Forest & Bird Magazine 373 Spring 2019

ISSUE 373 • SPRING 2019 www.forestandbird.org.nz

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A life’s work

FUNGI KINGDOM Acid ocean impacts

Forgotten pests

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ISSUE 373

• Spring 2019

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Contents Editorial 2 Let’s fix freshwater 4–5 Letters

6 Time running out for toroa 8 Muddy mess 10 Legal round-up: Te Kuha, Auckland road risk, tara iti tales, Motiti matters 12 Methane matters, RMA review, biodiversity plan

Profile 14 Eugenie Sage: A passion for conservation

Freshwater 18 Toxic nitrates

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38 Napier’s new wetland

Our people 39 Happy birthday Conservation Week 48 Forest & Bird’s annual conservation awards 54 Tribute to Roger Grace + Lenz Reserve

In the field 46 When kiwi could fly

Going places

Cover story

Our partners

20 Secret life of fungi

52 Leading the charge with solarcity

Restoring nature

Research

24 Tracking cats on Auckland Island 45 Fools and Dreamers doco

53 Cuckoo crushes rifleman

No new mines 26 Rare moth mining risk

27 Snail tales

Caroline Wood

Branch project

19 Rats at record levels 32 Wallabies, forgotten pests

Kiwi Conservation Club

EDITOR

26

Conservation news

50 Daintree delights

55

Classifieds

Books 56 Round-up of latest nature books

Parting shot IBC Little owl

Climate 28 Ocean acidification impacts 40 Fox River clean-up

History project 34 Journals on Papers Past

Citizen science 36 Bird Atlas needs you

Seabirds 37 Penguins and plastic 42 Murder at Sandymount

37

COVER SHOT The rarely seen native “flower fungus” (Aseroe rubra). Also known as stinkhorn, it likely smells

as bad as the more common introduced species Anthurus archeri that grows in mulch and is often found in city parks and home gardens. Photo: Rob Suisted www.naturespic.com.

PAPER ENVELOPE South Island kākā: Craig McKenzie

Editorial MARK HANGER

Let’s fix freshwater Having clean and healthy waterways is part of who we are as New Zealanders. But for many of us – and too many rivers, streams, wetlands, ponds, and creeks – this feels like a pipe dream.

In a few short years, we have managed to make so many of our freshwater habitats unsafe for swimming and unable to sustain indigenous aquatic life, our freshwater fish, invertebrates, and plants. The climate crisis will only exacerbate this. Minimum flows may well dramatically fall, intensifying pollutant concentrations and agricultural run-off. More rivers, creeks, ponds, and lakes will become unsafe because of bacterial levels and toxic algae blooms.

In early 2017, the previous National-led government tried to implement new water standards that would “improve” the quality of Aotearoa’s waterways. It became a national laughing stock.

Now the new Labour-led government is attempting to clean up our waterways. It has published its blueprint for ensuring the quality of New Zealand’s freshwater will improve over the next five years. It is intended to stop the current degradation and loss, reverse past damage, and address water quality and allocation issues.

With so many of our waterways in crisis right now, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to overhaul our freshwater regime. Will it go far enough? With your help, Forest & Bird is working to ensure the new legislation is sufficiently strong to allow freshwater ecosystems to stop degrading, and to improve and thrive. We say the new rules must apply to all freshwater ecosystems in Aotearoa.

There is an unfortunate lag time between new rules and actual improvements, not to mention it could be 2030 before we see all councils fully implement existing national freshwater regulations.

That is way too late if we want to ensure the survival of our indigenous aquatic life and human wellbeing. Environment Minister David Parker, who is driving the changes, must find a way to short circuit the slow grind of regional council planning processes, achieve some positive effects immediately, and have full implementation of the legislation shortly thereafter.

Just as we are standing on the edge of the climate crisis “cliff”, we are standing on the edge of a freshwater “precipice”. Driving significant actual legally enforceable change must begin immediately.

Some facets of the agricultural industry, and in particular farmers, have made recent positive changes. Now the government has the opportunity, and the duty, to set out clear strong rules for freshwater management and ensure minimum standards are monitored, enforced, and met. They must also assist in encouraging agricultural transition and further innovation.

We need action now. Soon is too late for our freshwater, native fish, aquatic invertebrates, local swimming spots. It is also too late for New Zealanders’ own health and wellbeing.

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

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| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

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

Alan Chow BOARD MEMBERS

Chris Barker, Kate Graeme, Richard Hursthouse, Monica Peters, Te Atarangi Sayers, Ines Stäger CONSERVATION AMBASSADORS

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

Graham Bellamy, Ken Catt, Linda Conning, Audrey Eagle, Alan Edmonds, Gordon Ell, 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.

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.

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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 The Brilliance of Birds by Skye Wishart and Edin Whitehead, a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the lives of some of New Zealand’s feathered friends published by RHNZ Godwit, RRP $55. Please send letters to the Editor, Forest & Bird magazine, PO Box 631, Wellington 6140, or email editor@forestandbird. org.nz by 1 November 2019.

Dotty about dotterels

Stop eating fish

I am pleased to be able to add a positive update to Ann Graeme’s piece on northern New Zealand dotterels (Winter 2019). A census in 2011 recorded more than 2100 birds, and there is no sign of the increase in numbers slowing.

The current population is estimated at about 2500, roughly double what it was in the 1980s. The success of the recovery programme resulted in the taxon’s threat status being downlisted from Threatened (nationally vulnerable) to At Risk (recovering) in 2016. A paper documenting the increase in numbers over the past 30 years and describing the expansion of range that has also occurred will appear in Notornis shortly. Most management of New Zealand dotterels is now undertaken by the community, which can be justifiably proud of its effort. Threats certainly remain, and some regions are faring better than others, but, at a time when many native species continue to decline, the sustained increase in the dotterel population is a major achievement and a notable conservation success story.

I am sure the aim behind the zero-bycatch pledge is a genuine desire for change from our fishing industry.

However, I think it risks having a feel good factor for those who sign it without ever creating real change.

While I acknowledge the need for an effective legislative and policy framework and a clear vision, surely the most powerful thing that consumers can do is stop eating fish – in particular, those species which are linked with a very high bycatch. The fishing industry will only alter its behaviour when it is significantly affected financially by a radical change in the behaviour of consumers. It can be all too easy to feel like you have made a stand, but realistically speaking it’s unlikely the New Zealand fishing industry will be remotely concerned by an online pledge.

Make a tougher decision – stop eating fish – and be truly invested in the wellbeing of our oceans.

John Dowding, Christchurch Best letter winner

Travel lightly

Mokihinui matters Many community members (and Forest & Bird supporters) in the Seddonville/Mokihinui area are rapt the entire Mokihinui catchment has finally been included in Kahurangi National Park (Winter 2019), conferring a much needed additional level of protection against hydro, mining, and inappropriate commercial tourism proposals. Many locals fought hard against the ill-advised Meridian proposal for a 103m dam on the pristine Mokihinui and we won!

My thanks to all who fought the good fight, including Forest & Bird. Further vigilance is required, however, as commercial tourism operator Mokihinui Lyell Backcountry Trust (MLBT) has ambitions to build a large new hut in the middle of ecologically significant old-growth forest (matai, tōtara, and beech) near the south branch of the Mokihinui river. Following the felling of a 500-year-old kahikatea at Mokihinui Forks in 2013, we need to prevent further adverse environmental impacts in the Mokihinui Ecological Area. A new hut is not necessary as trampers and bikers should get fit before undertaking the Old Ghost Road track and use existing huts or carry a tent. Any new hut proposal should be for a small one, sensitively sited in the large open clearing near the head of Goat Creek, where MLBT already has a shed.

Linda Grammer, Westport

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| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Jennifer Rockliffe, Palmerston North

After reading Mark Hanger’s urgent and heartfelt editorial (Winter 2019), I for one feel unable to contemplate a trip to any southern islands as advertised on the page opposite.

Surely, if we Forest & Bird members are to lead the public, we should refrain from carbon-based travel whenever possible. A much better way to spend our holidays would be to do conservation work at home. A train trip to join the Fox River clean-up (p39) springs to mind.

Sabine Paul, Hamilton

Open-mind on GE Regarding “Risky gene editing” (Letters, Winter 2019).

May I make two points in reply. First, relying on the GEFree NZ website for accurate information on modern genetic technology is like relying on an anti-1080 website for accurate information on how to save our forests, or an anti-vaxxer website for accurate public health information.

I would recommend instead the Royal Society Te Aparangi website royalsociety.org.nz. Second, by ruling out even any investigation of modern genetic technology for conservation, I fear Eugenie Sage may have already cost us victory in the fight to be predator free by 2050. Personally, I would much rather be in the position of doing the research and having any alternatives available to be considered. I fear both current and non-GE methods now in development may yet prove to be not enough, soon enough. I think we may need a back-up. I urge all supporters of conservation

to remain open-minded on this question because we may wind up in a position similar to that facing us with 1080. If we cannot use what works, even in the face of some bitter opposition, we risk losing the birds and the forests.

Colin Parker, Auckland

Small changes for good Fantastic to see you tackling the big issues in the latest magazine (and to see my brother and sister-in-law Joe and Anissa’s amazing chocolate! So proud of them). I appreciate that Forest & Bird’s focus needs to be on the bigger things, but I would love to see this echoed down to a careful consideration of merchandise/partners, etc. I absolutely love Lola’s design for the Countdown shopping bag, and bought one to support Forest & Bird as soon as I could (though I normally upcycle my own bags!) but was dismayed to find a thin plastic lining inside. This means at the end of its life the bag will go to landfill. This plastic lining is not necessary. While on the subject of food, how about changing from the ubiquitous sausage sizzle at volunteering events to something vegetarian, BBQ corn in the summer and soup in winter? The evidence is very clear that eating less meat is vital to our future.

We can all keep making small changes for good!

Emily Hunter, Hawke’s Bay *Countdown’s response regarding the Lola bag: The inside lamination is made from a thin polypropylene. While this is a type of plastic, it plays an important role in making sure the bags can be easily wiped clean if any products spill inside them.

Bird of the Year 2019 28 Oct –10 Nov

VOTE FOR YOUR TOP 5!

We’re hatching some big changes for Bird of the Year 2019. Even bigger than Hercules, the giant flightless parrot recently discovered to have waddled through New Zealand 20 million years ago.

WIN A BOOK Forest & Bird is giving away two copies of Hauturu, the history, flora and fauna of Te Hauturu-o-toi Little Barrier Island, edited by Lyne Wade and Dick Veitch, Massey University Press, RRP $60.

To enter, email your entry to draw@forestandbird.org. nz, put HAUTURU 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 HAUTURU draw, Forest & Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington 6140. Entries close 1 November 2019.

The winners of The Meaning of Trees by Rober Vennell were Jasmine De Monie, of Whanganui, and Bruce Lambie, of Dunedin.

The winner of La Petite Chocolat $170 gift hamper was Ioannis Antonopoulos.

If you renew your membership online before it expires, you will automatically go into a draw to win a weekend at Forest & Bird's beautiful Ruapehu Lodge at Whakapapa. Go to www. forestandbird.org.nz/renew.

Yup, we’re going to let fly with a new voting system – instant-runoff voting (IRV). No more flapping over choosing just one worthy winner. Instead, you can rank your top FIVE birds.

Taking off with IRV this year will mean nobody will know who has won until the all the votes are counted, making for a far more “trilling” race – and tactical voting is bound to loom large. It’s anyone’s guess who will swoop to glory.

If you’d like to join the fun and become the campaign manager for one of our amazing native birds, then get in touch at www.forestandbird.org.nz/bird-year-2019.

Whio on the Old Ghost Road trail.

Photo: Richard Rossiter

Forest & Bird

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Conservation news

TIME RUNNING OUT FOR TOROA

Research shows that New Zealand’s Antipodean albatross population has declined by 50% since 2005.

Photo: Graeme Elliott

The government needs to move quickly to stop the Antipodean albatross being fished to extinction. By Caroline Wood.

Five critically endangered Antipodean albatross were killed last summer by commercial fishers using the minimum legally required mitigation meaures.

The fishing boat that killed the five toroa between December 2018 and January 2019 was using tori and weighted lines, which meant it complied with current New Zealand law.

This demonstrates how our current legally required fishing mitigation regulations are not fit for purpose, says Sue Maturin, Forest & Bird’s seabird advocate.

“Antipodean albatross and other endangered seabirds will continue to be driven towards extinction if our commercial fishers aren’t required to adopt newer, more effective mitigation tools,” she said.

A new option of hook-shielding devices to prevent the bycatch of seabirds by commercial longline fisheries has just been unveiled.

“We hope fishers will adopt it as soon as possible,” says Sue. Antipodean albatrosses have declined by about 50% since 2005, and are still declining, according to Graeme Elliott, who with Kath Walker has been researching the species for 25 years.

Satellite tracking research shows these incredible seabirds are now spending more time in Chilean and international waters rather than staying around New Zealand and Australia.

“We think the decline of our birds is probably a consequence of climate change and fisheries mortality,” Graeme told delegates at the New Zealand Birds conference in June.

“A picture emerges of birds travelling greater distances to forage than they used to, having reduced breeding success, and being exposed to greater risk of bycatch in international waters and off the coast of South America.”

Antipodean albatross nest on Antipodes Island, southeast of New Zealand. Since 2004, the number of nests on the island have declined from more than 8000 to 3148.

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“The most likely cause of decline is fisheries bycatch in places they didn’t use to forage,” adds Graeme.

Antipodean albatross fall victim to fishers, with most deaths recorded in the southern bluefin tuna longline fishery.

The lines are baited with squid, and the birds get hooked and dragged underwater when the lines sink, drowning them.

ZERO BYCATCH CAMPAIGN UPDATE Thank you to everyone who has already signed Forest & Bird‘s petition calling on the government to introduce a zero bycatch goal to protect threatened species from commercial fishing.

“Forest & Bird’s Zero Bycatch campaign has been getting a huge response from the New Zealand public, with 6000 people signing the petition in the first week,” says campaign spokesperson Megan Hubscher.

“We are pleased the government has indicated it will adopt a zero bycatch approach for Hector’s and Māui dolphins. In the future, we hope to see more zero bycatch goals for other species, including Antipodean albatross.”

A National Plan of Action on Seabirds will be out later this year for consultation. Forest & Bird has written to the government asking it to include a cross-agency plan to get to zero bycatch for all seabird species.

Please sign Forest & Bird’s petition at www.zerobycatch.org.nz.

Paul Martinson Moa 10 - 29 September 2019

Paul Martinson, Heavy - footed moa (Pachyornis elephantopus) 2019, watercolour and watercolour pencil on paper, 695 x 990mm

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Osborne Lane, 2 Kent Street, Newmarket, Auckland

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+64 9 520 0501

Conservation news

MUDDY MESS Cow gives birth in the mud in Southland. Photo: supplied

It’s time to end the practice of intensive winter grazing that has devastating animal welfare and environmental impacts. By Angus Robson.

I

am an ordinary citizen who witnessed intensive winter grazing and the devastation it is causing to our environment. I couldn’t walk past and do nothing.

I recently launched a campaign to show New Zealanders the problems that come from over-intensive agriculture, here in our own country. I trust that, once people know how bad it is, they will join in condemning it and help to end it.

Intensive winter grazing and cropping churns vast areas of valuable soil to germ-infested mud. It leads to millions of animals – cows and sheep – overwintering in freezing mud.

Many are mothers-to-be in late stage pregnancy, who have to lie down and give birth in these inhumane conditions.

Confined to a wet muddy paddock, the animals will refuse to lie down, become stressed, and stop eating, according to MPI. To avoid the mud, some graziers put animals on stony soils, which then leak thousands of tonnes

Cows don't like living in mud. They will refuse to lie down, become stressed, and stop eating, according to the Ministry for Primary Industries. Photo: supplied

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| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

of nitrates from their urine into our groundwater.

Whether running along the surface or seeping into the ground, this toxic soup enters into our waterways – streams, rivers, lakes, and estuaries. In only 10 years, Waituna wetland, in Southland, and the New River estuary, Invercargill, have deteriorated and are in dire straits.

The intensive winter cropping problem is at its most acute in Southland’s wet winters. When we were there recently, an icy wind cut straight into the cows in the fields.

Most had no shelter. Some were licking excrement-filled mud rather than grind their way back through a swamp to get to the water trough.

All of this suffering is pointless – most farmers undertaking intensive winter cropping aren’t making much money out of the practice, and they aren’t paying much tax. We are watching while our natural capital and our children’s birthright is thrown away for nothing.

Simply put, we have too many animals in some places, including Southland and Canterbury. Only by matching animal numbers to ecological capacity can we stop this happening.

We must fix this, and there are solutions.

Pressure on Minister David Parker to produce strong freshwater reform will help – we need your voice demanding change.

Forest & Bird’s freshwater advocate Annabeth Cohen agrees.

“Many farmers would say intensive winter grazing is bad-practice farming, but it’s clearly still happening in some parts of the country,” she says.

“The fact it is happening is evidence that current national freshwater rules are failing us. It doesn’t help that regional councils are turning a blind eye.

“It’s a disgusting farming practice, and the government

has the power to eliminate it with its National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management.”

If our national environmental laws are strong and consistently enforced everywhere, then we could see animal numbers reduced to sustainable levels, and then, hopefully, no more cows will have to give birth in mud. Please sign Forest & Bird’s submission on the new freshwater regulations when they are published.

Since launching the campaign in August, the Minister for Primary Industries has announced it will establish a government taskforce to address the serious animal welfare issues associated with intensive winter crop grazing. This is great news, but I also urge the government not to forget its huge impact on the environment.

Regional councils also need to force farmers to comply with existing rules – on their watch, we are seeing freshwater pollution on an incredible scale. It’s their responsibility to manage land use and freshwater, and end the bad practice of over-intensive winter grazing.

You can help by writing to Rob Phillips, chief executive of Environment Southland, Sarah Gardner, who leads Otago Regional Council, and Environment Canterbury’s CEO Bill Bayfield. Ask them to implement, properly monitor, and enforce existing environmental regulations.

If environmental laws are enforced, and livestock numbers are reduced to sustainable levels, there will be no more need for animals to live in mud. n The true picture of water quality in New Zealand, see p18.

CHANGE POSSIBLE You may have seen Forest & Bird’s latest freshwater TV commercial, which aired on TV3 in July and August to coincide with the drafting and release of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management. Can you help by sharing this video http://bit.ly/ freshwaterTVC? We need strong freshwater rules right now and can’t wait any longer.

Forest & Bird

Forest & Bird

NEW ZEALAND

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Conservation

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Order at www.forestandbird.org.nz and click on ‘shop’.

Forest & Bird

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Legal news

TE KUHA WIN The Supreme Court has sided with Forest & Bird and stopped an appeal for the development of an open-cast coal mine at Te Kuha.

Buller District Council had granted access to a reserve for a mining company wishing to develop a coal mine on the top of Te Kuha, a beautiful forested hilltop visible from Westport on the West Coast.

Following Forest & Bird’s legal challenge, the council rescinded access and the mining company sought clarification of the law in the High Court.

Forest & Bird was unsuccessful in the High Court, but the Court of Appeal upheld its view that the Reserves Act takes precedence over the Crown Mineral Act. This protects the special ecological features of Te Kuha from destruction.

The mining company, Stevensons, then sought an appeal in the Supreme Court, which was initially granted and then revoked.

“Forest & Bird has been fighting to stop the mine that would see the destruction of this very special area,” says Forest & Bird general counsel Peter Anderson.

Forest ringlet Dodonidia helmsii.

Photo: Melissa Hutchison

“The reserve is home to endangered great-spotted kiwi/roarora and rare forest ringlet butterflies. We have to protect the places where these amazing species live.

“We have resolutely argued the council is required to maintain the reserve’s natural features under the Reserves Act.” The High Court and Court of Appeal decisions were based on the land having been classified as a local purpose reserve. The Supreme Court has decided the appeal can’t proceed because the reserve in question appears to have never been classified.

The Supreme Court reserved leave for the mining company to appeal in the future, including if the land for the proposed mine is classified.

“We know the appeal could eventually proceed. But for now this a great win for the forests and wildlife of Te Kuha,” adds Peter.

UNIQUE LAVA HABITAT RISK The long-fought East–West Link is back on the cards, after the New Zealand Transport Agency announced it wants to keep the consents for the four-lane highway in east Auckland.

The proposed East–West highway will destroy rare volcanic plants at Anns Creek. Image: Auckland Council

Forest & Bird is now pressing ahead with its appeal to the High Court against the consents for the highway, which would cross Anns Creek near Southdown, an area with unique lava shrublands that provide habitat for endangered native birds.

“The new highway would set a dangerous precedent for destroying the last remnants of Auckland’s natural environment,” says Forest & Bird Auckland regional manager Nick Beveridge.

The road, which would connect State Highway 20 at Onehunga with State Highway 1 at Mt Wellington, would destroy habitat for rare birds that live around Mangere Inlet and Anns Creek, including Australasian bitterns, banded rails, and wrybills.

The lava flow vegetation at the creek is the last remaining area of this ecosystem type in Auckland. The creek and lava shrublands have been identified as a significant ecological area in the Auckland Unitary Plan.

“The volcanic plants that grow there are so rare in the region – places like this are their last stronghold. There’s no way they should get away with destroying any of this unique habitat,” Nick adds.

A BIG THANK YOU

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| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

TO EVERYONE WHO DONATED TO OUR RECENT DEFENDING NATURE APPEAL,

TARA ITI TALES Forest & Bird has launched a court battle to protect the mangrove habitat of our most endangered bird, the New Zealand fairy tern or tara iti.

Our legal team has filed an Environment Court appeal against Northland Regional Council over its proposed regional plan. We want the council to protect the mangrove forests that provide vital habitat for New Zealand fairy terns.

“There are only about 36 tara iti left on Earth, so we need to make sure the places where they feed and breed are not disturbed or destroyed,” says Forest & Bird northern regional manager Nick Beveridge.

“At present, the plan provides better protection for cockle beds than it does for tara iti. It’s just unbelievable when the New Zealand fairy tern is just a heartbeat away from extinction.”

Photo: Rex Williams

The plan marks out areas with significant birdlife but does not impose any extra rules on mangrove removal or development in these areas.

Forest & Bird wants the council to treat Significant Bird Areas in the same way that Significant Ecological Areas are treated – and protected from harmful development, including the removal of native trees and mangroves.

Critically endangered Australasian bitterns and threatened banded rails also live in Northland’s mangrove forests.

The proposed Northland Regional Plan will allow people to remove up to 200m2 of mangroves.

“The Kaipara and Mangawhai harbours are critically important for the tara iti and the bittern, so it would be disastrous if large areas of mangroves were cleared,” adds Nick.

Stronger rules to ensure water quality is not degraded in lakes, rivers, and streams are also called for in Forest & Bird’s appeal.

Motiti Rohe Moana Trustees

MOTITI UPDATE Forest & Bird lawyers appeared in the Court of Appeal in July defending the ability of regional councils to protect their coastal marine species and habitats from the effects of fishing.

They appeared alongside whānau and hapū from Motiti Island, in Te Moana a Toi/Bay of Plenty, who have been battling for years for stop the rapid decline of fish stocks in coastal waters they dub the “Bay of Empty”.

In the landmark Motiti decision last June, the High Court ruled that regional councils can use the Resource Management Act to manage coastal fisheries to protect native biodiversity. The government and fishing groups appealed the ruling.

The Crown subsequently reversed its position and pulled out of the appeal. However, inshore, rock lobster, and paua fishers carried on, saying fish stock management should be under the control of the Minister for Fisheries.

“Forest & Bird is pleased the Crown has changed its position and is no longer significantly opposing last year’s High Court ruling on this issue,” says Forest & Bird chief executive Kevin Hague.

“The High Court decision almost a year ago has important consequences for local communities who are trying to protect species that are often the victims of fishing industries, including Hector’s and Māui dolphins, hoihoi/yellow-eyed penguins, and seabirds like the critically endangered Antipodean albatross.

“Every year, thousands of seabirds and hundreds of marine mammals die after being snagged on commercial hooks and caught up in trawl and set nets. And yet only a tiny proportion of our coastal sea is protected in marine reserves.

“This is why it’s so important that New Zealanders have local methods available to protect our ocean environment.”

Several regional councils, including Bay of Plenty and Marlborough, have already taken action to protect their unique coastal environments following the High Court’s decision last year. Forest & Bird is taking legal action to ensure that coastal protection measures are included in Northland’s regional plan.

The Court of Appeal decision is likely to be issued in the next few months.

YOU HAVE GIVEN A WHOPPING $150,000. THIS WILL HELP FOREST & BIRD’S LEGAL TEAM DO EVEN MORE TO PROTECT NATURE IN COURTS AND COUNCIL CHAMBERS AROUND NEW ZEALAND. Forest & Bird | 11

Conservation news

Kevin Hague and Geoff Keey give evidence at the environment select committee. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Newsroom

METHANE MATTERS Forest & Bird’s chief executive Kevin Hague told MPs New Zealand “cannot afford to go easy on methane” during Parliament’s environment select committee hearings into the Zero Carbon Bill.

Kevin disagreed with Dairy NZ chief executive Tim Mackle, who claimed a 47% reduction in methane emissions by 2050 was unsustainable.

Methane makes up a third of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions, and the country leads the world in per capita methane emissions. The draft Zero Carbon Bill says methane emissions from livestock will need to be cut by 10% by 2030 and 24–27% by 2050.

Forest & Bird is calling for the bill to be changed to aim for net-zero emissions of all gases, including methane, by a new deadline of 2040.

In August, Kevin and strategic advisor Geoff Keey presented Forest & Bird’s submission. They said Forest & Bird is seeking improvements to the bill to make it fairer and more effective. In particular, the improvements Forest & Bird is seeking are that:

n

n

n

n n

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New Zealand should make a fairer contribution to keeping global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees, aligned with our above-average levels of per capita emissions and development.

The bill should recognise the powerful role of our native forests, and other natural habitats, in emissions reductions and in providing resilience.

Emission reduction decisions should explicitly account for the potential risks posed to nature by any climate response – for example, planting weed species.

The bill should prioritise cutting actual emissions rather than just offsetting.

The role of the Climate Commission should be integrated with the wider resource management legislative framework.

Ocean acidification should be considered alongside climate change in adaptation planning.

RMA review The government’s plan to review the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) is being supported by Forest & Bird, which helped secure the landmark legislation nearly 30 years ago.

“Despite the RMA being a highly innovative piece of legislation at the time it was written, it has failed to achieve its purpose of protecting our native species, special places, or water quality,” says conservation group manager Jen Miller.

“The RMA has slowed this decline in some instances but not altered the overall pathway towards extinction for most of our native species and habitats. There have been continual concessions to development and land use intensification, and inadequate monitoring and enforcement of environmental rules.”

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The government announced in July it would overhaul New Zealand’s resource management system, focusing on the RMA – the primary legislation governing the use of our land, water, and air resources.

It wants the RMA to support a more productive, sustainable, and inclusive economy while being easier for New Zealanders Forest & Bird published a guide to the RMA in 1992. to understand and engage with.

Forest & Bird is pleased there will be close consultation with environmental groups and iwi throughout the review.

Bold plan needed New Zealand needs a new biodiversity strategy that puts nature at the heart of everything we do.

The Te Koiroa o te Koiora Biodiversity Strategy discussion document released in August for public consultation is the foundation for a bold new plan to reverse the decline of our native species and habitats. It identifies the central role of nature in Aotearoa’s economy, wellbeing, and identity.

“The discussion document recognises that, as a country, we rely on our natural environment, but we can’t keep doing things the same way and expect nature to survive and thrive,” says Forest & Bird chief executive Kevin Hague.

“We need to put nature at the centre of our economy.

The whole of government, businesses, primary industries, and communities will need to work together to restore biodiversity.”

Forest & Bird believes the strategy could be a game changer for the 4000 native species currently at risk of extinction. We welcome the recognition of nature’s role in reducing the human impacts of climate change and the importance of removing barriers to tangata whenua acting as kaitiaki of nature.

But it currently lacks specifics about the structural, legislative, and economic reforms necessary to drive this change and is disappointingly weak in setting marine goals.

Please make a submission on Te Koiroa o te Koiora biodiversity strategy by 22 September. See www. forestandbird.org.nz/defend-our-biodiversity.

Go paperless for the planet Forest & Bird is urging people who currently make their donations by cheque to consider going paperless. As well as a smaller carbon footprint, it means more of your generous gift can be used for conservation! Kiwibank is set to stop issuing cheques in September and won’t process them after 28 February 2020, and other banks are set to follow. For help on going paperless, email membership@forestandbird.org.nz or call 0800 200 064.

A win for nature and for you!

Congratulations to Graeme and Michelle Lythgoe, Tina Ivory, and Mike Harvey, who have all won a two-night stay at Forest & Bird’s Ruapehu Lodge in the heart of Tongariro National Park. Renew your membership online before it expires and be in with a chance to win every month.

See www.forestandbird.org.nz/renew.

Invest with your values Sustainable and ethical investment can be complex.

So how do you choose the right investments for you?

Talk to C2C Partners, who are; n Specialists in sustainable and ethical investment advice n Impartial, fee-based financial planners n Committed to sustainability and conservation

VALDER GRANTS The Waikato Branch awards are given in memory of Lillian Valder. Applications are welcome from individuals or conservation groups nationwide. Awards range from $1000 to $2000 but can be larger for appropriate projects. For an application form, email waikato.branch@forestandbird. org.nz or go to the Waikato Branch page on www. forestandbird.org.nz. The closing date is 30 September.

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Profile

Checking traps at Wellington's Polhill Reserve, where community-based conservation efforts have brought back tīeke/ saddleback and kākā.

Photo: Tim Onnes

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

A PASSION FOR CONSERVATION From environmental activist to government minister, Eugenie Sage talks about what drives her politically and personally. By Harry Broad.

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C

onservation Minister Eugenie Sage is a rare breed of politician. Her political career is not about her but about what she can achieve. It’s not that she lacks ambition, but they are not personal aspirations – they are ambitions to make positive changes in the conservation world and beyond.

It was suggested that we might use a photograph of her as the cover shot of this magazine, but she made it clear she was uncomfortable with such prominence but was happy to tell her story in the subsequent pages. And, despite everything she has achieved, there is still a real humility. When she goes on the marae or to a community function, she will wash her own cup and saucer out and not expect anyone else to do it.

Department of Conservation staff, many of whom have had disagreements with her in previous incarnations, are appreciative of the many staff meetings she has held throughout the country to find out what is going on. Those who have dealt with her in Wellington like her courtesy, describing her as “decisive but not dictatorial” and “pleasant to deal with even if things go wrong”.

“Well,” she laughs, “I do get a bit grumpy when things seem to be taking too long, but I try and be courteous and respectful because I know how hard they work.”

The offices of cabinet ministers are always seized with a sense of urgency. Staff members pop in and out desperately waving significant looking pieces of paper for their minister’s attention.

Halfway through her first electoral term, Eugenie’s office in Bowen House, part of Wellington’s Parliament Buildings, is no different. Here she is in her element, quietly in control of the traffic flows, dealing with them fluently, and obviously relishing the chance to contribute significantly to the challenges of conservation.

She is certainly match fit for what must be her dream job, having spent 30 years in training for the role. In 1988, she was press secretary to the then Conservation Minister Helen Clark before working for Forest & Bird for 13 years.

She was a Canterbury Regional Councillor (until they all got fired), then a Green Party MP, and now the Minister of Conservation.

So how has it been, making these transitions, weaving a consistent thread?

“Well, the transition from being in opposition to being in government has been phenomenal. Being in opposition, you are continuing the work of an activist, engaging with communities around New Zealand and talking about the issues that are important to them, but in government you actually have the chance to implement some of the policies and make some real change.

“So it’s been a wonderful transition to do things like the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill – it’s been great to introduce that, knowing that protection for our indigenous fish has long been wanting, and being able to increase the tools to protect them,” she says.

Solving a nature crisis Eugenie Sage came into office determined to try to halt the disastrous decline of indigenous biodiversity and, today, almost two years later, there have been several significant wins. She is very is very clear about her motivations.

We have a life raft here in Aotearoa for a number of really special indigenous species.

“What drives me is that we have a biodiversity crisis.

Now the significance and seriousness of the climate change crisis is recognised, but for biodiversity it is not.

We have a life raft here in Aotearoa for a number of really special indigenous species“. Eugenie wants to tackle the biodiversity crisis, get more resources into predator control, and ensure that indigenous nature has the ability to thrive.

“The line I have been pushing is that nature is at the heart of our success, because I don’t think there has been enough recognition that we wouldn’t have an economy without an environment, we wouldn’t have a culture without an environment, and we are not healthy as a people if the environment is unhealthy. So it is critical getting the recognition of the importance of nature.”

One goal was ensuring that the Mokihinui catchment (with all of those battles over Meridian’s dam) was protected, given the RMA case had highlighted its outstanding values. Getting 64,400ha added to Kahurangi National Park was a considerable achievement, one that even won support from the Mayor of Buller, Gary Howard!

“I do pay tribute to the role that Forest & Bird played on the Mokihinui. Debs Martin received deserved recognition through a Queen’s Birthday Royal Honour for her leadership in that campaign. DOC played a key role with its technical advice too,” Eugenie says.

Getting the review of the New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy going as a way of highlighting the central importance of nature and getting better protection for indigenous nature on both public and private land are important foundation stones of any action.

Eugenie is also really pleased to have turned around the cuts to Te Papa Atawhai/DOC funding, the loss of more than 200 staff, and the extensive restructuring. Getting DOC’s mojo back is very important, and she pays tribute to Director-General Lou Sanson for holding it all together in the lean years.

There was the biggest increase in conservation funding in 16 years in Budget 2018 – an extra $181.2m over four years, of which $76m is for biodiversity contingency and $81m for pest control.

“One of things I am proudest of is that this year DOC will be doing the largest aerial predator control operation ever, over 1 million hectares, which is 12% of public conservation land, to knock down stoats, rats, and possums so that we don’t get regional extinction of species, like we did with mohua on Mt Stokes when 1080 wasn’t used there in another mast year.”

I don’t think there has been enough recognition that we wouldn’t have an economy without an environment, we wouldn’t have a culture without an environment, and we are not healthy as a people if the environment is unhealthy.

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Profile And, in the 2019 budget, there was a further $180m over four years for conservation funded by the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy. This money will be split 50-50 between tourism and conservation, and should help heal a running sore of poor planning and often woefully inadequate public facilities and infrastructure in the face of the huge increase in tourism numbers.

“The $35 levy international visitors will pay from 1 July means they can contribute to helping protect the places they come to enjoy. On the tourism side, 10% is being set aside to do more strategic planning so that we can get ahead of the growth, and DOC and councils are not having to play catch up all the time,” Eugenie says.

In the high country, tenure review has been halted, much to the relief of many arguing for the protection of natural values as the first priority, and a high-powered representative committee has been set up to provide advice and help progress the legislative changes needed to give effect to this policy.

“Subject to Cabinet approval, we are looking to introduce legislation to amend the Crown Pastoral Lands Act later this year, so I want to steward that through the House by the end of this term. We got another $3.7m for LINZ in the budget and are sending a signal that the Commissioner of Crown Lands is not to contract so much work out to third party providers, and instead LINZ staff will be more active,” she says.

There have also been several mining decisions such as declining the proposed Te Kuha coal mine on the West Coast, where the Minister and her colleague Energy Minister Megan Woods acted strongly, but because this is subject to judicial review proceedings she doesn’t want to comment further.

Turning the tide The greatest challenge facing any Minister of Conservation is whether they can turn the tide of biodiversity loss, although this is a question that could be more fairly asked of the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance because they control the resources.

Eugenie is well aware of the challenges, having asked the same tough question many times in her 30-year career.

“It is too soon to say, and after the mega-mast things will become clearer, plus we do need to improve the state of environmental reporting. But there are many good things happening and there is an increasing enthusiasm in the communities for doing activities that give nature a helping hand.

“I was out recently with the Mountains to the Sea Trust in Wellington, looking at their Whitebait Connection project, and they’ve got a thousand kids doing hands-on monitoring of streams and looking at water quality, what fish are there, how do we as humans impact on streams.

“This is where the big challenge is, in a very urbanised population, how do we get those urban kids into nature so that they love and appreciate it and recognise that human activities can either benefit nature or degrade it?”

What she is encouraged by is the huge and increasing interest of people throughout Aotearoa wanting to get 16

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Planting at a new wetland near Taupiri, Waikato. Photo: Rick Zwaan

involved in the work that Predator Free 2050 Ltd is doing with regional predator-control programmes.

Community interest in restoring nature is vital, as is the recognition that responsibility to care for indigenous nature goes beyond DOC to others, including councils and local groups. That’s why the biodiversity strategy review is so important, she says.

But progress is never linear.

“There is always one step forward and then back.

Kākāpō had the best breeding season ever, but then there have been the setbacks with the respiratory disease of aspergillosis, which is posing a real threat to them,” she says.

The challenging issues with biculturalism are critical, so have pakehā and Māori moved to greater understanding of their respective views on land management values, cultural considerations, and protection?

Eugenie is circumspect in her reply.

“Treaty relations are a priority. I think there is an evolving view that the land status classifications in the Reserves Act and the National Parks Act are creatures of their time and they don’t recognise cultural values.

“In the Ngāi Tai Ki Tāmaki decision about a concession application on Motutapu and Rangitoto, the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, in a majority decision, said to DOC that its Conservation General Policy and its National Parks General Policy contained errors.

“The Court essentially said that DOC must consider giving a preference to iwi when it is considering concession applications. So just how do they implement that? I guess what it highlighted is that section 4 of the Conservation Act is one of the strongest pieces of legislation in terms of giving effect to the Treaty. So there has been quite a bit of increased investment in DOC capability in regard to Treaty issues and engagement with mana whenua.”

A lot of the Treaty settlements have a requirement for relationship agreements between the department and iwi: what does that mean at the operational level?

“The department recognises that it needs to lift that engagement. How you have a management planning process that recognises tau Māori and mana whenua values are questions to wrestle with,” she says.

Responding to a climate crisis Climate change is another huge set of issues, with a lot of young people taking charge and determined to “elbow their elders”. Is the government moving fast enough?

“We are not going fast enough, but the introduction of the Zero Carbon Bill into Parliament is a significant initiative. The key achievement that Climate Change Minister James Shaw has made there has been getting that cross-party engagement so that you don’t have the policy changing course as governments change. Hopefully, there is certainty for the public and for industry.

“I am worried about the impacts of a changing climate on conservation. DOC is seeing the impacts of more intense storm events causing major damage to recreational infrastructure, such as on the Abel Tasman Track, where they have had to put new campsites 150m inland because of those storms coming into the bays, the flooding of coastal areas, and hazards to people. And changing sea temperatures are thought to be affecting prey species for hoiho/yellow-eyed penguin,” Eugenie says.

Getting action in the waste space is another top priority for Eugenie, who is also Associate Minister for the Environment.

“The challenge is how do we move to that circular economy and how do we move away from the linear economic model of take from nature, make and then dispose (ie throw away). We need a circular model where we are taking carefully, we are thinking about what we are

I am worried about the impacts of a changing climate on conservation. DOC is seeing the impacts of more intense storm events causing major damage to recreational infrastructure.

going to do with the resources that nature provides us, and ensuring that products are designed and manufactured so they can be broken down at the end of their life and the materials recovered and continually recirculated.

“In a second term, I would hope to do more legislative changes, and the legislative priority is new marine protected areas legislation. The last government did some consultation, but they were only proposing to go out to 12 nautical miles, and of course it has got to go out to the whole 200 miles of EEZ. And we need much more active marine protection.”

But it’s not all hard work, and Eugenie knows how to enjoy herself out in nature, although as a busy government minister such trips are infrequent.

One of her greatest experiences was rafting down the Clarence River in 2010 as part of Craig Potton’s television series Rivers, also in the company of the legendary and much-missed conservationist Andy Dennis.

“It was just after Rodney Hide and Nick Smith had kicked us off the Canterbury Regional Council, so it was a really good counterpoint to that. I’d tramped up in the headwaters

by Lake Tennyson, but rafting almost its whole length was amazing. The different moods of the river, the boulders and riverscapes, being on the water all day, camping beside it at night, the contrast between dryland landscapes and the forest in the lower reaches.

“It was also fascinating to see the logistics of filming something like that, getting the boats lined up for the camera, talking to the camera while bouncing through the rapids,” she recalls.

And what of the future? I don’t believe Eugenie has personal ambitions to become Prime Minister. She has plenty of work left to do saving nature, and it’s likely that, when she does move on from politics, her only regrets will be leaving while there is still so much left to do! n Harry Broad is a former manager in the Department of Conservation and author of two best-selling books.

He served as executive assistant to former Conservation Minister Denis Marshall during the Jim Bolger-led National government.

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Freshwater

TOXIC NITRATES Environment Canterbury ignores calls from health and environment NGOs to address pollution in local waterways.

E

nvironment Canterbury is taking dangerous risks with human and environment health by failing to take action on the toxic levels of nitrates already in freshwater, says Forest & Bird.

The council has rejected calls from the Public Health Association and Forest & Bird to apply a precautionary approach to managing nitrate levels in Canterbury’s freshwater.

Forest & Bird’s Kevin Hague and Dr Prudence Stone, chief executive of the Public Health Association, wrote to Environment Canterbury in July asking for urgent action to reduce the levels of nitrates going into groundwater and waterways.

Nitrates enter groundwater, lakes, and rivers through the excessive application of fertilisers and through ammonia in animal waste. Intensive irrigation systems add to the problem.

High levels of nitrates also cause the algal blooms that make water unsafe for swimming and are harmful to our already stressed native fish populations, In their letter, Mr Hague and Dr Stone call on Environment Canterbury to make urgent plans to stop allowing dairy farming intensification, cut cow numbers, and reduce fertiliser use in catchments with high nitrate levels.

But the council’s chief executive Bill Bayfield rejected the evidence of dangers to human health, claiming more research is needed and passing the buck to the Ministry of Health to update drinking water standards.

“I’m very disappointed by Bill Bayfield and ECan’s response,” says Forest & Bird’s freshwater advocate Annabeth Cohen.

New Zealand river water quality

Source: Statistics New Zealand and Ministry for the Environment

“They’re refusing to show leadership to meaningfully reduce nitrates in fresh water, which we know pose a risk to human health at lower levels than currently exist in much of Canterbury’s groundwater.

“There is now a mountain of evidence that shows excess nitrates put us at greater risk of illnesses such as colon cancer, rectal cancer, thyroid disease, blue baby syndrome, and neural tube defects in utero.”

At the time of writing, the government’s new draft regulations for freshwater were due out for consultation.

Forest & Bird is asking the government to stop land use intensification and to set tighter limits for water quality, especially nitrates.

“The current regulations draw the line at toxicity, but this isn’t good enough,” Ms Cohen adds.

“We need our national standards to protect people’s health and the health of our environment.”

FRESHWATER APPEAL What’s happening in your area?

The map on this page, which was commissioned by Forest & Bird, shows the true picture of water quality in New Zealand.

The government has chosen to ignore its own guidelines, allowing business-as-usual intensive farming practices to continue. Current nitrate limits are set too high. We need to see less red in these maps.

The area of land used for dairy production has increased by at least 42% since 2002. Waterways in farming areas are often polluted by excess nitrates, pathogens, and sediment that destroy precious habitat for our native animals and 18

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plants. This pollution threatens our fish, cultural values, and the safety of our drinking water.

The government can turn things around, but it needs to take meaningful action now with its upcoming freshwater regulations. We need less fertiliser, fewer cows, and reduced groundwater pollution.

With your support, we will continue to take action in this critical year of change for our streams, rivers, and lakes.

Please make a donation today at www.forestandbird.org. nz/fightforfreshwater.

Rats at record levels Photo: Andris Apse

There are fears for kōkako in the Waitakere Ranges as the impact of the “mega-mast” begins to bite.

Rat numbers have soared to record winter levels in the Forest & Bird’s Ark in the Park restoration project in the Waitakere Ranges west of Auckland.

Emergency efforts are under way to protect endangered kōkako and other native wildlife.

This season’s rat tracking results, at 32%, have edged past the highs of the last big seed-mast in 2014, and things are going to get worse as the weather warms.

“Forest & Bird staff and volunteers have been preparing for this predicted boom in rats, but we’re still deeply concerned for the native species in the ranges,” says Forest & Bird’s Ark in the Park manager Gillian Wadams.

“These numbers are well above the 5% that allows birds to survive and breed, and far higher than the 1% needed for all kōkako chicks to be safe from rats.

“We fear stoat and weasel numbers are much higher than normal too. We’re heading into bird breeding season, so it’s important we get these predators under control now.

“Kōkako are especially vulnerable to rats and stoats,” adds Gillian.

Three Forest & Bird staff and about 400 volunteers carry out intensive predator trapping and rat baiting across the 2270ha Ark in the Park.

Bait is being put out more often and in larger quantities to try to protect native species from booming rat populations.

It follows a record mega-mast this year, with local trees shedding huge quantities of seeds.

As New Zealand warms, masts are becoming more frequent, with rats able to breed all year during mild winters, sustained by the extra seeds.

Cover story

Some of the fabulous fungi found in New Zealand (clockwise from top left) Gliophorus, Chlorociboria, Calostoma rodwayi, Ramaria, Cortinarius ‘small purple pouch’, Laccaria masoniae on possum claw, Pisolithus, and Mycena. Photos: Noah Siegel

SECRET LIFE Caroline Wood travels to Australia to meet some of the scientists trying to save the world’s rarest mushrooms and moulds from becoming extinct.

S

ome of our mushrooms are so rare they could disappear tomorrow and nobody would even know.

New Zealand is a global hotspot for fungal diversity, but more than half our species haven’t even been named.

Even for those that have been formally recorded, there are hundreds we know very little about. Fungi are critically important in nature, and yet there are no national recovery plans for endangered species, even those unique to Aotearoa and on the edge of extinction.

The need for urgent action to protect these earthy treasures is why some of the leading experts in global fungi conservation are gathered around a table at the Herbarium, in Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens, in July. Scientists from New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, the USA, Sweden, the UK, and Chile have come together for a week to assess the threat status of 70 of Australasia’s most precious fungi species, 40 from New Zealand and 30 from Australia. It is part of a worldwide push, initiated by scientists, to get more recognition for some of the world’s most threatened fungi.

Listening to these experts speaking at Australasia’s first IUCN Fungal Red List Workshop, it becomes clear that yeasts, moulds, and mushrooms are the poor relatives of conservation in most parts of the world, not just in New Zealand. They are ignored and unloved by most decisionmakers (with the possible exception of Nordic countries).

And yet fungi are the second largest kingdom of life and play critical roles in ecosystem function, including in forests, swamps, sand dunes, and alpine grasslands.

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What is the IUCN Red List?

The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species is recognised as the most comprehensive global approach for evaluating the health of the world’s biodiversity. It has a large impact on the setting of conservation priorities for animal, fungal, and plant species threatened with extinction.

Dubbed the “Barometer of Life”, it provides information about the range, population size, habitat and ecology, usage, threats, and conservation actions that help inform a species’ protection.

There are only 145 fungal species on the IUCN’s global Red List, including three from New Zealand. In comparison, 10,570 plant species and an even larger number of animal species fill out the list. How is it that such an important contributor to ecosystem health is treated like an unwelcome uncle at a wedding?

“Humanity has a temptation to overvalue and prioritise conservation of the colourful, cute, and cuddly and ignore other less charismatic forms of life,” says Dr Peter Buchanan, of New Zealand’s Manaaki

OF FUNGI Whenua – Landcare Research, one of the organisers of the Australasian IUCN fungal workshop.

“Getting more New Zealand fungi onto the Red List will mean global recognition for these species. It will also serve as a reminder to the government and the public that we need to value and conserve fungi as well as our plants and animals. Once listed, there is an evidence base from which conservation action, such as habitat protection, can be developed.”

This recognition needs to happen fast. New Zealand’s native biodiversity is in big trouble, and fungi could be said to be the canary in the mine.

NEW ZEALAND’S RARITIES The perilous state of some of our fungi becomes clear when New Zealand mushroom expert Dr Jerry Cooper introduces the first candidate for formal IUCN assessment, Deconica baylisiana. It’s a bright orange mushroom that’s so rare it hadn’t been seen for 50 years until a member of the public spotted it while out tramping in Deconica baylisiana.

2014 and posted a photo on Photo: K Warburton iNaturalist.

The mushroom is found only in alpine grasslands near the treeline in New Zealand. It’s been sighted three times since it was first collected 83 years ago, in two locations 20km apart in the South Island, and in one area on Rakiura/

Stewart Island. Its threats include global warming and introduced animals.

At one point during a discussion to determine whether there are likely to be more or less than 36–90 mature adults left in the wild, Peter Buchanan points out that, if this species was a native bird, the community would be jumping up and down demanding a species recovery plan and investment in its protection. But because it’s a humble fungus, it doesn’t receive the same care and attention.

After assessing the likely number of other sites the fungus could be found, it is agreed that this alpine pouch fungi is “critically endangered” under criterion D. The second candidate for assessment is an endemic sand-dune puffball mushroom (Abstoma purpureum), which has a very hard surface like a brown golf ball. It hasn’t been seen for 70 years, raising the prospect that it may already be extinct because of a significant decline to its native dune habitat. Or, suggests one scientist, perhaps it’s because no-one has been looking?

The mushroom has been recorded seven times between 1920 and 1949 at three sites, including Levin, in the lower North Island, and at Karitane, in Otago, raising the prospect that it could have quite a wide range. The assessors crunch the data and agree a threat status of “endangered” because of its unknown potential range, even though it could already be extinct.

The third New Zealand assessment for Cordyceps kirkii – aka “the body snatcher” – has to be halted because of lack of data. It lives only on giant weta, but because no-one is researching it the assessors can’t be sure how rare the fungus really is, whether it kills its host, what its range is, and whether it’s declining.

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Cover story Data are vital for assessing fungal threat status, but little funding is currently being channelled into research in New Zealand. There are only a handful of fungal experts (mycologists) working in the country, and there is no committed succession plan to replace retiring mycologists.

The Department of Conservation, which manages New Zealand’s threat classification process, doesn’t currently employ a specialist fungal expert. Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, keeper of the nation’s fungal collection, relies on the unpaid services of two retired mycologists to bolster its small specialist team.

A national threat assessment of New Zealand’s fungi was first carried out in 2002 and revised in 2011, but another revision is long overdue.

Lack of funding for fungal taxonomy and conservation and an apparent government disinterest in the threats they face means our rarest fungi are not receiving the urgent action required to describe them, understand their roles, or protect their habitats.

But there is hope.

BAROMETER OF LIFE In 2011, a small group of mycologists from around the world decided to raise awareness that some fungi, like all other groups of life, are threatened with extinction because of the same factors that affect the survival of animals and plants. These threats include climate change, habitat loss, invasive alien predation, and pollution.

This led the IUCN to launch the Global Fungal Red List Initiative, with the aim of significantly boosting the number of species listed.

Dr Anders Dahlberg, from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, helped put together the protocols for developing Red List fungal assessments. He is one of the international experts who have come to Melbourne to help Australasian scientists work their way through the complex process of assessing local fungal species.

Some of the world’s leading mycologists helped local scientists add 70 new Australasian species to the Red List. From left, Dr Tom May, Dr Anders Dahlberg, and Dr Greg Mueller during a field trip to a native forest near Melbourne looking for some of Australia’s rarest fungi. Photo: Peter Buchanan

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Photo: Noah Siegel New Zealand’s best-known mushroom is arguably the bright blue Entoloma hochstetteri, which is also on our $50 bank note.

Anders stresses the importance of experts and citizen scientists working together to record fungi in the wild to help gather vital data about rare species.

“Your life will be richer if you fall in love with fungi,” he tells the audience at a public seminar about fungi conservation held during the Melbourne workshop.

“Keep your eyes down, look down at the ground, who knows what you might find?”

He talks about the secret life of fungi, how many of them are hidden from view, and therefore how scientists have to become detectives sifting through different sources of information to assess their threat level, including scientific studies and field research.

Dr Greg Mueller, chief scientist at the Chicago Botanic Gardens, heads up the IUCN’s Mushroom, Bracket and Puffball Specialist Group.

He says it’s important to remind the public and policymakers about the importance of fungi to the natural world. Some are edible, some provide medicine, they recycle dead wood in the forest, they help plant roots absorb water and minerals, and they perform many other vital functions.

“In short, life on the planet as we know it wouldn’t exist without fungi,” he says.

“Determining which are declining or thriving is a crucial first step. Many funding and conservation organisations use the IUCN Red List to prioritise action.”

Greg says it’s also important to identify gaps in knowledge – as omission invites the mistaken conclusion that fungi are not threatened or mycologists don’t care about them.

One of Australia’s most threatened fungi Hypocreopsis amplectens or teatree fingers. Photo: Peter Buchanan

Dr Giuliana Furci heads up the Fundacion Fungi, in Chile, which is the only e-NGO in the world dedicated solely to fungi.

She explains how in 2012 the Chilean government passed legislation that means there must be a fungal baseline study carried out for every major infrastructure development in the country. This created a much-needed community of fungal expertise from a base of zero.

“Until a few years ago, Chile didn’t even have a fungal field guide. It shows what you can do [in a short period of time]. We got the legislation first and then the mycologists and students came, there are jobs, and they are contributing to building this [protection] framework.”

As well as advocating for fungi, the Fundacion makes conservation fun. They work with artists, chefs, teachers, and actors to produce lots of communication tools, run a fungal fest, and sponsor a pop-up fungal museum that travels the country.

The lead workshop organiser and our host at Victoria Herbarium was Dr Tom May, a world-leading expert in mushrooms and an experienced fungal conservationist. He tells us about tea-tree fingers (Hypocreopsis amplectens), one of the most threatened fungi in Australia. It was discovered in Victoria in 1993 by a member of a local field naturalist club.

“If it was a bird, we’d be doing an active breeding programme,” says Tom. All the experts agreed that the IUCN Red List is a good starting point for saving a species.

But first each has to be put through a stringent assessment process that considers a prescribed list of data categories. This includes population size, fragmentation, generation length, decline over 10 years, whether it’s continuing to decline, species range, location, and the threats it faces.

Claustula fischeri (Fischer’s egg) pictured left, Lactarius novae-zelandiae, and Boletopsis nothofagi are the only New Zealand fungi currently on the Red List. It doesn’t give them legal protection but helps guide conservation decisions. For example, Nelson City Council moved a planned mountain bike trail to avoid a known population of Fischer’s egg.

The assessors sit together working from data entered earlier before the workshop and synthesising that data onto an IUCN database projected onto the screen above them. After sometimes lengthy discussions, and testing of assumptions, the assessors will agree a threat status: data deficient, least concern, near threatened, vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered, extinct in the wild, and extinct.

Ileodictyon cibarium (basket fungi) is one of many fungi endemic to New Zealand. Photo: Bernard Spragg

The data and threat recommendations uploaded in Melbourne will be formally ratified by IUCN experts and species officially added to the Red List, hopefully by the end of this year.

One of the reasons fungi are massively underrepresented on the Red List is that you need to have good data about them, says Janet Scott, who works for the IUCN, in Cambridge, UK. “Until recently, that was not possible. But changes in technology and the rise of citizen science websites are helping,” she said.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT FUNGI Dr Jerry Cooper, who is based at Landcare Research’s Lincoln office, is a rare breed in Aotearoa, the only professional mushroom specialist in New Zealand and one of the few scientists actively engaged in taxonomic research and DNA sequencing of our mushrooms.

Jerry submitted many of the 40 New Zealand species for consideration during the Melbourne fungal workshop.

He relies on sharp-eyed citizen scientists for sightings of mushrooms in the wild. As a volunteer on the iNaturalist website, Jerry has identified 25,000 observations, including some exciting discoveries of new and rare species.

Why does he think fungi are unloved in New Zealand?

“One of the reasons is that we don’t have many edible species, so people aren’t going out there and looking for mushrooms. And the fungi we do have aren’t properly studied, so not a lot is known about them,” he says.

“It’s critical we get better quality information about what is out there. For example, there are about 2000 species of mushrooms that we have named, usually the more distinctive ones, and at least another 2000 yet to be named.

“That means, for most people, one out of every three fungal species they see in the wild doesn’t even have a name. This is not the same in other countries where foraging for mushrooms is more popular – for example, in Europe.”

Jerry and Peter are currently working on an illustrated field guide to help amateur fungal enthusiasts identify any mushrooms and other fungi they find.

He urges people to upload the location and photographs of any specimens they find to www. inaturalist.nz so they can be identified.

n The Australasian Fungal Red List Workshop was sponsored by the IUCN, the Mohamed bin Zayed Conservation Fund, the National Herbarium of Victoria & Melbourne Botanic Gardens, and Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research.

Forest & Bird

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Restoring nature

A feral cat on Auckland Island is captured so it can be fitted with a GPS collar.

Photo: Paul Jacques

CAT AMONG THE PRIONS Ground-breaking cat research is taking place on Maukahuka, New Zealand’s fifth largest island, with startling results, as Rose Hanley-Nickolls explains.

Deep in the heart of the Southern Ocean lies Maukahuka or Auckland Island. The windward side of the island is characterised by cliffs racing up to 400m, the leeward by long inlets and ancient rātā forest. This is a place of landings from sea and air, both intentional and accidental.

Polynesians first arrived in the archipelago in the 13th century. Famed ancient Māori explorer Tama Rereti passed by while hunting the aurora. From 1842 to 1856, Ngāti Mutunga from the Chathams lived at Ranui on Maukahuka The British settlement of Hardwicke, founded in December 1849, lasted less than three years.

Nineteenth century merchants took advantage of the southern trade winds, and many ships sank in the archipelago. It is with these shipwrecks our story begins.

Released by Captain Bristow in 1807 as a food source, pigs are Auckland Island’s most infamous inhabitants.

Their impact on the island’s native wildlife quickly became apparent with their depredations on burrowing petrel colonies observed by 1874.

Pigs were not the only imports, with everything from

One cat called “Saddam Pussein” walked for two days to get to a seabird breeding colony at the start of the season. This map tracks his sudden trip to the Western Cliffs to find a tasty dinner. Image: DOC

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horses to dogs introduced. Following the eradication of goats in 1989, the last animal pests standing were pigs, mice, and cats. DOC’s ambitious Maukahuka: Pest-Free Auckland Island project aims to remove all three invasive aliens from the island.

Cats had arrived with settlers by 1840. In combination with pigs, cats devastated ground-nesting seabirds and land birds like endemic teal, rail, snipe, and dotterel.

Over the following 180 years, whole colonies of small and medium seabirds were lost to cats.

The “Coastwatchers” of the WWII Cape Expedition [New Zealand scientists stationed on remote Pacific islands during the war] tamed feral cats to give them company on their lonely watches. The Ranui station cats killed 60 Antarctic prions over three months in 1942.

This taste for prions was remarked upon by Brian Bell in 1962 on finding that prions were confined to cliff faces on Crozier Point, with “any bird landing … falling an immediate prey to the feral cats”. Few prions remain on Auckland Island, and cats are still killing prospecting birds.

In 2016, the Department of Conservation, following the successful removal of mice from Antipodes Island, decided the time was ripe to investigate restoring Maukahuka and making it pest free.

This is the last island where mammalian predators remain in New Zealand’s World Heritage-listed subAntarctic region. This would be the largest mouse eradication in the world and the first landscape-scale cat and pig eradication attempted in New Zealand.

For pigs and mice, there are tried and tested eradication methods – the challenge of Auckland Island lies in the scale and logistics. We know what to do. We just have to work out how.

But with cats it’s another story. Knowledge is patchy at best. What do they eat? How many are there? In an eradication, you need to know where the animals are, how to dispatch them, and when you have got the last one.

Knowledge is power, and the project is working with teams of researchers to answer these questions.

Auckland Island teal.

Photo: Rachel Sagar

Last summer, rangers fitted GPS collars to 20 cats on the island. The collars upload the cats’ location to satellites, allowing almost real-time tracking. The results are startling.

One male is roaming 7000ha of tussocky tops, while a small female stays in a 130ha patch of rātā forest. Another male dubbed “Saddam Pussein” was happily roaming the Ranui peninsula until one day in February he headed straight for the Western Cliffs. No random wander this but a determined and directional two-day journey driven by … what? Perhaps the hatching of Antarctic prions known to be so appealing a meal for the island cats. It’s clear the cats know the island and how to use it.

Trail cameras can help direct control efforts, but can they spot the last cat standing? Running a grid of cameras in conjunction with the GPS collars showed only a few cameras are needed in a cat’s territory to snap it. But to analyse photos from an island-wide network would take a year of human effort for every month of monitoring.

Finding ways to remove cats from Auckland Island will help many bird species thrive. Looking towards Ranui. Photo: Stephen Horn

The project is turning to citizen scientists to handle the reams of photo data. We are currently uploading images to the Zooniverse website to trial this approach – with multiple people checking each photograph, the chances of correctly identifying a cat will be greatly improved.

Companies in New Zealand and overseas are also developing technologies that can recognise cats and send reports back to base via a radio network. They are working on cameras that are triggered by body heat so no one has to trawl through 9000 photos of tussock blowing in the wind.

DNA analysis of cat scats found on Auckland Island will estimate the population size, showing how many cats the trappers and trail cameras missed. Scat samples are being flown to New York, where researchers will identify what each cat has eaten through DNA in their poo, further revealing their habits and habitats.

The standard approach to carrying out pest control on this scale is from the air, but there is no cat bait registered for aerial use in New Zealand. The Australians have one – a tasty yet toxic sausage – and scientists here are investigating possible baits, including the Aussie sausages.

Research on Auckland Island will look at how they stand up to sub-Antarctic conditions and whether the cats eat them.

TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGE If solutions to these challenges are found, and cats and pigs are eradicated from Maukahuka/Auckland Island, what will it mean? Removing introduced predators from this 46,000ha island would create a safe haven for many endemic species. For example, just west of Maukahuka lies tiny predator-free Disappointment Island, which is home to 96,864 pairs of white-capped albatross (95% of the world’s population). Being predator-free allows this species to flourish, in contrast to their fortunes on pest-infested Auckland Island, which supports just 4741 pairs.

The benefits will also wing their way across the oceans, providing momentum towards the government’s Predator Free 2050 goal. Finding the key to removing cats from Auckland Island unlocks the potential for other ambitious projects like Predator-free Rakiura and Te Manahuna Aoraki.

Advances in conservation technology could be applied to other large islands, creating a pest-free sub-Antarctic of global significance.

DOC’s Maukahuka: Pest-Free Auckland Island project is a 10-year $60 million initiative that relies on funding from government and philanthropic organisations. It could be the proving ground for a transformative change in conservation. We just need to throw our best minds at it.

To find out more and watch DOC’s incredible video about the island, see www.doc.govt.nz/maukahuka. If you’d like to get in touch, email maukahuka@doc.govt.nz.

Forest & Bird

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No new mines

RARE MOTH MINING RISK

Photo: Brian Patrick

No new mines should be allowed on the Denniston Plateau where the incredibly rare “Avatar” moth makes its home. By Lynley Hargreaves.

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new species of day-flying moth discovered during Forest & Bird’s Denniston “bioblitz” seven years ago is at high risk from new mining activities planned in the area.

Arctesthes avatar, an incredibly rare and special moth found only in New Zealand, has just been formally described and listed as “nationally critical”.

A single specimen was discovered in a small area on the West Coast’s Denniston Plateau in 2012. Since then, it has been found in wetlands at nearby Mt Rochfort but is still extremely localised and confined to sites on the edges of a coal-mining area.

“This is one of the reasons it’s so urgent that the government fulfils its promise to end mining on conservation land,” says Debs Martin, Forest & Bird’s top of the south regional manager.

“As stewardship land, Denniston Plateau has the lowest possible protection, but all the science points to it being an incredibly ecologically important area.”

In May 2019, the Avatar moth was described in a scientific paper that concludes: “A. avatar is only known from a few wetlands in a restricted area of north-west Nelson ... [this species is] considered of very high priority for conservation.”

Co-author entomologist Brian Patrick, who discovered the species while taking part in Forest & Bird’s bioblitz, remembers spotting a single moth flying on a windy day in March 2012.

“We’re on the edge of a wetland, about 670m above the sea, and the breeze was keeping it away from my net.

But my son came along – he’s more agile – and caught it,” says Brian.

“I was pretty excited.

It was obvious to me this was a new species.”

The male moth was the only specimen caught on that trip. But two years later, Patrick made two more visits and netted 10 others, which became the Arctesthes avatar is listed as basis for describing the nationally critical. Photo: Birgit Rhodes/Landcare Research new species.

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This highly specialised landscape would be irreversibly damaged by more mining.

The Avatar moth’s risk from mining means it has been given a high extinction threat ranking of “nationally critical” by the Department of Conservation in its 2017 listing of Threatened Lepidoptera.

Forest & Bird campaigned to save Denniston Plateau when mining giant Bathurst Resources unveiled plans to open the Escarpment mine on the plateau.

While our campaign secured some important mitigations, it failed to stop the mine from going ahead.

The company dug the opencast pit, then mothballed the whole thing a couple of years later because coal prices dropped.

However, the threat has not gone away. In 2017, Bathurst Resources partnered with Talley’s group to buy ex-state coal miner Solid Energy, which ran the neighbouring Stockton Mine. Bathurst plans to combine its assets to allow widespread opencast mining right across the Stockton and Denniston plateaux. Last year, the company carried out new drilling on Denniston.

“This highly specialised landscape would be irreversibly damaged by more mining,” adds Debs Martin.

“It is home to many nationally endangered birds and an incredible range of endemism. That is why we’re still finding and describing new species such as the Avatar moth.”

The Avatar moth is one of New Zealand’s 86 colourful day-flying moths in the family Geometridae.

After its discovery, Forest & Bird ran a public Entomologist Brian Patrick competition to name the discovered the "Avatar" moth on the new species. The winner Denniston Plateau. Photo: Supplied was “Avatar”, named after the title of the movie by James Cameron about a human mining company destroying endemic species on an alien moon.

Kiwi Conservation Club

Snail tales Young conservationist Madison Macmillan goes on the trail of the kauri snail.

When she is not writing children’s books, new Kiwi Conservation Club member Madison Macmillan, 8, loves nature and helping out on her family’s Northland farm.

Here she is with two pupurangi/kauri snails that she found in her backyard.

Throughout winter, and particularly after heavy rain, these giant northern land snails end up washed onto a track that goes through a mānuka block at the back of the Macmillans’ farm.

“We pick up the live specimens and place them in fenced-off native gullies around the farm to help give them a chance to breed in other areas. There is healthy population out the back of the farm,” says dad Steve Macmillan.

The 270ha farm at Pipiwai has mānuka and native bush. It is also home to fernbirds and native orchids, and the family has found freshwater crabs and mussels in the Mangaroa Stream.

Madison’s granny signed her up to KCC, and the pair enjoy going for bush walks together to identify birds and native plants, adds Steve.

“A love of nature runs through the generations. My parents’ links to Forest & Bird go back 50 years,” adds Steve.

Madison wrote her first illustrated children’s book The Good Baby and the Bad Hippo when she was seven. It encourages youngsters to be truthful and kind. Following her own advice, Madison gave a proportion of the book’s sales ($750) to the Northland Rescue Helicopter last year.

She is currently writing her fourth book.

Once widespread throughout Northland, the kauri snail (Paryphanta spp) is the largest of New Zealand’s precious endemic land snails but now has a limited distribution in the region. It has to contend with habitat destruction and predation by introduced mammals, especially rats and pigs.

It’s clear kauri snails need more New Zealanders to love them. Perhaps Madison can include pupurangi in her next children’s book! n There are lots of wonderful nature activities on KCC’s website, and you can also join online – see www.kcc.org.nz.

Specialists in Nature Tours since 1986 8 Day Accommodated Lord Howe Island

Lord Howe to Lord Howe 2nd November – 9th November 2019.

Experience on of the worlds most fascinating natural history destinations. The island’s many and varied walks plus the the Balls Pyramid boat trip just add to the enjoyment.

15 Day Accommodated New Zealand South Island Wildlife & Wilderness Expedition

Queenstown to Queenstown 21st February – 6th March 2020.

Discover the natural history of the breathtakingly beautiful lower South Island’s mountains, glaciers, temperate rainforests and little visited coastal areas. Highlights include the Caitlins Coast and Otago Peninsular, Stewart Island and Mt Cook National Park.

18 Day Accommodated Bhutan – The Last Shangri-La Tour (NEW ITINERARY) Bangkok to Bangkok 12th April – 29th April 2020.

Discover the natural richness of this eastern Himalayan region as we take you through the prime botanical and wildlife sites in Bhutan. A country that few have visited, Bhutan is one of the last strongholds of Tibetan Buddhism, and its peaceful and fun-loving people are proud and elegant, with a timeless culture and dress.

A highlight of the tour will be a visit to the magnificent Taktsang Monastery (Tiger’s Nest) near Paro.

13 Day Accommodated Pilbara Reef & Ranges Expedition (NEWLY ACCOMMODATED)

Perth to Newman 8th May – 20th May 2020.

Head north of Perth for sea birding colonies on coral islands, marine life, coral reefs and Karijini’s gorges. Highlights include the Abrolhos Islands, Shark Bay, Ningaloo Reef and Karijini National Park. *Second tour: 14 Day Easy Camping Pilbara Reef & Ranges Expedition Perth to Broome, 27th May – 9th June 2020 .

12 Day Camping Central Australian Expedition (NEW TOUR)

Alice Springs to Alice Springs 6th June – 17th June 2020. Max of 16 passengers.

Join us as we explore many Northern Territory and South Australian desert highlights and gorges.

Highlights include Mac Clark Conservation Reserve, Dalhousie Springs, Finke Gorge National Park, Palm Valley, West MacDonnell Ranges and Glen Helen.

15 Day Easy Camping Kimberley Discovery (EASY CAMPING TOUR*)

Broome to Broome 20th June – 4th July 2020 Enjoy a wonderful outback experience as we discover the Kimberley’s wildlife, spectacular outback scenery, and many wonderful refreshing waterholes. We explore Purnululu N.P., Windjana Gorge, Parrys Lagoon Nature Reserve and Home Valley and Mornington Stations.

*Easy Camping Returns in 2020 A Coates’ support crew will travel ahead and have your camp set up when you arrive.

No more erecting tents, stretcher beds or packing and un-packing camping equipment. This will all be done for you. Just pick up your bag and either spend time exploring the campsite or freshen up and relax before dinner.

Contact us for our full 2020 tour program • Free Call: 1800 676 016 • Web: www.coateswildlifetours.com.au • Email: coates@iinet.net.au

Climate Scientists say there has been a 25% increase in acidity in New Zealand waters since the industrial revolution. Trevally.

Photo: Darryl Torckler

ACID TEST Forest & Bird has published a report on ocean acidification and its impacts for New Zealand. By David Brooks.

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he increasing acidity of our oceans is imperilling its fish, shellfish, and corals, and ultimately the industries that rely on our rich and diverse marine life, yet this very real threat is rarely talked about in the media or by government.

This is one reason why Forest & Bird has interviewed marine and climate experts across Aotearoa about the issue. We have compiled the latest global and local research into a report called Ocean Acidification – Implications for New Zealand.

Our report sets out what we already know about the impacts of ocean acidification and crucially what we still need to find out about the risks it poses. The report includes 15 key recommendations for government, local councils, and the fishing industry.

Ocean acidification has been called “the other CO2 problem”, but only in the past decade has it started to gain attention internationally as a major issue related to the growth of CO2 emissions. Even now, public awareness about its risks to the world’s marine environment and the

Pteropod with ragged shell edges caused by acidification. Photo: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

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industries that rely on it is relatively low.

Rapid changes in ocean chemistry as a result of man-made CO2 emissions are unparalleled in the past 300 million years. Already, the oceans are more than a quarter more acidic than they were before the industrial revolution. If we carry on burning more fossil fuels at the current rate, the acidity of our seas will more than double by the end of this century.

We are only just starting to learn what the consequences of this change could be. We know shellfish, coral, and other calcifying species are likely to be threatened by increased acidity, but many other species may also struggle to adapt. We don’t know how the complex food chains and ecosystems of the oceans will be affected.

All this is of vital importance to New Zealand. We have rich and diverse marine environments, and important fishing and aquaculture industries. Our culture and many forms of recreation are also tied to the sea.

Forest & Bird’s strategic climate advisor Geoff Keey says he hopes the report will focus New Zealanders’ minds on the need to address ocean acidification and cut carbon dioxide emissions.

“It’s clear that ocean acidification is already happening in New Zealand waters and is likely to lead to significant impacts.

“We want to highlight these impacts and make people aware of the urgent need to gain a better understanding of the risks we face if we fail to act to stop ocean acidification.

“We also hope this report will underline the crucial importance of taking urgent steps to cut carbon dioxide emissions to safeguard the future for everyone.”

For the report, Forest & Bird conducted interviews with 10 New Zealand scientists to find out what we know about ocean acidification in our waters. They included NIWA experts Professor Cliff Law (lead scientist for New

If CO2 emissions continue to rise in a “business as usual” scenario, New Zealand waters are expected to be 116% more acidic than in pre-industrial times by the end of the century. This would be the fastest rate of change for millions of years.

Zealand’s Ocean-Climate Interaction programme), Dr Vonda Cummings (benthic ecology, Antarctic ecology, and molluscs), Dr Wendy Nelson (macro-algae and seaweeds), Dr Darren Parsons (fish ecology), Dr Kim Currie (coastal acidification monitoring), and Di Tracey (deep sea corals).

We also interviewed Dr Norman Ragg, of the Cawthron Institute (shellfish biology), Dr Miles Lamare, of Otago University (marine invertebrates and Antarctic biology), Dr Abby Smith, of Otago University (temperate carbonate sediments, bryozoans), and Dr Linn Hoffmann, Otago University (marine botany).

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN NEW ZEALAND WATERS? Since the industrial revolution, which began in the mid-18th century, the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation have caused levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in Earth’s atmosphere to rise from around 285 parts per million to more than 400 ppm. As CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have grown to levels never before seen in human history, the quantity absorbed by the world’s oceans has also risen.

About a third of all the CO2 released into the atmosphere as a result of human activities has been absorbed by the oceans. This has changed their chemical balance in a process known as ocean acidification. The average pH, which measures a solution’s acidity or alkalinity, of the oceans has fallen from 8.2 units to 8.1 since pre-industrial times. Because pH is measured on a logarithmic scale, like earthquakes, this represents an increase of 26% in acidity.

If CO2 emissions continue to rise in a “business as usual” scenario, the average pH level of New Zealand waters is projected to fall to 7.77 by the end of this century, a 116% increase in acidity since pre-industrial times. This would be the fastest rate of change for millions of years.

Associated with the fall in pH is a decline in calcium carbonate availability in the oceans. This is expected to

Ocean acidification affects the ability of shellfish and corals to maintain their shells and carbonate structures. Mussel farm.

Photo: Darryl Torckler

affect the ability of shellfish, corals, and other calcifying organisms to form and maintain their shells and carbonate structures.

Parts of the ocean – including most of our neighbouring Southern Ocean – are projected to be undersaturated in aragonite, the more soluble form of carbonate, by the end of this century. In undersaturated conditions, corals and molluscs will find it harder to maintain their aragonite shells and skeletons.

Effects on shellfish vary, but acidification may lead to damaged shells, a reduction in size because of the diversion of energy to shell-building, and higher death rates. Many shellfish are believed to be especially vulnerable as they transition from floating larvae to choosing a site to settle and build their first shell.

Studies have also shown the behaviour of some fish species is changed by increased acidification, through disruption of their sensory system. Some tropical species lost their wariness of predators and awareness of their surroundings when exposed to pH levels expected in the

Marine scientists (from left) Kim Currie, Cliff Law, Norman Ragg, and Miles Lamare were interviewed for Forest & Bird’s Ocean Acidification report.

Climate future. A small number of studies of temperate climate fish have sometimes shown similar sensory disruption as well as lower survival rates for larvae, although research in this area is at an early stage.

Professor Cliff Law, NIWA’s principal scientist and coordinator of the Coastal Acidification: Rate Impacts and Management (CARIM) programme, says there is an urgent need for more research into the impacts of ocean acidification in New Zealand’s waters.

“Determining the variation in pH around our coastline is important for establishing which areas are potentially most vulnerable, so we can develop management plans for these regions,” he says.

“We have insight into the effects of ocean acidification on some taonga species, such as kina, paua, green-lipped mussel, and snapper, but we need to broaden this to other shellfish species such as pipi, oysters, and crayfish.

“There is also little information on the impact of acidification at the top of marine food webs – for example, squid, seals, seabirds, whales, and dolphins.

“We also need to determine how acidification impacts are affected by interaction with other stressors, such as warming, pollution, and sedimentation.”

The world’s oceans and coastal waters are already changing as a result of rising CO2 levels, and some degree of further acidification and warming is inevitable because of the levels of CO2 and heat already in the oceans and atmosphere.

But those changes will be far more far-reaching and potentially devastating if we allow CO2 emissions to continue rising through this century. Forest & Bird’s report contains 15 recommendations to government, councils, and the fishing industry on actions they can take now to reduce ocean acidification. The best way for the country to reduce ocean acidification impacts is to meet the commitments of the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill.

It will take a massive shift, but it is possible. We all need to do our bit to cut CO2 emissions – central and local government, the commercial fishing industry, and individual New Zealanders.

Blue shark.

Photo: Darryl Torckler

RISING SEA TEMPERATURES Acidification is not the only climate-change-related disruption occurring in the oceans and coastal waters. Rising sea temperatures will also likely have a profound impact. Shifts towards the poles have already been recorded for some fish and plankton species. Other warming impacts will include changes to nutrient availability, currents, and weather patterns. Taken together with the impacts of acidification, these are expected to have far-reaching consequences for ecosystem communities and food webs – from phytoplankton through to predators, including marine mammals, sharks, and seabirds.

n You can find Forest & Bird's report at www.forestandbird.org.nz/oceanacidification.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

1

As individuals, we can reduce our carbon footprint and buy products that support sustainable fisheries and aquaculture.

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2

Encourage the government to do more ocean acidification research, monitoring, and forecasting.

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3

Support initiatives that reduce carbon emissions.

4

Protect vulnerable communities, including those in the Pacific Islands, that depend on reefs for protection and seafood for protein.

5

The Ocean Acidification – Implications for New Zealand report is available on Forest & Bird’s website.

Please share it widely.

FIVE WAYS THE MINISTERS CAN SAVE OUR SEAS 1. TO THE MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE Amend the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill to include ocean acidification in all governmental risk assessment and planning for climate change-related adaptation.

on climate change that addresses ocean acidification and includes policies relating to CO2 emissions, activities that exacerbate ocean acidification (such as mangrove clearance), and activities that promote resilience in the face of unavoidable acidification.

2. TO THE MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT Reform the Resource Management Act to include safeguarding the climate and minimising ocean acidification as matters of national importance and ensure CO2 emissions are expressly required to be taken into account in resource management decision-making.

Prepare a national policy statement

3. TO THE MINISTER OF FISHERIES Reform the Fisheries Act to adopt ecosystem-based fisheries management that takes into account the risks posed by ocean acidification.

Support new Marine Protected Areas legislation that has a clear goal of fully protecting (no take) 30% of each bioregion within New Zealand’s

territorial sea and New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone in a meaningful and representative way that builds ocean resilience.

4. TO THE MINISTER OF CONSERVATION Advocate for and protect biodiversity that helps mitigate the impacts of ocean acidification, such as coastal mangrove and kelp forests, coastal wetlands, and seagrass beds.

5. TO THE MINISTER OF RESEARCH, SCIENCE AND INNOVATION Fund a comprehensive programme of research into the likely impacts and implications of acidification and warming, and ways of addressing those impacts.

LEAVING A CLIMATE LEGACY Forest & Bird’s Ocean Acidification report was funded thanks to a generous donation from Alison Maloney, of Waikanae. Her gift was prompted by an article in Forest & Bird magazine about the Society’s desire to research and publish a major report highlighting the risks of ocean acidification to New Zealand’s marine environment. Sadly, Alison died last year, but her generous legacy lives on.

Ocean acidification reduces the amount of calcium carbonate available in the water for paua to extract and use to make their shells. Photo: Paua research. NIWA/Dave Allen

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Predator-free 2050

FORGOTTEN

PESTS They may look cute, but these invasive aliens are rapidly spreading across New Zealand and threatening rare alpine ecosystems. By Rose Davis.

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allabies could spread over a third of New Zealand within the next 50 years unless control is increased dramatically.

These elusive “forgotten pests” eat native trees and ferns in the undergrowth in forests and compete with native wildlife for food. They also damage tall tussock grasslands, leaving bare ground and increasing soil erosion.

The two wallaby species found in mainland New Zealand, dama and Bennett’s, were introduced from Australia, in much the same way as possums.

Despite efforts by regional councils to control them, they are expanding

their range and have recently been sighted in fresh territories in Auckland, Northland, Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, Wellington, Marlborough, Southland, and the West Coast.

Forest & Bird central North Island regional manager Rebecca Stirnemann says the government urgently needs to fund wallaby eradication, before numbers get out of control.

She recently headed into the bush near Rotorua to see for herself the scale of the problem.

“We drove to Lake Tarawera Scenic Reserve, where locals told us the small grey dama wallaby was prolific. We saw lots of wallabies, in mobs of four or five, grazing silently,

Small but deadly to native plants, the dama wallaby is spreading fast in the North Island. Photo: Rebecca Stirnemann

their eyes reflecting off our torches.

By morning, they were gone, hidden in the forest.

“You could see their grazing was forming clearings, opening up the understorey of the native forest. My botanist friend noticed the plant diversity was low – seedlings that would otherwise have become future trees in a regenerating forest had been nibbled away.

“Indeed, research shows a 57% loss of diversity in these forests because of introduced dama wallaby.”

Populations of wallabies in the Rotorua Lakes region have been established since the early 1900s.

They can move long distances quickly and have just started spreading into the Waikato for the first time.

They pose a terrible risk to native forests in Te Urewera and the Kaimai ranges, which they are edging closer to as they expand in numbers.

“If they get established in those beautiful, mature forests, the consequences would be disastrous,” Rebecca added.

WALLABIES IN THE HIGH COUNTRY

Current and future predicted distributions of Bennett’s and dama wallabies in mainland New Zealand. Source: MPI Technical Paper No: 2016/15 (David Latham, Cecilia Latham and Bruce Warburton, Landcare Research).

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Wallabies also pose a serious threat to Aoraki Mount Cook and the fragile Mackenzie Basin.

Hundreds of thousands of Bennett’s wallabies are believed to live in a 900,000ha “containment

area” in South Canterbury, according to Environment Canterbury.

They are quickly spreading from the containment area, which is bordered by the Waitaki River, Lake Tekapo, and the Rangitata River, into the mountains. They have also spread to Banks Peninsula and Mount Oxford, in Canterbury.

“Wallabies are moving into the upper Waitaki and Mackenzie Basin.

They’re grazers, so they pose a serious threat to rare alpine plants and forest fungi,” says Forest & Bird Canterbury regional manager Nicky Snoyink.

“They hinder the regeneration of native bush and could cause a huge amount of damage to our unique alpine environments.”

Bennett’s wallaby weigh up to 18kg and eat six times more than a rabbit.

They have a grey coat with a reddish colour.

“Forest & Bird members have been concerned for many years about the increase in numbers in South Canterbury and the rate of spread, especially south of the Waitaki into North Otago,” adds Nicky.

“Once established in alpine areas, they will be difficult to eradicate.”

The government provided funding for wallaby control in South Canterbury until 1992, when farmers in the containment area were handed responsibility for controlling the pests.

Since then, wallaby numbers have escalated and containment has not been successful.

Bennett’s wallabies pose a threat to rare alpine plants. Photo: Flickr.com/CC

WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN? Forest & Bird wants the government and councils to properly fund wallaby control, before the pest reaches plague proportions. Effective control would cost $7.4 million a year for 10 years.

The government spent just $60,000 for wallaby control in the 2017/18 financial year. Local government put in $1.2 million, and private landowners $120,000.

Agencies responsible for pest control have not allocated enough resources to controlling wallabies, leaving their populations to increase exponentially, says Rebecca Stirnemann.

“All the attention and money is focused on predators such as possums, rats, and mustelids, so wallabies are the forgotten pest,” she says.

Farms and forestry will also suffer if wallaby populations explode, because they eat large amounts of pasture grass and young pine trees.

The impact of wallabies is $28 million a year in economic losses. This could rise to $84 million a year in a decade, according to MPI.

Forest & Bird History Project Clark Hut at Haast Pass circa 1940.

Photo: Thelma Kent

HISTORICAL TREASURES Forest & Bird has teamed up with the National Library of New Zealand to make our oldest journals freely available on Papers Past. By Casey Spearin.

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hanks to a generous partnership with the National Library of New Zealand/Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, we are delighted to announce the earliest of Forest & Bird’s popular magazine will be published online as part of our 100th anniversary history project.

The first issues from 1924 to 1945, spanning the period before the Great Depression to the end of World War II, will be available on Papers Past later this year.

From its fledgling years nearly a century ago, the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society matured into one of Aotearoa’s leading voices for conservation. Its magazine is New Zealand’s oldest continuously published record of environmental and social history.

A full set of the past 96 years is held at Forest & Bird’s Wellington office, but they aren’t ditigised or properly indexed. Some hard copies are available on request from the National Library, but researchers have to visit in person to view them.

“We realised we were guardians of an incredibly valuable resource spanning nearly 100 years of New Zealand’s conservation history, but few people knew the journals existed or were able to access them. Finding information about specific individuals, places, or species was also difficult without a searchable database,” says Forest & Bird’s editor Caroline Wood.

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“Working with the National Library means we can digitise the oldest magazines on the Papers Past website, making them searchable online, and the content will be freely usable under a creative commons licence. It will also secure these fragile historic documents for the future.”

Originally titled Birds, the magazine focused on New Zealand’s native forests and bird life, and educating adults and children in the importance of conserving them. Over time, the Society evolved into a powerful political force that also advocated for strong environmental legislation, ocean protection, freshwater, and the climate.

The National Library identified Forest & Bird’s journal as being a priority publication to add to Papers Past, and we’ve been fortunate to have the expertise of its digitisation advisor Melanie Lovell-Smith to guide us through the copyright clearance process (see right).

“This is an exciting project that will make it easy for researchers and the public to search this early publication, and it will increase the amount of scientific and conservation material that New Zealanders can freely access,” says Bill Macnaught, National Librarian.

“We expect these records to be a valuable resource for researchers, students, and the public alike as they explore New Zealand’s rich history of environmental conservation.”

Forest & Bird was founded in 1923 by the late Captain

Val Sanderson at the suggestion of former prime minister Sir Thomas Mackenzie.

“Our journal has been a voice for nature for nearly a century. Our foundation members understood the power of publicity – using words, images, and storytelling – to make the public aware of Aotearoa’s rapidly disappearing native forests and birds,” says chief executive Kevin Hague.

“While they weren’t able to save everything, New Zealand’s environment would be in a far worse position without their efforts. They stand as eye witnesses to tipping points in history, and we hope this project will help shed light on their passion and achievements.

“We are immensely grateful to the National Library for recognising the value of these early publications and for their assistance in making their digitisation a reality.”

Poetry was a frequent staple of the early magazines, and painter Lily Daff’s beautiful illustrations graced the covers for many years. They also featured liberal use of extracts from books and scientific papers from all over the world.

Over the Society’s first 20 years, the journal’s pages record the efforts of New Zealand’s past conservation heroes who fought steadily against acclimatisation societies, the perils of deer and other introduced predators, forest logging, and the destruction of nature all over the country.

As Kevin Hague said, when closing this year’s Courageous Conservation conference, we can scarcely imagine what the state of nature would be like in New Zealand without their years of dedication. *Papers Past is a goldmine of information, with millions of pages of digitised historical content from all over New Zealand. See https://natlib.govt.nz/collections/a-z/ papers-past.

Pages from the past: soldier’s death, May 1941 (top), children’s petition, August 1939 (left) and friendship with birds, November 1940.

How can you help?

We are now working on phase 2 of the project, digitising magazines from 1946 to the mid-1970s. Forest & Bird needs to cover the scanning and digitising costs, and, funds permitting, we’d like to employ university students to help us with copyright approvals over the summer. We’d love to hear from anyone interested in making a donation to this legacy project. Please contact Caroline Wood at c.wood@forestandbird.org.nz.

TRACKING CONSERVATION ALLIES ACROSS THE GLOBE It took many months of painstaking detective work to clear the copyright on the early journals so they could be digitised.

A big thank you to student volunteers Casey Spearin and Madeline Schwass, who had to identify the authors of every photograph, poem, article, extract, and illustration from the first 22 years of magazines.

For every work still in copyright, they tracked down the author, or their descendents, and sought written permission from the copyright holder to digitise their work on Papers Past. Luckily, everyone contacted was happy to say “Yes!” “I’m sure he would be tickled pink!” said the greatgrandson of the English poet and novelist John Masefield, who was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1930 until 1967.

“We are pleased that (Uncle) John’s information is still of value, and proud of his pioneering work”, said the family of American John L. Blackford, whose article about the trumpeter swan was republished in the journal after originally appearing in Nature magazine.

It’s clear that early Forest & Bird members connected with conservation allies fighting to protect nature all over the world. This included the Royal Society for the

Protection of Birds in the UK, and the National Audubon Society, “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society, and Harvard and Cornell universities in the US. “Forest & Bird’s work has been influenced by conservation thinkers worldwide since its inception. Writers such as Julian Huxley and John Masefield appear alongside our many local conservation heroes, such as Perrine Moncrieff and Lancelot McCaskill,” says Casey, who is studying for a Science in Society masters degree at Victoria University.

“Conservation has been an inter-generational practice for many Forest & Bird supporters. Some families have been members since 1923, and we sincerely enjoyed making contact Cartoon by Marmaduke Matthews, with their descendents.” published November 1939.

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Citizen science

BIRD ATLAS NEEDS YOU! Help record birds for the New Zealand Bird Atlas, a ground-breaking national conservation initiative. By Patrick Crowe and Mike Bell.

Birds New Zealand is embarking on the country’s largest ever citizen-science project to map the distribution and abundance of New Zealand birds.

The New Zealand Bird Atlas 2019– 2024 is an ambitious five-year initiative to map the country’s unique birdlife.

This exciting project will become the go-to authority on the state of New Zealand birds and is the first such attempt for more than 20 years.

The country has been broken down into 10x10km grid squares, with a total of 3229 grid squares covering the whole of New Zealand and its outlying islands (including Stewart Island, Chatham Islands, Kermadec Islands, and the subAntarctic Islands).

The aim is for each grid square to be surveyed at least once during each of the four seasons. Within each grid square, we will attempt to visit all major habitat types present, and collect at least one complete bird species checklist for each habitat The biggest difference between the current Bird Atlas and its predecessors is the transition from paper to electronic records, with the use of eBird (ebird.org/atlasnz/) as the primary recording platform.

Species recorded in first three months of the Bird Atlas project.

Records can be submitted online through the website, or the eBird app can be downloaded and checklists can be recorded and submitted in the field on your smartphone.

One of the greatest benefits of entering checklists directly into an online data platform is that they are uploaded in real-time. This allows all observers to get continuous updates of survey coverage and target specific grid squares or habitat types within grid squares that require more survey effort.

Banded dotterel/pohowera. Photo Nikki McArthur

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The New Zealand Bird Atlas has the potential to have a lasting, positive impact on bird conservation in New Zealand for decades to come.

We already have more than 300 people and groups contributing, but its success will ultimately depend on getting as many people as possible involved and recording bird checklists.

Anyone can take part, and we would like to encourage Forest & Bird members to help by contributing to the New Zealand Bird Atlas.

Please visit birdatlas.co.nz to get involved. Here you will find the Atlas Handbook, which has all the information you need to get started.

There are links to the eBird app, tutorial videos, and many more other resources to help you with contributing to the Atlas. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with us at nzbirdatlas@wmil.co.nz.

Seabirds

Little blue penguin.

Photo: Craig McKenzie

AN EYE FOR BLING The world’s plastic problem hits close to home at Forest & Bird’s Places for Penguins project.

Places for Penguins volunteers were shocked to find a lot of plastic rubbish washed up in Wellington’s Mahanga Bay while they were out checking little blue penguin nest boxes during July.

Early indicators this season showed that two nest boxes might have been occupied, so they were keen to see if they would find anyone home.

“Instead, when we arrived at the bay, we were disappointed to see that a lot of rubbish had washed up on the beach. The rubbish, which was all potentially hazardous for penguins, included fishing line, plastic packaging, and bottle tops,” says Karen Wood.

“To add to our dismay, in one nest box, the penguins obviously had an eye for bling and had decorated their home with shiny plastic foil rather than pieces of the local vegetation.”

After checking the nest boxes, Karen and her team performed a quick beach clean-up and soon collected the pile of rubbish shown in the photograph below.

Every piece of rubbish counts, so how do we get the public to care enough to dispose of their waste responsibly? Enter Places for Penguins committee member Mina Holder, who is racing to save the planet – dressed as a plastic bottle!

Mina is a long-distance runner, a teacher, and passionate about the environment. She is also massively motivated to cut single-use plastic out of her life.

“I help monitor little blue penguin nesting boxes along Wellington’s coastline and have been deeply saddened by how much plastic I have found both in and around their nests,” she says.

“The crazy thing about plastic is that it doesn’t really break down.

Instead, it ‘breaks up’ into tiny microplastics that enter the food chain at all levels.

“I have a deep love of marine life and recently read many stories of dead whales that have washed ashore that have up to 40kg of plastic inside their stomachs.”

Mina decided to run Wellington’s 62km “WUU2K” race dressed as a plastic bottle to open up some positive conversations during Plasticfree July.

She says the simplest way people can help is to always carry a bottle with them, making it a habit to refill it, rather than buying a new bottle.

“Bottles become an environmental problem minutes after they have been purchased, when the contents

have been consumed, and the plastic discarded.

“But they aren’t the only problem.

There are also single-use bags, cutlery, straws, cotton buds, microbeads, packaging, coffee cups, etc. The list goes on, plastic is everywhere.”

Mina says people need to take responsibility for the choices they make, but they don’t have to be perfect. In the words of zero waste chef Anne-Marie Bonneau: “We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly.”

If you see a giant plastic bottle running around Wellington, please go over and say hi to Mina. She’d love to talk to you. Or visit www. plasticfreejuly.org to get inspired.

Why not sign up to reduce your use of plastic?

Mina Holder is passionate about reducing plastic waste.

n Places for Penguins is a Wellington Forest & Bird branch project based on the capital’s South Coast.

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Branch project

NAPIER’S NEW WETLAND

Forest & Bird volunteers have carried out planting at the existing Waitangi wetland for five years. A new wetland is being created nearby. Photo: Neil Eagles

Forest & Bird has helped create a new area of wetlands in Napier and hopes to encourage the community to better protect the Ahuriri estuary from stormwater pollution. By Neil Eagles.

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he new wetland being created at the Waitangi Regional Park in Napier is aimed at providing another haven for fish and birdlife, and increase the amount of habitat in an important whitebait spawning area.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council is establishing a 15ha wetland next to the existing 6ha Horseshoe Wetland that was created in the regional park in 2009. A third wetland, Waitangi, already exists on the seaward side beside the popular Celestial Compass artwork. This will give a choice of three wetland areas for our wildlife.

Volunteers from the Napier branch of Forest & Bird have been planting the existing wetlands over the past five years. We have also been involved in planning for the new wetland, which has been more than 15 years in the making.

The Waitangi estuary and three rivers create one of the most important ecosystems in Hawke’s Bay, and the area is considered a biodiversity hot spot.

A partnership approach is funding the construction of the new wetland in the flood plain of the Tutaekuri and Ngaruroro Rivers near the coast at Awatoto. The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council is managing the project, working with Te Wai Mauri Trust, Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Inc, and Napier Port.

Forest & Bird's Napier branch donated this bench overlooking Waitangi wetland. Pictured are David Belcher, Liz Carter, and Neil Eagles.

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Napier branch’s focus at this year’s local authority elections will be to push for a similar wetland to “polish” the stormwater that presently goes untreated into the Ahuriri wetland.

Improving mahinga kai (traditional food gathering sites) habitat for species such as tuna/eel, pātiki/flounder, and native whitebait species is another of the key outcomes of the project. The wetland will also provide a home for matuku-hūrepo/bittern and other endangered wetland and wading birds.

Construction works started in January 2019, with kaumātua clearing the way with a dawn karakia, alongside whānau, council, and key project partners including Forest & Bird. Two mauri stones were buried, one representing manu/birds and the other representing fish species.

A total of 3000 plants were planted in the area in June, with further plantings to come as the area is covered.

There are three new whitebait spawning areas in the development.

The new area is now being flooded, with a pump bringing water from the Ngaruroro River.

The Napier branch of Forest & Bird has supported this initiative for many years and is now calling on the Napier City Council to develop a similar wetland on the south side of the Ahuriri estuary.

Contaminated stormwater entering the estuary has been a concern for all Napier citizens for some time. Planning has started with the aim of creating a new wetland to “polish” all Napier stormwater to remove contaminants before the water enters the estuary. This would double as a cleansing resource and a haven for existing birdlife. n Neil Eagles is a former Napier branch chairperson.

Our people

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CONSERVATION WEEK Ellen Ozarka finds out about the origins of Conservation Week, which turns 50 this year.

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his September marks the 50th anniversary of Conservation Week, the nationwide celebration of conservation and volunteering. Every year, people roll up their sleeves, slip on a hi-vis, and pull on their gumboots to do their bit for conservation in New Zealand.

This includes community groups like Forest & Bird, our young conservationists, and many schools, who together put a lot of mahi into our environment. Whether it’s planting trees, setting pest traps, picking up rubbish on beaches, making art, or undertaking species counts, there’s certainly something for everyone to do. So, mark your calendars and get ready for Conservation Week 2019.

You’re invited!

WHAT: WHEN: WHERE:

Conservation Week 50th anniversary 14 –22 September 2019 Any place that is special to you and

your community NEED TO KNOW: See www.conservationweek.org.nz But what are the origins of this tradition? You might think it was started by the Department of Conservation, or even Forest & Bird, but it was the Scouts movement that got the ball rolling. In 1967, the head of Scouts New Zealand, Selwyn Field, had just returned from Idaho, USA, where he had seen how impactful it was for young people to take part in the maintenance of nature trails. He decided he’d try to get something similar going in New Zealand, and, two years later, Conservation Week was born.

The Scouts put a big emphasis on volunteering, youth education, and protecting the environment for future generations of kids. These values became the building

blocks of the Conservation Week we know today. But, in its infancy, Conservation Week also had a big focus on raising awareness about New Zealand’s amazing environment – some readers might remember seeing posters designed by famous New Zealand artists and cartoonists like Don Binney, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Nevile Lodge (pictured bottom left), and Murray Ball.

“It’s interesting to look at the posters to see how our attitudes to conservation have changed,” said DOC’s events advisor Kath Inwood.

“Even in the 60s, people used to see the world differently. Conservation at that time was more about planting trees because we realised that, if we kept cutting down the trees, there’d be none left.”

The Scouts brought a wide range of activities that went beyond tree plantings and broadened the idea of conservation from forestry management into nature conservation.

“Over time, the number of events and the level of involvement has grown, and that’s a reflection of the increase in awareness of the environment and how important it is,” said Kath.

“Awareness has also increased about the species that are endemic to New Zealand – that aren’t found anywhere else. Our native species are part of our identity, and we need to take action to save them.”

Conservation is still a focus for Scouts NZ, and this now includes climate change impacts on nature.

“Global climate issues are at the forefront for our young people, and, as a youth organisation, we consider it our duty to engage in the action towards curbing the effects of climate change,” said Scouts NZ chief executive Josh Tabor.

“Part of our core messaging as an organisation is to ‘think globally, act locally’, and, against the challenge of climate change, this is our local action.”

Conservation Week posters over the decades: Care for your Country by Nevile Lodge (National Conservation Week Committee) 1973, The Bush (Conservation Council) 1980, Living Places (DOC) 1993, and Show your Country You Love It (DOC) 2011.

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Climate

FOX RIVER CLEAN-UP How did it come to this?

Photographer Stuart Attwood volunteers for Operation Tidy Fox and is shocked by what he finds.

Photo: Stuart Attwood

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ooking up, I can see Fox Glacier/Te Moeka o Tuawe, Aoraki Mt Cook, and the Southern Alps/Kā Tiritiri o te Moana with white snowy tops glistening in the winter sunshine. It’s a heart-stopping view that makes what is happening here more unbelievable. Down at my feet is a toxic waste dump still full of rubbish more than three months after the devastating Fox River flood in late March.

When the scale of the rubbish released from the historic Fox Glacier landfill became clear, the local council washed its hands of the problem. This left the Department of Conservation to coordinate a clean-up operation, which is relying on volunteers and passing tourists to remove rubbish from one of the most iconic parts of the country and a World Heritage Area to boot.

But the politics of the clean-up operation was background noise to those of us gathered on a stunning July morning ready to start work on the banks of the Fox River. DOC utes carried the gear we needed. The scale of the mess, once we got to the area where we were working, was an utter shock to us newbies. The river bed looked to be about 1km wide, and rubbish was everywhere. This was just the visible stuff, with an unknown amount buried under rocks and river silt. At the time of our visit, just 25ha of the 1100ha site had been cleared, with 60 tonnes of removed rubbish sitting in piles, waiting to be transported out.

Volunteer numbers had been bolstered by the airing of a Sunday television story that exposed the scale of the ecological disaster, the ensuing nonchalant attitude of the Westland District Council, and the bickering about whose responsibility it was to clean up the estimated 5500 tonnes of rubbish strewn down the river. The nickname given to this tragedy by our volunteer group was “New Zealand’s Chernobyl”.

It took my friend and me a couple of days to get to Fox from Wellington, overnighting in Hokitika. The isolation of Fox is one of the difficulties being faced in getting the place tidied up. Fox township has a permanent population of only about 300 people. There’s also a transient population of tourists, who made up at least half of the volunteers out on the river bed.

Feed sacks in hand, high-visibility vests and gloves on, we got on with the job. The work was relatively easy (the oldest volunteer was 81!). I joined up with a group that was chatty with some great banter, but at other times I wandered off on my own filling up my bag. The sacks got fairly heavy, as the rubbish was mostly wet. We were finding all kinds of stuff, but the bulk of it was 30-year-old plastic that looked like it just came from the supermarket.

Much of it was very brittle and had to be pulled out from under boulders or unravelled from tree roots. I found it easiest to collect as many small bits as possible and then fill up my sack with bigger bottles. Empty out and repeat.

Some DOC staff had come in from other parts of the country and were coordinating the clean-up effort while also taking care of their regular duties. They provided “above and beyond” care for us volunteers and arranged great food for morning tea and lunch. DOC staff are passionate about their work, and I couldn’t rate them highly enough for their efforts during my time with Operation Tidy Fox.

News that the New Zealand Army was getting involved filtered through. It seems that there will be 70 pairs of boots on the ground, with vehicles and other support, for around a month. It’s clear it’s going to take some time and lots of pairs of hands to clean this up.

There is also a time constraint as access to Zone 1 (600ha) is through private property. The farmer has given permission to access the river bed until September when calving starts. Spring rains have the potential to move more rubbish to the coastline as well as re-open the landfill, which has been hastily patched up, sending more pollution downstream.

A team from Forest & Bird Youth travelled to Fox Glacier to help with the clean-up in August.

Finishing our first day, we were transported back to Fox for a well-earned shower. Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage greeted us back at headquarters, giving the volunteers a great boost. We went back to our accommodation to rest up before dinner (both provided

by DOC). The good folks at the Franz Josef hot pools were giving the volunteers free entry, so a few went off for a soak.

The second day was a repeat of the first. It didn’t feel overly long, and it was never boring because of the camaraderie within the team. There was always someone new to chat to as well as the nice sense of purpose that unites those who come together for a common cause.

We had to leave the next day to get back to real life.

I wish I was still there, as the more hands on this job the better. The effects will be evident for years to come. As I write this, unconfirmed reports are coming in that debris has been found as far north as Punakaiki (250km away).

The rubbish is also appearing in the Okarito lagoon, where kōtuku and more than 70 other bird species rest, breed, and feed. There are also seal colonies nearby and Hector’s dolphin territory offshore.

Helping out on the Fox was an incredibly sad yet uplifting experience. I made some great new friends who care about our country and the wellbeing of our environment. Maybe we could send those folks bemoaning the banning of plastic bags to spend a few days on this clean-up – it could be life changing?

For more information about the clean-up, which has now finished, see www.doc.govt.nz/operation-tidy-fox.

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Seabirds

MURDER AT SANDYMOUNT A single ferret killed all the sooty shearwater chicks at Forest & Bird’s Sandymount project, ruining months of predator control work. By Ellen Ozarka.

Graeme Loh with the body of one of the sooty shearwater chicks. Photo: Francesca Cunninghame

Sandymount is uniquely Otago – one of those wild, rugged, windswept places where iconic animals breed and feed – and yet only a 30-minute drive from the bustling city of Dunedin.

It’s a steep climb up to the Sandymount cliffs where various seabirds breed. The sooty shearwater/tītī is one of them, and they’re barely hanging on in the face of many threats, including land-based predators, being caught by commercial fishers as bycatch, and climate change.

Tītī, also known as muttonbirds, are astonishing creatures.

They spend most of their lives at sea, flying about 900km a day to their breeding grounds in the southern hemisphere, arriving in New Zealand in September. While here, they mate monogamously and lay just one egg. After the chicks hatch in mid-January and fledge in May, they’re amazingly able to find their way across the Pacific on their own, without

their parents showing them the way, flying north-east to enjoy the northern summer in the seas off California, Japan, and Korea.

Tītī’s conservation status is “at risk, in decline” and while there are several million in three countries worldwide, the numbers are trending downwards, enough to be raising red flags, says Francesca Cunninghame, Forest & Bird’s seabird projects manager, who is based in Dunedin.

“Most of the populations left in New Zealand are breeding on predator-free islands off southern Rakiura/ Stewart Island. We’ve been left with a tiny few remnant mainland colonies, and we are desperate to protect them.

Otago would once have supported millions and millions of these birds,” she explains.

The aim of Forest & Bird’s Bring Back the Seabirds Project is to enhance a few of the remnant tītī colonies to something larger and more stable. Sadly, it hasn’t been going too well. In the 2017/18 summer breeding season, no chicks fledged from Sandymount. During the 2018/19 season, Francesca and the team ramped up their efforts by increasing conservation dog monitoring to help identify active burrows and improving the camera set-up. Dillon and his handler Paul Gasson identified active burrows and cameras watched for uninvited visitors. Things were looking hopeful.

But on 22 April this year, when Forest & Bird Dunedin branch contractor and volunteer Graeme Loh was out checking traplines, he pulled out his laptop to check the camera data and made an alarming discovery – a ferret had predated all six of the monitored burrows.

“It was gruesome. Each burrow still had the body of a large plump fluffy chick with flight feathers emerging, dead from injuries to the neck,” says Graeme. ”Ferrets are sociopathic. They’ll kill for waste, apparently for no reason at all.

“As I progressed through the photos my heart sank, it was like watching a horror movie. It was a massacre. After months of work, one ferret had got through the trapline and wiped out the entire colony.

“I felt really depressed to have lost all six. One ferret got around the whole colony and presumably all the unmonitored chicks.”

Heart-breaking footage of the single ferret visiting the cliff-top burrows and killing the tītī chicks just a few weeks before they were due to fledge.

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T t only lay one egg per year, and it takes a long time to raise a chick to fledging. That means that, if the parents lose a chick, they won’t be able to have another one until the next breeding season.

This incident meant that, once again, no chicks fledged from Sandymount.

Francesca has worked to secure funding to improve the trap network with live capture traps (pending DOC approval), which will allow them to intensively target the pests that get through the current traps. They’re also putting out more cameras.

“It’s the cameras that let us know what is happening at the entrance of those active nests. They tell us that one type of trap is not enough," she says.

Sooty shearwaters/tītī (Ardenna griseus) are one of the most abundant seabird species worldwide but populations are declining, and, in New Zealand, only a few remnant colonies persist on the mainland.

One of them is located at Sandymount Reserve.

“When a ferret, stoat, or hedgehog is recorded going in, we then get the sequence of an adult bird coming back, often furiously digging [looking for their chick], covering the camera in sand. And then after that there’s no more bird activity in the burrow, just rats and mice getting the leftovers. It’s heart-breaking.”

For now, the goal is to make things safe for tītī. If the new predator-control system is successful, it would mean Sandymount becomes suitable to consider re-establishing other seabird species that historically bred there, like Buller’s albatross/toroa.

“But that is not a short-term goal,” says Francesca.

“At the moment, we’re just focused on enhancing what we still have and appreciating we’ve still got these remnant colonies that give us a tiny window into how seabirds were abundant and widespread along the coast of Otago prior to human arrival.”

How can you help?

The project urgently needs financial assistance to help pay for new cameras. Contact f.cunninghame@ forestandbird.org.nz if you can help. If you are interested in volunteering for any of the seabird projects, we’d love to hear from you. Contact dunedin.branch@ forestandbird.org.nz.

Tautuku forest gecko.

Photo: Carey Knox

New Zealand’s most secretive gecko?

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ot far from Sandymount, as the tītī flies, lies Tautuku forest in the Catlins, home to some pretty special creatures. One is the Tautuku gecko Mokopirirakau ”southern forest”, a threatened species.

“Although there’s been a lot of debate around whether it’s actually rare or just very hard to find,” says Carey Knox, a herpetologist from Wildlands Consultants who specialises in Otago’s lizards.

“In the 1960s and 70s, when they were logging trees, the Tautuku gecko were sighted in quite a few parts of the Catlins. But there weren’t many reports from about 1980 onwards.”

They are incredibly cryptic, secretive, and probably nocturnal, so are difficult for anyone to spot in the wild.

Luckily, Forest & Bird contractor Gavin White came across what he believed to be one of the geckos last year while he was in the Tautuku forest marking new trap lines. Carey was asked to visit the area to see whether he could confirm the sighting.

He found six! This is great news. Because they’re so elusive, finding six geckos means there’s probably a good-sized population. The next step will be to carry out more surveys, and from there we’ll be able to see whether they need any help or not.

Ultimately, it shows the value of Forest & Bird’s pest-control work.

“The biggest threat to our geckos is the same as to our birds.

Introduced predators like rats, stoats, even mice will take geckos, and so will hedgehogs,” says Carey.

“Pest control benefits the whole ecosystem, and the geckos are part of that.”

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Restoring nature

Hugh Wilson pictured here and below left at his beloved Hinewai Reserve.

Fools and dreamers

A new documentary celebrates Hinewai Reserve’s transformation from scrubby paddock to native bush under the leadership of Old Blue Hugh Wilson. By Mary Hawkes.

At a Forest & Bird meeting in 1986, a dream was born.

Hugh Wilson, a botanist studying the remaining scarce patches of old growth forest and looking for land for conservation, met Canterbury businessman Maurice White.

Working together, the Maurice White Native Forest Trust bought 109ha of hilly farmland on the Banks Peninsula, creating the Hinewai Reserve. Hugh was made a trustee. The local community didn’t know what to think of a “reserve” that was mostly covered in gorse bush when the pair came up with the idea.

One opinion piece scathingly suggested “Heaven help us from fools and dreamers!”, a label that Hugh and the new documentary about his work have proudly embraced.

Hugh, who won a Forest & Bird Old Blue award in 2014, likens Hinewai to a national park in miniature.

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” he says. “We need a few more fools and dreamers in the world!”

Fools and Dreamers tells the story of Hugh’s dedication to Hinewai, and the ecological recovery of the reserve from farmland to regenerating forest, in a heart-warming conservation success story.

Directors Antoinette Wilson (no relation to Hugh) and Jordan Osmond wanted to tell the intertwined story of Hinewai and Hugh Wilson for many reasons.

“We particularly liked the natural regeneration and minimal interference method taking place at Hinewai,” explains Antoinette.

“We were also very excited to interview someone whose

50 years ago

ethics and approach to life made so much sense to us.”

By simply setting the land aside for nature to work on at its own pace, Hinewai has slowly transformed from pasture to a diverse, growing forest. It is open to the public, with two walking tracks linking to Akaroa township.

Hinewai’s existence is a reminder that, even though the problems that threaten our natural diversity feel vast, ordinary people can make a difference.

“Our hope is that the film would inspire others to be part of the reforestation solution to our climate crisis,” adds Antoinette.

“Either by supporting Hinewai financially, creating or maintaining similar projects around the world, getting involved on the ground in similar projects, or just letting their garden re-wild!”

Saving the whole world is difficult, but Fools and Dreamers shows that saving a corner of it is perfectly achievable.

What started as one person’s dream is now supported by a huge community that attracts visitors from far and wide. Working together they are changing their corner of the world, and that’s going to be how we change the rest of it. Fools and Dreamers is free to view – see https:// youtu.be/3VZSJKbzyMc n This article is dedicated to Maurice White, who died in July, and without whom Hinewai’s forests would never have had the opportunity to regenerate.

Opossum Damage to Bush and Birds is Appalling Recently the Society was requested by the Nature Conservation Council to offer comment on the effect the opossum was having on our native forests and birds. We knew, of course, the damage these introduced marsupials were doing to our bush and birds, but to obtain up-to-date information we invited our sections to supply evidence. Some of the evidence sent in was almost unbelievable; in fact we had to request confirmation of some reports so that there could be no possibility of mistake.

Forest and Bird journal, August 1969.

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In the field The evolutionary lineage of the kiwi has all the twists and red herrings of a detective story. Photo: Tara Swan

WHEN KIWI COULD FLY

Flightless ratite birds are found across the southern hemisphere on landmasses that have long been separated from each other. Ann Graeme finds out how kiwi arrived in New Zealand.

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here is a vast and bewildering array of species in the living world. You can think of it as a gigantic jigsaw puzzle of plants, animals, fungi, microbes, and more.

The nearer the pieces, the closer the species are related to one another.

Behind the present-day puzzle lie the jigsaws of past eras. They are peppered with missing pieces, but they show us glimpses of relationships to long-extinct ancestors.

Since Darwin set out the concept of evolution by natural selection, biologists have been trying to classify living organisms in a manner that best reflects their evolutionary relationships – their places in the puzzle. This classification relies on interpreting evidence that is often scanty, similarities that may be superficial, and ideas that are often controversial and contested.

The evolutionary lineage of the kiwi has all the twists and red herrings of a detective story.

The story begins in the 19th century with Thomas Huxley, a selftaught biologist, staunch friend of Charles Darwin, and fine anatomist.

He set out to classify birds using their bones. He compared the

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bones of thousands of birds and of reptiles, both living and fossil. From his meticulous measurements, he made the audacious – and correct – deduction that birds were descended from reptiles and that the direct ancestors of birds were the dinosaurs.

Huxley further divided living birds into two super-orders, the flightless ratites and the carinates. He based this division on two features, the nature of the jaw and the bone structure needed to support flight muscles.

The ratites had flat breastbones with no anchorage for flight muscles.

Thomas Huxley (1825–95).

Wellcome Trust Images

Consequently, the birds could not fly.

The carinates could fly because they had a keeled breastbone to which the flight muscles could attach.

Furthermore, the roof of the ratite’s jaw was heavy, built like that of a reptile, while the palate of the carinate was lightweight and more flexible. Huxley considered that these attributes made the ratites the most primitive of living birds, and that is where he placed kiwi, along with the rheas of South America, the ostriches of Africa, and the emus and cassowaries of Australia. All other birds belonged in the carinates or flying birds.

There were snags in this neat division. There is a group of birds that wouldn’t fit. They are the flighted tinamous of South America – they have the heavy jaw of a ratite and the keeled breastbone of a carinate.

There was another snag. Look where the ratites live. How did these flightless birds come to live in lands isolated by oceans?

“Ah-ha!” you might exclaim. All these countries were linked in the ancient continent of Gondwana.

But Huxley knew nothing about continental drift. That knowledge did

not emerge until the mid-20th century when the mechanics of plate tectonics were established. Continental drift offered a happy solution to the distribution of the ratites.

They could have shared a common flightless ancestor on Gondwana and, when the continent split up and the landmasses rafted apart, they could have evolved into the flightless birds of today. This became the widely accepted hypothesis.

Huxley only had bones to work on.

Then the science of plate tectonics seemed to back up his theory.

Today, we have a new tool, gene technology, and this is over-turning the story of our kiwi’s origins.

The DNA of a species – the sequence of genes – is like its unique fingerprint. Comparing genes and sequences of genes of different species is hard evidence of relationships. DNA comparison is now possible for living ratites and also for extinct ratites like moa and the elephant bird of Madagascar, as their DNA can be extracted from the fossil bones.

This comparison redraws the evolutionary tree for kiwi. It shows that their closest relation was the elephant bird and that moa’s closest relation was the flighted tinamous that had confounded Huxley!

The implications are profound. It means that ratite ancestors were able to fly. They were most likely an extinct group of birds called lithornithids whose fossils have been recovered

from Europe and North America.

It is suggested that, from the northern hemisphere, they flew south by way of South America, not long before the massive extinction that occurred 66 million years ago. This event, which wiped out the dinosaurs, might have been an opportunity for these ancient ratites. They could have diversified throughout the thenforested Antarctica and flown further, into the lands that had drifted away.

Without dinosaur predators, these early ratites then lost the ability to fly and, except for kiwi, grew very big and became the modern ratites, while the Antarctic cooled to become the frozen continent of today, hiding its secrets.

It appears all these flying ratites became flightless – at least six times in six places! At first glance, this seems incredible, but really it is quite plausible. In terms of energy, flying is an expensive way to travel and, unless there are outstanding benefits like escaping from predators, birds seem quite happy to give it up.

Take takahē, a stout, flightless version of a flying pūkeko-like ancestor. Both takahē and pūkeko belong to a group of birds called rails.

Many rails, including takahē and weka, have recently lost the ability to fly. This may have occurred at least six times among different rails in New Zealand, most of which are now extinct.

Flightlessness led to another consequence. Flying demands a lightweight body, but living on the

EVOLUTIONARY GIANTS

Professor Alan Cooper with the kiwi skeleton and leg bone of the elephant bird used to show the two are evolutionary “sisters” for research published in 2014.

Photo: Cameron Burnell/Stuff

ground makes no such restriction.

Over time, nearly all the ratites became giants. The exception is kiwi.

It may have been a matter of timing. Before kiwi flew to Aotearoa, moa had diversified into nine species and might have filled all the big-bird niches. The vacant niche that the five kiwi species subsequently exploited was the worm- and insect-rich litter on the forest floor.

It looks as though the “out of Gondwana” theory, of flightless birds rafting into distant seas, is quite wrong. I am dismayed. As Thomas Huxley said: “The great tragedy of science is the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.”

However, the new version of the story is quite wonderful. But is it the final chapter or are there more twists in the kiwi tale?

Ratites are a group of mostly flightless birds that includes kiwi and moa. DNA

FEET

sequencing has revealed the giant

9

elephant bird of Madagascar (which

8

stood 10ft tall!) is the closest relation of kiwi. Meanwhile, the closest relative

7

to the small flighted South American

6

tinamous is New Zealand’s moa.

5 4

EXTINCT

3

EXTINCT

2 1

Elephant bird

Moa

Cassowary

Kiwi

Tinamous

Madagascar

New Zealand

Papua New Guinea, Australia

New Zealand

Central and South America

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Our people

PEOPLE POWER

Celebrating the achievements of Forest & Bird’s 2019 conservation award winners.

Voice for nature Old Blue – Jenny Campbell Southland’s Jenny Campbell has touched many lives since she first turned up to a Forest & Bird branch meeting nearly half a century ago.

She has been a leading voice in the region for tackling climate change, protecting nature, and sustainability, and her passion and commitment have been recognised with our prestigious Old Blue award.

Jenny says her greatest satisfaction comes from connecting with people and forming networks to promote the causes she passionately believes in. “Everything’s connected and everything’s got its place, and we’re all in this together,” she says.

Southland branch committee member Christine Henderson says Jenny’s greatest strength is making connections with other people. “Her communication skills are excellent, and her warmth and humanity are great assets, alongside an incisive

Youth leader Te Kaiārahi Rangatahi o te Taiao – Sian Moffitt Sian Moffitt’s leading role in setting up Forest & Bird’s Wellington Youth Hub and a string of other achievements aimed at developing leadership roles for young people protecting nature makes her a worthy recipient of Te Kaiārahi Rangatahi o te Taiao, Forest & Bird’s youth award.

“I’m a person who’s been extremely lucky with the opportunities I’ve had, and so it’s just a matter of giving back because I know how much it’s changed my life,” Sian says. “I want to be able to encourage people to become passionate for the environment, especially at a young age, because I believe there is a dramatic difference between those who have connected to nature early on compared with 48

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intellect,” Christine explains.

Jenny is a previous chairperson and treasurer for the branch and has been secretary for many years.

She has also worked on branch projects, including Forest & Bird’s Te Rere yellow-eyed penguin scientific reserve and our Lenz Reserve at Tautuku in the Catlins, which turns 50 this year (see p54). Making submissions is just one of many forms of advocacy Jenny undertakes, along with writing for local news media and the Southland branch newsletter.

She describes the award as recognition of the great work the branch as a whole has been doing.

“The passionate and committed people in Forest & Bird at all levels inspire me and engage me in being part of a bigger picture. I like to feel I’m making a contribution and a difference as part of this network, with climate change our immediate huge challenge.”

Jenny’s commitment to the community involvement also

includes setting up the Invercargill Environment Centre, Te Whenua Awhi, which operated for 17 years, co-ordinating the annual Invercargill Spring Eco-fest day, and being active in Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Her strong community focus was recognised with the award of the Queen’s Service Medal in 2008.

those who haven’t.”

The former Victoria University of Wellington student’s love of nature was sparked by her grandmother, who signed her up for the Kiwi Conservation Club as a child. Sian was the recipient of Forest & Bird’s undergraduate scholarship in 2016.

She remains involved as a national coordinator with the Forest and Bird National Youth Committee after setting up the Wellington Youth Hub last year.

Wellington Youth Hub cocoordinator Gracie Scott says Sian inspired many young people in the area to become involved in conservation. “She has a really strong focus on inclusivity and encouraging others to get involved, and I think that’s why she’s so good at what she does.

“She’s reached a lot of people in the Wellington youth community. It’s pretty amazing,” she added.

This year, Sian is back in her home town working as an environmental education coordinator with Kids Greening Taupō, an organisation involving local children in leadership activities and restoration projects to increase biodiversity in and around the town. She has turned full circle, first participating in the Kids Greening Taupō student leadership team in 2015 in her final year of high school.

Community Champions Branch award – Ashburton, Canterbury It’s not easy being the voice of nature in an area dominated by intensive agriculture, but our Ashburton branch has achieved much in protecting special places and species, as well as advocating for conservation and the environment.

Forest & Bird’s Branch Award recognises Ashburton’s work engaging the local community in important issues. Forest & Bird’s Canterbury and West Coast regional manager Nicky Snoyink says the

branch members are “wonderful, highly dedicated people that stand up as the voices for nature in their local area”, taking the lead on things like climate change advocacy in the region.

“They’ve also done great work on biodiversity. There’s been a lot of land use change, and they’ve been working really hard to educate their council on the indigenous biodiversity values of the district,” adds Nicky.

Led by Chairperson Edith Smith,

Predator-free passion

held the post over most of the years since, stepping down to focus on the pest-free project.

Forest & Bird Hibiscus Coast branch committee member Katie Lucas admires Pauline’s ability to gather support for conservation.

“She’s a really great networker and speaker, and she’s incredibly persistent. If she comes up against a brick wall, she’ll just keep going,” Katie says.

Pauline is an artist and has used exhibitions of her own work and that of other artists as a way of publicising Forest & Bird and local conservation.

“I’ve had an amazing group of people supporting me, some for many years. I think the award is recognition for the branch effort, which I’ve been privileged to lead,” Pauline says.

Tī Kōuka award – Pauline Smith Pauline Smith’s restoration efforts on Auckland’s Hibiscus Coast started with a Whangaparaoa Peninsula reserve 16 years ago and has now expanded to cover the whole peninsula, Orewa, Silverdale, and Hatfields Beach. Her work has been recognised with the Tī Kōuka award for her contribution over a long period to local and regional conservation.

Tī kōuka, the cabbage tree, is a Māori symbol of persistence and regrowth, both of which have distinguished Pauline’s achievements with the Hibiscus Coast branch and the Pest Free Hibiscus Coast project, which now has more than 1000 traps and 50 volunteers. After joining the branch committee, Pauline was elected chairperson in 2001 and has

Planting pioneer Tī Kōuka award – Ian Price Nelson-Tasman branch’s Ian Price has been the driving force behind the restoration of Paremata Flats at Cable Bay, which has seen nearly 95,000 trees planted on former pasture over the last eight years. Forest & Bird’s Tī Kōuka award recognises the huge achievements of Ian and his volunteers on the fertile alluvial flats at Paremata Flats since he first became involved in 2011.

the branch has been protecting and restoring popular local places, including the Hakatere Conservation Park and the wider Ashburton Lakes wetland area Ō Tū Wharekai.

Edith says nature faces many challenges in mid-Canterbury and it is thrilling the branch’s work to protect it has been recognised. “It acknowledges the great work the branch has done over quite a long period of time, the advocacy, bird surveys, and our restoration work,” she says.

“It’s been a great team effort.

There’s been great people involved, and we’ve achieved a lot,” Ian says.

The project has effectively finished for now, following the planting of pioneer species, work in a riparian area, and adding to a remnant area of podocarp forest. However, Ian is hoping more of the Nelson City Council-owned reserve will be allowed to be retired from grazing in the future so more planting can be done in the future to add to the 9ha already restored.

Nelson branch chair Julie McLintock started the Forest & Bird project at Cable Bay with trapping in 2007. After coming on board, Ian would spend two or three days a week at Paremata Flats and also organised volunteers and fundraising, which has seen $190,000 donated.

“He has put an incredible amount of work into it, he really has. It’s his baby. He’s a real worker. He gets on and gets things done, and that’s why the project has got bigger and bigger,” Julie says.

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Going places

DAINTREE DELIGHTS

Northern Queensland is the only place where two UNESCO World Heritage sites co-exist alongside one another – Daintree National Park and the Great Barrier Reef

Kathryn Curzon finds hope when she meets the locals working to restore the ancient rainforest of far north Queensland. Photos by Nicholas Curzon.

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alking in the Daintree Rainforest, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d stepped back in time to millions of years ago. This lush green forest is a tangle of old trees and vines, with bromeliads nestled in the crooks of old branches. Azure blue butterflies fly overhead, adding to the mystique of this special Australian destination.

The Daintree Rainforest covers about 1200km2 of hilly terrain that makes up the north-east coast of Queensland.

Stretching down to the edge of the ocean in places and fringing remote white-sand beaches, this impressive rainforest is part of the UNESCO-listed Wet Tropics of Queensland and part of the largest continuous area of tropical rainforest in Australia.

The Wet Tropics Rainforest is also the oldest continually surviving tropical rainforest in the world, thought to be about 10 million years older than the famous Amazon Rainforest. Walking through this ancient landscape, my

Daintree is home to 3.5% of the world’s mangroves, which help protect the Great Barrier Reef from harmful sediment run-off

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aboriginal guide is quick to point out the Daintree may even have re-seeded the Amazon after the most recent ice age.

Despite covering just 1% of the landmass of Australia, the Daintree Rainforest contains a mind-boggling array of species, including nearly a third of the frog, reptile, and marsupial species of Australia. The rainforest also hosts 90% of Australia’s bat and butterfly species, more than 12,000 species of insect, and the increasingly rare cassowary. It doesn’t take long to also discover the huge saltwater crocodiles lounging bankside at the Daintree river and mangroves.

This exceptionally old rainforest provides a wealth of ecosystem and human services. As well as being important in mitigating the impacts of climate change and maintaining the biodiversity of Australia, the rainforest provides modern pharmaceutical products and has a rich cultural heritage.

Aboriginal guides, descended from the original inhabitants of the rainforest, undertake smoke ceremonies with visiting tourist groups at Daintree’s Mossman Gorge, blessing their safe passage and giving thanks to the rainforest.

The gorge and surrounding rainforest, alive with the sound of rushing water and excitable tour groups, was originally home to the aboriginal people of the Kuku Yalanji tribe, who lived there for about 60,000 years.

The tribe has a respectful relationship with the rainforest and successfully made their homes there for many years, with the rainforest providing more than adequate food, medicines, and spiritual support.

Yet despite this rainforest’s obvious ecosystem and cultural significance, the Daintree has a troubled and exploitative past that threatens it today.

Driving along the highway towards Daintree’s

mangroves, you pass numerous sugar cane fields and old farmland, both of which have pushed back the rainforest from the beaches, removing an important wildlife corridor for species that once foraged at the shoreline.

While it was the Gold Rush that originally bought people to Queensland, sugar cane and forestry industries quickly followed, as did beef and dairy cattle ranches.

Great swathes of rainforest-covered land were cleared to support those industries.

So much so that more than two-thirds of the rainforest has been destroyed in the last 150 years.

Parts of the old logging route from Daintree are still visible among the mangroves today. Being too big for Australian timber mills, the trees were sent to the UK for processing, where they could handle huge red cedars up to 10m wide across the base.

As a UNESCO World Heritage Area, you would assume the rainforest is now fully protected, but only part of the Daintree falls within the World Heritage boundary.

Other areas are still at threat from deforestation and are impacted by sugar cane land use and associated run-off.

Another threat to the rainforest today, in stark similarity to New Zealand, are introduced pests, most notably omnivorous feral pigs with a huge appetite for Daintree’s species.

Local guides come from tribes whose ancestors lived in the rainforest and were sustained by Daintree’s many natural resources.

Mossman Gorge is part of the traditional homeland of the indigenous Kuku Yalanji people.

Saltwater crocodiles are protected and eat feral pigs found along the mangrove banks.

All is not lost though. Conservation rangers are hard at work, with replanting programmes under way throughout the rainforest, where areas of cleared land are slowly being reclaimed as rainforest. The focus on conservation education is also evident, with self-guided walks and educational boards dotted along the walkways at Mossman Gorge.

This ever-popular tourist attraction is making the most of passing minds to educate and inspire positive change.

Tour guides tell their groups what they can do at home to minimise their carbon footprint, impressing on them that their actions have a far-reaching impact on ecosystems such as at Daintree.

Walking by one enthusiastic tour guide, I ask if he has hope. He raises his fist and smiles. “Always man! One day at a time, we can do this!”

While pest control is being tackled, it was clear that more needs to be done to eradicate introduced predators and protect Daintree’s vulnerable species. As in New Zealand, this is a difficult issue to solve, but at least the crocodiles are doing some of the work.

In a recent mangrove flood, which saw the water level rise a staggering 9m, the feral pig population on one of the mangrove islands was wiped out by the rising waters and hungry crocodiles.

Taking one last walk under the rainforest canopy, I am reminded there is always hope, sometimes quite literally.

Hiding there was an unassuming palm-like plant with large glossy leaves. It happened to be an example of one of the earliest plants known to man – Hope’s cycad.

Only found in Queensland, this species first appeared about 180 million years ago and is still surviving today, its fruit eaten by cassowaries. Staring at what looked to be a relatively small example, I learned from our guide it was already more than 600 years old.

This rainforest is every bit as ancient as it seems. Having survived for millions of years, it may yet survive the impacts of modern times.

GETTING THERE: To find out more about Daintree, including where to stay, see www.destinationdaintree.com. For more about rainforest conservation in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, go to www.wettropics.gov.au.

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Our partners

PUTTING THE SUN’S POWER WITHIN REACH

Technology chief at solarcity Gareth Williams explains how the company wants to lead the charge when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. By Rose Davis.

Climate change is a crisis Gareth Williams wants to shine some light on – sunlight to be exact.

He took up the role of technology chief at solarcity three years ago, because he believes solar power has a key part to play in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.

About 20% of New Zealand’s main electricity supply comes from carbon dioxide-producing thermal sources, gas and coal, while geothermal power plants also release carbon dioxide, says Gareth.

“Our current means of providing electricity for New Zealand is not sustainable in the long term,” he says.

“I’m concerned about climate change because I’ve got children and grandchildren, so I feel a responsibility to make decisions today that create a sustainable planet for future generations.

“We have to find smarter ways to create electricity – and a rooftop solar

Gareth Williams, of solarcity.

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power system is an obvious answer.”

Making it easy for people to access solar power is what solarcity is all about. The Auckland-based company has set up a solarZero service that allows people to install solar panels and batteries with no installation cost.

The company maintains the solar power systems for a monthly fee of between $85 and $145, depending on the size of the household.

Most households get two-thirds of their electricity from the solar system and batteries.

People can ensure their electricity use produces zero carbon dioxide emissions by getting power top-ups from the grid through Ecotricity, a carboNZero certified electricity supplier.

On average, households using the service reduce their carbon dioxide emission by 15 tonnes, while saving about $18,000 on electricity over 20 years, says Gareth, whose own home has been on solar power for 13 years.

He hopes having more homes using solar power will help save New Zealand’s natural environment from the destruction caused by building new power plants.

“When more people use solar power, it means we can avoid having to build more power lines, having more power pylons scarring the

countryside… It means no more valleys being flooded to build hydroelectric plants,” says Gareth.

The company offers the solarZero service to homes and businesses in major centres throughout most of the country. Solar panels can be installed on any roof that gets a reasonable amount of sunshine.

Launched in 1999, solarcity is carbon neutral and has been carboNZero certified since 2010.

Its Auckland office is solarZero powered, and the company chooses environmentally friendly suppliers, tries to reduce the number of flights staff take by using online communication platforms, uses vegetable inks for printing, and provides trees for planting days.

The company has donated $12,000 a year to Forest & Bird for the past three years and encourages its customers to donate to the organisation too, says solarcity marketing manager Liesel Rowe.

“We want to look after New Zealand for future generations, and the work Forest & Bird is doing is really in line with that,” she says.

To find out more, see www.solarcity.co.nz

Research

CUCKOO CRUSHES

RIFLEMAN Young ecologists discover a fearsome predator of New Zealand’s tiniest bird. By Anne Beston.

A family affair: Both male and female riflemen help raise chicks and will get parenting help from single unrelated birds in their group.

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wo students have discovered the rifleman, New Zealand’s smallest bird, has a fearsome predator, the long-tailed cuckoo, something scientists hadn’t known until now.

University of Auckland PhD researchers Ines Moran and Yen Yi Loo made the discovery during a field study investigating the behaviour and vocalisation of the tiny endemic rifleman or titipounamu.

Checking footage to make sure the field camera traps were working properly, the researchers got a big surprise to see a long-tailed cuckoo or koekoeā snatching tiny rifleman chicks from the nest, something never documented by scientists before.

“Our work is focused on studying rifleman behaviour and interaction between Webcam footage shows the parents and chicks, so when cuckoo snatching tiny rifleman I saw the cuckoo footage chicks from the nest. it came as something of a shock,” says Ms Moran.

“It’s quite unique to discover a new predator of an endemic bird, and cuckoos were not on the predator list for rifleman – well not until now anyway.”

Cuckoos are notorious for laying their eggs in other birds’ nests, but the revelation that cuckoos are attacking rifleman fledglings is bad news for the The video footage came as a shock to researchers Ines Moran tiny birds, which are classified (pictured) and Yen Yi Loo. as “at risk, in decline” by the Department of Conservation.

“Now we have evidence that long-tailed cuckoo are a rifleman predator, we need to do further research, including whether cuckoos are also laying eggs in rifleman nests and how often nests are being abandoned as a result,” adds Yen Yi Loo. The rifleman weighs in at just 5–7g and is one of two surviving members of the wren family, which originally included seven species.

Rifleman live in social groups and are monogamous, staying in the same pair until one partner dies. Both males and females help raise chicks, but the birds also have a communal approach to parenting, getting help with parenting from single, unrelated birds within the group.

The long-tailed cuckoo (Eudynamys taitensis) is a summer migrant to New Zealand. It breeds throughout New Zealand from October to March, so its breeding season overlaps that of a range of smaller bird species. In New Zealand, it lays eggs in the nests of pōpokotea (whiteheads, mohua/yellowheads), and pipipi/brown creepers.

The study was published in Notornis and funded by the Marsden Fund and the University of Auckland.

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Our people

Lenz Reserve celebrates its

50th birthday Forest & Bird’s largest reserve turns 50 this year, and everyone is welcome to help celebrate with a southernstyle afternoon tea, talks, and walking tours on Saturday 21 September from 1pm to 4pm. The Lenz Reserve is located at Tautuku in the heart of the last major native forest on the Catlins coast. It includes most of the Fleming river catchment and is rich in wetlands, shrublands, and cutover and old-growth mixed podocarp forest, with the Tautuku Forest Cabins providing comfortable basic onsite accommodation. The reserve is included in Forest & Bird’s landscapescale Tautuku Restoration Project, which aims to reduce predators to

levels where native birds, reptiles, and invertebrates thrive.

The Lenz Reserve management committee, representing three Southern branches of Forest & Bird, welcomes members and others interested in the reserve to join the celebration. Anyone who has been associated in any way with the reserve over the years is welcome to join others to reminisce, bring memorabilia, and catch up with what is happening today at the reserve.

Volunteers have been busy sprucing up the cabins with a lick of new paint so they are ready for visitors.

If you’d like to attend, please email catlinsyep@yrless.co.nz.

The Lenz reserve lies at the heart of Forest & Bird’s new Tautuku Restoration Project.

Photo: Fergus Sutherland

OBITUARY

UNDERSEA LEGEND Marine biologist and campaigner Dr Roger Grace made an immense contribution to marine conservation during his extraordinary lifetime.

Roger was involved in many campaigns to create marine reserves and was an influential and respected communicator of the importance of conserving our seas.

He had the ability to communicate his passion for the marine world and translate scientific information in a way that was easily understood by the public.

Roger gave his time generously and was a mentor to many young scientists, including Forest & Bird’s marine advocate Kat Goddard, who visited him in hospital in the days leading up to his death on 28 June 2019.

The Warkworth resident was also one of New Zealand’s most prominent underwater photographers, helping to

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highlight some of the wonderful life found under the waves as well as destructive activities, including driftnet fishing, whaling, and overfishing of tuna.

Roger joined Forest & Bird as a child and became hooked on nature.

He was awarded a prestigious Old Blue award in 2016.

Those who worked with Roger praised his enthusiasm, sense of humour, and eagerness to share his expertise, through his research, photography, writing, and the many talks he gave.

Among his more recent projects, Roger had been highlighting the ecological value of mangroves in New Zealand’s north and working to get permanent protection for the Bay of Plenty’s Astrolabe Reef.

He received many other honours and awards for his work, including the Queen’s Service Medal for Public Service in 2005.

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‘Carry less, enjoy more’

‘Come explore with us!’ www.kahurangiwalks.co.nz Phone: 03 3914120

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

EXPERIENCE A 3 DAY TREK IN A RUGGED WILDERNESS ENVIRONMENT WITH A SENSE OF CALM AND SOLITUDE THAT IS SIMPLY AWE-INSPIRING www.tussocktrack.co.nz T: 03 575 7361 E: info@tussocktrack.co.nz MARLBOROUGH, NEW ZEALAND

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Forest & Bird

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Books DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES OF NEW ZEALAND Milen Marinov and Mike Ashbee Auckland University Press, $49.99 A beautifully illustrated natural history and field guide to New Zealand’s extraordinary dragonflies and damselflies – among the most spectacular organisms on the planet.

They have survived on Earth for more than 325 million years, through a series of mass extinctions, by being exquisite examples of evolutionary adaptation – they are superb flyers with extraordinary vision and startling colours. This is a natural history and field guide to New Zealand’s 14 species of dragonflies and damselflies. Easy to observe around wetlands and rivers, dragonflies and damselflies are favourites of New Zealand nature lovers, and this book will be too.

BIRDWATCHING IN NEW ZEALAND

A Complete Guide for Beginners Alan Froggatt New Holland, $19.99 This is a great little guide for anyone interested in birdwatching, with comprehensive information and practical advice, chapters on New Zealand’s key birding areas, where to find the most sought-after species, how to get close to birds without disturbing them, and the history of New Zealand birdlife. The

author Alan Froggatt, chairman of the Kāpiti Mana branch of Forest & Bird, is a well-known bird expert who addresses schools and public gatherings on conservation and birding issues. He has wide birding experience throughout New Zealand and has been featured in numerous international publications, including National Geographic.

NAVIGATORS AND NATURALISTS

French Exploration of New Zealand and the Pacific (1769–1824) Mike Lee David Bateman, $69.99 This book includes fascinating descriptions of what the French saw when they travelled around New Zealand’s coast. Mike Lee focuses on the key characters of this age of French exploration, their relationships with Māori, and the desire of France to complete with the British in the Pacific. Historian James Belich said: “There is little doubt that Cook has been emphasised to the unfair exclusion of the massive French contribution to European knowledge of New Zealand.” This book seeks to redress this balance and includes primary research from French documents never before translated into English.

HAUTURU

History, flora and fauna of Te Hauturu-o-Toi Little Barrier Island Edited by Lyn Wade and Dick Veitch Massey University Press, $60 Te Hauturu-o-Toi/Little Barrier Island is home to New Zealand’s most diverse native bird and reptile communities, a prodigious number 56

| Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

of seabirds, and a vast array of invertebrate fauna. New Zealand’s first nature reserve, it is also a global symbol of conservation success and innovation. The island’s story is of people too: Ngāti Manuhiri and Ngāti Rehua, the tangata whenua, and the rangers, researchers, and volunteers whose efforts have inspired the conservation world. Written by experts across a range of fields, this book is a comprehensive and richly illustrated account of the history and biodiversity of a very special place.

THE KIWI

Endangered New Zealand Icon Matt Elliott Imagination Press, $39.99 We have Kiwibank, Kiwi Stamps, Kiwi Rail, what is it about this bird we love so much? Matt Elliott decided to find out. He traces our historical fascination with the kiwi and looks at the extraordinary efforts being made to save it from extinction. Jampacked with fascinating tales, this beautifully illustrated book celebrates the unique bird that is the kiwi. We see the long relationship between kiwi and Māori, discover the first kiwi to be shown in public, and find out why America’s favourite cowboy sang about kiwi. This diverse book is a loving testament to our national icon.

Parting shot This little owl was hanging out at Woodend, in North Canterbury, when it was photographed

by Gaynor Hurst. She says it lives in the hollow of an old willow tree and usually comes out on sunny afternoons.

Also known as a German owl, this little raptor was deliberately introduced to New Zealand from Germany in the early 1900s to control small exotic birds that were eating farm crops and orchard fruits. But the early settlers made a mistake because little owls mainly eat insects.

Now widespread in the drier open country of the eastern and northern South Island, little owls most commonly occur on farmland. Unlike the smaller native ruru/morepork, little owls are regularly seen perching in the daylight.

PHOTO COMPETITION How to enter: Share your photos of native birds, trees, flowers, insects, lizards, marine mammals, fish, or natural landscapes, and be in to win.

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

The prize: This issue’s winner will receive a Kiwi Camping Rover 10cm SelfInflating Mat and Kiwi Camping Totara Sleeping Bag (total value $310).

The Rover Self-Inflating Mat has a compressible foam core that expands to a plush 10cm thick and is covered in durable soft stretch fabric for extra comfort. The 3-way valve also makes it simple to inflate/deflate. Complete with repair kit, compression straps, and carry bag.

The Totara Sleeping Bag is soft and lightweight, perfect for summer adventures. It features a hood with adjustable drawstring, draft strip, thermal chest collar, offset construction, and Maxotherm 1 filling.

The prize is courtesy of Kiwi Camping.

To view the full range, see www.kiwicamping.co.nz

we ARE climbing

Takeshi Tani Virtual Reality, WI5+/6 Banff National Park, Canada Photo: ex-Bivouac staff member John Price johnpricephotographic.com

For over twenty-five years Bivouac Outdoor has been proudly 100% New Zealand owned and committed to providing you with the best outdoor clothing and equipment available in the world. It is the same gear we literally stake our lives on, because we are committed to adventure and we ARE climbing.

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