second at a constant temperature of 11˚C. This paradise, however, faces challenges similar to many other groundwater sources in New Zealand.

Currently, 500L/second of water from the recharge zone of the Arthur Marble Aquifer that feeds the springs is allocated to various users in the Tākaka Valley. The Tasman District Council proposes to draw a further 356L/second in response to increased intensive dairying needs. This has caused concern among conservationists and scientists, who are worried about the impact of taking more water (and the corresponding increase in nitrate pollution) on the stygofauna.

Forest & Bird’s Golden Bay Branch chairperson, Celia Butler, says the landscape of the springs, and the unique nature of the Arthur Marble Aquifer and its stygofauna, must be protected. “It’s an ethical question,” she says.

“What do you risk for the benefit of a few?”

Forest & Bird’s Top of the South Island regional manager Debs Martin agrees.

“Te Waikoropūpū Springs are an outstanding natural feature. They are nationally and internationally important, with some of the highest-purity free-flowing water in the world. It’s vital they remain this way,” she says.

“Any actions that may degrade this incredible place, such as taking more water for intensive dairying or, as has been suggested, allowing gold mining on adjacent farmland, would be morally and ethically wrong.”

Dr Don Mead, a retired scientist and member of Friends of Golden Bay, has spent the last few years studying historical data from the springs. His research has looked at measurements collected every three months since 1990 by GNS Science.

Dr Mead says that the nitrate concentration has risen by roughly 1.5% over this period, which seems to be in line with an increase in dairy intensification in Golden Bay, but has stabilised in recent years. However, since April this year, the nitrate levels in the main spring have risen and are currently more than NIWA’s “safe” 0.4mg/L level. It remains to be seen if this is a new trend or a blip.

Andrew Yuill, Friends of Golden Bay chairperson, explains why the water is so clear. He says that water contains dissolved organic matter from trees and leaves. In the aquifer supplying Te Waikoropūpū, the organic matter builds up to form a biofilm. The stygofauna and bacteria feed on this biofilm, constantly removing the organic matter from the aquifer, making it crystal clear.

“Nothing else in the world operates in quite the same way. The aquifer must remain a healthy place for the stygofauna,” he says.

Andrew stresses that scientists don’t know what impact extracting more water will have on the stygofauna. As well as changing the flow, there will be a corresponding

increase in nutrients from intensification, which could kill the tiny freshwater critters.

“A precautionary approach is needed. We cannot adaptively manage an aquifer,” he adds Andrew has worked closely with iwi Ngati Tama ki Te Waipounamu to apply for a Water Conservation Order (WCO) for the springs, saying it was a water system with outstanding characteristics that should be protected.

Environment Minister Nick Smith recently publicly accepted the WCO application – the first of its kind in New Zealand.

Now the application has been accepted, a tribunal will be set up to look at the future protection of the springs.

Kaumatua and spokesperson for iwi Ngati Tama ki Te Waipounamu John Ward-Holmes says, “The springs have enormous significance to the iwi as kaitiaki (caretakers) but also our ancestors, our whole community. and our descendants who will look back in judgement of what we have left for them.

“The WCO is one way we can try to ensure that the water stays as pure as it is now. If the WCO is granted, it will be written for all to see that this is a sacred place without having to prove it every time a [water] take is proposed.”

Debs Martin points out that a Water Conservation Order doesn’t automatically mean the springs will be fully maintained in their pristine state. This will depend on the detailed protections contained in the order.

She says recent monitoring showed a huge increase in E.coli flowing into the river just downstream of the springs.

If the council allows more water to be taken from the spring, it would increase farming upstream, which could lead to nitrogen leaching into the springs.

Andrew Yuill believes that water management is a social issue as well as an ecological one. “There is an unavoidable trade-off between the intensity of farming, the amount of profit, and environmental impact. This can be mitigated by reducing farming intensity and implementing better eco-farming.

“Agriculture has an essential role to play in our economy, and farmers should be able to hold their heads high because they are part of a sector that operates in a good, sustainable, low-agricultural-impact way,” he added.

“This is our natural legacy,” adds Debs Martin. “We need to work together to protect these ancient springs for future generations to enjoy. If we can’t save Te Waikoropūpū, then what hope do we have for any other waterway in New Zealand?”

What lies beneath: Freshwater crayfish at Te Waikoropūpū Springs, Golden Bay. Photo: Darryl Torckler

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Our people

BEHAVING BADLY Playwright Roger Hall talks characterisation, conservation, and why he’s leaving a bequest to Forest & Bird. By Caroline Wood.

One of New Zealand’s favourite and most successful playwrights has been a member of Forest & Bird for more than two decades. Roger Hall, the multi-award-winning writer, has penned more than 40 plays over the past 40 years, creating more than 200 characters in the process.

Roger says he is an “equal opportunities” playwright because he has managed to conjure up an equal number of female to male characters.

When Roger needed a feisty female character for his recent play Last Legs, which is set in an upmarket retirement home, he turned to Forest & Bird for inspiration. This resulted in Edna, a spirited free-thinking champion of the environment – an avid Forest & Bird supporter, who plans to leave all her money to the organisation.

“I needed a character who’s completely different from anyone else living in the home. I wanted a feisty woman who would be passionate about these things. She’s fiercely independent and she’s the one that says there’s no such thing as a non-returnable bottle. This view coincides with my own, it’s so sad we don’t have a 10c per bottle return scheme like other countries,” he says In Last Legs, the well-todo retirees get up to all sorts of mischief – greed, jealousy, love and lust, gossip, backstabbing, and scandal abound. Although the play is about old age, it’s anything but genteel. Roger describes it as “pretty savage black humour, very funny”.

Edna, he hastens to add, isn’t based on one particular person.

Rather, she is an amalgam of several people.

In one scene, Edna suggests that someone from the Forest & Bird comes to talk at their next meeting. Her fellow residents’ committee members shoot down this idea, telling her someone from the society has come to talk three times already 28

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

and they always mention bequests!

In a case of art following reality, Roger says he is planning to make a gift to Forest & Bird in his will because he is big fan of our work. He also plans to leave money to the Te Araroa Walk trust, which was set up by a friend, and another bequest to his theatre trust. He is a Bequest Ambassador for UNICEF, so they are on the list too.

Roger and his wife Dianne have been Forest & Bird members since the 1990s, when they were based in Dunedin and had been tramping a lot of the Great Walks, including the Milford and Routeburn.

“We absolutely loved them, and we realised how important it all is and these things are so easily lost if we’re not careful.

We love forests and birds, so it seems a natural thing to support such an organisation.

“While it’s wonderful that national parks are being added, I think our government needs to support the Department of Conservation a lot more than they do.

It’s considerably understaffed, and in a way Forest & Bird is having to do a lot of work which should be done by DOC.” Roger, who was born in Britain, never set out to be a playwright, although he says he’s always enjoyed writing. He arrived in New Zealand in 1958 at the age of 19, started writing film reviews, had a story published in The Listener, and did sketches, stand-up comedy, and plays on TV. He became a teacher and wrote prolifically for the School Journal.

“Then I wrote Glide Time in 1976 and that changed my life. I say it took me 15 years to be an overnight success,” he says.

“I write plays that are elbow nudgers (people in audience nudge each other and say, that’s just like you/me). One couple left halfway through Conjugal Rites. They said they could get all that at home.”

Roger’s next offering Easy Money is based on Australian Ben Jonson’s play The Alchemist, which is set in 1666 during the Great Plague. Roger’s version is about confidence tricksters conning greedy residents in an Auckland harbourside apartment as a backdrop.

“Everyone thinks New Zealanders are nicer than anyone else but we aren’t. It’s just a myth.

We are just as nasty and greedy as everyone else,” he adds.

Last Legs In this scene, the residents’ committee is discussing speakers for their next meeting.

At the age of 78, Roger shows no evidence of slowing down or giving up writing – every play he writes is “his last”, he says.

And, just in case you are wondering, he doesn’t live in an upmarket retirement home, preferring instead the comforts of his own apartment in a green and leafy part of Auckland.

And when I wasn’t gardening, I was doing things with Forest and Bird. Walks. Outings.

Committees. Work days. Tree planting. When you do this sort of thing, you do feel you’re making a difference. And you are! I still do it, but these days, well… I am running out of puff, Edna talking about being a member of Forest & Bird in Last Legs.

Last Legs played to packed audiences earlier this year and is returning with a new production in Auckland on 12-27 September 2017, Hamilton 5–7 October 2017, and Tauranga 13–15 October 2017.

Easy Money premiers on 17 March 2018 at Court Theatre, Christchurch – see www.courttheatre.org.nz/show/easy-money/.

Forest & Bird

TRISH Red Cross, Oxfam, Unicef — they’re usually

willing to send someone.

GARRY Of course! Because they end up asking for bequests!

EDNA I could get someone from Forest and Bird.

KITTY Edna, I think we have had them three times since I’ve been here.

GARRY And they always mention bequests.

EDNA You should leave them a bequest. If you care at all about the environment.

Especially now the Government’s down-sized DOC. GARRY Change the record, Edna. Trish I hope you’ve got someone.

TRISH A woman from Nutrimetrics.

Extracted with permission from Last Legs by Roger Hall.

Leaving a legacy is a wonderful way to support Forest & Bird’s important conservation work and help protect the environment for future generations. To find out more, contact Jess Winchester at j.winchester@forestandbird.org.nz or 04 8012219.

Forest & Bird

NEW ZEALAND

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Conservation

Conservation Diary 2018

CALENDAR 2018

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Featuring superb photographs of our extraordinary wildlife and wilderness habitats taken by some of our leading nature photographers. Weighs less than 200g for economic postage. Envelope included.

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Send orders with payment and delivery details to: Potton & Burton, PO Box 5128, Nelson 7043, New Zealand You can also order at www.forestandbird.org.nz and click on ‘shop’.

Forest & Bird

| 29

Biodiversity

Weathered rock in Garvie Mountains.

Photo: Rob Brown

A remarkable

idea

Sir Alan Mark talks to Laura Keown about The Remarkables National Park campaign and why it’s time to create New Zealand’s 14th national park.

The Remarkables area is an internationally famous landscape and a poster child for New Zealand tourism.

But the iconic mountain range and neighbouring high country have no protected areas with national park status.

What’s more, there’s no national park in New Zealand to celebrate and protect the drier uplands of Central Otago and Southland.

With your help (see right), that could be about to change. In June, the Federated Mountain Clubs and Forest & Bird launched a detailed proposal for a national park that would stretch from The Remarkables and Hector/Te Tapuae-o-Uenuku Mountains, eastwards to the Kopuwai/ Old Man and Old Woman Ranges, and extend south to the Garvie and Umbrella Mountains.

Sir Alan Mark was one of the first to see the unique beauty and botanical richness of these high country tussock landscapes. He proposed a national park for the area to the National Parks Authority in 1977 and promoted the idea again, as a conservation park, in 1990.

The University of Otago’s Emeritus Professor of Botany, who is also Forest & Bird’s conservation ambassador, has been researching and advocating for the protection of South Island high country areas for more than 50 years.

Alan’s deep connection with the region started in 1959, when he chose the Otago part of the South Island high country to undertake detailed research on the snow tussock grassland ecology and sustainable management.

“There were obvious problems of degradation here, but

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no government department was researching it in sufficient detail to understand what the problems were,” he explains.

Alan found the snow tussock grasslands were well attuned to the environment but seriously mismanaged and degraded through burning and grazing. The extensive and impressive grassland landscape contained distinctive high-alpine vegetation, characterised by dwarfed alpine daisies, buttercups, and forget-me-nots in the extensive cushionfields on the higher Otago mountain plateaus.

Today, a multitude of invertebrates inhabit the area proposed for the national park, including flightless moths and alpine chafer beetles, and giant wetas. New Zealand falcon are present throughout the area. Pied oyster catchers and banded dotterels nest on the cushionfields and southern black-backed gulls breed near the lakes of the southern Garvie Mountains. Kea were once common in the Hector/Te Tapuae-o-Uenuku Mountains, but their numbers have been severely reduced by predation.

The critically endangered long-tailed bat is present in the Waikaia Valley to the south of the Kopuwai/Old Man Range. This valley provides the best remaining example of mixed beech forest that once covered central and eastern Otago.

“This great expanse of upland tall tussock grassland, wetlands, shrublands, and high mountain ecosystems that rises over 2000 metres between the Wakatipu Basin and the mid Clutha Valley behind Alexandra contains an amazing array of indigenous plants and animals and

The Remarkables is a popular climbing spot. Photo: Guillaume Charton

landscapes, much in a wilderness setting,” says Alan.

“It is clearly overdue for recognition as one of New Zealand’s really unique national parks.”

Forest & Bird is working with Federated Mountain Clubs (FMC) to promote the national park idea. The organisations have worked together to create many other conservation areas over the past 100 years.

FMC President Peter Wilson says the partnership is essential for protecting New Zealand’s treasured natural areas for future generations.

“There is an increased need for vigilance right now as people look to the conservation estate to make a quick buck and as government departments fail to enforce or enact their own laws,” he says.

“At FMC, our philosophy has been to treat conservation land as the property of the people for today and tomorrow, and, together with Forest & Bird, we will fight hard for that.”

Sir Alan Mark. Photo: Sue Maturin

How can you help?

Please talk to your friends and neighbours about what a great opportunity we have for a upland national park. n Join the discussion on the FMC Facebook Page and share their posts. n Share your own stories and photos on your own channels. Don’t forget to include the hashtag #remarkablesnationalpark. n Write to local news papers showing your support. n Write to your local mayor, councillors, conservation minister, and local MP. You can download The Remarkables National Park proposal and find out the latest news about the campaign at https://fmc.org.nz/remarkables/.

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Predator-free New Zealand

NO MYNA IMPACT Myna colonisation is expected to move further inland and south with global temperature rise. Photo: Bryce McQuillan

Mynas compete with native bird species for food, nesting space, and territory.

Dean Baigent-Mercer says it’s time to deal to them.

In northern areas, the most ubiquitous birds are mynas.

Mynas are bold and dominating, and in winter roost in large noisy mobs of often more than 100 birds. Mynas are social and intelligent. There is always a “call bird” posted on look-out, which communicates to the mob, constantly reporting what’s going on.

Since their introduction about 140 years ago, they have become numerous and persistent, competing for nesting sites as well as food (insects, nectar, and berries) that native birds need. Mynas are now north of Hawke’s Bay and Rangitikei, and are still expanding into new areas within this range.

Each spring, I see tūī at war with mynas over flax nectar, and I have observed a group of mynas working together to attack a fledgling tūī (presumably to kill it) just after a parent had fed it.

I’ve also seen mynas nesting inside the dead trunks of mamaku, and it’s well documented that they nest in tree hollows that kākāriki and other hole-nesters would also prefer. When mynas have set up a nest, they deliberately find other bird species’ nests within their territory and push out their eggs.

Mynas are said to be more likely to be on the fringes of 32

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native forests, and I’ve found them to be one of the most commonly heard birds in Northland’s native forests. Their presence is apparent on northern offshore island reserves.

Context is everything, and, north of Waikato, remaining native forests are often fragments with many edges. This allows the penetration of mynas, and their impacts have a greater influence than if very large tracts of native forests had been left intact.

Conservationist Stephen King has been alarmed at myna expansion and intrusions into native forests. He has been tracking a population that roosts outside of Waipoua Forest and travels many kilometres into the heart of Waipoua daily to hunt. They nest inside the forest during summer, and he’s even found a pair nesting who included plastic in their nesting material at the top of Tane Mahuta.

There are benefits to mynas spreading the seed of native plants, but because many gardens and roadsides where mynas roost outside of native forests have invasive weed species that produce berries, mynas will take the seeds of pest plants (for example, privet, ginger, Taiwan cherry, Bangalow palm, monkey apple) serious distances into the bush, which helps those weeds establish and expand from there. This makes weed control very tricky.

Even inside the best pest control area at Puketi Forest, mynas by day, dawn, and dusk are the most commonly heard bird.

If mynas are such a problem, why haven’t alarm bells already been raised?

I think it’s a cultural reaction because we know we live on islands where birds were dominant and think of pests as mammals or plants. There’s also an “Oh no, not another thing to worry about” reaction. In parallel, most people in this country don’t know mynas are an invasive pest. Their dominance has happened slowly, and now people think their presence is normal.

Invasive mynas are being taken seriously in Australia, with many ecological restoration projects including myna trapping in the mix. They even have competitions to develop the best traps.

A few people in New Zealand have observed Australian responses to the expansion of myna populations in recent decades. They are making traps and have been encouraging others involved in ecological restoration projects to start trapping mynas.

During the past four years, 8042 “pest birds” have been killed in Northland restoration projects alone (magpies will be included in this tally, but the lion’s share will be mynas), and this is without real public attention on impacts of mynas.

Removal of mynas from Motuora Island led to a significant increase in the native tūī, fantail, silvereye, welcome swallow, and grey warbler and introduced chaffinch, blackbird, and starling numbers (Tindall et al., 2007). *Dean Baigent-Mercer is Forest & Bird’s Northern Conservation Advocate.

Find out more n

Landcare Research/Manaaki Whenua has funded a literature review to assess myna impacts – see http://bit.ly/1nCxIbF.

n

The Peegee myna trap is made and sold by the Kerikeri Men’s Shed – see http://menzshed.org. nz/kerikeri-mens-shed/. Alternatively you can buy a Peegee trap from Adrian Gilbert in Whangarei – contact adriangilbert@xtra.co.nz. The plans are on the web for anyone who wants them.

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Auckland issues Kauri dieback disease in the Waipoua Forest.

Photo: MPI

Kauri could become locally extinct within 20 years unless the government and local communities take urgent action. By Melissa Irace.

Nick Beveridge, Forest & Bird’s regional manager Auckland and Northland, says kauri dieback is one of the most serious biodiversity issues facing the upper North Island, but MPI has “dropped the ball” in its response.

“MPI runs the Kauri Dieback Programme, but its management has been a shambles. The budget was meant to include surveillance (aerial and ground), research into a cure for the disease, public engagement and education, and phytosanitary measures. Apart from doing aerial surveillance and having oversight of the project, they have systematically backed down and failed to deliver most of the other promised outcomes.”

Kauri grow naturally from Northland to the Waikato, but the true extent of the disease is unknown. MPI’s maps that log dying trees aren’t an accurate picture because kauri can be infected for several years before they show any symptoms. And because MPI does not carry out widespread testing of trees that do show symptoms – it’s too costly and comes with the risk of creating new infections – the real number could be significantly more.

The situation in Auckland is clearer because, unlike MPI, Auckland Council has a strategy to monitor kauri health in all its regional parks every five years. In 2016, the council surveyed more than 22,000 kauri in the Waitakere Ranges.

It released the findings in a report last month.

Dr Nick Waipara, who works in biosecurity for Auckland Council and is one of the authers of the report, says the results were unfortunately far worse than expected.

“Between 2011 and 2016, the area of infected trees in the park more than doubled from 7.9% to 19%. The report also stated that 71% of kauri dieback zones are within 50m of a walking track – confirming the belief that humans are a major cause of the spread of the disease. The report recommends an independent review to investigate banning the public from the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park,” he said.

According to Dr Mels Barton, from The Tree Council, with this rate of infection we could lose kauri as a species in the next 20 years, at least in the Waitakere Ranges, unless urgent changes are made to the way MPI runs the Kauri Dieback Programme.

One of Aotearoa’s most iconic taonga, the mighty kauri tree, is threatened with extinction by a disease that currently has no known cure and no proven method to prevent its spread.

Kauri dieback is spreading rapidly throughout the upper North Island. The rate of infection in the Waitakere Ranges has doubled in the past five years. It’s also been found on private land throughout Auckland and Northland; in the forest plantations of Omahuta, Glenbervie, and Russell in Northland; on public land at Okura, Albany, and Pakiri; in the Trounson Kauri Park and Waipoua Forest Park in Northland; and on Great Barrier Island. It’s been detected on the Coromandel Peninsula at Hukarahi and on private land near Whangapoua.

Forest & Bird believes the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is failing to do its job of raising awareness of the disease, stopping its spread, and finding a cure. We have joined with other environmental groups to call for urgent and unified action.

Kauri dieback is caused by Phytophthora agathidicida – a microscopic spore in the soil that attacks the roots and trunk of kauri, damaging the tissues that carry nutrients within the tree so that they starve to death.

THE MIGHTY ARE FALLING

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Some plants are so dependent on kauri to provide habitat that they may not grow anywhere else, including the kauri greenhood orchid, Pterostylis brumalis.

“Some great work is being done to tackle the problem and educate the public,” says Nick Beveridge, “but much of this is being undertaken by local councils and community groups like the Coromandel Kauri Dieback Forum [see below] with no funding from MPI.” Forest & Bird has joined other organisations, including Friends of Regional Parks, The Tree Council, and Waitakere Ranges Protection Society, to call for a change in the way the programme is managed and a raft of other measures, including urgent investment into better designed cleaning stations, more boardwalks, and increased public awareness campaigns. They are also standing behind local iwi Te Kawerau a Maki in calling for a rahui, restricting public access to the Waitakere Ranges, to prevent further spread of the disease and allow the forest to heal itself.

David Hamon from the Coromandel Kauri Dieback Forum talking to a group of tourism operators about the significance of kauri to Māori. Photo: Vivienne McLean

Community action The Coromandel Kauri Dieback Forum, which includes representatives from Forest & Bird’s Coromandel branches, focuses on reaching out to local tourism operators and working with schools, landowners, and recreational groups to build awareness and motivate people to help stop the spread of the disease.

Unfortunately it recently lost funding for a co-ordinator and needs more volunteers.

At Forest & Bird’s Ark in the Park project, some pest control lines have been rerouted to avoid high priority kauri trees. And volunteers try not to go out into the bush when it is really muddy and the risk of spreading the disease is greater.

But the challenge is huge because of the way the pathogen spreads.

Jay Harkness, spokesperson for MPI’s Kauri Dieback Programme, explains: “The pathogen can remain in hibernation without a host for at least six years – at which point it can be reactivated by water.

“This means people need to treat every area as though it is infected. Humans are the number one way in which the disease is spread. A pinhead of soil is enough to spread the disease, and the pathogen can ‘swim’ towards its host, which it can detect.” *If you want to get in touch with the Coromandel Kauri Dieback Forum, see www.facebook.com/ CoromandelKauriDieback/.

The kauri leafminer (‘Acrocercops’ leucocyma) is specific to kauri. If kauri are lost, they will become extinct too.

2mm

HOW CAN YOU HELP? Get involved in the Kauri Rescue Project, a twoyear citizen science programme funded by the Biological Heritage National Science Challenge. It is seeking the public’s help to find a treatment for kauri dieback. The project involves landowners working alongside scientists to investigate western science and mātauranga Māori methods of treatment on their own land. The programme is using phosphite to boost kauri health and enable trees to fight the pathogen that causes the disease – see www.kaurirescue.org.nz.

Here are some other ways you can help keep kauri standing: n Make sure shoes, tyres, and equipment are clean of dirt before and after visiting kauri forest. Scrub and spray with Sterigene when going in or out of kauri zones. n Keep up your predator control work – all introduced pests can spread the disease. n Display clear messaging and signage (available from www.kauridieback.co.nz) and include this information on your branch stalls. n Invite kauri dieback experts to speak at local branch meetings. n Have a kauri dieback KCC event. n Join Forest & Bird and keep in touch with kauri dieback updates through www.forestandbird.org. nz and our Facebook page.

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Conservation heroes

STANDING UP FOR NATURE

Grenville Christie and Louise Phillips, co-chairs of Central Hawke’s Bay branch, highlight local water quality issues on the Tukituki River. Photo: Warren Buckland/Hawke’s Bay Today

Here are the winners of Forest & Bird’s 2017 conservation awards. By David Brooks.

Central Hawke’s Bay branch’s staunch defence of nature and the environment against plans to develop the destructive Ruataniwha dam and irrigation scheme was recognised at the annual conference by winning one of the inaugural Forest & Bird Branch Awards.

The new award recognises branches that have excelled over the previous year in areas such as restoration and projects, advocacy and submissions, and running Kiwi Conservation Clubs.

Lower North Island Conservation and Volunteer Regional Manager, Amelia Geary, describes Central Hawke’s Bay as one of Forest & Bird’s smallest but most effective branches.

“They truly punch above their weight in terms of environmental advocacy locally, regionally, and nationally,” she says.

Branch members have been involved in the dam issue since the first stakeholder meetings were held in 2010 and worked with the Hastings-Havelock North branch to highlight the threats to water quality in the Tukituki river catchment. They also teamed up with Forest & Bird’s national office to draw attention 36

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to the dangerous precedent that would be set by the Department of Conservation’s plans to downgrade the conservation status of land to be flooded for the dam.

Branch Co-chair Grenville Christie described the award as a real honour and “an endorsement of the approach we’ve taken to do practical protection and enhancement work alongside advocacy and being involved in wider environmental issues”.

Co-chair Louise Phillips added the award would be welcomed by members “who have put in a lot of work, such as writing submissions and getting involved in the local political process”.

Central Hawke’s Bay branch members also get involved in handson conservation, including controlling predators and weeding at Otaia/ Lindsay Bush Scenic Reserve near Waipukurau, alongside Scouts and the local community.

PROTECTING SOUTHERN TAONGA South Otago is home to some of New Zealand’s greatest natural treasures, and the local Forest & Bird

branch has been recognised with a Branch Award for taking a leading role in protecting these taonga.

South Otago is also one of Forest & Bird’s smallest branches but covers a wide spectrum of work, such as restoring native habitats, protecting rare species, and promoting conservation and environmental values.

“The South Otago committee members are a vital part of a rural conservation voice and are leaders in their community,” says Forest & Bird’s Conservation and Volunteer Regional Manager for Otago and Southland, Sue Maturin, who describes the branch’s achievements as inspirational.

The branch submits on regional policy statements and district plans and takes part in local government consultative meetings. Members do predator control and restoration work at Forest & Bird’s Lenz Reserve in the Catlins and in other areas while raising funds through the sale of native plants from their two nurseries.

The local community is encouraged by the branch to get involved in activities such as the Catlins Bats Project, bird counts, and

predator monitoring, and the branch re-established a Catlins Summer Programme this year.

Branch chair Roy Johnstone said the branch had a strong team and good projects. “If someone has a good idea, they lead it and get the group in behind it. Everyone chips in, that’s the strength of it. It’s a really good team – we all have different and complementary skills to get things done.”

KŌKAKO CHAMPION Auckland teenager Oscar Thomas’s fascination for native birds has seen him pack a lot into the year, leading up to being named winner of Forest & Bird’s Te Kaiārahi Rangatahi o te Taiao Youth award.

The 17-year-old college student described a trip to the Chatham Islands in September last year to monitor some of New Zealand’s rarest bird species for the Department of Conservation as the best two weeks of his life. In the following month, he led the campaign that saw the charismatic blue-wattled kōkako win the annual Forest & Bird Bird of the Year competition.

Getting a story about his campaign broadcast on TVNZ’s Seven Sharp show helped ensure a comfortable win for the kōkako after it came runner-up the previous year in a campaign Oscar also helped lead.

“He was just so great, so amazing, I was in awe of him. I really hope

Oscar Thomas

he can find a career in this sphere because he would do so much good,” Seven Sharp reporter Carolyn Robinson says.

Oscar’s interest in birds was kindled on a 2010 school visit to Tiritiri Matangi Island. He took up guiding duties on the island in late 2015 and, more recently, helped with research there, including joining fantail surveys and other bird counts.

A career researching birds could be on the cards. “It’s my main interest, and there’s a lot more to learn and plenty of work that has to be done to conserve them,” he says.

FOREST & BIRD YOUTH LAUNCHES Something amazing is happening across Aotearoa. Young people aged 13–25 are coming together to form Forest & Bird youth committees with the aim of helping to restore and

protect our wildlife and wild places.

So far, we have three groups of young people who want to change the world. One in the North Shore (Auckland), one in Manawatu,

and the beginnings of one in Wellington. Some of the North Shore Forest & Bird Youth joined us in Wellington for the AGM to tell us why they want to get involved in conservation. You can see what they had to say in this inspiring video: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=co8NP1tKucM Does your branch have young people who want to start their own Forest & Bird Youth chapter?

Get in touch with us at youth@ forestandbird.org.nz, check out www.forestandbird.org. nz/youth, or follow the new Forest & Bird Youth Facebook page www.facebook.com/ forestandbirdyouth.

Forest & Bird has a special student membership of $45 a year, which includes a free Forest & Bird magazine subscription.

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Conservation heroes

OLD BLUE TURNS 30 David Brooks talks to Forest & Bird's 2017 Old Blue award winners.

Russell Bell

Bill Kerrison

The McPhersons

Russell Bell has played a significant role in many of the most important conservation projects in and around the Hutt Valley since first becoming active in Forest & Bird about 40 years ago. During that long service, including two spells as Lower Hutt branch chairman, his passion for conservation has continued to grow.

“When I was young, we were trying to save bird species – never in our wildest dreams did we believe there would be natural systems, such as climate, freshwater, and the marine environment that would fall apart in our lifetimes,” Russell says.

“Without those systems, we won’t survive, so conservation is more important than ever, and, without our native flora and fauna, we would be living in a spiritual and cultural desert.”

Russell takes pride in successfully lobbying the Greater Wellington Regional Council for the purchase of the Parangarahu (Pencarrow) lakes, Kohangapiripiri and Kohangatera. He describes the lakes and wetlands on the coast southeast of Eastbourne as “fantastic”, home to rare bird species such as the Australasian bittern and spotless crake.

The sight of more than 150 dead and dying eels beside a Bay of Plenty dam a quarter of a century ago spurred Bill Kerrison into his role as saviour of millions of eels on the Rangitaiki River.

Since the early 1990s, Bill has been collecting elvers, or baby eels, from the base of the Matahina dam in spring as they migrate up the Rangitaiki River and transferring them upstream beyond the Matahina and another dam so they can spread through the catchment.

In autumn, he collects adult eels, or tuna, some up to 80 years old and two metres in length, from the upriver side of the dams so they can migrate to the sea and to tropical South Pacific waters to spawn.

“Bill is the leading community voice for tuna conservation in New Zealand,” says Linda Conning of Forest & Bird’s Eastern Bay of Plenty branch.

Bill knew from childhood the importance of tuna to his iwi and has been sharing his knowledge with school groups and advising local and regional government. “What’s happening to the eels is so important not only for Māori but for everyone.”

Margaret and Malcolm McPherson of Timaru have done everything from protecting bat and lizard habitats to backroom committee work in four decades of exceptional service to Forest & Bird and to conservation in South Canterbury.

“Their contribution ranges from service to the South Canterbury branch in numerous ways and handson involvement in a wide range of conservation projects in the region and further afield,” says Joy Sagar, Forest & Bird’s South Canterbury Branch Secretary.

The couple’s service has also included predator control, restoration of reserves and parks, and protecting penguin habitats. They joined the branch’s committee in 2005, and Margaret served as secretary for a decade while Malcolm wrote meeting reports for the local media for several years. Margaret remains on the branch committee, and both continue to contribute to branch activities.

Margaret first became interested in conservation during the battle in the late 1960s and early 1970s to stop Lake Manapouri being raised for electricity generation. The couple met as trampers in the Southland Tramping Club.

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In 1987, Forest & Bird launched its prestigious Old Blue conservation awards. They were named after “Old Blue”, the last breeding female Chatham Island black robin, who saved her species from extinction in the 1980s thanks to work led by legendary conservationist Don Merton. Today, each winner receives a certificate and a framed print of the painting “Old Blue” by wildlife artist Pauline Morse, who was given a special citation at Forest & Bird’s awards ceremony in June.

Glenys Mather

Wanda Tate

Jan Wright

Conservation in West Auckland has a brighter future thanks to Glenys Mather, who has inspired a new generation of Forest & Bird members through her work for the Kiwi Conservation Club.

Glenys was a committee member of the Waitakere branch from the late 1990s, taking an active role in branch projects, including predator control in the Matuku Reserve. From 2001 until late last year, she was the coordinator of the branch’s Kiwi Conservation Club (KCC) for children.

“The Waitakere branch is very grateful to Glenys for all her work and support, and believes she can be satisfied at the major positive impact she has had on many young people’s lives,” Waitakere branch’s John Staniland says.

“With a caring, patient, and lovely nature, she relates to a child of any age and provides a healthy and holistic picture of the natural world.”

Glenys says developing the conservationists of tomorrow is vital.

“These days there is a danger of children not getting out into the outdoors and learning the importance of the environment and everything that lives in it,” she says.

The return of fernbirds to the Pauatahanui Wildlife Reserve near Porirua earlier this year was a sure sign that Wanda Tate’s quarter century of hard work at the reserve had been worthwhile.

For the last two decades, Wanda has led the revegetation and nursery work at the 50ha reserve. About 5000 plants were planted annually until recent years, and she used to regularly clock up nearly 1000 hours work a year.

This work, along with the efforts of the predator-control team, was crowned in April with the relocation of 22 rare fernbirds into the reserve.

“Wanda joined the reserve committee in 1993 and had the initiative to test different approaches to planting, trapping, and ecological succession, making the restoration planting the success it is today,” Pauatahanui Wildlife Reserve Management Committee Chair Robin Chesterfield says.

Wanda, a former teacher, has also encouraged school and community groups to use the reserve, but she is quick to say credit for its transformation belongs to all the volunteers.

During a decade as the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Jan Wright has played a key role in shedding light on the most important environmental and conservation issues facing New Zealand.

Jan’s reports have explained the issues and the science behind them in clear language. The reports have included climate change, the use of 1080, protection of stewardship land, mining on the conservation estate, and the status and management of longfin eels.

“Having someone with Jan’s intellectual rigour leading inquiries into New Zealand’s most pressing environmental questions has been invaluable for both policy makers and the people of New Zealand, and Forest & Bird thanks her for her work,” Chief Executive Kevin Hague says.

“Over 10 years, Jan’s insightful reports have illuminated complex environmental subjects and in many cases fundamentally improved public appreciation of those issues. Forest & Bird is particularly appreciative of Jan’s report on 1080, which paved the way for greater acceptance of its role in protecting native animals and forests.”

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Engaging iwi

Becoming a double-hulled waka Anthropologist, environmentalist, and writer Dame Anne Salmond tells Melanie Nelson it’s time for a step change in our approach to working with Māori on conservation.

“It surprises me how wary many environmental practitioners are of Māori philosophies and how they find it difficult to build those bridges,” says Dame Anne Salmond, Distinguished Professor of Māori Studies at Auckland University and long-time Forest & Bird member.

For Anne, learning te reo Māori and working with Māori communities has made another way of thinking and being available, in which it’s natural to think about human beings as interlocked with other 40

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living systems. She believes that, as more people become familiar and comfortable with this, the better we will be.

“I would think the first set of bridges for environmentalists to build is with Māori communities because the philosophies are so in tune with each other. There is a fear of relinquishing control, but that’s only if you put it in a framework of control.”

Anne says the risks of conservation groups not stepping into a more collaborative space with Māori

communities are obvious and happening around us as we speak – our freshwater ecosystems, bush, and harbours are collapsing.

New Zealand has been part of a 30-year global neo-liberal experiment, which is now imploding around the world in many ways, she says. This philosophy, which embraces free-market capitalism, deliberately excludes the possibility of alternatives, leaving us thinking within a socially and environmentally destructive framework of hyperindividualism, property rights, and control.

The 2013 New Zealander of the Year believes the environmental movement won’t make much progress until it moves away from strategies based on control towards establishing mutually respectful relationships with ecosystems and other groups.

“In New Zealand, we don’t need to invent a brand new philosophy to replace neo-liberalism, we have a powerful set of indigenous philosophies already available to us,” she says.

“It’s not a romantic option but is grounded in, and resonant with, the most cutting-edge biological sciences that talk about symbiosis and complex interconnected systems.”

“For example, there is a saying ‘Ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au/I am the river and the river is me’.

At the Wairau Bar burials, with the permission of locals, forensic scientists have tested some of those very ancient ancestors and can work out where somebody was brought up through the isotopes left in their teeth and bones by the water they drink as a child. So it’s true. It seems like a poetic, metaphysical statement, but it’s absolutely scientifically accurate.”

By coinhabiting landscapes, Pākehā New Zealand has learnt more from Māori than they think – it has rubbed off on the way we relate to the place we were brought up, our favourite beach, river, or mountain.

Along with many other environmentalists, Anne has deepened this personal relationship with place through developing a 120ha restoration project at

We’re looking for relationships which are less about rights and control and more about what is right, tika – appropriate, fair, and productive.

Longbush, near Gisborne, centred on an alluvial bush remnant beside the Waimata River, where she swam as a child. She believes restoration needs to be about restoring healthy relationships with places, rather than excluding people from them.

Her new book Tears of Rangi: Experiments across worlds explores ways in which Māori and European concepts have come together in a series of experiments that we are engaged in, whether we know it or not.

“We’re looking for relationships which are less about rights and control and more about what is right, tika – appropriate, fair, and productive. Relationships that are mutually beneficial and creative – where a river and people can be kaitiaki of each other and both thrive.

The essence of a healthy relationship is one of manaaki – giving mana to

others as well as receiving it from them,” she explains.

Anne believes we can allow different ways of viewing the world to co-exist by bringing the findings of cutting-edge science together with old philosophies that take it for granted that human beings are part of these wider living systems.

“In New Zealand, we have alternative imaginings right at our fingertips. The key thing is for people not to feel threatened and afraid.

These ideas can work together so well and easily, but we have to give away this idea of control and wanting to be on top all the time.

“It’s generosity of spirit that’s needed, not just in relation to Māori but to these other beings with which we share the world. We’ve got the option of doing something different, creative, positive, and hopeful here – and leading the world in this.”

We have a copy of Anne Salmond’s book Tears of Rangi, RRP $65, Auckland University Press, to give away. To enter the draw, email your entry to draw@forestandbird.org. nz. Please put RANGI in the subject line and include your name and address. Alternatively, write to RANGI draw, Forest & Bird PO Box 631, Wellington, 6140. Entries close 1 November.

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Then and now THEN: The Ashley riverbed in 1988 taken when the photographer

was a boy. Thirty years ago, it was a healthy river habitat and home to thousands of native river birds.

NOW: The same part of the Ashley River in 2017. The river bed

is choked with aggressive weeds, and the birds have disappeared along with their braided river habitat.

River reminiscences Allen Cookson explains how his local river has become choked with weeds in his lifetime and birdlife has disappeared. Photos by Christopher Cookson The section of Ashley/Rakahuri River five to 10km below Ashley Gorge used to be a moderately wide braided river.

It was once home to thousands of native birds, including terns, banded dotterels, black-billed and black-backed gulls, pied stilts, and variable oystercatchers. Today, you would be lucky to see even one of these birds.

Sixty years ago, in the 1950s, the North Canterbury Catchment Board planted willows along the bank and installed concrete cuboids/gabions tied together with metal cables at the foot of gravel cliffs on the south bank.

These measures were intended to protect Rangiora and downstream bridges from flood damage. But they have had unintended consequences. Today, the open gravel has been greatly reduced in area, and aggressive weeds, including willows, have spread from the riverbanks to the middle of the riverbed, where some of them survive the largest floods.

Where I live now, the colonisation of the Ashley riverbed by weeds produces wide berms infested with an everincreasing panoply of weed species. Recently, I saw a wattle seedling in the riverbed for the first time.

In the 1960s, a local farmer burned, sowed, and fenced a significant area of riverbed. No permission was granted nor payment made. These paddocks have been pretty much weed-free. They were sporadically and usually lightly stocked. Even when flooded, they suffered no erosion.

Later farmers have generally effectively fenced the creek at the foot of the cliffs.

Enter the worst weed – old man’s beard (Clematis vitalba)! This has in recent years come to dominate much land between the cliffs and open gravel remnants, even enveloping tall willows. It has exterminated self-sown natives such as mahoe and Helichrysum lanceolatum, which formerly grew on the north-facing cliff. Old man’s 42

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beard here is a threat to the extensive Mt Thomas Forest as its seeds are wind-blown.

The scenario I’ve described applies to other small rivers such as the Opihi in South Canterbury. Others, such as the upper Rangitata and Waiau, retain some native vegetation and open gravel that, although degraded, can be better preserved as bird habitat. In contrast, some small rivers are so degraded that major intervention is needed to restore their value as wildlife habitat.

What is Forest & Bird doing?

Earlier this year, Jen Miller, Forest & Bird’s regional manager for Canterbury and the West Coast, wrote to ECan calling on the council, Land Information NZ, and the Department of Conservation to work together to properly manage Canterbury’s riverbeds and meet existing targets for ecosystem health and biodiversity, especially on braided rivers.

Forest & Bird wants to see a halt to further development on riverbeds. This includes no further provision of grazing licenses, concessions, and discretionary consents. We also asked the council to develop a strategic plan for the long-term restoration of braided rivers that includes clawing back riverbed leases given to farmers, and others, over time.

THEN AND NOW: Have you seen changes to local rivers and lakes, birdlife, forests, or oceans over the past 30 years? Please email editor@forestandbird. org.nz with your stories.

Our partners Hoiho on Auckland Island.

Photo: Edin Whitehead

ADOPT A PENGUIN

Forest & Bird has launched a sponsor-a-penguin scheme to raise funds for our vital seabird conservation work. By Jess Winchester Forest & Bird’s staff and volunteers play an important role in penguin protection throughout the country. Every week, come rain or shine, our members are outside on beaches and in reserves doing predator control, monitoring, undertaking surveys, and raising awareness.

Meanwhile, our specialist staff are advocating on behalf of penguins and the threats they face at a national and local government level and, if necessary, in our courts.

But we need the public’s help to carry out this vital conservation work. In September, we are launching an Adopt a Penguin scheme, the first of its kind for the society.

All the funds raised from the first 100 adoptions will go towards Forest & Bird’s work to protect penguins, thanks to the generosity of Chris Stephens, owner of Antics Marketing.

Chris has donated 100 hoiho and kororā toys to help launch the adoption scheme, which he hopes will raise awareness of the need to protect penguins in New Zealand, where five of our six species are now classified as threatened.

Nearly 30 years ago, Chris set up Antics Marketing, specialising in the development and marketing of soft toys. He made it his personal project to create a range of native birds – beginning with those he had known best when he was growing up in Rotorua – kiwi, tūī, bellbird, and morepork.

The commercial success of these toys that also make bird sounds (you can see them in every airport and tourist destination in New Zealand) meant Chris could then afford to introduce rarer species such as kākāpō.

“I hope by seeing and listening to our toys and by learning about the species, we can increase awareness and the need to protect them. We need to prevent more extinctions. If we can help educate people, Photo: Gillian Kotlyar that can only be a good thing,” says Chris.

Chris Stephens

Aotearoa is home to a third of the world’s penguin species – but five are in trouble. Most at risk is the mainland population of the world’s second rarest penguin, the yellow-eyed penguin/hoiho, which has suffered serious declines in the last two to three years.

Forest & Bird owns Te Rere, a remote reserve in the Catlins, which is run by volunteers determined to save the yellow-eyed penguin/hoiho. This species is at risk from a host of threats, including predators, fisheries’ bycatch, and climate change.

Our Wellington branch set up Places for Penguins in 2000 to protect and restore little blue penguin habitat in and around our capital city. South Otago, Waiheke, Kāpiti-Mana, North Canterbury, North Taranaki, and South Canterbury are also involved in penguin conservation work.

Forest & Bird is also working with our global partner Birdlife International to employ a penguin coordinator, who will draw up a national plan with priority actions for protecting all our penguin species.

Pick up a p..p..p..penguin today!

A great gift for friends, family, yourself, and for nature!

Choose to adopt a yellow-eyed penguin/hoiho or little penguin/ kororā and receive a plush toy penguin, a certificate of adoption, an introduction to your new friend, and a pin badge. You will also be sent an update about key Forest & Bird projects and how they are working to save your chosen penguin species.

Penguin adoptions start at $50, and there are options to add on Kiwi Conservation Club or Forest & Bird annual membership.

Visit our online shop for this and a range of gifts: https://shop.forestandbird.org.nz.

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Citizen science Morepork on Banks Peninsula. Photo: Pierre Sellier

MOREPORK MONDAYS Ecologist Alison Evans and the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust are working on a three-year project to find the best morepork habitats on the Banks Peninsula.

Although the melodic call of morepork/ruru (Ninox novaseelandiae) is relatively common in some parts of New Zealand, their population has been dwindling on the east coast of the South Island, including on Banks Peninsula.

Despite ruru being a much-loved iconic species, very little research has been done on their conservation requirements. We don’t even know how long they live for.

In captivity, their lifespan is 30–40 years. Unfortunately, they are unlikely to reach this age in the wild because of predation by cats, stoats, rats, and possums, and insufficient food supply in some parts of New Zealand.

Our project has a strong citizen science component, encouraging community participation to find out where morepork are and aren’t living, as well as getting involved in improving their habitats. For example, we asked the public to listen out for morepork calls on a Monday night 44

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between 8pm and 10pm during the breeding season.

“Morepork Mondays” were designed so everyone was listening at a coordinated time to prevent duplication of results.

Acoustic recorders were also used to give a broader coverage of the peninsula, to include areas where fewer people live. They recorded calls in more remote areas and at less convenient times of the day. The recorders were placed in reserves and areas that were thought to have habitat suitable for morepork.

The microphones detected calls in the 40Hz range emanating from within a 500m radius and were programmed to record only during the night. The calls are retained on a memory card that can be downloaded and analysed with special software on a computer.

Using the results from public sightings, Morepork Mondays, and the acoustic recorders, a clearer picture of which parts of the peninsula are frequented by morepork is starting to emerge, including likely breeding and roosting sites. This means landowners can target predator control efforts in the areas where it is most needed and hopefully improve the long-term outcomes for morepork.

A lack of suitable nesting sites has left morepork vulnerable not only to predators but also to bad weather events. Like kākā (Nestor meridionalis), morepork rely on nest holes to roost and raise their young. There are disturbingly few examples of old growth forest on Banks Peninsula, and most of the remaining forest is deteriorating or in very poor condition.

Fortunately, morepork have adapted to nesting in exotic trees such as conifers. Even so, there is most likely competition for good dry nesting sites with possums and rats, which also like to take up residence in the holes. This is certainly the case in Australia, where the closely related boobook owl and possum habitat overlap.

Volunteers working with the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust and the Akaroa Men’s Shed have been building nest boxes constructed from plywood to provide some better accommodation options for morepork. Nest boxes have been used successfully overseas to support owl populations, particularly in places where nest holes are in short supply.

Our nest boxes have gone through several design changes, including the deluxe model, which has an internal staircase and a mezzanine floor, but ironically the first one to be occupied was a basic one-room prototype!

The first morepork to move into the project’s purpose-built nest box, Okuti Valley Reserve. Photo: Alison Evans

To date, the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust has secured 62 covenants covering more than 1000ha, which is a fantastic effort. Within these protected areas, the regenerating vegetation will help to sustain morepork populations by ensuring a ready supply of insects and other food items.

Pest control within the covenanted areas is resulting in improved diversity and abundance of flora and fauna.

As more landowners become aware of the plight of morepork on the peninsula, they have become increasingly enthusiastic about sharing any call or sighting information.

People are interested to learn about morepork needs, and most have installed morepork boxes on their property thanks to our outreach programme. One of the residents near Akaroa said he recently heard a morepork calling for the first time in the 30 years that he had been living on the peninsula.

The project also includes an education module for schools to use. The Morepork Education Kit was developed with Enviroschools NZ and is aimed at primary school children. Some Banks Peninsula schools built and proudly decorated their own morepork boxes before installing them in suitable trees nearby or taking them home to their farms.

What do morepork eat?

Two morepork who were living in a small reserve up one of the many valleys that fringe Banks Peninsula were fitted with radio transmitters to monitor their behaviour in the surrounding habitat. Morepork meals consist of insects such as weta, beetles, and cicadas, as well as fledgling birds. They used to rely on bats as a food source until they became too scarce.

Once humans arrived and brought rodents with them, moreporks took advantage of the situation and began eating mice. Recent research by DOC scientist Moira Pryde has shown that, during “mast” years when there is an influx of mice in beech forests, the breeding success of females improves as she is fed a good supply of mice by the males.

On the flip side, there seems to be fewer insects available, and food supply appears to be one of the main limiting factors to breeding when mouse numbers decline.

Unfortunately, the monitored breeding pair on the peninsula were not successful because the eggs they were incubating did not hatch. Although some of the DOC reserves on the peninsula provide reasonable roosting sites for morepork, they are generally too small to provide sufficient food. This means the morepork have to leave the nest site for longer periods of time and go out to the surrounding farmland to find enough food to eat. This is risky because it leaves their nest exposed to the cold and vulnerable to predators. *Alison Evans’ morepork project is part-funded by a JS Watson Trust grant. Forest & Bird administers the grants, and you can find out more at www.forestandbird.org.nz/ what-we-do/partnerships/js-watson-trust.

Freshwater hope In August, the Government released its freshwater policy, including a new National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management. Back in February, Environment Minister Nick Smith released the draft of this policy, which was widely criticised, and Forest & Bird launched a campaign to improve the proposals.

It worked. Nearly half of all the submissions came from Forest & Bird supporters (4000 out of 9000). Our advocacy made a difference in two key areas: n Ecological health: Forest & Bird focused on ecological health in our submission, and, in a major step forward, regional councils will now receive guidance on limiting two key parameters for measuring dissolved nutrients DIN (dissolved inorganic nitrogen) and DRP (dissolved reactive phosphorus). However, the nitrate attribute levels are still too low. At the limit in the policy, they will maintain a level of toxicity that prevents native fish and insects from thriving. n Invertebrate life: The Macroinvertebrate Community Index (MCI) for waterways will now have to be monitored and will require action when it falls to a level of 80 or is showing a declining trend. This is a big improvement. However, Forest & Bird’s submission called for an MCI of 90 because, once a stream reaches 80, the ecosystem has long been in decline and may be far beyond repair.

But in terms of swimmability,the risk factor for getting sick is still too high. The Government’s E.coli standards still exclude the vast majority of rivers and lakes.

Climate change and underground aquifers are not meaningfully considered in the policy.

Overall, Forest & Bird sees the inclusion of ecological health markers as a big step forward, and this can be largely attributed to the work that Forest & Bird and our supporters have done, alongside other key organisations. We will continue to work for genuine improvements to clean water policy, both nationally and regionally. n Annabeth Cohen

Walk the Wildside of Banks Penunisula bankstrack.co.nz

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Nature’s future

Be a conservation hero and help Forest & Bird do its vital work defending nature. Photo: Dave Arthur.

Giving nature a future A regular gift for nature each month gives our natural world a fighting chance.

Becoming a Nature’s Future supporter allows Forest & Bird to respond quickly, and with maximum impact, to issues that threaten our natural treasures.

Events during 2017 highlight the vulnerability of nature in the face of development and the scale of the threat, says chief executive Kevin Hague.

“We have seen time after time that the environment comes a very poor second to economic gain,” says Kevin.

Each year, Forest & Bird’s regular givers contribute more than $2 million to protect and restore our environment. This provides a vital foundation for our wideranging environmental work to defend nature.

Forest & Bird’s recent win in the Supreme Court over the Ruahine Forest Park land swap demonstrates the importance of regular giving.

“We couldn’t have been there in court every step of the way without the commitment of our Nature’s Future regular supporters,” says Kevin.

“If we had to stop and fundraise each time a threat to nature arose, we simply couldn’t respond quickly enough and keep up with the momentum.”

If you love nature and want to protect it now and for future generations, becoming a Nature’s Future Supporter is one of the best ways to make sure your precious dollars make the biggest impact.

To find out more, please call Helen Ward on 0800 200 064, email naturesfuture@forestandbird.org.nz, or go to www.forestandbird.org.nz/support-us/natures-future.

Trapping becomes family fun My son James Crowe (7) has been helping out on the Kiwi Conservation Club trapping line at Grovetown Lagoon, in Marlborough.

We have had a great time monitoring the trap line. It has motivated us to visit the beautiful Grovetown Lagoon and given us lots of opportunities to learn about the birds, fish, and critters that live there.

Since the trap line was put in last year, we have caught a grand total of 43 mice and 12 rats! Not bad for 10 months work from nine traps.

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our family decided to volunteer for the Grovetown Lagoon Restoration Trust. Now we regularly head off to the lagoon to check and reset the DOC 200s.

In fact, we have become a bit addicted to trapping, and have done workshops, learned to identify different kinds of predators, and become volunteers at Kaipupu Wildlife Sanctuary in Picton, so we can do even more trapping!

Our KCC coordinator Kathryn Richards is stepping down after five brilliant years of service. On behalf of the Marlborough KCC whānau, we would like to thank Kathryn for all she has done for KCC. For our family, the KCC trap line was the start of a very healthy addiction – for us, and for the environment! n Anna Crowe, who is the new KCO for Marlborough.

Keep an eye out for the Spring issue of our sister publication Wild Things magazine, which is all about WATER! Join KCC today at www.kcc.org.nz.

Research

New Zealand’s secretive spiders

Masters of adaptation: This handsome trapdoor spider (Cantuaria myersi) was found near Wellington.

Dr Vikki Smith explains how her trapdoor spider research has changed the way she thinks of New Zealand’s endemic wildlife.

Cantuaria are ambush predators that strike from their burrows to grab unsuspecting prey.

Back in November 2014, I wrote to Forest & Bird magazine asking readers to send me any trapdoor spiders (genus Cantuaria) they found.

The response was overwhelming. With the help of readers, I managed to collect 220 spiders. Most of the specimens sent to me were male, which turned out to be a bonus, because I could find only females myself. While female Cantuaria stay inside their lidded burrows all year round, waiting to be picked up by researchers, males search for mating opportunities in the cooler months and are more likely to wander into people’s houses.

I wanted to uncover the evolutionary history of Cantuaria – in particular, how they got to New Zealand.

Although males wander about looking for mates, they seldom move very far, and trapdoor spiders have no obvious traits for colonising over barriers such as large rivers, let alone oceans.

At first, I assumed that the spiders were originally passengers on Zealandia as it split from Gondwana, and that they had been quietly going about their business here ever since. The evidence I found was surprising: trapdoor spiders appear to have arrived in New Zealand about 18 million years ago, long after the break-up of Gondwana.

My PhD has changed the way I think of our endemic wildlife. New Zealand natives are often thought of as fragile relicts, ancient reminders of a geological past. As my project progressed, I realised that, at least in the case of Cantuaria, this reputation couldn’t be further from the truth. Trapdoor spiders have adapted and diversified!

Since arriving in New Zealand, Cantuaria have undergone rapid speciation, and currently there are 42 recognised species. I found preliminary evidence for at

least a further 13 new species. Although Cantuaria are mostly found in clay banks, they have colonised a huge variety of habitats, from mossy humus to salty beach sand and rotting piles of bird guano. Soil moisture, pH, and type had little to no effect on whether Cantuaria were present.

Despite their apparent adaptability, Cantuaria have their limits. The best Cantuaria habitat has rainfall below 1000mm/year, and they don’t seem to be able to handle more than 3000mm/year. Current models of future climate change in New Zealand predict increased rainfall for the West Coast, Tasman, Central Otago, and Southland, which may affect abundance in the various Cantuaria populations in those areas. Cantuaria burrows appear to offer some protection from the elements and have even shown some resilience to minor flooding, but, as rainfall consistently rises, the spiders may face challenges to their survival.

Thanks to readers of Forest & Bird magazine, and my funders the Brian Mason Trust, the Miss E L Hellaby Indigenous Grasslands Research Trust, the Mohamed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, and Lincoln University, I was able to find out more about these little-studied New Zealand natives.

A typical trapdoor burrow in a clay bank in Central Otago

How does the trapdoor spider get its name?

Trapdoor spiders belong to a group of spiders known as mygalomorphs, which includes tunnel web spiders and tarantulas. You can find trapdoor spiders in Japan, Africa, South America and North America, Australia, and many other warm places.

They don’t have webs but construct burrows with a cork-like trapdoor made of soil, vegetation, and silk.

Whero Rock, off Bluff, supports a thriving population of trapdoor spiders.

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Going places Auckland Island is home to goblin forests of southern rātā (below) and the occasional New Zealand sea lion.

A botanical odyssey From goblin rātā to megaherbs, Robert Vennell finds the sub-Antarctic islands a veritable Jurassic Park for plants as well as wildlife. Photos by Edin Whitehead Two hundred kilometres south of Bluff, as towering waves pummelled our ship, I clung to the hand rails and fought to keep my breakfast down. As the crest of another huge wave ploughed into the bow, I spied something on the horizon – a wall of rugged granite rocks, like a stone fortress in the middle of the Southern Ocean. Even at a distance, I could see there was something odd about this island fortress: it had an unmistakable green tinge. I knew we had arrived at the first stop in my journey to uncover a botanical lost world – the sub-Antarctic islands of New Zealand.

These remote and rugged islands are some of the most remarkable places on the planet. They absolutely swarm with wildlife, and are listed as World Heritage sites alongside Mount Everest and the Grand Canyon. Most of the attention tends to focus on the birds and animals that call the islands home. But, for me, the plants are what make these islands truly unique.

The rocky bastion rising in front of me was the northernmost island group – The Snares – and the green haze began to resolve itself as we got closer. Every available inch of land is covered with tree daisies/Olearia lyalli and Brachyglottis stewartiae. These scraggly, stunted trees have made themselves the masters of this rocky Alcatraz. Battered and broken by the winds, their branches are a maze of twisted timber, and their roots have been gnarled and distorted by the elements.

The forests of the Snares Islands are one of the least modified habitats on the planet. Introduced mammals never made it here, and the islands were never settled by humans. In fact, the only people to spend any length of time on the island were four convict stowaways, who were abandoned for several years. Trapped on this rocky outcrop, they quickly turned to madness and murder.

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Today, flocks of seabirds call the island home. They honeycomb the soil with their burrows, seeking shelter among the tangled tree daisy roots. Landing on the island is strictly prohibited for fear of damaging these sensitive burrows, so we left the island behind, leaving the tree daises to rule over their island fortress in peace.

After another restless day and night of rolling seas, I was finally given the chance to set foot on dry land. At 450km south of the New Zealand mainland, the Auckland Islands represent the southernmost limit for trees and tree ferns.

Only the hardiest tree species have been able to brave the journey and colonise this frigid outpost. The most impressive are the rugged southern rātā/Metrosideros umbellata that dominate the island. In summer, the bright red blossoms tear across the forest canopy like wildfire, colouring the landscape red.

But perhaps the most incredible aspect of these islands lies beneath the canopy. As I stepped into this gnarled and tangled forest, I was stuck by an eerie quiet, the trees smothering the noise of the raging storms outside.

Navigating through the branches, I had a strange feeling I was being watched.

I found myself imagining Southern rātā. creatures from another world, hiding behind tree trunks and hollows in the ground. The truth was even stranger. Lurking in the gloom of this goblin forest was a group of New Zealand sea lions. These young males had been forced off the beaches by the dominant

males, retreating to the forest in a desperate attempt to locate a mate. Carefully, I inched my way past these creatures of the deep and headed back in the direction of the ship.

More than 660km south of mainland New Zealand, Campbell Island is the southernmost of the sub-Antarctic islands and the final stop on our journey. This far south, normal rules that govern the plant kingdom no longer seem to apply. The climate here is too cold for most trees, and even the hardy southern rātā has been eliminated from the landscape.

I wandered through this strange and unfamiliar landscape, wading through a sea of tussock grass.

Emerging into an open valley, I made my first encounter with the true rulers of the island: the megaherbs. In the absence of trees, these herbs have evolved to gigantic proportions. Like a Jurassic Park for plants, these colossal herbs stalk the island from the sea to the summit.

During the summer months, they boldly trumpet their dominance, erupting in one of the most dazzling displays in the plant kingdom. Bizarre, monstrous flowers burst open, colouring the landscape in a vibrant mix of pink, yellow, blue, and purple. If the experience was not otherworldly enough, nesting amongst the megaherbs are vast colonies of albatross. Like giant pterodactyls, they stretch their wings up to 3m wide, courting each other among the colourful flowers.

All too soon, it was time to depart this strange island of plants. With my mind racing and my eyes darting back and forth trying to soak in the last of the spectacle, I boarded the ship for the last time. Slowly, Campbell Island receded into the horizon, and the last of New Zealand’s strange forgotten sub-Antarctic islands disappeared from view.

Megaherbs like this Cambell Island carrot or Anisotome latifolia rule on Campbell Island.

Getting there – join our trip!

Want to visit these remarkable wildlife reserves in the Southern Ocean? Join Forest & Bird’s conservation expedition Forgotten Islands of the South Pacific from 14 to 21 December 2017 and experience the incredible nature at this UNESCO World Heritage site for yourself. Our chief executive Kevin Hague will accompany the Heritage Expeditions trip and you will receive a 5% discount, plus a portion of the profits will go towards Forest & Bird’s valuable conservation work.

See www.heritage-expeditions.com or call 0800 262 8873.

The climate is too cold for trees on Campbell Island but the birdlife is prolific.

Robert Vennell travelled to the sub-Antarctic islands with the support of the Enderby Trust and Heritage Expeditions.

He writes about the history and culture of native New Zealand plants at www.meaningoftrees.com.

Edin Whitehead has been fortunate enough to visit New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic islands with Heritage Expeditions three times in the past two years, first as an Enderby scholarship recipient and then as a trip photographer.

She writes about her adventures as a photographer and naturalist at www.edinz.com.

Day tours or overnight kiwi spotting tours Cabins & luxury tents Inspiring bush & coastal walks • Fantastic birdlife Delicious meals & great company HISTORY • CONSERVATION • RECREATION

For info & bookings visit: www.kapitiisland.com 0800 527 484 Forest & Bird

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Canterbury tales Southern grass skink.

Lizard love

Mary Ralston visits the Oliver Dryland Reserve, a refuge for lizards and rare plants whose habitat is being lost to farming intensification on the Canterbury Plains.

A disused gravel pit provides an unlikely setting for a nature sanctuary. The stars are the once-common flora and fauna of the area, along with several conservation heroes with vision and energy.

The Oliver Dryland Reserve near Geraldine in South Canterbury is a rare good news story set in the all-too-familiar context of farming intensification and biodiversity loss.

Local herpetologist Hermann Frank has a longstanding interest in the area. He had surveyed many of the rows and piles of stones that were a common feature of farms in this area of South Canterbury and found healthy populations of skinks. The stones were good habitat, providing an alternative to the lizards’ natural habitat of stony riverbeds that were becoming increasingly weedy.

But this co-existence between farming and skinks was not to last – farmers did away with the stone piles in their quest for intensification and efficiency. Paddocks became bigger, fences were removed, and irrigation installed – there was no longer hot, dry habitat for lizards. Hermann estimated that only 5% of the stone piles remained compared to just 10 years ago.

Hermann Frank approached the Timaru District Council to see whether a site could be found for a lizard sanctuary.

The 22ha disused gravel pit site was identified as a possibility, and, although half of it was planted in pines, there were good bones – undisturbed grassland, terraces, and stony edges to the pit that would offer good habitat for lizards.

Hermann Frank points out features of the reserve to Forest & Bird members at a field day.

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The site also turned out to be a treasure trove of rare plants that are now being protected and restored.

Botanical surveys by local ecologist Mike Harding uncovered 42 indigenous plants, many of which are now locally uncommon, four native mosses, and several lichens.

It is one of the largest areas of uncultivated grassland in this part of the ecological district and met the council’s criteria for a Significant Natural Area. Rare plants include Coprosoma acerosa, Carmichaelia corrugata, Raoulia monroi, and Muehlenbeckia ephedroides.

In 2011, Timaru District Council approved the proposal to establish a reserve “for the enhancement and protection of native fauna and flora”. Since then, the council has initiated many improvements: the pine trees have gone, stone piles have been built, native plants Fruit of Muehlenbeckia ephedroides. planted, weeds controlled, and predators trapped. An invertebrate survey found 70 indigenous insect species, including ones that were once widespread but are now rare.

And what of the lizards? The southern grass skink (Oligosoma polychroma) is frequently seen at the reserve, making use of the piles of stones and grassland habitat.

The development of the population is monitored regularly with the support of the South Canterbury branch of Forest & Bird.

Habitat is improving all the time, especially since the pine trees have been removed. Leafless pohuhue is growing through the piles of stones, and other natives are becoming established.

The reserve was renamed the Oliver Dryland Reserve in 2016 in recognition of the contribution of councillor Michael Oliver. It’s a lovely oasis in the middle of South Canterbury: originally for lizards but now a refuge for a whole disappearing ecosystem of the Canterbury Plains.

Marine

Forest & Bird set to appeal TTR decision An important habitat for New Zealand’s only known population of critically endangered blue whale is at risk after the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) granted consent for an industrial-scale seabed mining operation, the first of its kind in the country.

Trans Tasman Resources Limited applied to undertake ironsand mining in the South Taranaki Bight between South Taranaki and Golden Bay. The application area covers 65km² of seabed, more than three times the size of Kapiti Island.

The consent allows up to 8000 tonnes of seabed per hour to be sucked up to a vessel on the surface. Then 90% will be returned to the ocean.

At the time of writing, Forest & Bird’s legal team was preparing an appeal on the EPA’s controversial decision.

The South Taranaki Bight is home to at least 33 species of whales, including some that are critically endangered, including blue whales, orca, and Māui’s dolphins. It is also an important migratory corridor for humpback whales. The Patea Shoals is also a significant ecological area likely to be impacted by the mining.

The EPA’s decision-making committee was split, with two of the four members dissenting, forcing the chair use his casting vote to decide the application. In their dissenting view, committee members Ms McGarry and Mr Te Kapa Coates said: “Noise impacts on marine mammals are a key concern for us. We consider the information available is extremely uncertain and inadequate.”

Forest & Bird’s general counsel Peter Anderson said: “The operation will generate a large amount of noise

that will have impacts over vast areas of ocean, with likely impacts on blue whales an important concern.

“We don’t think that TTR provided adequate information and agree with Crs McGarry and Coates that some of the conditions relating to the protection of seabird and whales are meaningless.

“The other critical concern is the sediment plume, where the majority acknowledged there would be significant adverse effects. Despite this finding, they determined that consent could be granted. We think that this decision was wrong.”

Forest & Bird provided expert evidence to the original hearing on whales and planning matters, and engaged Curtin University to do a review of the TTR evidence on the impacts the increased noise would have on whales.

The appeal will likely be heard next year.

Forest & Bird is concerned about the noise impacts on marine mammals, including critically endangered blue whales. Photo: GEMM Lab

Paradise saved Some of the world’s rarest birds have rebounded on five remote Pacific islands cleared of invasive predators during one of the most ambitious island restoration projects ever implemented.

Just two years after efforts by a coalition of international

conservation organisations, including our BirdLife International partners, to rid French Polynesia’s Acteon and Gambier island groups of invasive mammals began, five of six targeted islands are now confirmed as predator-free.

Early signs indicate that rare birds found nowhere else in the world, including the Polynesian ground dove, the Tuamotu sandpiper/titi, and other native plants and animals are recovering.

“The Acteon Gambier island group is home to the last viable population of Polynesian ground-dove, which has fewer than 200 individuals left,” said Steve Cranwell, Birdlife International’s Invasive Species Manager.

“This bird’s remaining predator-free habitat was so small that, without this intervention, a cyclone, prolonged drought, or accidental rat or avian disease introduction could trigger extinction.”

Forest & Bird is Birdlife International’s partner in New Zealand. You can read more about this project at www.birdlife.org.nz.

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Our people

Passion for change Outdoor adventurer

Dr Rebecca Stirnemann has joined Forest & Bird as our new regional manager for the central North Island.

Rebecca, who is based in Hamilton, is a scientist and conservationist and has worked all over the world, including New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, Europe, America, Australia, and Southern Africa.

She has a PhD in ornithology and is also an ecologist. Her Masters degrees were in bats and climate change. Over the past 10 years, she has worked with bats, bees, reptiles, birds, mangroves, fish, and trees, has a knack for securing project funding, and is an accomplished and extensively published researcher.

Rebecca also knows her way around the Resource Management Act, having done consulting work assessing the environmental implications of large development consent applications.

She said: “I am excited to be part of such a great conservation organisation and looking forward to supporting the great work going on in the central North Island and nationally. As well as being a scientist, I am passionate about getting conservation messages out and campaigning for change. I look forward to working with branches at local and regional level.”

Rebecca is currently visiting central North Island branches to familiarise herself with Forest & Bird’s regional conservation projects and branch activities. You can contact her at r.stirnemann@forestandbird.org.nz.

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Tom Kay has joined Forest & Bird for 12 months as the regional manager for the lower North Island. He is holding the fort for Amelia Geary, who is on maternity leave.

Tom comes to us from ZIP (Zero Invasive Predators), where he was trialling innovative predator-control methods on the flanks of Mt Taranaki as part of the project “Taranaki Mounga”.

Before that, he was involved in the Choose Clean Water campaign, where he lobbied local MPs and appeared before the select committee to stand up for our freshwater.

Tom, who has a BSc in Environmental Science from Massey University, is a keen whitewater and slalom kayaker. He is a qualified river rafting instructor and guide, and has led large groups of kayakers through some of New Zealand’s remaining clean rivers.

He will be based in the Wellington office but will also spend quite a bit of time travelling around the lower North Island region, visiting branches and keeping in touch with local conservation issues.

“I have been immersed in the outdoors since I was a toddler. I’m stoked to be joining Forest & Bird, and I’m looking forward to working with branches and national office to help save our native wildlife,” says Tom. You can link up with Tom at t.kay@forestandbird.org.nz.

Fundraising guru Clare Cain has joined Forest & Bird as our new grants fundraiser. Clare has lived and breathed fundraising for more than 17 years, in local, national, and international charities in New Zealand, the UK, and East and Southern Africa. She and her Kiwi husband have lived in Wellington since 2007 and have two boys, aged five and eight, and a crazy dog.

She has been contacting branches and regional managers to familiarise herself with regional conservation projects, branch activities, and priorities for future funding.

Clare said: “I’m excited to be part of such a well-established organisation with a fantastic reputation for protecting and restoring New Zealand’s wildlife and wild places. I am looking forward to helping secure more grants to support the great work going on in your branches.”

Clare works from 9 to 2pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and you can email her on c.cain@forestandbird.org.nz.

QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY HONOURS

Financial whizz Ally McBride has joined the Forest & Bird finance team in Wellington as an assistant accountant. She is very well equipped for the role, bringing with her wide experience in the administration of membership organisations.

Ally has a love for tramping the New Zealand back country, has an interest in, and is an author of genealogy, and spends her holidays relaxing on a beach in Nicaragua.

Congratulations to Forest & Bird member Ross Aitken, of Auckland, who was awarded Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to conservation in the June Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Ross, now a member of the North Shore Branch, was previously a member of our Warkworth branch, where he was involved in monitoring the pest-proof fence for the Tawharanui Open Sanctuary Society, as well as conservation and community initiatives in and around the Mahurangi Harbour.

He has been a member of the Auckland Conservation Board for the past five years, the last four as Chairperson. Under his leadership, the Board completed the Conservation Management Strategy for the Auckland Conservancy and advocated for many environmental initiatives, including Sea Change and water quality issues in the region.

Ross has been involved in the preparation of the conservation management plan for Te Hauturu-o-Toi with the Ngati Manuhiri Trust Board.

He has been a member of the Hauturu/Little Barrier Island Supporters Trust and is a Department of Conservation accredited supervisor for groups visiting Hauturu/Little Barrier.

New chickadee Another Forest & Birder is born!

Esme is a fifth generation Forest & Bird member (all women) and the first child of our regional manager for the lower North Island Amelia Geary and her partner Steve. Esme, who was born in May, continues to thrive despite having to compete with four pampered chooks at her Kāpiti Coast home. The Forest & Bird whānau sends our collective warmest wishes to our new, and possibly youngest, member.

Ross Aitken. Photo: Supplied

CHRIS STEPS UP New board member Chris Barker, of Palmerston North, brings a wealth of commercial experience and an impressive family pedigree to his new role.

Elected at the AGM to replace Brent Barrett, Chris is the grandson of Forest & Bird Distinguished Life Member Stan Butcher, who died last year. Stan and his wife Gloria bought Chris his first Forest & Bird membership nearly 30 years ago, and he has maintained it ever since.

“I’ve got that love of nature through my family and some skills through my commercial career, and I want to bring both of those to bear for the benefit of the organisation and its goals,” says Chris, who has experience in running companies, business strategy, communications, and marketing.

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Obituary

A lifelong love for the forest There wasn’t much that Archibald (Stewart) Gray didn’t know about trees, and he loved to share his knowledge with fellow conservationists in the Waikato where he lived and farmed.

Stewart, who was a life member of Forest & Bird, lived in Tirau on a farm purchased by his grandfather in 1906.

Over the years, the family planted many native trees, and Stewart placed a QEII covenant on the bush on the farm, which his son, Peter, now manages.

As a young lad, Stewart, who was born in 1920, developed a passion for tramping and a deep love for the forest. The church encouraged young men to go tramping rather than drinking, he told me. Later, he worked for the New Zealand Forest Service and, while employed with them, was a negotiator with the tree-sitters in the Pureora Forest in 1970.

Stewart first joined Waikato Forest & Bird and later transferred to the South Waikato branch. Stewart and his wife Kathleen led us on many interesting walks with Forest & Bird and the Putaruru walking group. They also attended many working bees over the years and between them planted thousands of trees, including many up the Kauaeranga Valley, in the southern Coromandel.

The Waiorongomai Valley in the Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park was a favourite area for Stewart. He used to take the scouts there to stay in

50 years ago

the Hardies hut. On one occasion, a scout had his leg torn open by a pig. He said there were lots of pigs and goats in those days, no kiwis, but small birds and kererū.

Stewart and Kathleen belonged to the caravan club and travelled all over New Zealand. Their knowledge of the country and the forest was incredible. We all learned so much from them, and they both excelled in photography.

Over the last few months, Stewart had been hosting the Mokaihaha Kokako Trust meetings at his home.

He lived a very independent life looking after himself and accepted home help only a couple of years ago. We shall miss his wonderful stories. n Anne Groos Stewart Gray, born 24 October 1920, died 17 May 2017 at Tirau, aged 96.

Mess of pottage Politicians, newspaper correspondents, and even some newspapers in editorials claim that if there is copper in the Hen and Chicken scenic reserves, the country must have it. Others clamour for Waipoua Kauri Forest Sanctuary to be used as the proverbial carrot to induce more tourists to go north. Our Government is planning to raise Lake Manapouri by 27 to 37 ft and to raise Te Anau ... to enable the lake to be drawn down to a very low level during dry spells. ... All these destructive projects are proposed as part of a frantic urge to build up New Zealand’s overseas bank balances.

With unique reserves and sanctuaries we are the trustees, with all the moral responsibilities imposed by such trusteeship. We remind the Government that involved are permanent values transcending those of temporary financial gain. ... We believe we are entitled to request the Government to stand firm and not allow our unique sanctuaries and reserves to be exploited and lost for all time, for what after all, after a few years, will be just a “mess of pottage”.

Editorial, Forest & Bird, August 1967

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VALDER GRANTS There’s still time to apply for a Valder Conservation Grant, with applications welcome from individuals or conservation groups nationwide. The Forest & Bird Waikato branch awards, which are granted annually in memory of Lilian Valder, are usually between $1,000 and $2,000.

For more information and application form, email waikato.branch@ forestandbird.org.nz, download a pdf from the Waikato branch page on www.forestandbird.org. nz, or write to Secretary, Waikato Branch Forest & Bird, PO Box 11092, Hamilton 3216. Closing date for applications is 30 September 2017.

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Books A whale’s tale Around 30 million years ago a whale swam through a temperate ocean rich with life. Its heartbeat slowed as it neared death. Finally, the 6m-long carcass drifted down to the sea floor. As it decayed, the skeleton sank further into a mire of sediment and shell fragments until it disappeared completely – becoming one with the calcareous ooze. Millions of years later a caver crawls along a muddy rift where the rock seems to close in tightly. Their carbide light barely illuminates the crack, their overalls scratch against the walls, and they can hear the echo of their pounding heart. Drawn by a curiosity to see what’s around the corner they follow a tantalising draught that promises more exploration. Ahead, their light reflects off a strange shape, like a gnarled log bridging the passage. It is, in fact, the remains of the whale’s vertebrae – one of the most incredible underground discoveries in New Zealand.

Extracted from Caves: Exploring New Zealand’s Subterranean Wilderness. by Marcus Thomas and Neil Silverwood, RRP $79.00, WHIO Publishing, distributed by Potton & Burton. Marcus and Neil share their passion for caving with well-researched narrative and dramatic photos – it’s as close as you’ll get to real caving without getting your socks wet.

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Mangarākau Swamp Lodge North-west Nelson Sleeps 10 mangarakauswamp@gmail.com 03 524 8266 www.mangarakauswamp.com

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| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

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

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

Parting shot This fantail family was snapped in the bush behind Philip Disberry’s back garden in Titirangi, West Auckland. He watched the mother and father of the two chicks going backward and forwards to the nest, making finishing touches to its construction. Then, a few weeks later, both mum and dad took turns sitting on the eggs. When the eggs hatched, both parents helped find food while one would sit on chicks. They would swap roles every so often. Philip won a Kiwi Camping tent worth $250 with this shot. Will you be our next winner? Enter your photos to win this issue’s great prize.

THE COMPETITION We want to see your stunning shots of New Zealand’s nature – native birds, trees, flowers, insects, lizards, animals, or marine and freshwater life.

To enter, just post your photo on Instagram and tag @forestandbird or post your image on the Forest & Bird New Zealand Nature Group page on Flickr. com. You could win a great prize and have your photo published in Forest & Bird magazine.

Don’t use Instagram or Flickr? Send your high res digital file (maximum 7mb) and brief details about your photo to Caroline Wood at editor@forestandbird.org.nz.

THE PRIZE The lucky winner will receive two Kiwi Camping Rimu Sleeping Bags (RRP $240). The Rimu is lightweight and compact, ideal for hiking and backpacking. The heat-encapsulating mummy design, combined with the silvertherm thermal lining, will keep you warm and cosy all year round. Made from durable 210T Diamond Ripstop and lined with 300T polyester, they will also stand up to the rigours of your outdoor adventures.

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Larry Shiu Cascade Mountains Banff National Park Photo: ex Bivouac staff member John Price johnpricephotography.ca

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