Forest & Bird Magazine Issue 376 Winter 2020 by Forest & Bird

N E W Z E A L A N D ’S I N D E P E N D E N T VO I C E FO R N AT U R E • E ST. 1 92 3

TE REO O TE TAIAO

№ 376  WINTER 2020

GREEN RECOVERY 50

MANAPŌURI’S

BIRTHDAY

COUNTING CARBON

LONG-LOST FROGS RECREATED

Contents ISSUE 376

• Winter 2020

Editorial

2 Nurturing nature 4–5 Letters

News

6 Healing trees 7 Seabed mining Supreme Court case

8 Vote conservation, history

scholarship, Bird of the Year, Heritage expeditions

Cover

10 Green recovery

Biodiversity

14 Recreating Aotearoa’s long-lost frogs

Climate

18 Can New Zealand become carbon positive?

52 Death by 1000 waves for rare kānuka

Fundraising

23 Personal message from CEO Kevin Hague

24 Hear our voices

Freshwater

26 Future of freshwater

Citizen science 29 Garden Bird Survey

Branch project 30 Places for penguins

Forest & Bird History Project

32 Save Manapōuri Campaign 50th anniversary

Seabirds

37 World Albatross Day

Predator-free NZ 38 We need to talk about [feral] cats

COVER SHOT Tūī.

Alex Becker @alexbeckerphoto on Instagram. Gregory “Slowbirdr” Smith. Renewal: Yellow-eyed penguin. Mike Ashbee

Thank you for supporting us! Forest & Bird is

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EDITOR

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In the field

40 For the love of tūī

Bequest

42 Edwin Poon’s gift

Youth

43 Forest & Bird student scholarships

Biodiversity

44 New Zealand’s “pretty” pests

Community

46 Wildlife rescue 56 Kākāpō volunteer

Marine

50 Dolphins need help 54 Surface feeding whales

Our partners

51 Raise a glass to Toi Toi wines

Our people

55 A tribute to Jeanette Fitzsimons

Focus on flora 58 Harakeke hues

Going places 60 Banks Track

Market Place 62 Classified

Obituary

64 Isabel Morgan

Parting shot Kea

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Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. Forest & Bird is a registered charitable entity under the Charities Act 2005. Registration No CC26943. 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

EDITORIAL

NURTURING

NATURE

hese are difficult times that we’re in but incredibly important ones. We have a rare opportunity to reimagine and redefine a new future. Catastrophic floods, disappearing glaciers, horrendous droughts have not been enough to prompt humanity to contemplate its possible extinction. Will the dark shadow of Covid-19 be enough? Only we can choose to nurture the oceans, the forest, and the grasslands that look after us. In doing so, we protect nature in all its wild and wonderful forms, and we protect ourselves. While we don’t know what the needs of future generations will be, we do know nature and humanity are inextricably intertwined and human life is dependent on the natural world and not the other way round. Covid-19 has thrown us a curveball as a nation and is a massive challenge to Forest & Bird. It is also an opportunity. Forest & Bird has been working to make sure the government’s response to Covid-19 is one of recovery for people and planet, not the same old business-asusual approach that has contributed to many native species and ecosystems being in serious trouble. Potentially, there could be an even greater pressure on our natural environment. Ora Taiao, the New Zealand Climate and Health Council, is calling for a focus on climate change in the post-Covid world. Thousands of health professionals have signed a letter to the government calling for a prioritising of a low-emission economy. They have asked that climate change and inequality be addressed through investment

Mangawhai Heads.

Bernard Spragg

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

in housing, renewable energy, and plant-based food systems. There is no question it’s going to be hard for everyone. During the first few weeks of lockdown, the Society saw an immediate drop in income of more than 30%. We expect the economic recovery to be slow and are predicting this drop of income to continue during 2021 and 2022. We will survive by being more nimble, and more effective, than ever before. It means we can’t do everything, and we will have to make some difficult choices. But Forest & Bird is one society – we have never been stronger than when we work together. During our nearly 100-year history, we have survived other crises, including a world war, polio epidemic, stock market crashes, and global recession. Over the past month, members and branches from every corner of the country have rallied behind us. It’s been hugely gratifying and gives me hope that, by working together, we can come out of this stronger and better able to face the challenges ahead. Ngā mihi nui

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

LETTERS YOUR FEEDBACK Forest & Bird welcomes your thoughts on conservation topics. Please email letters up to 200 words, with your name, home address, and phone number, to editor@ forestandbird.org.nz, or by post to the Editor, Forest & Bird magazine, 205 Victoria Street, Wellington 6011, by 1 August 2020. We don’t always have space to publish all letters or use them in full.

WRITE AND WIN The best contribution to the Letters page will receive a copy of A Lifetime in Galápagos by New Zealand writer Tui de Roy, Bateman, RRP $60. An intimate portrait of one of the most spectacular places on Earth, presenting the wildlife and natural wonders of Galápagos as never seen before.

Under siege

Missed opportunities

OSPRI works hard to reduce the incidence of bovine TB on farms by killing the possums that live in nearby native forests and spread the disease. It has made great progress nationwide. In July, it plans to drop by helicopter non-toxic pre-feed cereal pellets over 70,000–80,000 hectares in the northern Tararua Range. This will attract possums to ready them for the second aerial drop, this time of cereal pellets containing 0.15% 1080. This substance kills possums promptly. This second drop would be ideal for killing some of the deer, goats, and pigs devastating Tararua Forest Park’s native forests and sub-alpine plant communities. It beggars belief that OSPRI, in association with DOC, will add deer repellent to the cereal pellets containing 1080. DOC claims it lacks the “social licence” to avoid using deer repellent! Has the Game Animal Council, the Deerstalkers’ Association, or other groups demanded this? Our native plant communities are under siege from the pest-animal plague. DOC’s primary mandate is to protect our indigenous ecosystems by the progressive elimination of feral deer, goats, and pigs. 1080 – yes! With deer repellent – no!

The Resource Management Act Amendment Bill was introduced in September 2019. Many submitters sought to replace sections 70A and 104E, which constrain considerations of climate change, and this has been recommended. A pathway for placing freshwater reforms within the RMA has been set. However, other important issues have been ignored, namely: • Urban tree protection badly needs a reversal of the lax law that the former Minister for the Environment, Nick Smith, introduced, being sections 76(4A–4D), which made it easier to remove iconic trees within neighbourhoods. • Smith’s exorbitant fee hikes for applications to the Environment Court should have been addressed and reversed. • Section 87BB, another ugly Nick Smith addition, allows marginal non-compliance with activities. Much leniency is already granted in this respect, and 87BB endorses and extends that outlook, meaning possible extended abuse of the natural environment during resource extraction. Unfortunately, 87BB was not deemed worthy of change by the Environment Committee, so there it remains.

Chris Horne Wellington

BEST LETTER WINNER

Keep cats contained Lizard Life was an excellent article in your Autumn 2020 edition. Timely. But one omission is the failure to mention cats. Hedgehogs are certainly a bigger threat than poachers. The former’s numbers make that clear. But cats must be up there, too, as 24/7 “poachers” of our wildlife. Isn’t it time to adopt a simple formula – if cats are out there, they’re feral? Isn’t it time for cat lovers to grasp their responsibility? If you want a cat, keep it contained 24/7. Denis Asher Wellington

Frida Inta West Coast Forest & Bird Branch

Dawn chorus disappears It has for some time been on mind that the usual dawn chorus of birds has been missing. I live in a very leafy green suburb. We are surrounded by a plethora of trees and usually see many varieties of birds that live in the area, including natives and others. Under usual circumstances, the dawn chorus is so stunning that I am often woken by it in the pre-dawn hours. However, since December 2019, it has literally disappeared. Now I am hearing a few tūī start their very early morning call but that is all. I am concerned about why this has happened. Do you have any idea as to what is causing the problem? Chris Belcher Auckland

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Tourism damaging environment Very large sums are being spent in propping up the tourism industry. Mass tourism has already done untold damage to the New Zealand environment. Previously unspoiled areas, where we could once enjoy silence and spirit-lifting views, have now deteriorated into busy and sometimes overcrowded places, just to satisfy the momentary “bucket list” of mindless hordes of tourists. Once wonderful, Tongariro is now a crowded boardwalk, avoided by discerning New Zealanders, as is Milford Sound. Now, after first infecting every country with a dreadful disease, mass tourism has come to a stop. Now, those who profited from the decline of our natural environment and who contributed to climate change by encouraging the mindless flying and touring around feel hard done by and need our support! No doubt they hope that soon all this will be over. However, all indications, and expert advice, suggest it will be a long time before the world is rid of this virus, and it will take even longer if mass tourism rears its ugly head again. So please, don’t throw away hard-earned tax dollars propping up an “industry” in its death throes. Jan Lindeman Taupo

WINE GIVEAWAY As the nights draw in, we are giving away a mixed selection of superb Toi Toi wines to enjoy at home. Inspired by nature, this family-owned wine business is a supporter of Forest & Bird (see the story on page 51). The lucky winner of this competition will receive six Toi Toi wines worth up to $130, including P&P. Please note, you must be over 18 to enter. To enter, email your entry to draw@forestandbird.org. nz, put WINE 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 WINE draw, Forest & Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington 6140. Entries close 1 August 2020.

The winners of Fuelling Dissension were Janet Taiatini, of Rotorua, and Martin Shand, of Nelson. The winners of Lost Gold were David Thomas, of Auckland, and Anita Spencer, of Christchurch.

Hardy Daisy: Before Lock-down By Gail Ingram

Marlborough rock daisy (Pachystegia insignis). Bernard Spragg

Award-winning poet and Forest & Bird member Gail Ingram writes and lives on the tussock-clad hills of Christchurch. Her poetry and fiction is widely published in New Zealand and internationally. Gail is also a poetry editor for takahē magazine, a short fiction editor for international online journal Flash Frontier, and a creative writing teacher at the School for Young Writers in Christchurch. See page 60 for Gail’s article about tramping the Banks Track. Her poem about the Marlborough rock daisy was inspired by the 2020 coronavirus crisis.

Every day I check the daisy I planted outside the lounge window because it’s been so dry and I planted it in summer and there’s a good chance it could die because its roots aren’t yet established even though it catches water droplets really well in its leathery hands and this morning I met my friend and she said she was the most depressed she has ever been as we walked the circumference of Hagley Park and the soft autumn sunlight caught the colour of the leaves and we talked about how this was nature having her own way even so it felt strange the streets were quiet with people staying home and the sense of something global shrinking its fold, the sound of far-off gasping Winter 2020

NATURE NEWS Studies show walking in the forest increases immunity and reduces anxiety. Photo: Harwoods Hole, near Takaka. Shellie Evans

HEALING TREES

orest & Bird’s Kiwi Conservation Club is running its third annual celebration of trees, with the aim of inspiring people to love nature while increasing their own wellbeing. This year’s Be with a Tree celebration from 5 to 14 June focuses on the intangible benefits of trees, says KCC manager Sarah Satterthwaite. “There’s all this scientific research that shows trees have astonishing benefits for people’s health and mental wellbeing,” she says. “We want to encourage people to make heartfelt connections with trees because, when people have a genuine passion for nature, they’re more likely to want to plant and protect trees.” During the coronavirus lockdown, many of us gained a new appreciation of nature in our own backyards. “That period when people were cut off from their normal social support systems highlighted how nature

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can be this incredible source of fresh energy, peace, or happiness in people’s lives,” adds Sarah. “There’s a mutual dependence – we need trees, and trees need us to plant and protect them. “We’re hoping our Be with a Tree 2020 campaign will remind people to see the trees around them and really notice the important part they play in their lives.” Studies show trees increase immunity and heart health, speed healing, and reduce violence. And people who experience a sense of awe in nature are more likely to lend a hand to those in need – see https://bit. ly/2xVXYMa. A recent study in Japan showed that, compared to those who walked in an urban setting, people who walked in a forest felt less anxious, hostile, fatigued, and confused, suffered fewer depressive symptoms, and felt more vigorous – see https://bit.ly/2xVcy6t. Another study showed people living close to trees had brain structures that were able to handle stress better – see https://go.nature.com/2Rl0LoI. New Zealand’s national Arbor Day falls on 5 June, which is also the first day of KCC’s Be with a Tree celebration. This year’s Be with a Tree events have been designed so they can be completed at home and are designed to be enjoyed by all the family, not just our younger members. To find out more about Be with a Tree, including local events and activity sheets for children, see www.kcc.org.nz.

SEABED MINING CASE HEADS TO SUPREME COURT

For new insights into New Zealand’s special blue whale population, see page 54.

It’s time for a KiwiSaver that cares about our environment

Photo by Jan Kaluza on Unsplash

n April, Forest & Bird celebrated a Court of Appeal decision that ruled the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) was wrong to rubber-stamp a proposal to carry out experimental ironsand mining off the Taranaki coast. The South Taranaki Bight supports 34 species of marine mammals, including Hector’s and Māui dolphins, humpback whales, and New Zealand’s own population of blue whales – the largest animals on Earth. But Trans-Tasman Resources wanted to spend the next 35 years sucking up 8000 tonnes of sand on the deep ocean floor every hour. This would likely kill everything on the sea floor and severely disrupt the habitat of many marine mammals. Forest & Bird opposed the original application based on the impact that noise would have on marine mammals, including a recently discovered and significant population of blue whales. Together with other groups, including local iwi, we successfully appealed the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to grant consent to the High Court. TTR further appealed this to the Court of Appeal, which heard the case last September. Judges published their decision in early April. But TTR has lodged an appeal, which means the long-running and expensive case is now heading to the Supreme Court. “Forest & Bird and many others have opposed TTR’s environmentally destructive plans and the EPA’s blatantly unsound decision-making since they first came to light three years ago,” says chief executive Kevin Hague. “Our message to TTR is ‘Pack up and go home, New Zealand’s environment doesn’t need you, and its people don’t want you.’ To the EPA we say, ‘Your job is to protect the environment, start doing it, or we will see more of you in court, and we will win.’ “We won’t stop fighting environmentally harmful proposals. Humans need nature, and nature needs us to look after it. “New Zealand has a chance to build an economy that protects and restores the environment and doesn’t profit from destroying it.”

We don’t invest in fossil fuels, animal testing or environmental exploitation. We do invest in renewable energy, water, forestry and companies that care about our environment. Switch to us and you’ll also be supporting Forest & Bird – see caresaver.co.nz.

Visit caresaver.co.nz for a Product Disclose Statement. Pathfinder Asset Management is the issuer.

Winter 2020

NATURE NEWS DREAMING OF HOLIDAYS? International travel may be off the agenda for now, but have you considered small group eco-cruising right here in New Zealand? The team at Heritage Expeditions has an exciting new expedition cruise offering in early 2021 – exploring the fascinating wildlife, history, and landscapes of the Chatham Islands! Forest & Bird has a close association with these incredible islands – our members donated thousands of dollars in 1975 to help save the endangered Chatham Island black robin from extinction. We also helped plant 12,000 trees on Mangere Island, turning it into a bird sanctuary. If you sign up for the Chatham Islands – A Land Apart voyage next March (which also includes the Antipodes and Bounty Islands), you will receive a 5% discount AND Heritage Expeditions will donate 5% of your fare to Forest & Bird. It is also offering Forest & Bird members a 5% discount and a 5% donation for its popular Forgotten Islands of the South Pacific Christmas voyage to New Zealand’s wildlife-rich sub-Antarctic Islands this December.

Heritage Expeditions are long-term supporters of Forest & Bird. Its last Forest & Bird expedition raised more than $10,000 for our conservation work. For more information, see page 3, go to www.heritage-expeditions.com, or email info@heritage-expeditions.com.

Ewen Bell/Heritage Expeditions

CONSERVATION HISTORY SCHOLARSHIP The Force of Nature Masters Scholarship is an exciting opportunity for a graduate student to contribute to the centennial history of Forest & Bird. The successful scholar will receive $2,000 to go towards a research-only Masters in The Centre for Science in Society, Victoria University of Wellington, working under Associate Professor James Beattie. Forest & Bird is marking its 100th birthday in 2023 by publishing a book celebrating a century of conservation campaigns, the people who led them, and the places and species saved as a result. This project is being led by Stout scholar and historian David Young, who is interviewing many Forest & Bird members past and present, working alongside archivist Michael Pringle and Forest & Bird Editor Caroline Wood. “The Centre for Science in Society is delighted to acknowledge the generosity of Forest & Bird in putting up this scholarship,” says Associate Professor James Beattie.

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“It will help towards gaining a better understanding of Forest & Bird’s important role in our conservation heritage and also give students an amazing opportunity to work on such a major project,” he added. Preference will be given to students with a background degree in history and areas related to this discipline, such as geography or environmental sciences. Forest & Bird has also awarded a smaller scholarship to Tess Tuxford, who will research the contribution of early women conservationists – see page 43. We’d like to acknowledge the support of the Stout Trust, which gave a $58,000 grant to kickstart the history project. Applications close 1 August 2020. If you have any questions or would like to see a list of possible research topics, contact Associate Professor James Beattie at james.beattie@ vuw.ac.nz or Caroline Wood, Force of Nature project lead at c.wood@forestandbird. org.nz.

$1.1BN FOR GREEN JOBS As this issue went to print, the government announced $1.1bn of investment over four years for nature-based jobs in its 2020 Covid recovery budget. Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage gave details of the new funding during a Zoom breakfast briefing for environmental NGOs organised by Forest & Bird and answered questions about the spending. She thanked Forest & Bird for the work it’s been doing this year advocating for nature as an “essential infrastructure” and showing there is a public mandate for a “green reset”. The new investment includes: n $200m for a Jobs for Nature Fund for the Department of Conservation to partner with councils, tourism businesses, iwi and hāpu, and communities to provide nature-based jobs n $433m to restore wetlands and improve the health of rivers, including at Kaipara Harbour, New Zealand’s largest harbour n $154.3m for enhancing nature and biodiversity on public and private land n $147.5m for pest control and eradication, including working with iwi to prevent the collapse of North Island forests n $100m for extensive wilding conifer control on public

and private land – see page 53

$27.5m to get wallaby populations under control and

$40m for pest and weed control on Crown land. Forest & Bird is pleased funding has been secured for many of the issues we have highlighted over the past year, including wilding pines, wallaby control, wetland restoration, and pest control. But a $20bn question remains about how the rest of the Covid funding will be used and whether it will deliver a green economic transformation for people and planet, particularly in the climate change space.

BIRD OF THE YEAR IS BACK!

Fear not, one major event in 2020 hasn’t been cancelled. That’s right, Bird of the Year will be going ahead this year between 5 and 18 October. Registrations for campaign managers will open soon. Just check www.birdoftheyear.org.nz for updates. May your memes be the only things that go viral!

Winter 2020

COVER

GREEN RECOVERY

New Zealand has a once-in-a-generation chance to rebuild a better world for nature. Forest & Bird has been working with others to help to make this happen. Caroline Wood

Rob Suisted

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

any commentators, both in New Zealand and on nature. This country’s special wild landscapes and overseas, have noted how the coronavirus native animals make us who we are as New Zealanders. pandemic did not arise out of a vacuum. They “Right now, nature needs us to plan a recovery that argue it is no coincidence that the most likely origin of takes better care of what matters most. We need a Covid-19 was the wildlife trade that has pushed so many healthy well-cared-for environment to have healthy and species to the brink of survival. well-cared-for people.” In fact, nature’s responses to human impacts, In the run-up to the May budget, Forest & Bird whether it’s global warming, mass extinctions, or a launched a major digital campaign to activate our deadly human virus, are largely predictable, says Ariel supporters to get behind the idea of a “green recovery”. Brunner, Senior Head of Policy at Birdlife Europe. We asked them to contact ministers and MPs to remind “Even as we mourn our losses and grieve, let us them they have a once-in-a-generation chance to build honour them with wiser choices. Let us do better, we a resilient sustainable economy. can do better, we must do better,” she says. Other leading e-NGOs – including Greenpeace, But what does “better” look like? World Wildlife Fund-New Zealand, Generation Zero, In March, Forest & Bird moved quickly to draw up a the Environmental Defence Society, and Ecologic detailed list of “green economy” policy suggestions and – have also been encouraging their thousands of submitted our Recovery for People and Planet briefing supporters to advocate for green jobs and a better document to the government. economic deal for the most Our policy proposals are vulnerable in our society. job-rich, practical, able to be “The reset button has The reset button has been pushed, and rolled out in the regions, and been pushed, and now is our now is our opportunity for a brighter, suitable for redeploying many opportunity for a brighter, stronger future in which people do live of the workers whose jobs are stronger future in which in harmony with nature. at risk, including tradespeople people do live in harmony and workers in the tourism, with nature. This will happen fisheries, and forestry sectors. if we make nature a priority,” says Livia Esterhazy, chief We recommended scores of policies in 10 key areas, executive of WWF-New Zealand. including electrifying New Zealand’s trail system, It’s vital the government invests in projects and increasing DOC staffing, cleaning up toxic waste new jobs that build resilience against future economic dumps, establishing a tyre recycling plant, planting shocks and transform the economy into one that looks more native trees, undertaking more predator control after people and nature. in partnership with iwi, and financial support to “After Covid-19, what we need is not just an oldlandowners to protect nature on private land. fashioned economic stimulus. We need investment in On restoring freshwater, our suggestions included new, foresighted patterns of economic development funding Pāmu to trial methods of sustainable and environmental security,” explains Guy Salmon, agriculture, a national wetland restoration programme, executive director of Ecologic. investing in stormwater and waste water infrastructure, In Europe, leading environmental groups are also and a new fund to pay for more riparian fencing and asking their their governments not to give up on the soplanting. called “Green Deal” – sustainability, decarbonisation, On the future of fishing, we recommended moving the circular economy, equity and justice, and the to ecoystem-based management with extra funding restoration and preservation of our ecosystems. for cameras/observers on boats, the adoption of Hook “The aid we as taxpayers will be showering over the Pods throughout the longline fleet to reduce bycatch, economy must flow in lockstep with the principles and supporting a just transition to low-impact fishing, and values of the still essential Green Deal,” says Birdlife’s expanding the fisher wellbeing progamme. Ariel Brunner. Working with other environmental NGOs, we set out “This pandemic shall a transformative plan for nature and jointly wrote to pass, but our planetary Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urging her not to carry ecological problems will on with “business as usual” but to direct post-Covid endure. Only an integrated spending towards clean green jobs, tackling climate and coherent set of solutions change, habitat restoration, saving native species, to both issues makes improving freshwater quality, and restoring our oceans. economic and moral sense.” Put simply, we want to see a greener, healthier, and more resilient conomy that puts people and the Download and read planet first. Forest & Bird’s Recovery As Forest & Bird’s chief executive Kevin Hague for People and Planet at explains: “Our economy and human wellbeing depend https://bit.ly/2zxtbpM. Winter 2020

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GREEN RECOVERY

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CLIMATE OPPORTUNITY With the pandemic crisis comes climate opportunity, says Forest & Bird supporter Dr James EveryPalmer QC. James is part of Lawyers for Climate Action NZ, which advocates for legislation and policies to ensure New Zealand achieves net zero-carbon emissions as soon as possible – and no later than 2050. New Zealand’s fiscal response to Covid-19 represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to move our economy on to a path towards a zero-carbon and environmentally sustainable future, he says. “We are today living in a re-wired world that we could not have imagined a month ago. We have glimpsed a future of telecommuting, roads as pedestrian thoroughfares, and reduced pollution. “Let this give us the confidence and courage to change our travel preferences, diets, consumption patterns, and demand a fiscal response to Covid-19 that supports the infrastructure to allow us to thrive within a sustainable environment.” Lawyers for Climate Action wants the government to rebuild from Covid-19 through a climate-friendly stimulus package that includes: n Building a sustainable transport network that prioritises rail, light rail, cycling, walking, and public transport over petrol and diesel cars and trucks n Supporting electric transport options n Improving the energy efficiency of our homes n Improving the sustainability of our agriculture sector n Restoring essential natural resources: our forests, rivers, lakes, wetlands, and coastal waters. The group wrote to the Prime Minister in April reminding her that the government was legally required to take climate change into account when selecting economic stimulus projects. It is also currently advancing an amendment to New Zealand’s Bill of Rights Act to recognise the right to a sustainable environment.

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FAST TRACK TO BAD DECISION-MAKING? The government has announced it wants to circumvent the Resource Management Act and fast track consents for shovel-ready large-scale building projects. Legislation will be introduced to Parliament to remove the ability for the public and councils to contribute to decision-making on these projects. Instead, a small panel of “experts” will take the decision. These powers will last for two years. Forest & Bird’s conservation and advocacy manager Jen Miller is concerned that this will mean projects will not be scrutinised properly, particularly their environmental effects. “Forest & Bird is really concerned about the longterm economic effects of Covid-19, but this shouldn’t be a reason for fast-tracking projects. We need these projects to provide positive long-term environment outcomes as well as jobs and economic stimulus. “Climate disruption will cause a huge impact on people and our environment. In our view, every new major infrastructure project needs to provide genuine opportunities for the green recovery of people and planet.” Under government proposals, the Minister for the Environment will decide which projects go through the fast-tracking process. “The small panel of ‘experts’ won’t provide the same robustness that public participation in the RMA process would,” adds Jen. “Building roads won’t change the reasons why the pandemic has had such a profound impact on the economy. The country is too reliant on unsustainable economic models, such as international tourism. “We need a step-change in direction that puts people and planet first.”

RESTORING THE FOXTON RIVER LOOP Forest & Bird members involved in the “shovel-ready” multi-million dollar Foxton River restoration project say it would create green jobs in one of the most deprived parts of the country. They have plans ready to go, have applied to the Provincial Growth Fund for part of the funding, and say it would be a great project for the government to invest in as part of the coronavirus stimulus package. The once beautiful and healthy Manawatū River at Foxton/Te Awahou no longer exists. Locals say the lives of people and the quality of the environment have been harmed because of mismanaged earthworks undertaken by the New Zealand Public Works Department in 1943. In 1942, work started on building a weir to speed up the release of river water in times of flooding to allow flood surges to bypass the Foxton Te Awahou River Loop. The botched works created a new path for the river that permanently circumvented Foxton. This shortened pathway is called the Whirokino Cut. The impacts of this redirection of the main river flow have had dire consequences for the internationally recognised Manawatū Estuary, a RAMSAR site, as well as the local economy. Foxton is designated level 10 (the highest score) on the index of socio-economic deprivation. The Save Our River Trust (SORT) is a community group of volunteers who, together with iwi, two councils, and the local Foxton Community Board, want to restore a healthy water flow back into the Manawatū River Loop at Foxton for the benefit of people and the environment. “The community has waited 77 years for the problem to be fixed. We have the plans and support to do this. We just need the government to step up to the plate and fund the works,” says SORT trustee Janine Smart.

YOUTH SPEAK OUT Forest & Bird Youth wrote to the Prime Minister asking for nature to be a top priority in the recovery from Covid-19. “We’re calling on the government to invest in projects that focus on the preservation of nature, while moving our nation forward,” said George Hobson, 16, Forest & Bird Youth’s campaign coordinator. “This could include large-scale pest control, development of green infrastructure, and investment in environmentally focused entrepreneurship.” Forest & Bird Youth is run by environmentally conscious 14 to 25 year olds. “The Covid-19 response needs to invest in infrastructure and jobs that create a clean, green Aotearoa for future generations – and doesn’t leave them with an ecological debt to pay,” adds George.

SORT volunteers working on the banks of Foxton River.

Restoring the Foxton River Loop will also deliver long-term local employment opportunities in tourism and leisure. In April, the trust produced a video outlining the issues and solutions. This vividly shows the extent of environmental degradation and plans for improvement. There are two key phases of work. Phase 1 is a “shovelready” project involving riverfront works at Foxton. Plans and consents exist, and funding has been sought from the Provincial Growth Fund for some of the work, with the rest to come from other sources. SORT says the project is soundly based on extensive and expensive planning work. Phase 2 would reinstate flow to the river by opening the north end of the loop to free water flow. Constructing the riverfront amenities will deliver local employment opportunities – both in constructing the facility and the resulting tourism and leisure activities.

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

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Leaders in sustainable & responsible investment advice since 1999

Winter 2020

BIODIVERSITY

Recreating

LOST FROGS

Kelly Body set out to recreate extinct Aurora and Waitomo frogs using their bones, DNA analysis, and a series of illustrations in a fascinating science-art project.

Vanished forever: Aotearoaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Waitomo frog pictured right with the smaller Aurora frog on the left.

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he last of the evening light breaks through a canopy of ancient, moss-covered trees. The shrill cries of kiwi and lonely sounds of ruru and laughing owls replace the chattering of birds that fill the forest during the day. A quiet rustling of dead leaves in the darkness is the only sign that the frogs have emerged. In contrast to the noise surrounding them, these amphibians sit silently, unmoving, waiting for their next meal to cross their path. Many of them are at home among the leaf litter on the forest floor, while others spend their lives next to bubbling streams, all flourishing in a pristine environment. This is the story of our long extinct, endemic frogs. Before the arrival of humans, Aotearoa’s forests were home not only to countless unique birds but also to at least seven different species of pepeketua – endemic Leiopelma frogs. Found nowhere else in the world, three species became extinct soon after the first introduction of kiore rats about 800 years ago: Markham’s frog (L. markhami), the Aurora frog (L. auroraensis), and the Waitomo frog (L. waitomoensis). Since then, it seems as though these animals have been relegated to the footnotes of history – rarely mentioned when any of us talk about Aotearoa’s extinct species. For me, it wasn’t until I started looking into Aotearoa’s pre-human biodiversity for a Master of Science in Society project at Victoria University that I discovered we even had extinct frogs. There are no historical illustrations of them to be found, no alcoholpreserved specimens, no photographs, and no mention of them in kōrero from iwi around the country. The only information we have is in a handful of scientific articles and several images of their recovered bones.

These animals have been relegated to the footnotes of history – rarely mentioned when any of us talk about Aotearoa’s extinct species. I began to wonder how we were meant to feel a sense of loss for these species if there were no stories or visual illustrations about them for us to connect to and how this might affect our feelings about protecting the Leiopelma species that remain on the mainland – Archey’s frog (L. archeyi) and Hochstetter’s frog (L. hochstetteri). They are in serious trouble and extremely vulnerable to predators and habitat loss. To start conversations about our lost frogs, I decided to recreate two species, the Waitomo and Aurora frog, through a series of artworks. Although there is a lack of available visual information about these animals, there have been comprehensive studies carried out on the bones and DNA of these species from scientists around the country. By reading through their descriptions of the bones in the scientific literature, I could slowly

Aurora skeleton. Kelly painstakingly recreated the frogs using their bones before bringing them to life through her illustrations.

piece together what the skeletons of these animals would have looked like. We know the Waitomo frog was the largest of all Leiopelma species, measuring 100mm in length, with long, slender hindlimbs but very short forearms. Combined with its long digits and the caves where its bones were found, this suggests it was a streamdwelling animal capable of hopping, similar to our surviving Hochstetter’s frog. Waitomo frog bones have been found throughout the North Island. In contrast, the much stockier Aurora frog was only about 50mm long, with long strong forearms and short hindlimbs built for walking about on the forest floor rather than hopping. All the information on the Aurora frog comes from just one incomplete skeleton found in the Aurora Cave, in Fiordland. This information, as well as guidance from Dr Luke Easton, who was the lead author on the main academic article I used for this project, was vital for the project’s completion and helped me to create accurate reconstructions of these species. Once I had them drawn out, it was easy to understand their vulnerability to introduced predators and the cause of their extinction. Being grounddwelling, sedentary, and, in the case of the Aurora and Markham’s frog, unable to hop very well meant these animals were an easy meal for kiore. This, combined with widespread habitat loss, put huge pressure on the frogs’ ability to survive, although we don’t know exactly why they became extinct. The four Leiopelma species that did make it through this initial wave of environmental change were exposed to new threats when European settlers arrived, such as rapid habitat modification and the introduction of a swathe of new predators. “Our remaining endemic frog species have fortuitously clung onto survival but are still at great risk of extinction. Predation by rats and potentially other introduced mammals on the mainland, continued habitat loss, and novel disease risks are ever present,” says Dr Luke Easton. Winter 2020

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“In some areas, frogs are doing just about okay, but this status can change rapidly.” The one thing I couldn’t recreate from the scientific literature were the colours and textures of the extinct Waitomo and Aurora frogs. This isn’t something we can establish by analysing their bones. Instead, I chose colours that could have been similar to their surroundings and then exaggerated them by adding gold

and bronze. I also added a unique, stylised element to each frog, to remind us all that this part of the process is entirely up to the artist. Without serious conservation efforts from organisations like Forest & Bird, who want to see landscape-scale restoration of native flora and biodiversity, as well as predator-free forests, the Leiopelma species we have left are still at risk of joining their three relatives in the annals of Aotearoa’s other extinct species.

FROGGIE FUNDRAISING Kelly is selling her incredibly beautiful recreations of Aotearoa’s extinct frogs to help raise funds for Forest & Bird. Last year, she organised a froggie fundraising event with Dr Luke Easton that raised $700. Kelly has created some limited-edition A4 prints that are available to purchase for $45 on the Forest & Bird online shop – see www.shop.forestandbird.org.nz. Be in quick as stocks are selling fast!

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

ANCIENT ANCESTRY All four of New Zealand’s remaining frog species are in big trouble and face multiple pressures in the wild – just like their extinct ancestors, they are threatened by introduced predators, especially rats, as well as habitat loss and human impacts. For example, the fragile and critically endangered Archey’s frog population in the Coromandel is facing additional stress from the continued impact of gold mining developments. “These weird and wonderful frogs need our help,” says Rebecca Stirnemann, Forest & Bird’s central North Island regional manager. “We need to stop threats like pigs and rats, and also say no to mining development in the last places they live in Aotearoa.” New Zealand’s primitive Leiopelma species – Archey’s, Hamilton’s, Hochstetter’s, and Maud Island – are incredibly special. They have no eardrums, which suggests they may be deaf, and don’t croak like other frogs. The species that walk are terrible jumpers. There is only one other genus of frogs in the world that is as old and as unique as our Leiopelma – the Ascaphus frogs from North America. Together, these two ancient groups of amphibians have changed very little in about 70 million years — near the end of the time of the dinosaurs. Archey’s, Hamilton’s, and Maud Island species are unique in that they don’t have a tadpole stage. Instead, the eggs hatch as almost fully formed froglets with tails. Parental care is variable. In Archey’s frogs, the female lays the eggs and then the male takes over for a few weeks. He lovingly cleans each egg, polishing them with his secretions. It is thought this stops fungal growths. Hochstetter’s frogs do have a tadpole stage, but even this is unlike other species of frogs – the tadpoles don’t feed! They simply don’t need to, as they have a large yolk sac that they absorb over several months and that provides them with all the nutrients they need.

Archey’s frog.

Euan Brook

Maud Island frog.

Hochstetter’s frog.

Zealandia

Grant Capill

Despite conservationists’ best efforts, nature continues to vanish at an alarming rate, with 80% of native birds, 88% of lizards, and 100% of frogs threatened with extinction in New Zealand. Habitat loss, predators, weeds, and climate change threaten many ecosystems. The proposed NPS for Indigenous Biodiversity strikes a fair balance where farming and other existing activities can continue, but new activities that would destroy certain habitats or plants generally can’t. Hamilton’s frog.

Andrew MacDonald

Winter 2020

C L I M AT E Mature podocarp forest in Balls Clearing Scenic Reserve, near Hastings, with Kaweka Forest Park behind. Rob Suisted.

Could New Zealand become

CARBON POSITIVE?

Removing possums, deer, and goats from our native forests could help New Zealand meet, or even exceed, its carbon-zero goal. Caroline Wood

t’s a win-win proposition. Controlling introduced herbivores in New Zealand’s conservation forests could set the country on the path to becoming carbon positive, while protecting more of our precious native wildlife. Removing possums, deer, and goats in our native forests on conservation land has the

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potential to sequester nearly 33% of New Zealand’s current annual greenhouse emissions, while better managing our valuable carbon reserves. But the Department of Conservation currently spends only $20m a year on deer and goat control to protect a carbon resource with a present value of more than $200 billion.

Eliminating browsing mammals in native forests should be a top priority for DOC to support New Zealand’s national climate policy. This herbivore control work in public conservation forests could be funded by the millions of dollars of carbon credits generated from the resulting increased carbon sequestration (see table). Forest & Bird has spent the

past few months looking at the potential climate benefits of controlling introduced herbivores in New Zealand. The Counting Carbon project was led by chief conservation advisor Kevin Hackwell, with the support of US student intern Maitland Robinson. Reviewing local and international research studies, the pair identified how much carbon could be captured by different kinds of vegetation types – and the impact of removing large browsing animals. “Most of New Zealand’s carbon is stored in native forests on the conservation estate managed by DOC,” says Kevin Hackwell. “The government’s climate change policymakers have generally failed to recognise how much carbon is being sequestered in our natural ecosystems.” More importantly, they may not realise how much more could be sequestered if introduced browsing mammals were properly controlled. “Removing introduced deer, goats, tahr, chamois, and possums on conservation land could mean

extra sequestration of nearly a third of New Zealand’s current annual greenhouse gas emissions. “This would increase to 75% if wild browsing mammals were removed from all natural habitats, including those on private land.” Most of New Zealand’s manageable carbon stocks are located on publicly owned land, with native forests and their soils holding the largest and most valuable carbon sinks. The majority of these forests are ravaged by browsing mammals, and in many parts of the country there has been almost no systematic control for decades. “Most of our natural ecosystems (carbon sinks) are out of balance because introduced herbivores are browsing vast amount of leaves, leaf litter, seed, and seedlings,” explains Kevin Hackwell. “Larger browsers like deer, goats, chamois, and tahr are also trampling and compacting our natural soils and reducing their ability to sequester carbon.” The biggest opportunity for

improving carbon sequestration will come from controlling goats, deer, and possums in regenerating scrublands and younger forests. Because these ecosystems are growing rapidly, removing the browsing pressure means even more growth can occur, which results in greater quantities of carbon being stored. While many argue that recreational hunting is sufficient to control browsing mammals to protect forest health, research – and experience – has clearly demonstrated that this is not the case. For example, Kaweka Forest Park is one of the North Island’s recreational deer hunting hot spots. But they are not removing enough deer, and the beech forest is not regenerating. It is slowly being eaten to death. Implementing a national programme to control deer and other introduced browsing mammals would create thousands of green jobs while helping the forest recover.

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COUNTING CARBON: This table shows the potential extra carbon sequestration on public conservation land after removal of possums, deer, and wild goats Vegetation type (all on public conservation land)1

Amount of carbon currently stored2

Potential increase in carbon sequestration per year from removing browsing mammals

Potential increase in carbon dioxide equivalent per year3

Potential $ carbon value per annum4

Native forests (4.26 million hectares)

1,420 MtC

1.2 MtC per year

4.4 MtCO2e

$110 million

Native forest-scrub & grassland (0.84 million hectares)

144 MtC

1.0 MtC per year

3.7 MtCO2e

$92 million

Tussock grassland (1.14 million hectares)

28 MtC

0.5 MtC per year

1.8 MtCO2e

$45 million

Scrubland (0.39 million hectares)

6.1 MtC

0.9 MtC per year

3.3 MtCO2e

$82 million

Soil (7.2 million hectares)

1,644 MtC

4.2 MtC per year

15.4 MtCO2e

$385 million

Total

3,242 MtC

8.1 MtC/year

28.6 MtCO2e/year

$714 million/year

Derived from Craswell et al. (2008), Synthesis of Carbon Stock Information Regarding Conservation Land (Landcare Research). MtC = megatonnes of carbon 3 MtCO2e = Metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent 4 Based on current carbon price of $25 per unit of CO2e. Not all carbon captured will be eligible for carbon credits. 1

Winter 2020

C L I M AT E

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HOW FOREST REGENERATION CAPTURES CARBON

(AND WHY INTRODUCED BROWSERS INTERRUPT THIS NATURAL CYCLE) Globally, carbon sinks, such as forests and oceans, have helped mitigate the effects of climate change by absorbing about half the carbon dioxide emitted by human activities over the past few decades. The illustration shows how regenerating forests capture carbon. 1 The forest’s leaves extract CO2 from atmosphere. 2 Carbon is stored in wood, roots, and slowly decomposing litter. 3 Leaf litter decomposes to provide nutrients and humus to soil. 4 A nutrient-rich soil means more mineralised carbon. 5 This leads to more forest growth, more seedlings, and eventually more carbon capture and fewer CO2 emissions. But introduced browsing mammals interrupt this “carbon capturing” cycle. For example, a possum consumes around 30kg of carbon in leaves and seedlings per year. A deer consumes even more – around 375kg of carbon per year, including a lot of fresh leaf litter. They favour fresh young buds and leaves, limiting the plant’s ability to grow and store carbon through the year. They also consume large quantities of nutritious flowers,

Net primary productivity

Litterfall

Incorporation into plant tissues

Dead organic matter

Plant uptake

Decomposition/mineralisation Soil nutrients

seeds, and seedlings, which can severely compromise the ability of the forest to regenerate itself. Deer and goats have ruminant digestive systems that produce methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. A wild deer is estimated to produce 20kg of methane a year, while wild goats emit 9kg per annum. Their combined annual methane emissions come to the equivalent of 450,000 tonnes of CO2. To offset this would cost $11m a year – money that Forest & Bird says would be better spent on deer and goat control.

DISAPPEARING NATIVE FORESTS Some of New Zealand’s forests are disappearing, with the pressure of introduced browsing mammals turning them into grass and shrublands. Sadly, this has been the fate of much of the once-grand forests of the southern Ruahine ranges (pictured) where the emergent rātā has been replaced by forest clearings and regeneration that is dominated by (low-carbon) tree ferns. This means some of New Zealand’s native carbon stores are currently going backwards thanks to the devastating impact of possums, deer, and other introduced browsing animals.

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Retranslocation

WHERE IS THE “HUGE” SOUTH ISLAND CARBON SINK? Much of the New Zealand research to date has assumed that our older “mature” native forests sequester about the same amount of carbon as is lost back to the atmosphere through decomposition from dead wood, fallen leaves etc. It has therefore been argued that there would be little climate change benefit from undertaking introduced herbivore control in these older forests. However, Maitland and Kevin’s review has found good reasons to challenge this assumption. There is a growing body of overseas research that has found that most forests up to 800 years old usually have a positive net carbon balance of the forest, including soils. Several New Zealand studies also point to many of our older forests continuing to have a net

positive sequestration of carbon. In 2017, NIWA found evidence that our native forests may be removing up to 60% more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than previously thought. “There’s a big carbon sink somewhere in the South Island, and the areas that seem responsible are dominated by indigenous forest,” said Dr Sara Mikaloff-Fletcher. “This amount of uptake from relatively undisturbed [native] forest land is remarkable and may be caused by processes unique to New Zealand or part of a wider global story.” If this finding applies across the whole country, our native forests could already be absorbing up to half of the annual CO2 emissions, and this could be further enhanced by improved introduced herbivore control.

NIWA has boosted its network of atmosphere sampling sites to help scientists better understand how this carbon sink is functioning. There are other significant benefits from introduced herbivore control, including mitigating extreme weather impacts. More rainfall will be absorbed into healthy forest soils during severe storms, which will reduce peak flooding events and reduce soil erosion. Conversely, healthier soils will slowly release moisture meaning that, in droughts, there will be more water available downstream. Fewer deer and goats mean a much thicker understorey growth that helps to cool the forest floor and maintain moisture levels. During sustained dry periods, this benefits native wildlife and reduces the likelihood of bush fires.

A CLIMATE POSITIVE FUTURE Aotearoa has set itself the ambitious goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. This is enshrined in the Zero Carbon Act. Carbon neutral means an activity releases net-zero carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Becoming climate positive means an activity goes beyond achieving net-zero carbon emissions to create an environmental benefit by removing additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. To become carbon-neutral or positive we must de-carbonise our economy, which in 2017 produced 81 MtCO2e in greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from our agricultural and energy sectors. We can do this by reducing greenhouse gas emissions using tools such as the Emissions Trading Scheme and/or offsetting emissions by increasing domestic carbon sequestration. Forest & Bird believes New Zealand, with its vast conservation forests and other natural ecosystems, has the

potential to become carbon positive and lead the world in natural carbon “farming”. Removing possums, wild deer, and goats from public and private land could sequester 75% of the country’s current annual greenhouse gas emissions. We can capture even more carbon if we work with nature by planting new forests, better protecting our oceans (another huge carbon sink), and restoring wetlands and mangroves. Forest & Bird is keen to see more work being done to understand the impact of introduced herbivores on carbon stored in our native ecosystems, particularly what happens when you remove them. “In the last couple of decades, DOC has done some outstanding work on introduced predator control,” says Kevin Hackwell. “It is now time for it to step up and do the same with introduced herbivore control. “Serious possum, deer, and goat

New Zealand’s native forests hold more than three times as much carbon per hectare as exotic pine forests planted for timber production. Red beech seedling, Rimutaka Forest Park. Rob Suisted

management now will deliver huge biodiversity and climate change resilience benefits in the decades to come.” Forest & Bird is writing a detailed report with links to all the research used to calculate the figures in this article. It will soon be circulated among government decision-makers.

Winter 2020

FOREST & BIRD

TOURS

SUPPORTING CONSERVATION

Naturalist and Forest & Bird President Mark Hanger has more than 30 years’ experience leading small-group nature tours throughout Australasia. He has put together two incredibly special fundraising journeys for our supporters. Explore New Zealand’s natural heritage and feel good knowing that the tours’ profits will be going to support Forest & Bird’s work! Footsteps Through Conservation Battlegrounds

Alpine Aotearoa

Travel off the beaten track through awe-inspiring landscapes at the heart of some of the greatest environmental campaigns of the past century. Meet conservation legends and Forest & Bird Ambassadors Sir Alan Mark and Gerry McSweeney, who will share some of their “wins” and memories of hard-fought battles. Highlights of the 10-night South Island tour include Tautuku in the Catlins, Ulva and Stewart Islands, Lake Manapōuri, Te Wāhipounamu World Heritage Area, West Coast forests, Punakaiki, and Nelson Lakes and Kahurangi national parks. Plus, an optional five-night extension to explore the northern battlegrounds of Kāpiti Island, Tongariro National Park, and Pureora, and meet the Graeme family at Aongatete in the Kaimai Mamaku Range. The North Island tour can also be booked separately.

Journey through the alpine wonderlands of the South Island and discover botanical treasures under the guidance of an expert naturalist who is as passionate about plants as you are! Highlights of the seven-night tour include Hollyford Valley, Lake Manapōuri, the Old Man Range, Mackenzie Country, Aoraki Mount Cook, Mount Hutt, and Arthur’s Pass. Walk through boulder and herb fields and search for alpine flora. Travel through unforgettable floral landscapes, including glaciated valleys, scree slopes, and sub-alpine tarns. Plus an optional seven-night “top of the South Island” extension/separate tour. This takes in the fascinating flora of the Clarence Valley, Hanmer Springs, St Patrick, the Lewis Pass, Nelson Lakes National Park, Mount Arthur, Blackbirch, and Kaikōura.

departing 19 October 2020, and 28 January 28 2021*

For prices and full tour itineraries, email m.hanger@forestandbird.org.nz. *Tour profits go to Forest & Bird’s conservation work www.forestandbird.org.nz

departing 4 January 2021*

NATURE NEEDS YOUR HELP A personal message from chief executive Kevin Hague.

ight now, Forest & Bird is facing an unprecedented financial crisis. Like many charities, Forest & Bird relies on the generosity of supporters to fund our vital conservation work. We don’t receive any guaranteed income. But widespread economic insecurity and job losses around the country mean many people are now no longer in a position to donate. It has been heart-breaking to receive calls from hundreds of people cancelling their monthly gifts to nature because they have lost their jobs or are suffering financial hardship. In March, we saw our income drop by more than a third. We are likely to experience significant difficulties raising funds over the next two years, or longer, until the New Zealand economy recovers. As a result, I have implemented a range of cost-cutting measures,

including halting recruitment, a salary freeze, and across-the-board budget reductions. We are using our limited cash reserves and asking staff to apply for voluntary redundancy or shorter working hours. Your support has helped secure some remarkable wins for nature. But there is now an imminent threat that some potentially gamechanging government policies will stall or stop completely. I can’t sugar-coat the current situation – this global threat could have a serious impact on our ability to protect, defend, and restore nature in New Zealand. Today, I am asking you to help nature. If you are able, please make a very special gift or, even better, set up a regular monthly payment. I am enormously grateful to the many supporters who have already recognised the crisis nature is facing, dug deep, and made a donation. Nearly 2000 people have made a gift, and it’s been heart-warming to read their supportive words of encouragement. You can read some of their comments overleaf. Many of your local branches, run by volunteers who are passionate about protecting nature, have also made donations to ensure the survival of Forest & Bird. The Tauranga Branch, for instance, gave one-third of its funds ($30,000) and challenged

other branches to follow suit. Under Level 3, some of our priority frontline conservation projects were able to restart. And we have launched a “Green Recovery” campaign to ensure the post-Covid world is a better one for people and the planet. Despite the challenges of the whole organisation working from home, progress has been made on nearly every campaign front, as you will read in the pages of this magazine. The Forest & Bird whānau you belong to – our members, donors, branches, volunteers, board, and supporters – have been through some tough times, including the Great Depression, World War II, and many recessions. But we have always come through stronger by working together. I am determined Forest & Bird will survive and emerge from this crisis more agile, leaner, but still an effective voice for nature. With your continued support, I know we can do this. It is the courage of supporters like you that has got Forest & Bird through the past 100 years, and it is that strength that counts right now. Lives are counting on us. I hope we can count on you. If you can, please make a special donation now at www. forestandbird.org.nz/donate. You can set up a regular monthly gift at https://bit.ly/2ZfJ9iW.

Winter 2020

STRONGER TOGETHER A heartfelt thank you to everyone who stepped up with a gift following the Covid-19 crisis to make sure nature always has a voice in New Zealand. Your positive words of encouragement have been humbling. Here is a selection of comments from you, our incredible conservation whānau, about why you support Forest & Bird. You are part of the fabric of New Zealand. We and nature need you, Heidi, Wellington.

Somebody has to be the voice for nature, Ruary, Te Awamutu.

The least I can do is give a little bit of money that the animals and Earth need more than I do, Cora, Dunedin.

This is the only world we know we have, and our descendants are entitled to know it too, Cathy, Auckland.

I am very concerned about nature for my young grandchildren’s sake, Elisabeth, Otaki.

You guys do a fantastic job, and someone’s gotta do it! Anna, Tasman.

I hear Forest & Bird’s voice as a truthful and capable messenger for nature, Russell, Tauranga.

Forest & Bird do critical work on behalf of all New Zealanders, Jeannie Queenstown.

I care deeply for the environment and feel you do a good job in caring for it here, Sarah, Kerikeri. I realise the lockdown and the massive consequences caused by Covid-19 have created a donation vacuum for Forest & Bird. Penelope, Auckland. I love birds and I love the forests, and I fear for our beautiful, wonderful planet. Wish I could donate more, Nola, Christchurch. Forest & Bird does such spectacularly good work at both local and the national levels, Alison, Waikanae.

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Our family are in New Zealand. We have seen your work, and cherish all conservation efforts there, Hilary, overseas. You need help at this time, and I want the organisation to survive, Helen, Wellington. I value our environment so highly and am happy to go without things to help to protect that, Amanda, Gisborne. Having visited New Zealand two years ago, I found your native wildlife so fascinating, unique, and special that I want to help you protect it, Amy, overseas. It is really important that Forest & Bird continues to be financially solvent to carry on its great work for the environment, the forests, the fauna and flora, Donald, Wellington.

We are nature, Jan, Nelson. You are doing an amazing job of protecting species and habitats that are constantly under threat, John, Auckland. We are the luckiest people to live in this beautiful country with its unique forests and birds. I’m so grateful for your organisation and the work it does, Phillip, Auckland. I want Forest & Bird’s important work to be able to continue after the Covid lockdown, Aileen, Lower Hutt. I don’t want Covid-19 to derail the wonderful conservation work that Forest and Bird have been doing! Melinda, Auckland. We need a re-set that puts the environment first. That means we still need lobbying groups to remain in a good financial position, Beverley, Auckland. You sum it up perfectly. Nature needs us and I need nature to feed my soul, Monique, Lower Hutt. Nature needs a voice and our protection, Gary, New Plymouth. Together, we can do it, Gavin, Owaka. Now more than ever, it’s important to have a healthy natural environment to support human health, Sarah Auckland. The forest and birds cannot speak for themselves, Susan, Wellington.

Campbell Island gentian. Jake Osborne

Winter 2020

F R E S H WAT E R Upstream: The Orari River near its source in the Southern Alps. Andre Chalmers

FUTURE OF FRESHWATER

New Zealand needs to transition to a future-focused economy that promotes low-irrigation and restorative farming models.

he government’s latest report on the state of New Zealand’s freshwater makes for sobering reading. The impact of human activities, including farming, forestry, and urban development, has left our rivers, lakes, and streams at breaking point, risking human and ecological health. Our Freshwater 2020, released by the Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand in April, also highlights how climate change is set to make things even worse. The report looks at four major issues: n Threats to native freshwater species and habitats n Pollution in urban, farming, and forestry areas n Changing water flows and irrigation n The impact of climate change. “This report makes clear why New Zealand urgently needs a major transition away from old models of business – they are harming us, and they are harming the environment,” says Forest & Bird’s freshwater advocate Tom Kay. “The right legal reforms, economic incentives, and regulatory systems can protect and restore our fresh water.”

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The report says the amount of artificially irrigated land has increased by 100% in just 15 years. Irrigation is now the single biggest water user in the country, accounting for nearly half of all water taken out of freshwater ecosystems. The report also warns that increasing droughts will cause food shortages unless urgent action is taken. “Climate change is going to cause more frequent and longer droughts. Already, soils at a quarter of monitored sites are drying out, and farmers are becoming increasingly desperate,” adds Tom. “We should be promoting low-irrigation farming models that reduce the need for water and create sustainable and restorative agriculture in New Zealand. A future-focused economy would encourage more diversified crops and fewer animals on the land. “We can have primary industries in New Zealand that care for people and the planet by shifting away from volume and moving towards increasing the value and quality of goods.”

SNAPSHOT OF FINDINGS Native freshwater species and ecosystems under threat New Zealand has a diverse and unique range of freshwater species, habitats, and ecosystems, but many are under threat and continue to decline. This puts our species at risk, reduces the benefits we receive from nature, and affects our way of life and connection to freshwater. Lake health: Estimates suggest that 46% of lakes larger than 1ha (1758 lakes) are in poor or very poor ecological health. Freshwater fish: 76% of our native freshwater fish (39 of 51 species) are either threatened with, or at risk of, extinction.

Water is polluted in urban, farming, and forestry areas Pollution affects almost all of our rivers and many of our lakes and aquifers. Groundwater quality is mixed but is improving in many places. Water pollution is not the result of any single land use, but comes from the mosaic of cities, farms, and plantation forests we have in most catchments. Applying pesticides and fertilisers, increasing the number of cattle per hectare, felling and replanting pine trees, and faulty wastewater and stormwater infrastructure are all examples of activities that contribute to water pollution. Rivers in urban areas: Estimates show most of the rivers in catchments where urban land cover is dominant are polluted with nutrients and suspended sediment. Many are polluted with pathogens and heavy metals.

Changing water flows affect our freshwater The changes we have made to the water levels, flows, and courses in our rivers and aquifers are affecting our freshwater. We use and store large quantities of freshwater for irrigation, hydroelectricity generation, and use in our homes. Low river flows reduce the habitat for freshwater fish and other species. The journeys that native fish need to make up and downstream to complete their life cycles are more difficult or impossible when there are low flows and barriers like weirs and dams in rivers and streams. Reduced or less variable flows increases the chances of harmful algal blooms. Irrigated land: The area of irrigated agricultural land almost doubled between 2002 and 2017 (from 384,000ha to 747,000ha). Annual precipitation from rain, hail, sleet, and snow was below average in nine of the years between 2000 and 2014.

Climate change is affecting freshwater Changes to our climate are already being observed. It affects when, where, and how much rainfall, snowfall, and drought occur. The frequency of extreme weather events is expected to increase. How much our climate and oceans warm and change depends on global emissions, but how emissions will change into the future is unknown. Ultimately, all these changes will affect what we do, including where and how we produce food, our economy, and how and where we live. Droughts: Communities that depend on rain for drinking water may find their water runs out. The cost of treating water during a drought may increase, and droughts are also likely to cause food shortages. Soils: Since 1972/73, soils at a quarter of monitoring sites around New Zealand have become drier. Glaciers: From 1977 to 2016, glaciers are estimated to have lost almost 25% of their ice.

Downstream. The Orari River, in South Canterbury, has run dry before it reaches the sea. Andre Chalmers

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F R E S H WAT E R

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WHAT IS FOREST & BIRD DOING? Forest & Bird has been in talks with councils and central government about our Recovery for People and Planet plan, which has detailed suggestions for future-proofing agriculture, forestry, and the wider economy as we rebuild our economy following the Covid-19 crisis. Forest & Bird acknowledges that the agricultural industry has a key role to play in leading New Zealand

out of this crisis and could help lead the world in sustainable agriculture. We believe New Zealand can emerge more resilient and with an improved environment. But the recovery must be sustainable in all regards – for human health, our environment, and our economy.

NOW NOT THE TIME TO ABANDON TOUGHER RULES

Forest & Bird hit back saying the proposed (but still to be enacted) National Policy Statements on freshwater and native biodiversity should not be derailed. Both policies represent a once-in-a-generation chance to turn around our freshwater and vanishing nature crises – as well as protecting human health. “These policies will protect the health of our native plants and animals, and the health of New Zealanders and our communities,” said Tom Kay, Forest & Bird’s freshwater advocate. “Zoonotic diseases, which pass from animals to humans, are not new to New Zealand. Thousands of New Zealanders contract common zoonotic diseases every year, namely giardia, cryptosporidium, E. coli, and salmonella.” Excessive agricultural nitrates also put people at greater risk of illnesses such as colon cancer, rectal cancer, thyroid disease, blue baby syndrome, and neural tube defects. “The potential human and economic toll of widespread zoonotic outbreaks was foreshadowed during the largest outbreak of campylobacter on record four years ago in Havelock North,” adds Tom. “The proposed national policy statement and accompanying national standards for freshwater are vital tools in protecting us and our loved ones from unchecked agricultural pollution and the effects of zoonotic disease, the full potential of which is now devastatingly clear.”

In April, in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis, Federated Farmers and other primary industry interest groups asked the government to abandon its draft freshwater and biodiversity protections.

Patuna Chasm.

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Lyndon Hookham

CITIZEN SCIENCE

READY, SET, GO...BIRDING Now in its 14th year, the annual winter Garden Bird Survey is one of New Zealand’s longest-running citizen science projects. Anyone can take part – all you have to do is spend one hour counting the native and non-native bird species in your garden, a local park or reserve, or your school grounds. The survey runs from 27 June to 5 July 2020 and is organised by scientists at Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, who will collate and analyse all the results. Garden birds act as environmental indicators for the health of New Zealand’s ecosystems. Year on year, the data collected by citizen scientists throughout the country have revealed interesting and important trends in bird species’ abundance.   “It’s easy to get involved, and there’s no need to register,” says Landcare’s Nicolette Dellow.

“All you have to do is spend one hour outdoors – or indoors with a good view – counting the numbers of birds that you see. It’s a great activity for families – so rug up and head outside!” Add your sightings by filling in the online Garden Bird Survey form at gardenbirdsurvey. landcareresearch.co.nz. You can do this anytime between 27 June and 5 July 2020.

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Nature. Nurtured. 0800 109 244 www.topflite.co.nz

Winter 2020

FOREST & BIRD BRANCH PROJECT

PLACES FOR

PENGUINS

Kororā.

Oscar Thomas

Some great news for Wellington’s kororā little blue penguins following a busy breeding season. Andrea Westphal, Callum Shaw, and Kerry Shaw.

ow lucky we are to be able to look after kororā right here in Wellington, the wildlife capital of Aotearoa. Our efforts at keeping rats out of the nesting areas along the southern coast of the city have paid off, and, at the time of writing, all our little blue penguins have finished their moult and returned to sea. We expect to see adults coming back in June. Overall, we had a very good season this year, as most of the kororā couples were able to feed two chicks successfully. As a result, 54 chicks fledged, compared to 40 last season. We also had fewer deaths and fewer abandoned eggs, and a fledging success of 93%. That suggests the ocean conditions were good and there was good food availability for the parents. Places for Penguins is a Forest & Bird Wellington branch project. Records show that, since the boxes were

Ken New and Kerry Shaw check a penguin nesting box near Wellington Airport. Caroline Wood

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

installed in 2014, the South Wellington colony has been steadily growing despite the big drop last season. Although the number of eggs laid (60) was about the same as last season, more chicks managed to successfully fledge this season. The big difference in fledging success is probably environmental factors affecting the ability of penguins to find enough food. For instance, the water may become murky if storms occur, and that may lead to decreased visibility for penguins as they try to hunt under the water. On the other hand, good weather conditions and good ocean productivity may lead to a high abundance of fish and a better season for kororā. Elsewhere in the capital, two sushi-loving penguins created international headlines by wandering across two lanes of busy traffic near Wellington Railway Station last July. They were probably attracted by the fishy smell of the Sushi Bi cart outside. Police were called to take away the non-paying customers, and they were safely delivered home. In more good news for Wellington’s predator-free efforts, Miramar Peninsula is nearly predator free, with the last rats being hunted down. Predator Free Wellington is now looking to the next

stage to focus on preventing pests from re-invading. To do this, they are setting up new trap lines and new monitoring lines for “bio-intrusion detection”. In the next couple of months, existing Places for Penguins traplines will be replaced with the revised traplines where monitoring/checking for rats and mustelids will be key, especially around the coastline. Finally, a big thank you to the Wellington-based Kiwibank staff volunteers who got stuck in helping with Forest & Bird’s Places for Penguins project earlier this year. One of the project’s aims is to regenerate native plants and trees that kororā like to build their nests under. This protects them from black-backed gulls, which, despite their craving for penguin eggs and young, don’t like to venture under canopies and cover. It also means little blue penguins don’t need to cross the road to reach a sheltered spot to nest. That’s where the Kiwibank team came in. At a rocky outcrop near Seatoun pier (see photo right), the bank’s staff volunteers set about clearing all non-organic matter (aka rubbish) from the penguin’s habitat. Sadly, they collected two black bags in 40 minutes, including a duvet and two pairs of shoes. Then it was on to the hard work. Armed with grubbers, forks, and spades, they got to work pulling

New plantings at Seatoun are helping to create a safe place for penguins to nest. Caroline Wood

out weeds and grasses, clearing spaces around the native plants, and leaving lots of room for our penguin friends to build their nests. The Kiwibank team also reformed a pathway from the carpark to the beach so that people using the beach stop trampling native plants and upsetting the penguins’ habitat. The next step is for the Places for Penguins team to maintain and monitor the area, so it can be a safe and sheltered home for current and future generations of little blue penguins choosing to make their home in the coolest little capital on Earth.

• • • •

Specialists in Nature Tours since 1986 Christmas and Cocos Islands

11 Day Accommodated Tour Perth to Perth 8 – 18 December 2020 Two totally different islands, both are naturalist’s wonderlands. Christmas Island an extinct limestone, caped volcano, rugged shoreline and rain-forested terraces and the central plateau, Cocos islands are palm fringed, sandy beaches, more like we think a tropical island paradise should be. The bird, plant and marine life on both islands are plentiful with a number of endemic species of plant and birdlife. We have set the timing of the trip to coincide with Red Crab migration, a truly amazing sight.

NEW TOUR

Southern Forests, Birds, and Marsupials

8 Day Accommodated Tour Perth to Perth 20 – 27 March 2021 Escape the heat and enjoy the scenic splendour of the South West. Home of magnificent Karri forests, deserted white sandy beaches and rugged coastal beauty. This combined with wildlife, rare marsupials, spectacular panorama of the National Parks and interesting bird life makes this a trip not to miss.

Informative naturalist leaders Small groups (6 – 12 participants) Private charters available Fully accommodated & camping tours

Pilbara Reef and Ranges Tours 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 NP. Accommodated Tour

NEW TOUR

13 Day Pilbara Reef and Ranges Expedition

Perth to Newman, 14 May – 26 May 2021 * Easy Camping Tour

14 Day Pilbara Reef & Ranges Expedition, Perth to Broome, 6 – 19 May 2021

Gibson Desert Expedition (Revised Tour)

15 Day (Small Group) Camping Tour Perth to Alice Springs 21 April – 5 May 2021 The focus of the trip will be the arid zone plants, birds and other wildlife plus the diverse geology and the history of Len Beadell and his fellow track builders. Our visits to remote Aboriginal communities and the occasional bores providing water in the heart of the desert country add an other interesting experience.

*Easy Camping 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.

Lake Eyre Basin and Flinders Ranges Expedition

11 Day (Small Group) Camping Tour Alice Springs to Adelaide 13 – 23 May 2021 This tour covers some of South Australia’s most historic outback locations in the Lake Eyre Basin and both the North and South Flinders Ranges. Both areas offer vastly different examples of our great country and provide an opportunity for a wide range of arid zone flora and fauna sightings.

For our full 2021 tour program: • Free Call: 1800 676 016 • Web: www.coateswildlifetours.com.au • Email: coates@iinet.net.au

FOREST & BIRD HISTORY PROJECT

THE POLITICS OF

MANAPŌURI Christine Foxall, of the Royal Forest and Bird Society, holds forms signed by people opposed to the proposal, which were arriving at a rate of 4000 to 5000 a day. The Dominion Post Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Forest & Bird’s record-breaking petition that saw nearly one in 10 Kiwis signing to save Lake Manapōuri. Caroline Wood.

n 26 May 1970, officials wheeled piles of slightly tatty cardboard boxes into Parliament. Television footage of this moment shows bundles of SAVE MANAPŌURI petition forms stacked on a hand trolley being delivered to the Minister of Justice, Dan Riddiford, who was waiting to receive them along with Forest &

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Bird’s president Roy Nelson. An Evening Post photographer was there at Parliament to capture the historic moment (see next page). At the time, it was the biggest petition New Zealand had ever seen. An incredible 264,907 people signed to save two remote Fiordland lakes, Manapōuri and Te Anau, that most of them had probably never

visited. The petition was organised by Forest & Bird, and the first two people to put their names to it were Roy Nelson and fellow Society stalwart Lance McCaskill. The massive petition was a turning point in a long-running battle between conservationists and the government. After ignoring two previous Forest &

Bird petitions in 1960 and 1963, this time ministers couldn’t ignore the strength of public opinion expressed in page after page of scrawled hand-written signatures. What was to follow over the next two years changed a nation and heralded the arrival of the modernday conservation movement, including the establishment of many environmental groups and the formation of an umbrella group, CoEnCo, later ECO. “The petition, which so many Kiwis signed, was a nuclear moment of 1970,” says Lou Sanson, Director-General of the Department of Conservation. “It was the start of the modern-day ecological movement. The next big battle was for the forests.” For Forest & Bird, it would kickstart a transformative period that would see its membership nearly double from 5700 in 1959 to 11,000 in 1971 and then rise massively again over the following decade to reach 36,000 in 1983. At the time, Forest & Bird was the only large national conservation organisation in the country. With its financial clout, network of passionate volunteers, and branches around the country and a national office in the political heartland of Wellington, the Society was well placed to support the many organisations and individuals who would emerge in the late 1960s and jointly campaign to save Lakes Manapōuri and Te Anau. Over 15 years, the Society spent upwards of $400,000 in today’s money on helping to save Manapōuri, with a significant proportion of the total going towards organising the recordbreaking 1970 petition and paying for a legal expert to represent conservationists at the subsequent Commission of Inquiry. By 1971, its coffers had run dry after spending a record amount on Manapōuri, and it was forced to dip into its reserves to fund a huge budget deficit, the equivalent of $180,000.

AND SO IT BEGINS

The Dunedin branch was the first to raise the alarm. In January 1957, it wrote to Forest & Bird’s national office about government proposals to dam and raise the level of iconic Lake Manapōuri, a place of unparalleled raw beauty in Fiordland National Park. The plans would allow for a huge hydro-electric power scheme that could power a new aluminium smelter to help the country out of an economic crisis. In response to the branch’s concerned plea for action, Forest & Bird’s national executive immediately wrote to the State Hydro-electric Department demanding it share the proposals for the area. The department replied, claiming there were “no present proposals for this development”. But secretly the government was working on plans, and, in June 1959, the Society’s leadership learned the government had authorised Australian surveyors and geologists to enter Fiordland National Park to examine the use of Lake Manapōuri for a hydroelectric scheme. It authorised all its branches to call public protest meetings, says Norman Dalmer, an eyewitness to the Society’s Manapōuri campaign, in his book Birds, Forests and Natural Features of New Zealand.

The 1970 Save Manapōuri petition is delivered to Minister of Justice Dan Riddiford (right) with Forest & Bird President Roy Nelson (centre). The Dominion Post Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library.

In January 1960, the Evening Post announced the Nash Labour government had signed a deal with the Consolidated Zinc Company (Comalco) of Australia, granting it exclusive use of the water from Manapōuri and Te Anau lakes for power generation for 99 years. The agreement also allowed Comalco to raise Lake Manapōuri by 100ft, drowning ancient beaches and pristine native forest along the shoreline and raising fears a Lake Monawai mark II would result (see below). “Conservationists were incensed by the government’s deceit – even more so when they discovered that the scheme was to be built in a national park, in violation of the National Parks Act 1952,” says Catherine Knight, in her book Beyond Manapōuri.

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Lake Monowai was raised in the 1920s for one of New Zealand’s first hydro-electric schemes, causing huge environmental damage. Forest & Bird archives

Winter 2020

FOREST & BIRD HISTORY PROJECT

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Forest & Bird swung into action and, in March 1960, presented its first petition to Parliament, with nearly 25,000 signatures asking the government not to ratify the Comalco agreement, not to raise the lake level, and that the National Parks Act be amended to provide greater security for national parks against commercial exploitation. An editorial in Forest & Bird’s magazine said the Comalco agreement was “illegal” and shrouded in secrecy at the time of signing and that the Society “took steps to start an action at law to restrain both parties from operating the agreement ... but were reassured that no actual construction work would be carried out so didn’t need to”. It was a “bitter disappointment” when it realised that the reported agreement between the government and company was not all it seemed. In September 1963, infuriated by the government’s ongoing secrecy about its plans for Lakes Manapōuri and Te Anau, Forest & Bird launched a second petition, together with the Scenic Preservation Society, which 1127 people signed, calling on the Ministry of Works to make public “without delay, all the facts and figures relevant to the scheme” and show why it doesn’t prefer an alternative scheme that preserves the current water levels and doesn’t “destroy trees around the shorelines”.

Forest & Bird’s first Manapōuri petition in 1960. Forest & Bird archives

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

TURNING POINT – FOREST & BIRD’S THIRD MANAPŌURI PETITION Through the rest of the 1960s, Forest & Bird kept plugging away, using science and the law as cornerstones of its Manapōuri campaign. They believed raising the lakes would be an ecological “disaster”. But it wasn’t enough to shift the government from its preferred path. Something more was needed and that turned out to be “people power”. In May 1969, the Forest & Bird journal carried a cover story – “Lake Manapōuri Scenic Gem” – that warned construction work on the power station was well advanced and there was little time left to prevent a tragedy. At this point, no move had been made to raise the lake levels. “We have always considered that the raising Forest & Bird published five of lake levels cover stories about would be an Manapōuri. Forest act of almost & Bird archives incredible desecration and we have not yet been given any reason to change our opinion,” wrote President Roy Nelson. A pivotal moment came in October 1969, when the Save Manapōuri Committee was set up after 10 concerned members of the community met in local politican Norman Jones’s home in Invercargill. The campaign was led by Southland sheepfarmer Ron McLean, who set off on a national tour in early 1970 to raise awareness of the plans for the lakes, and within months 14 local campaign committees had sprung up throughout the country. Three years of huge public efforts to save the lakes followed,

Forest & Bird staff Mrs Lawson and Miss Bellett with boxes of Save Manapōuri petition in 1970. The Dominion Post Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library.

involving many organisations and individuals. At a Forest & Bird council meeting at Bushy Park, in November 1969, the Society’s councillors asked for a telegram of protest to be sent to the Prime Minister in the hope of obtaining an assurance that the lake levels would not be raised. This was not forthcoming, and a “Dominionwide petition to protest was raised”, writes Dalmer. Copies of Forest & Bird’s third Manapōuri petition were distributed to all members inside the February 1970 issue of Forest & Bird. The journal’s cover story “Is Manapōuri to be ravaged for dollars and cents?” was accompanied by an editorial that said: “People who stand firm when national natural treasures are threatened by clamour or greed for a few more dollars ... are people of character whose children and their children will have no cause to be ashamed of their forebears in years to come.” The Society decided to advertise “on the breakfast session of all New

Zealand radio stations” and sent a telegram to all branches and sections requesting they place petitions and leaflets with shopkeepers in all towns in their areas. The response was staggering – at one point, staff were receiving 4000–5000 petition forms a day into Forest & Bird’s Wellington office. The Society was forced to take on three extra people to deal with the extra work. Such was the public interest, Forest & Bird gave daily updates to the media on the number of people who had signed the petition. “We have received a great volume of correspondence applauding our efforts, including from overseas: USA, Britain, Australia, Canada, and even Teheran,” said a Forest & Bird editorial. People from all over the country and all walks of life (and political hue) became involved in the Save Manapōuri campaign. Some would go on to become giants in Forest & Bird’s conservation history, including Sir Alan Mark, Judith Piesse, Fraser Sutherland, and Fraser Ross, among many others. Commercial lawyer Harry Anderson, who would later turn down an offer to become a Supreme Court judge, went around Wellington asking people to sign Forest & Bird’s Save Manapōuri petition. His grandson Harry Broad says: “The campaign cut across all

Southland Save Manapōuri campaigner Jim McFarlane telegrams Forest & Bird’s Wellington office in 1971. Forest & Bird archives

sectors of society and all classes, including National supporters like my grandfather. It cut across a lot of borders, and a lot of people you wouldn’t think would care actually cared very deeply about Manapōuri and what was happening.” After receiving the petition, the government came out fighting. The Minister of Works and Electricity, Percy Allen, tried to undermine it by claiming up to two-thirds of the total signatories were children too young to know what they were signing. ‘Prove it!’ was the response of Roy Nelson, Sir Jack Harris, and various newspaper editorial writers,” says Neville Peat, in his book Manapōuri Saved! Allen later admitted he had not perused the petition and the figure was a guesstimate. Our archives show that the Forest & Bird petition prompted National Prime Minister Keith Holyoake to appoint a Manapōuri

select committee, which met in November 1970. But first there was the matter of the Commission of Inquiry to deal with. Forest & Bird worked alongside the Save Manapōuri Committee, sharing half the cost of retaining legal counsel Frank O’Flynn to present the conservationists’ case to the inquiry, which sat for 38 days from June 1970 and received more than 2000 pages of evidence. Meanwhile, as Neville Peat says, “the war of words spilled out onto the streets”, with a noisy rally outside the select committee in Wellington in 1970 and, later, protests in Invercargill during the opening of the Aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point, in 1971. Labour seized power in 1972, and the new government, keeping a promise made during the general election, agreed not to build the high dam planned for Manapōuri or change lake levels. The campaign was won. And, in an unprecedented move, the government went on to establish the ground-breaking communityled watchdog Guardians of Lake Manapōuri in 1973. Forest & Bird’s Force of Nature history project has uncovered new images, archives, and film footage about Manapōuri. For more information, or to make a gift, see www.forestandbird.org. nz/force-nature.

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Lake Manapōuri (pictured) and Te Anau are popular visitor attractions today. Jake Osborne Winter 2020

FOREST & BIRD HISTORY PROJECT

Veterans of the Save Manapōuri campaign reunite at the lakeside.

SAVE MANAPŌURI REUNION 2020

Stalwarts of the Save Manapōuri campaign reunited in Te Anau over a weekend in March to share memories of one of New Zealand’s greatest conservation success stories. The event was jointly organised by Sir Alan Mark, Otago University botanist, Forest & Bird ambassador, and chair of the Guardians of Lake Manapōuri for its first 26 years, and Forest & Bird Old Blue Jenny Campbell, of Southland branch. “After 50 years, we have much to celebrate. It was a world first that integrated conservation and development,” said Sir Alan. “We can be proud of what we achieved. It was the first major hydro-electric scheme to generate power without spoiling the lake’s natural values.”

50 years ago

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Sandra Stevens

The first six Guardians of Lake Manapōuri were 1970 campaign leaders Alan Mark, Ron McLean, Wilson Campbell, Les Hutchins, John Moore, and Jim McFarlane. About 50 campaign veterans, including Mark and Moore, and members of the other four Guardians’ families enjoyed catching up during a cruise around Lake Manapōuri, courtesy of Real Journeys, the tourism company set up by Les Hutchins, who lobbied tirelessly to protect the lake from development. The following day, at a large public event in Te Anau, a series of presenters talked about the campaign to save the lakes and the ongoing environmental issues. Alan Mark, who carried out botanical surveys of both lakes and presented evidence to the government about their ecological

value, says the Save Manapōuri campaign used a variety of tactics. “The most successful was the Forest & Bird petition that got more than 264,000 signatures. Government ministers also had a rude awakening from our placards,” he says. “There was the Save Manapōuri share issued at 50c each, which was significant in funding the campaign. The media was right behind us. Their cartoons and reporting were very instrumental in our success.” Dr John Moore, the Te Anau GP who played a pivotal role in the Save Manapōuri campaign, said: “We were a bunch of stroppy doers, but we did what had to be done. “People woke up to the fact that the government couldn’t be trusted. It didn’t always do the best for the country, and that was a surprise, and a sad one. “We found that we had been lied to, and that dismay and anger fired people up. We didn’t have a traditional fight. We used new techniques and had an incredible petition. “This was ordinary people doing extraordinary things.” To find out more, see A Question of Power: The Manapōuri Debate at https://www.nzonscreen. com/title/a-question-of-powerthe-manapouri-debate-1980.

More than 230 people, including families and children, attended the society’s national camp at Waikanae, in January 1970. Opening the week-long camp, executive member Dr Rolland O’Regan stressed that Forest & Bird was a nature protection society. “Nature is unity, ” he said pointing out that “never was the need greater for a political pressure group to stop environmental destruction”. The campers watched the society’s new “colour sound” movie produced by Pacific Films and were asked to comment on its effectiveness in communicating the society’s objects. Forest & Bird magazine, May 1970

SEABIRDS

TOP 10 REASONS

WHY WE LOVE NORTHERN ROYAL ALBATROSS

They breed here in Aotearoa New Zealand and nowhere else in the world.

They are one of the largest flying birds on the planet with a wingspan of up to 3.3m.

They are one of the longest-living birds on Earth, regularly living into their 40s.

They are masters of navigation â&#x20AC;&#x201C; flying an estimated 190,000km every year.

They are incredibly strong, spending as much as 85% of their lives at sea.

The return to land to breed, usually mate for life, and raise their chicks together.

They breed at Taiaroa Head, near Dunedin, and in a larger breeding colony on the Chatham Islands.

They breed once every two years, producing only one egg per pair, and spend a year bringing up their chick.

It takes eight months for their little balls of fluff to grow into a juvenile and take their first flight.

Once fledged, a young bird will spend the first three to five years of its life out at sea â&#x20AC;&#x201C; never setting foot on land in that time!

Flying high for World Albatross Day. Toroa (shy albatross).

Roger Smith Winter 2020

P R E D AT O R - F R E E N E W Z E A L A N D

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT

[ FERAL ]

CATS

There are an estimated 2.4 million feral cats in New Zealand, 1 million more than the domestic cat population. Shellie Evans

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

Alan Wilde asks why more isn’t being done to control the 2.4 million feral cats devastating wildlife in New Zealand.

f someone writes a critical article about feral cats, it is automatically assumed that this person hates cats. Why is this? My three children had cats. I had a kitten as a child which I loved. All these cats died of old age. I and my friends don’t kill cats. We set traps! I try my best to protect the native birdlife on our 34-acre property in the lower North Island by surrounding it with a variety of traps, DOC 250s, Timms traps, Fenn traps, and bait stations. Recently, we have been catching an increasing number of feral cats in our traps, and I’m concerned for the wildlife in this country unless more is done to control them. The scale of the feral cat problem is huge. In 2016, there were an estimated 2.4 million feral cats in New Zealand, compared with just 1.4 million domestic cats. Feral cats kill and eat birds, bats, lizards, wētā, and other native wildlife. Populations of endangered kakī, wrybill, and black-fronted terns are greatly impacted by cat predation in braided riverbeds in the central South Island, according to DOC. And it’s not just birds – grand and Otago skink populations are at critically low levels in Central Otago, mainly because of cat predation. I have caught about 100 feral cats over the last 15 years on our property. I’m now 80 years old. At home, we look out at vibrant birdlife on our lawn every morning and evening. This is our reward for

This feral cat killed a white-capped albatross chick on Maukahuka Auckland Island. Some feral cats travel huge distances to find their prey. Finlay Cox/DOC.

the years spent trapping this land. I have three close friends who do the same trapping as I do – or more. All are in their 70s or 80s. They too have reported seeing an increase in feral cats in their traps. This isn’t just a problem in the North Island. Fish and Game has teamed up with DOC to do a feral cat tracking study at the Aparima River Southland. What the team found particularly eye-opening was the number of feral cats. On average, they were catching a cat every fourth trap! I was recently in contact with Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage about feral cats, and she promised to ask DOC to investigate this problem more deeply.

Many bird species are at risk of being killed by feral cats.

When it comes to the feral cat problem, it seems the aim of being predator free by 2050 is unrealistic unless we do more about this problem, including introducing new responsible cat-ownership regulations.

FEROCIOUS AND FERAL

A feral cat lives in the wild, is not stray or owned, and has none of its needs provided for by humans. Stray cats have varying interactions and dependence on humans while feral cats are wild. They have the same appearance as some common, short-haired house cats such as tabby, tortoiseshell, and black. Feral cats can grow to a much larger size than house cats if conditions are favourable, though they don’t live as long. Feral cats are widespread in New Zealand. They live in a wide variety of habitats, including coastal areas, farmland, forests, riverbeds, subalpine environments, and islands. They produce several kittens per litter. In the 1980s, all kākāpō were urgently removed from Rakiura Stewart Island to stop predation by cats. Cats swiftly exterminated all tīeke (saddleback) from Hauturu Little Barrier Island and Takapourewa Stephens Island. The control techniques currently used to control feral cats on conservation land are poisoning, trapping, and shooting. Information courtesy of the Department of Conservation.

WHAT IS FOREST & BIRD DOING? The Board approved a new cats conservation policy last year. It recognises that responsible cat ownership and cat control regulations and management have an important role to play in protecting our special wildlife. In particular, Forest & Bird supports: Promotion and regulation of responsible domestic cat ownership, particularly the sterilisation of all domestic cats and microchipping of all domestic cats Elimination of feral and stray (non-microchipped) cats, particularly from all areas with high biodiversity values Regulations to limit domestic cat ownership and the presence of domestic cats, particularly adjacent to and within areas with high biodiversity value, particularly where there are species present that are vulnerable to cats Regulations preventing the establishment and maintenance of feral and stray cat colonies Adequate financing for public education and enforcement of cat control regulations. Kevin Hackwell, chief conservation advisor

Winter 2020

IN THE FIELD

Boisterous and bossy, nectarloving tūī share strong bonds with their honeyeater relatives in Australia. Ann Graeme.

Tūī.

Craig McKenzie

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

uring the Level 4 lockdown, I chatted with my neighbours (over the hedge, at the appropriate distance). Restricted in our bubbles, we had been noticing the natural world around us. “The tūī are singing their hearts out!” exclaimed the neighbour on one side. “Sometimes they’re a bit too noisy, especially early in the morning,” she added. “And they’re bullies!” said another neighbour. “But they’re so beautiful and we love them,” said the first woman quickly, glancing sideways at me. It’s true. Tūī, one of the country’s favourite endemic bird species, can be loud and aggressive, and they bully other birds. Tūī belong to the family of birds called honeyeaters. New Zealand has two species, tūī and korimako or bellbird. As their name implies, honeyeaters are adapted to feeding on honey or, rather, nectar. The tūī has a long, curved beak that can reach deep into the flowers of harakeke (flax), rewarewa (New Zealand honeysuckle), and kōwhai. Its special brush-tipped tongue mops up the nectar. Australia is the capital of the honeyeaters, with nearly 100 species. They all feed on nectar and tend to be loud and belligerent. Perhaps there is a connection between nectar feeding and noisy, aggressive behaviour? Perhaps our tūī’s behaviour stems from the Australian relationship? This isn’t a trans-Tasman slur, it’s actually a scientific theory! Australia’s dry forests are dominated by eucalypts and paperbarks, and its colourful shrublands abound in banksias, grevilleas, bottlebrushes, and more. To our eyes, accustomed to New Zealand’s rich volcanic soils, Australian plants seem to thrive on little more than sand. Australia is an old country, and its plants are adapted to growing in leached and impoverished soil. They lack the minerals needed to make a lot of vegetative growth, but they have a constant supply of sunshine, which gives a lot of scope for photosynthesis. Photosynthesis creates sugars, which can

fuel growth but can also be turned into nectar. The consequence is plants stunted in growth but lavish with nectar-laden flowers, which attract birds as well as insects to pollinate them. If the flower’s nectar is replenished, hour after hour and day after day, hordes of bird “tourists” will come, bringing pollen from far and wide and so increasing the genetic diversity and opportunity for the plant’s seeds. Such plants are worth fighting over. They attract flocks of honeyeaters and other noisy, nectar-eating birds like parrots. The competition is fierce for such a fine resource. New Zealand is very different. In our lush, green forests, many native trees and shrubs are wind-pollinated or have inconspicuous white flowers suited to luring moths and beetles. But we also have showy, colourful, nectar-rich flowers like pōhutukawa, pūriri, rewarewa, and kōwhai. These flowering trees are endemic, but they trace their ancestry to the tropics. Pōhutukawa and rātā are related to eucalypts and rewarewa is a member of the protea family – it’s the Australian connection again.

She sang as if her song could have no ending, as if the world was too full of the ecstasy of life for wrong ... to exist. Tūī are relatively common in New Zealand now, but they are only a shadow of their numbers in pre-European times. Back then, access to sufficient food was a matter of life and death. On predator-free Rangatira Island, in the Chatham Islands, tūī are so abundant – and competition for food so intense – that birds are often found dead on the forest floor in winter, from starvation leading to hypothermia, says ornithologist Colin Miskelly, of Te Papa. When death comes from resource competition, rather than predation, no wonder tūī defend good food sources so aggressively. Peacocks may flaunt their tails, but tūī display by singing. They sing a great deal, and what songs they sing! A hundred years ago, ornithologist Herbert Guthrie-Smith, one of the founder members of Forest & Bird, wrote about a female tūī singing on her nest: “She sang as if her song could have no ending, as if the world was too full of the ecstasy of life for wrong and rapine to exist.” How lucky we are to have such birds living in our gardens.

PERCH PERFECT Tūī belong to the order of passerines, a group that includes more than half of all the bird species in the world. Passerines are also called perching birds or songbirds. Most, and possibly all, the birds in your garden will be passerines. They may include native songsters like tūī, korimako, and riroriro (grey warbler); European species like thrushes, blackbirds, and starlings; and myna, which were brought here from India. Your garden birds are sure to include the chirping sparrows and perhaps the twittering tauhou (silvereye) and the squeaky pīwakawaka (fantail). What unites all of these birds and distinguishes them from other species is their remarkable adaptation for perching. When the bird alights, tendons lock its toes around the perch. It’s an involuntary reflex that lets the bird sleep safely on a swaying branch. The more the sleeper slumps on bent legs, the tighter the tendon is pulled and the toes grip. It is widely accepted that passerines all evolved from a common ancestor. As well as their special perching adaptation, they share other features, including a complex voice box. But where did this common ancestor live? The sparrows and blackbirds in your garden were brought here by settlers from the northern hemisphere, and this was long considered to be the ancestral home of the passerine birds. More recent DNA analysis shows a different picture. The great diversity of passerines had their origin in – yes – Australia! Yet another cherished theory bites the dust. To learn more about Australia’s astonishing birds, read Tim Low’s Where Song Began: Australia’s Birds and How They Changed the World.

Bellbird. Craig McKenzie Winter 2020

OUR PEOPLE

VOICE OF NATURE Edwin Poon left a generous gift in his will to Forest & Bird. Here, his widow Rhondda explains why he wanted to support our work.

e are a family that is passionate about New Zealand, its natural history, heritage, and environment. My husband was a very keen tramper, skier, and outdoorsman. We spent many years travelling the length and breadth of the South Island, and much of the lower North Island, tramping and appreciating our environment. We have long been aware of Forest & Bird’s contribution to the protection and enhancement of New Zealand’s environment. One of the salient moments in our awareness of Forest & Bird’s work was the proposed Nevis Dam project on the Nevis River. As we were very familiar with the country, we wanted to see it protected. Eventually, Forest & Bird’s efforts prevailed, and another piece of New Zealand’s precious environment was saved because of its persistence and resilience. Bravo! There have been other victories since then, each one an accolade for Forest & Bird’s place as New Zealand’s environmental taonga, including the legal work you do. I’m pleased that we have been able to give this gift to Forest & Bird. We had to lose our beautiful husband and father, but it is incredibly reassuring to know that he was able to make a contribution to your efforts.

LEAVING A LEGACY Like Edwin, hundreds of people have helped safeguard nature for future generations by leaving a charitable gift in their will. Over the past 100 years, lots of Forest & Bird’s important conservation projects, campaigns, land purchases, and legal cases have been funded by bequests. “Many people have been taking stock of their financial affairs while stuck at home during the coronavirus lockdown, including updating or making their wills,” says Jo Prestwood, Forest & Bird’s relationships manager. “It’s a good time to think about your values and what is important to you. Leaving a gift in your will to an organisation you care about helps leave the world a better place.” For more information, see https://bit.ly/354Mna7.

Luca Sartoni

Forest & Bird Te Reo o te Taiao

YO U T H

FIRST HISTORY SCHOLAR Forest & Bird is delighted to announce the inaugural Force of Nature history scholarship has been awarded to Tess Tuxford, 26, of Wellington.

ess is studying for a science in society masters at Victoria University, while also working full-time as a university administrator. She will receive $500 towards her 10,000-word research essay focusing on the role of women conservationists in Forest & Bird’s early history. “I initially graduated from Vic with a BA in History, and I now work in the Research Development Office at the university,” says Tess. “I’ve always had a specific interest in writing about women’s history and have previously written several essays about women in science. “The research essay I’m planning will be focused on the influence of women conservationists in Forest & Bird’s early history.

“I’m particularly drawn in by the impact of Lily Daff’s work at this point in my reading, but I will very likely bring in other women too.” Forest & Bird has launched the scholarship as part of our centennial history project to encourage students to study aspects of New Zealand’s rich conservation and environmental history, an area that is currently under-represented. Tess lives with her family in Newtown. In her free time, she likes to run, do embroidery, and read and watch science fiction. Her research will be supervised by Associate Professor James Beattie, from The Centre for Science in Society, who is chairing Forest & Bird’s Force of Nature history project. To find out more, see http:// www.forestandbird.org.nz/forcenature.

CATCHING UP WITH EVA Eva Kessels, who was awarded last year’s Forest & Bird’s conservation scholarship, is in the second year of a three-year course at Victoria University studying ecology and biodiversity. The 19-year-old from Hamilton has been busy enjoying her studies and geting involved in lots of on-the-ground conservation experience as part of the Forest & Bird whānau. “I am a project co-ordinator on Forest & Bird’s

Youth Wellington Council, which means I help to ensure our events run smoothly,” says Eva. “Most recently, I was involved in Wellington Youth’s Ngā Here: Many Connections environmental networking evening for young people interested in a career in conservation.” Other highlights from the past year include volunteering with Wellington Youth for Operation Tidy Fox, taking part in the School Strike 4 Climate marches, and attending Forest & Bird’s national conference in Wellington last June. During 2019, Eva volunteered

for the KCC team, helping to put together new member packs and doing other administrative tasks. She hopes to continue volunteering after Covid-19. “I am grateful to Forest & Bird for the financial support for my studies, but also for the connections and experiences that come from being involved in the Forest & Bird network.” Forest & Bird’s conservation scholarship aims to build young environmental leaders now and in the future. It is awarded once every three years. Winter 2020

BIODIVERSITY

We need to persuade the tourism industry that using lupins in advertising is a really bad idea. Forest & Bird regional manager Nicky Snoyink.

NEW ZEALAND’S “PRETTY” PEST

Wilding lupin flowers are a popular visitor attraction at Lake Tekapo. Lyndon Hookham.

The environmental effects of lupins have been underestimated for years, and now many areas face expensive control costs. Mary Ralston.

hey have all the characteristics of an ideal weed – a perennial that is tolerant of low fertility, heat, cold, drought, grazing, flooding, and fire. A rapid coloniser and invader because of their ability to fix nitrogen, they grow and mature quickly, producing long-lived seed that is easily dispersed in water. Yes folks, this is the Russell lupin. Its cousin, the yellow tree lupin, is just as troublesome. Both species are a serious threat to the ecology of braided rivers and the native birds and insects that inhabit those special environments. They invade open gravel areas where birds nest, stabilise river beds forming semi-permanent channels and islands, and provide cover for predators. Many of our braided river birds are endemic and are already under pressure from predators, habitat loss, and water over-allocation. They don’t need to contend with lupins as well. The Russell lupin is well known from tourist brochures and, pre-Covid, caused traffic chaos along the highway near Tekapo when visitors stopped to take photos. Infestations have arisen from the deliberate

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sowing along Mackenzie Country roads and from garden escapees. Movement of gravel for roading projects has also contributed to spread. The New Zealand Transport Agency is under no obligation to control lupins along roadsides but does so to minimise the traffic hazard caused by visitors taking photos. A more recent threat comes from the deliberate planting of Russell lupin for stock feed in the Mackenzie. Tolerant of the low fertility and high aluminium conditions characteristic of the area, it has been promoted as a good alternative to other lesstolerant pasture species. Consent was given by LINZ to plant lupins on some pastoral leases, contary to DOC advice, with the condition that spread must be controlled, but this has been problematic. To rub salt into the wound, it appears sheep are not even particularly partial to the lupin, but on some properties the horse has bolted and there is spread from planted sites. To its credit, MerinoNZ does not endorse the sowing of lupins.

“The environmental effects of Russell lupin have been under-estimated for years, so now many areas are faced with long-term and expensive control,” says Geraldine-based Department of Conservation biodiversity weed ranger Liz Gunning. “Progress with Russell lupin control has been made in the Geraldine district over the last six years through annual control. Most of this work has been in the Rangitata and Rakaia River catchments, and near the Ashburton Lakes. “We’ve been able to decrease the number of juvenile and mature plants by 70% to 80%, but young plants we miss and the seed bank means ongoing control is required. “Russell lupin on private property is still a concern. Most landowners I have approached have been great about removal and control, but some don’t recognise the environmental impacts. Talking and information is key.” The yellow tree lupin is a comparitively recent invader but is now an established weed in the lower reaches of braided rivers such as the Opihi and Ashburton, and along the coast where it colonises sand dunes. It can grow up to 2m high and has a huge tap root that can withstand all but major floods. In some parts of Canterbury, organisations are working together to get rid of Russell lupins in areas of high biodiversity. Te Manahuna Aoraki is a 310,000ha “mainland island” in the Mackenzie. Launched in 2018, the project aims to restore the iconic landscape and better protect the threatened species of the upper Mackenzie Basin. A co-operative approach to lupin control is being taken by Environment Canterbury, DOC, and landowners in areas of high-conservation value next to Te Manahuna. They are removing Russell lupins in the delta of the Hopkins and Dobson rivers, an important wading bird habitat.

Wilding lupins at Kaitorete spit, Canterbury.

Steve Attwood

South Island pied oystercatcher. Many people don’t realise the threat lupins pose to native birds and braided rivers. Steve Attwood

WHAT IS FOREST & BIRD DOING? Our Ashburton branch has long campaigned for both species of lupin to be declared pests. Last year, following branch lobbying, the new Canterbury Regional Pest Management Plan declared wild Russell lupins a pest “agent”. This positive step forward puts some responsibility for control onto landowners, especially near watercourses and property boundaries. Land occupiers cannot plant lupins and must control them within 200m of a braided river. A “good neighbour rule” can also be invoked, where landowners and occupiers can be obliged to eliminate all wild Russell lupins within 10m of their property boundary if the occupier of the adjoining property is controlling them. Environment Canterbury’s response to the new status is to focus on the control of isolated populations and to implement the rules on boundaries. Unfortunately, the stronger measure of declaring it a “pest” (meaning it could not be planted, and existing populations must be eliminated) was not taken. And yellow tree lupins weren’t mentioned at all. Forest & Bird’s Canterbury and West Coast regional manager, Nicky Snoyink, says it is completely inappropriate that lupins can still be planted, especially in the high country. “It is very invasive. Lupins should be managed like wilding pines, using a ‘progressive containment’ approach,” says Nicky. “We also need to persuade the tourism industry that using lupins in advertising is a really bad idea.” Forest & Bird will continue to advocate for Russell lupins and yellow tree lupins to be declared pests in Canterbury and other parts of the country. Nicky Snoyink and Canterbury Board member Ines Stäger are part of the new Environment Canterbury Biosecurity Advisory Group, and they will be advocating strongly for better lupin control. Our North Canterbury branch has also been active in lupin control with its “Lose the Lupins” programme in the upper Waimakariri basin. Forest & Bird Youth Christchurch also did a fantastic job raising public awareness about the lupin problem last year. Winter 2020

Celine Campana and Kylie Martin treating a turtle at the New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine at Auckland Zoo’s vet hospital.

WILDLIFE RESCUE

Meet some of the hero “essential workers” who rescue and rehabilitate injured wildlife, contributing to the conservation of endangered species. Alex Stone. Lesley Stone.

he voice on the phone is decidedly mixed – half excited, half anxious. Atmospherics indicate it’s a call from a mobile phone in a windy spot. “We’re on the Interislander ferry. A penguin has crash-landed on the deck. It looks hurt. Can we bring it in?” It’s a call the folk at The Nest Te Kohanga hospital at Wellington Zoo remember well. Megan Jolly, who is now the senior vet at Wildbase hospital at Massey University in Palmerston North, says it reflects two prevalent themes with the relationship between wildlife hospitals and the people of New Zealand. On one hand, an enthusiastic desire from the public to help injured wild animals; on the other, a certain level of ignorance about those animals. Once the problem of “flying penguins” was cleared away – yes, at a stretch, a diving petrel in its chubbiness

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and colouring (which is what the patient turned out to be) can be considered similar to a little blue penguin – the work for the hospital kicked in. The story had a happy ending – this particular diving petrel made it back to its life in the wild, after treatment at the Zoo. But that’s not always the case. In our look at the wildlife hospitals around New Zealand, we discovered the recovery rate for birds brought in is not that high. On average, about 40%–50% of the patients cared for in their facilities don’t make it out alive. This is mainly because, by the time the birds get to the hospitals, they have already suffered too much. A bird injured enough to be easily captured by amateur bird handlers is already in dire straits. Looking at the bigger picture, many of the patients treated at our wildlife hospitals are representatives

of already endangered species, and as such their treatment at the hospitals amounts to further direct and intensive intervention in their conservation – something we have to do distressingly often with New Zealand wildlife. Before the Covid-19 lockdown, we travelled the length of the country, visiting wildlife hospitals and meeting the dedicated people who make them tick. Their essential work continued during the coronavirus crisis, and we have reason to be hugely grateful for their efforts to help save some of our most endangered species in the toughest of circumstances. We’ll cover these efforts in a three-part series. First, this overview, then a look at the South Island hospitals, and those in the North island. Wildlife is a specialised part of veterinary science, and, in each hospital we visited, we encountered individual vets, nurses, and volunteers who are at the forefront of knowledge about the endangered species they care for. Often, this is ground-breaking knowledge that is gained by first-hand and never-beforeexperienced exposure to the particular problem in a species. The estimation of medication doses, which are not as predictable as you may think (given the different metabolism rates of different species), is a particularly challenging area. We also learned that some diseases are on the increase – such as diptheria in hoiho/yelloweyed penguins – and that this may be related to environmental factors affecting diet. Many of the vets have a strong academic research base to their work. We found a close network of colleagues who work interactively to provide the best care for their patients. Advice is freely sought and given. Often, it’s a local “ordinary” vet who provides the first care for an injured animal, which is stabilised (under phone supervision from a vet at one of the wildlife hospitals), then transported to the nearest wildlife hospital. But the time lag can be crucial. There is no wildlife hospital on the West Coast, for example. The Christchurch Wildlife Hospital covers those cases, as well as everything from South Canterbury

Charles, a southern royal albatross at Christchurch Wildlife Hospital.

Pauline Nijman and Megan Jolly caring for a sick penguin at Palmerston North’s Wildbase Hospital.

to Marlborough. There was a one-person bird rescue operating at Kaikoura, but that has stopped. On our trip, we found similarities in the governance and functioning of the hospitals. Mostly, they are under the jurisdiction of trusts specially set up for them and depend on the trust for fund-raising, except for those that operate within metropolitan zoos. Along the way, we also encountered diverging approaches to endangered species management, with some contested areas. We learned a bit about the politics of conservation – which, like politics in every sphere, can be fraught. But that’s another story. In all, it was a both stimulating and scary experience – uplifting to learn of the dedicated level of expertise these hospitals offer, and unnerving to learn how fragile the population dynamics of our endangered species are and about survival rates in the hospitals. We found that the hospitals tend to accept only native birds as patients and that some are not keen on treating pūkeko on the basis that they’re so common. Naturalised species, such as magpies and plovers, are also usually not welcome. In the case of injured exotic species, the suggestion is to take them to your local bird rescue centre. The hospitals’ focus is firmly on the patients that need help most – and in some cases this is sorely needed. Kākāpō, for instance, the rock stars of the New Zealand conservation movement and our version of “charismatic megafauna”, had an extraordinary breeding season in the summer of 2018/19. Eighty-six chicks were hatched in an overall population of only 148 birds. A more than 50% population increase in one swoop! But immediately the celebrations were curtailed as an epidemic of aspergillosis (a fungal disease) threatened both the new chicks and adult birds. Many were airlifted to hospitals – Auckland, Palmerston North, Dunedin – for long periods of care.

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Winter 2020

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In the end, 15 chicks and six adults were lost, and the population is now stabilised. This population recovery – a high point in nearly 100 years – would not have been possible without the input of the wildlife hospitals. We learned more about the remarkable and co-ordinated response to the “asper” epidemic from Wildbase at Massey University in Palmerston North and the New Zealand Centre of Conservation Medicine (NZCCM) at Auckland Zoo. We’ll talk about these in the third part of this series. The established hospitals are supported by a network of bird rescue centres and rehabilitation operations. The rescue centres are often one-person enterprises – like the one run on Waiheke Island by Karen Saunders. There are 20 of them in total, and they can be accessed through the website of the New Zealand Bird Rescue Charitable Trust (birdrescue.org), and, yes, some of them will take injured mallard ducks. Most of these local bird rescue centres resolve simple medical issues (like splinting broken wings) with the help of the local vet.

Debbie Stewart, founder of Wingspan with “Shadow”, a New Zealand falcon.

Lynn Miller and her team working on an injured tākapu gannet at Green Bay animal rescue centre, in Auckland.

The New Zealand Bird Rescue Charitable Trust is probably the most well-resourced of these independent hospitals and rehab centres, with a staff of half a dozen and many volunteers. Located in Green Bay, Auckland, and run by Lynn Miller, a woman with wide-ranging international experience in treating injured birds (her PhD was on oil spill rescue techniques), the hospital will take all birds, local and exotic. When we spoke to Lynn, she said her centre was proactively preparing for a predicted botulism outbreak among water birds, 48

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a result of the hot, dry summer making waterways stagnant. Wingspan National Bird of Prey Centre is a raptor rehabilitation centre, based in Rotorua. Wingspan is dedicated to releasing kārearea, New Zealand’s endemic falcons, back into the wild after they have recovered from injuries. They often take over the rehabilitation process once a bird has been released from one of the wildlife hospitals. It’s a sad commentary that most injuries to falcons are a result of them being shot at. Then comes electrocution from uninsulated power poles. Falcons are not really susceptible to disease. Because of the falcons’ high-speed hunting technique, they must be truly fit to fly and be able to feed themselves again in the wild. It’s a delicate business: one falcon, handed over to Wingspan from Wildbase, took two whole years in recovery (from a broken wing) before being successfully released again. The falcons are not released during the winter months, so this partly explains the time span. Wingspan uses traditional and not-so-traditional falconry techniques in training their birds for flight and for hunting. Lures are swung around the heads of the falconer, and a winch is used to pull lures at high speed across the ground. Education is a big part of Wingspan’s mission. Founder Debbie Stewart says that, in the 28 years the centre has been operational, it has allowed 80,000 school children to hold a falcon. “Once you’ve looked a falcon in the eye,” says Debbie, “I believe you’ll never be able to shoot one.”

Of special interest was the tourist-supported research model of business in place at the Blue Penguin Colony at Oamaru, which supports a rescue and rehab centre for kororā little blue penguins. Here, the coming ashore in the evening has been turned into a tourist attraction. Two grandstands, capable of seating up to 350 people in total, face each other on either side of a narrow, pebbled beach. The tourist experience is scheduled for sunset each day, and for $40 a head you get to learn all about kororā and witness their return from fishing. Infra-red lights give additional illumination. Flash photography is prohibited. The commentary is also in Mandarin, as a large part of the Penguin Colony’s clientele was (until the coronavirus crisis) Chinese. After milling about a bit, the penguins duck through the openings in the wall, making their way to nesting boxes laid out in a grassed area behind. There are just over 200 breeding pairs of penguins there now. The penguins colonised this place in the 1970s and initially suffered from predation by roaming cats and vandalism by local bogans. The Colony’s science and environment manager Phillipa Agnew has installed counters and weighing pads in the openings, as part of a monitoring programme. Phillipa also runs a penguin rehabilitation centre, with exclusion cages for recovering birds, as an integral part of the facilities there. They take in birds brought by the public – usually birds with moulting problems or that are exhausted by surviving storms at sea. When we visited, there were no patients, which I suppose is a

good thing, but Phillipa says they have about 50 cases to look after each year. Serious cases are sent to the hospital in Dunedin. She has a post-graduate degree in marine biology, with her thesis specialising in blue penguins – so this counts as a dream job for her. Before coronavirus arrived on our shores, the Penguin Colony was a thriving tourism enterprise, oddly and entirely dependent on the habits of uncontrolled wild animals. “It seems artificial,” says Phillipa, “but it exists to help the birds.” The Colony funds the operation of its rehab centre from the revenue generated from the visitors. A far cry indeed from the time when the penguins first started coming ashore here and came into conflict with humans and cats, and when the town mayor of the time described the birds as “trespassers”. Today the Penguin Colony and its rehab block are a cornerstone of the Oamaru visitor experience, helping both the local economy and the conservation of this very special little penguin. If you are down their way anytime soon, pop and and take a look! Alex and Lesley Stone are a writer-photographer team who are based on Waiheke Island. Alex is an artist, writer, and poet, and Lesley is an ecologist. In the next issue, Alex and Lesley meet some of the South Island’s wildlife rescue responders in Christchurch, Dunedin, and Moeraki.

Phillipa Agnew, science and environment manager at the Blue Penguin Colony, Oamaru.

Winter 2020

MARINE

Māui dolphin. Department of Conservation

TIME RUNNING OUT Forest & Bird is urging the government to take action to save some of New Zealand’s much-loved loved dolphins from extinction.

Lincoln University study has revealed Māui and Hector’s dolphins are New Zealanders’ third-highest priority for protection after kiwi and kākāpō. The research proves what we already knew – New Zealanders love our threatened dolphins and want to protect them. It’s time to finally put protecting these national icons first, ahead of commercial interests. “Māui dolphin are at breaking point, and threats created by humans are driving them towards extinction. There are only about 60 Māui dolphins over a year old left in the world, so every single one counts,” says Forest & Bird’s strategic advisor Geoff Keey. Small local populations of Hector’s dolphins are also in danger of disappearing, and we must protect these to safeguard the future of the overall population. “If New Zealand fails to protect Hector’s and Māui dolphins, we may face a trade ban from the United States,” adds Geoff. “Under its laws, the US government is required to ban fish caught from places that don’t do enough to protect marine mammals. “It’s vital that the government acts on this. We can’t continue with business as usual. These dolphins need our help to survive.”

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WHAT IS FOREST & BIRD DOING? We have been calling for a ban on trawling and set netting out to the 100m depth contour in Māui dolphin habitat and protection from seabed mining and the noise caused by oil and gas exploration. Forest & Bird wants dolphin-friendly fishing methods to be mandatory in Hector’s and Māui dolphin habitat. This means switching from commercial and recreational set net fishing and commercial trawl fishing to potting, long lining, and purse seine fishing throughout the range of Māui and Hector’s dolphins, in waters out to a depth of 100m. “We realise this will cause disruption to some fishers, and the government should provide financial and practical help for those affected,” says Geoff Keey. “Seismic surveys and other activities related to oil, gas, and marine mining activities have no place in Māui and Hector’s dolphin habitat. “The species’ threat management plan proposals include expanding marine mammal sanctuaries but also allow exemptions for 21 existing permit holders in Māui dolphin habitat until 2046. They are on track to be extinct well before then.” The threat to dolphins from toxoplasmosis, a disease spread by cat faeces washed into the ocean, is not well understood, and Forest & Bird supports a proposed research programme to better understand its impact and ways to combat it.

O U R PA R T N E R S

Raising a glass to nature

oi Toi Wines raised more than $10,000 to support Forest & Bird last year after hearing how the beech seeding mast would lead to exploding numbers of introduced predators decimating rare native birds such as the orange-fronted kākāriki. The family-owned company plans to continue the relationship this year, with fundraising likely to be based around improving the quality of New Zealand’s freshwater. Toi Toi Sales and Marketing Manager Samantha Joyce, who is also the daughter-in-law of company founders Kevin and Sara Joyce, says focusing on the highly endangered orange-fronted kākāriki was a great success. “That story really connected to our consumers,” Samantha says. “We saw a strong uplift in sales over the duration of this campaign, which meant we were able to see the true level of engagement, and that was really exciting for us and for Forest & Bird.” Between July and August last year, Toi Toi Wines counted all bottles sold that carried neck tags with a photo of the orangefronted kākāriki. The company donated a percentage of the sales of these bottles to Forest & Bird, and buyers also had the chance to enter a competition for a

weekend at Forest & Bird’s Mount Ruapehu Lodge. Samantha says the conservation cause is close to the company’s heart. “One of our core values is that we are kaitiaki – guardians of our lands and water for future generations – and our association with Forest & Bird is testament to that.” Toi Toi’s name has an obvious connection to New Zealand native flora, and it takes its environmental responsibilities seriously, including gaining Sustainable Winegrowing NZ accreditation. Achieving accreditation requires meeting standards related to seven key areas of biodiversity, soil, water and air, energy, chemicals, by products, and business practices. One example of sustainability is the company’s use of fertilisers. “Our predominant fertiliser is sea kelp. It’s completely natural and nutrient rich, which helps improve the strength and quality of the vines,” says Samantha. Like all businesses, Toi Toi has been feeling the impact of coronavirus and the economic dislocation it is creating. But the company was lucky its grape harvest was a little early this year, going ahead without a hitch. Chief winemaker Tim Adams says grape quality is among the best for a decade. Samantha is looking forward to raising a glass of Toi Toi’s 2020 vintage to the company’s relationship with Forest & Bird. Jo Prestwood, Forest & Bird’s relationships manager, says working with Toi Toi has been a great experience. “Toi Toi donates a percentage of its sales to Forest & Bird. It’s a simple fundraising model and a win-win partnership. We are really grateful for their help in protecting what makes New Zealand so special.” If you would like to help support Forest & Bird’s work, contact fundraising@forestandbird.org.nz.

Winter 2020

C L I M AT E

DEATH BY 1000 WAVES

Time is running out for the Bay of Plenty kānuka on Whangakopikopiko Island. Mike Collins

FOR RARE KĀNUKA

Climate change is likely to see the demise of a rare species of kānuka on a tiny island in the Bay of Plenty, but local plant lovers are determined to keep it alive on the mainland. Meg Collins.

he last four years of very high king tides, storm surges, and strong northerly winds has caused massive erosion on Whangakopikopiko, a narrow 16ha banana-shaped island at the eastern end of Ohiwa Harbour, east of Whakatane, in the Bay of Plenty. Whangakopikopiko, which is a Department of Conservation Wildlife Management Reserve, is home to mātātā (fernbirds) and provides nesting spots for tūturiwhatu (New Zealand dotterel). It is also an important high-tide roost for the wader population in the harbour, especially the kuaka (Eastern bar-tailed godwits), who spend the summer here. On the western end of this island is one of only two main stands of the rare and threatened Bay of Plenty kānuka (Kunzea toelkenii), which has a conservation status of nationally critical. Sadly, following the storms of the last few years, only half of this small population of special kānuka remains, with the rest lying stripped and derelict on the beach. There are fears the remaining trees will gradually be lost – death by 1000 waves as a result of climate change. In 1985, Sarah Beadel, of Wildlands Consultants, first identified that this particular kānuka was different from the other species when she was surveying the sand dunes at Thornton, west of Whakatane.

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She noticed it has numerous highly contorted and spiralled trunks, many very twisted, and the branches are often suckered. It has a tendency to droop and is found only in sandy conditions. It was not until 2013, after a great deal of research by Peter de Lange, that this species was given its own name of Kunzea toelkenii, or Bay of Plenty kānuka. The Thornton population is the most extensive. However, there are also a few trees remaining on the harbour side of the Ohope spit and, of course, the trees on Whangakopikopiko.

This unusual and extremely rare kānuka is characterised by numerous twisted branches.

An aerial photo of Whangakopikopiko in 1944 shows there were no trees at all. The kānuka seed must have been blown over from the few trees on Ohope Spit, muses Willie Shaw, an ecologist and passionate observer of Ohiwa Harbour. Recognising the trees were in danger, a special project with Waiotahe School was set up with help from the Ohiwa Reserves Care Group. For a school project, Jo Bonner, from Coastlands Plant Nursery, helped students collect and plant seeds to produce seedlings from the kānuka. In August 2006, more than 100 seedlings were planted by the students. Some of these trees are now more than 2m tall on the southern side of Whangakopikopiko. Sadly, most of the trees on the northern coast have succumbed to the waves. The future is not looking bright for the remaining natural stand on this tiny island. But on the mainland things are looking up. Bay of Plenty kānuka is being re-introduced thanks to Coastcare and other volunteer-led native planting projects on public and private land around the Ohiwa Harbour. This work is being supported by two local nurseries, Coastlands Plant Nursery and Rural Revegetation Services, which are propagating the seed.

Bay of Plenty kānuka (Kunzea toelkenii). Auckland Botanic Garden.

Thornton ● Whakatane ●

Whangakopikopiko ●

Opotiki ●

Writer Meg Collins, of Ohiwa, is a long-time Forest & Bird member, former chair of our Eastern Bay of Plenty branch, and co-convenor of the Ohiwa Reserves Care Group with her husband Mike. Meg is donating the fee for this article to help pay for an information panel and metal labels for Ohiwa Care Group’s rare plant collection. For more about this project, see page 52 of the Summer 2019 issue.

Wilding pines removal at Skippers Road and Canyon, Queenstown, in 2016. Shellie Evans

WILDING PINES RISK Forest & Bird is delighted the government allocated an extra $100m of funding in the May budget to help control the wilding pines that threaten New Zealand’s native landscapes. The money will be spent over four years. The cost of leaving wilding pines to spread is estimated to be at least $331m in biodiversity loss, according to the Ministry for Primary Industries. Forest & Bird sent a letter to the Prime Minister and other government ministers in February, asking for $100m of increased funding for essential wilding pine control. One of the government’s Budget 2020 priorities was a just transition to a climate-resilient, sustainable, and low-emissions economy. “Achieving a just transition requires a strong commitment to ensuring the natural environment is resilient as the climate changes,” says Forest & Bird Canterbury and West Coast regional manager Nicky Snoyink. “Our native landscapes are being taken over by wilding pines. These weeds are threatening the places we love by sucking up freshwater, shading out native plants, and increasing fire risk.” Currently, these unwanted weeds affect at least 1.8 million hectares (almost 6%) of New Zealand’s land area. They impact iconic landscapes including Tongariro’s Central Plateau, Marlborough high country, Mackenzie Basin, and the upper Waimakariri. Unmanaged, they will cover more than a quarter of the country within 30 years and present a $4.6 billion threat to New Zealand’s economy. The government allocated just $10.5m for controlling wilding pines in 2019/2020. Winter 2020

MARINE

SURFACE FEEDING SURPRISE

A blue whale begins eating a large krill patch. The krill nearest the whale’s mouth are beginning to jump as they recognize the predator approaching. Leigh Torres

Researchers publish new insights into New Zealand’s blue whale population in the South Taranaki Bight.

eeding at the ocean’s surface appears to play an important role in New Zealand blue whales’ foraging strategy, allowing them to optimise their energy use, say Oregon State University researchers in a new study. Blue whales are the largest mammals on Earth. Because of their enormous size, they must carefully balance the energy gained through their food intake with the energetic costs of feeding, such as diving, holding their breath, and opening their mouths. Adding to the challenge, their prey are tiny krill, and they must find and eat large volumes of them to make any energetic headway. “People think about whales having to dive deep to get to the densest prey patches, but if they can find their prey in shallow waters it’s actually more energetically profitable to feed near the surface,” said lead researcher Dr Leigh Torres. “In this population of whales in New Zealand, they foraged more in areas where their prey was dense and shallow. Their dives were relatively short, and they were feeding more at the surface, which requires less energy.” The findings were published in April in the journal PeerJ. Co-authors of the study include Dawn Barlow, a doctoral student in Torres’ lab, and Todd

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Chandler, who captured drone footage used in the study. Much of what researchers know about blue whale foraging comes from tags placed on whales, which can record travel and diving patterns, including acceleration, or lunging, towards patches of food. During a field research trip to study blue whales off the coast of New Zealand in 2017, Torres and her team observed surface feeding on multiple occasions. The researchers collected data that showed blue whales had relatively short dive times overall, about 2.5 minutes, compared to other blue whale populations, such as those off the coast of California, which average dives of about 10 minutes. Using a drone, the researchers captured video of a blue whale surface feeding on a patch of krill. The footage illustrates a blue whale’s feeding process, including decision-making about whether or not to eat patches of krill near the ocean’s surface. Through the footage, the researchers were able to see how the whale used its right eye to target the prey. They were able to quantify the recognition distance from the whale to the prey and could measure how widely the whale opened its mouth to feed. The footage also showed the whale’s decision to rotate from one side to the other to better capture the krill. “The video allows us to describe a lot of really cool kinematics and body movement coordination by the whale that we haven’t been able to see before,” Torres added.

OUR PEOPLE

GREEN TO HER ROOTS

Remembering the incomparable Jeanette Fitzsimons, a giant tōtara among conservationists. Michael Pringle.

eanette Fitzsimons was a tireless advocate for the environment and also for systemic economic change that puts nature at the heart of all we do. She “walked the talk” from her earliest political days campaigning for the Values Party until her untimely death on 5 March this year. As long-time supporters of Forest & Bird, Jeanette and her husband Harry Parke donated native seedlings to their local branch for forest restoration and helped out with planting days in the Coromandel, where they ran a small organic farm in the Kauaeranga Valley. Jeanette also volunteered for the Save Manapōuri campaign. Jeanette was perhaps best known for being one of the leaders that helped make the Green Party a major political force. In 1995, she became co-leader alongside Rod Donald and was elected to Parliament a year later. Once there, she championed energy efficiency and insulation in New Zealand homes and was an early voice for taking action on climate change. She also warned us about New Zealand’s degrading freshwater and campaigned for clean energy. She was a strong voice against genetic engineering (GE), even to the point of refusing to enter into a governing arrangement with Labour in 2002 because it would have meant abandoning the Greens’ principled opposition to GE in New Zealand.

Jeanette served as co-leader of the Green Party until 2009 and left Parliament in 2010, when she was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. She was known and respected for her humility and integrity, and her determination to campaign for environmental and social justice without the rancour and personal attacks that can too often characterise politics. After leaving Parliament, Jeanette continued her climate change work as an active campaigner for Coal Action Network Aotearoa and promoting Our Climate Declaration. At her passing, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern noted that Jeanette was someone who was “completely and utterly driven by values, who embodied the notion of leaving this place better than they found it”. Jeanette had a natural home in the values and aspirations of Forest & Bird. She delivered the annual Sanderson Memorial Address at our national conference in 2019, where she talked about climate change. In 2014, Jeanette wrote of the awa (river) that runs through the valley where she lived. Without it, she said, her life would be immeasurably poorer. We are grateful to Jeanette for the many ways she enriched our lives, with her total dedication to improving the state of our planet, her love of family, friends, and music, and the passion with which she embraced the business of living. She is greatly missed.

Jeanette Fitzimons pictured on the Kauaeranga River, Coromandel, in 2014. Bev Short

Winter 2020

COMMUNITY

Stella is the only kākāpō on Pukenui who feels comfortable around humans. Finn Innes

KĀKĀPŌ ENCOUNTERS

Finn Innes spent two weeks volunteering on Pukenui Anchor Island, in Fiordland, helping look after some of the rarest birds on Earth.

he helicopter flight to the island was one of the most incredible things I have experienced. The mountains were towering and the fiords steep, and, no matter how high we were, I felt humbled by the surroundings. It was mid-November, and there was still snow on the hills. Pukenui, or Anchor Island, is located in Dusky Sound, Fiordland, in a very remote and picturesque part of New Zealand. Being hard to access, this area feels incredibly untouched and serene. This predatorfree sanctuary has a wonderfully diverse ecosystem,

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with toutouwai (South Island robin), kākāriki, tawaki (Fiordland crested penguins), mohua, and kākā being common sights. My job on the island was to replenish the supplementary feed stations for the kākāpō, and this involved quite a bit of walking. The tracks are muddy and are twisted with slippery roots, but, when the dense forest opens up to the ocean and fiords, the view made all the sweat and effort worth it. For the first week, I didn’t see a single kākāpō, just the odd tail feather or footprint on a muddy track. These clues of their existence inspired me, on my offdays, to head up new tracks or to the island’s summit, in the hope of catching a glimpse of these incredibly rare birds. One muggy rainy day, I caught my first peek of a kākāpō, its feathered green and black bum wiggling as it scurried away. Their colouring makes them almost impossible to spot when they are completely still, which is what they do when they feel threatened. My first proper kākāpō encounter took place after I had finished a feedout run around the island and was trudging my way home. One of the two Department of Conservation rangers on the island heard me and called

out. Brodie Philip and Jinty MacTavish were tracking a kākāpō and let me tag along. After a few eerie minutes, a skilled lunge found Jinty grinning and holding a kākāpō called “Kotahitanga”, which means unity or solidarity. He was called this because he was born the morning after the Christchurch shooting in March 2019. If there is one thing that surprised me about these birds, it was their smell. Musty and sweet is an accurate representation of their odour, and it’s relatively strong – often I could smell a kākāpō before seeing it. The rangers let me hold Kotahitanga after they had finished checking his transmitter was fitted correctly and he was healthy. There was only one hand-raised kākāpō on the island. He was named Stella and was the only bird who felt comfortable around humans. We set up a new feed station for him, and I was able to capture some photographs. I highly recommend volunteering to help the Department of Conservation if you get the chance. I met some very kind people, got up close to my first kākāpō, and was lucky enough to experience the incredible diversity of birdlife on the island. Overall, it was an unforgettable experience. Evohe, held by DOC ranger Brodie Philip.

Finn Innes

Finn Innes is studying computer science at Waikato University. He is also a keen wildlife and night sky photographer. Forest & Bird is proud to have supported the Kākāpō Recovery Programme from 1990 to 2015, working alongside the Department of Conservation and other partners.

PATHWAY TO ERADICATION The Department of Conservation has released a strategy for New Zealand to achieve its predator free goals by 2050, along with an action plan to be delivered by 2025. The strategy focuses on ridding New Zealand of possums, three species of rats, plus stoats, ferrets, and weasels. The interim 2025 goals include: n Eradicating all mammalian predators from uninhabited offshore islands n The development of a breakthrough science solution to eradicate one small mammal predator from the mainland n Removing possums or mustelids from at least one New Zealand city. Since the government announced its ambitious Predator Free 2050 goal in 2016, one of the strongest criticisms was that there was no overall national strategy on how the country was going to get there. Four years later, DOC has now published its strategy, which is founded on a strong partnership between Māori and Pākehā. At the last election, Forest & Bird raised its concerns that there was no overall strategy, no clear leadership agency, and more species should be included in the control programme. Chief conservation adviser Kevin Hackwell, who was sits on the government’s predator-free community advisory group, said: “It’s taken longer than we originally expected, but we are happy that the government took the time to get everything right. “We welcome the review and the strategy that has come out of it. Overall, it’s a much better road map with clear leadership responsibilities.” Winter 2020

FOCUS ON FLORA

HARAKEKE HUES A unique citizen science project combining botany, colour, and landscape has inspired a fascinating floral map. Caroline Wood.

o harakeke flowers display a different colour depending on the landscape they inhabit? “Yes, they do!” says Di Lucas, a landscape architect and conservationist. Harakeke, also known as New Zealand flax, grows naturally throughout every region of the country, and its flowers light up the bush edges in varying shades of yellow, orange, red, and purple. Di wanted to understand the natural

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colour variations throughout the country. She asked our readers and other members of the public to record the flower colours of naturally wild harakeke (Phormium tenax) from Northland to Southland. They were asked to note the location and context of the plants and upload photos to the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network website. Thank you to all of you who responded to Di’s call in the Summer 2018 issue. There were more than 75 responses from Forest & Birders and other citizen scientists from around New Zealand. The results of this unique citizen science project have been turned into a beautiful new colour map of

harakeke of New Zealand, thanks to Di’s team, including Yao Yao. The map (right) shows dramatic colour differences, with the bright yellows and reds of flax in the Bay of Plenty contrasting with the muted purples and reds of flowers on Rakiura Stewart Island. A past winner of the Resene Total Colour Lifetime Achievement Award, Di has a vast knowledge of landscape colour. She was assisted by Rebecca Long, a Resene colour expert. They used Resene’s extensive colour database as a way of differentiating the subtle variations in harakeke’s hue and tone. “The resultant colour range of this species is beautiful and quite different from what I had expected. I’m thrilled!” Di says. Karen Warman, Resene’s Marketing Manager, adds: “There are some stunning colour combos. It’s amazing how much colour variation there is in a single flax flower.” You can find an interactive version of the map on Resene’s website. Click on a harakeke colour and it will take you to a matching paint colour in Resene’s paint range. For example, if you like the orangey-brown hues of the Waikanae harakeke, you can paint your room in Resene Weathered Orange. Di’s enthusiasm for the project is infectious, and she already has some ideas for future projects. “I have been told of a whakataukī that links harakeke flower colour to water quality. Many people know the flowers of the exotic garden plant hydrangea change from blue to pink in response to pH. Is harakeke like this?

Mt Kaukau, Wellington

Kongahu, Karamea

Lochmara Bay, Marlborough

Saint Arnaud, Nelson Lakes

Waikanae, Wellington

Seton Nossiter, Wellington

Styx Mill, Christchurch

Totara Valley, Timaru

Rakiura, Stewart Island

ne se Re

See the full interactive harakeke flower map at https://www.resene.co.nz/harakeke-colours.htm. Waikareao Estuary, Tauranga

Karaka Road, Waiheke Island

Kaitoke Lane, Great Barrier Island

Karekare Beach, Waitakere

ne se Re

Rakatu Wetland, Fiordland

This map shows the natural colour variations of flax flowers around the country. Resene's colour experts matched the colours to their extensive paint range.

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Winter 2020

GOING PLACES Rata Ingram and Helen Hills enjoying some of the incredible views on the walk. Gail Ingram

Beautiful

BANKS TRACK Forest & Bird volunteers Gail Ingram and Helen Hills meet some of the farming families looking after New Zealand’s first private eco-walking track.

he Banks Track is a spectacular private walking track launched 30 years ago when nine Banks Peninsula families sought to diversify their income during a farming recession. Since then, it has blossomed into a successful eco-tourism venture and is now run by four conservation-minded families and the Hinewai Reserve. The 31km journey starts and finishes in Akaroa and usually takes two to three days to complete. The track runs through ancient and regenerating stands of forest, past penguin, gull, and shearwater breeding colonies, and a marine reserve. Earlier this year, before the country went into lockdown, we took up an offer to Forest & Bird

Kororā little blue pengins. Charlotte Gibbs

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volunteers to test a new “walk and talk” option, where each evening a different landowner gave a presentation about the track’s history, conservation, and landscapes. The track begins at Onuku, looking down into Akaroa Harbour, the eroded crater of an extinct volcano. The first night’s hut is located in a park-like setting on the Hamilton family farm, and here we get to meet Jack and Charlotte Gibbs, the Hamilton’s neighbours and the newest landowners of Banks Track. Jack tells us that, before the arrival of humans, Banks Peninsula was 98% forested. By 1890, the early European settlers had milled and burned the trees, until only 2% remained. Today, 15%–20% of Banks Peninsula is covered in bush. The Banks Track lies within the award-winning Wildside Project area, co-ordinated by the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust and aimed at protecting and restoring native forest. The Gibbs, like all of the landowners on the Banks Track, are heavily involved in trying to

remove introduced mammalian predators from their land, committing at least two days a week to trapping as part of the larger goal of a predator-free Banks Peninsula. They target mainly possums, rats, hedgehogs, and mustelids. It’s a huge commitment but, as Jack explains, “the response of the birdlife has been phenomenal”. As we climb steeply through bush-studded farmland on the first day, we pass evidence of the Victorian farmers in the form of statuesque grey stumps of tōtara and kahikatea scattered across the hillside and providing homes for the porcupine shrub. Many varieties and shapes of coprosma are here, bejewelled in orange, red, and pale blue berries. At the highest point of 699m, we see huge blocks of regenerating bush all the way to the head of the harbour. As we head down a deep gully to Pohatu/Flea Bay, we pass through a remnant of original native red beech called Tutakakahikura Reserve, which was donated to the nation by the Helps family.

There are plenty of red admiral butterflies among the ongaonga, and pīwakawaka, pīpipi, and korimako abound. We follow the stream past nikau palms, delicate waterfalls, ferny lowland forest, and giant mamaku ferns, magnificent and rare this far east. The accommodation on the second night is a quaint cottage overlooking the beach, the Pōhatu Marine Reserve, and the awardwinning penguin colony (the largest in Australasia) managed by Francis and Shireen Helps. This year, they protected 1200 breeding pairs of kororā little blue penguins. The Helps introduce us to three of the penguins they are currently looking after in “rehab”. Shireen hand feeds them so they will gain enough weight to moult and be ready to journey out to sea. Most of the colony has already gone, and we get to see Shireen release one out to sea. Only 40%–60% of chicks survive. Those that do make it will return here after 20 months for nest building in spring. The penguins waddle up steep hillsides 700m high to burrow, and the Helps run an extensive trapping programme to protect them.

Gail and Rata Ingram at a waterfall near Pōhatu. Helen Hills

The group catches up with Hugh Wilson [checked shirt], founder of the Hinewai eco-sanctuary.

About 40% of the Helps’ farm is in native bush, and much of this is covenanted for lowland forest restoration. They run a sheep and cattle farm and are proud to be “regenerative farmers”, explaining how their herds move and feed on natural grasses so they don’t need artificial fertilisers. These grasses support healthy soil organisms that sequester more carbon and methane than the livestock emit. Native trees provide shade for the stock. They explain that native forest plants are fire resistant and continue to sequester carbon, unlike mono-crops of pine trees. With careful management of native forest along waterways, their streams are very clean. It’s heartening to see this balance of farming and conservation has been working for three decades, producing healthy food while providing abundant habitat for native species both in bush and water. The next day, we walk across the tops of wild sea cliffs to Stony Bay. The Armstrong family owns this property, and we see evidence of their conservation work as we pass a predator fence protecting one of the last mainland breeding sites of tītī (sooty shearwater). Mark Armstrong built the first fence 20 years ago after noticing numbers declining to just one or two breeding pairs. Ten years later, a more substantial predator fence was built in a joint venture project with the Banks Peninsula

Conservation Trust, Josef Langer Trust, Christchurch City Council, DOC, and the Lotteries commission. Now there are around 50 tītī breeding pairs. The Armstrong farm’s accommodation on the last night is a delight. Quirky cabins, shower rooms with tree trunk walls, and an outdoor fire that we huddle around while Hugh Wilson talks to us about the “raining of native tree seeds” over the Hinewai Reserve that he has managed since 1985 and that now totals 1250ha. On the last day, we cross Hinewai Reserve, walking through regenerating forests and stands of 200-year-old red beech into the sub-alpine zone and finally down into Akaroa, our hearts full with gratitude for farmed beauty, made real. For more information, see https://www.bankstrack.co.nz.

Akaroa

Onuku

Hinewai Reserve

Stony Bay Flea Bay Track Nights 0

Winter 2020

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Winter 2020

OBITUARY

PIONEERING KCC EDUCATOR We pay tribute to the incredible conservation legacy of Isabel Morgan, who died in March, aged 98. David Belcher.

sabel Morgan joined Forest & Bird in 1953, when she became interested in its campaign to create more national parks. At the time, there were few parks and Forest & Bird was trying to lift the number and secure these areas for future New Zealanders. This led to her involvement in our Save Manapōuri campaign, which saw the membership of Forest & Bird soar nationwide. She vigorously participated in lobbying and letter writing from her Hawke’s Bay home, as well as educating politicians on the need to preserve the Fiordland lake for the future. Isabel became a committee member of newly formed Napier Branch in the 1960s and, seeing the need to involve children, created the Napier Junior Group in 1967. She quickly recruited 30 children by placing a newspaper advertisement. Her school teaching career enabled her to communicate with the young and not so young and stimulate interest among all ages. This group grew over time and introduced many children into an appreciation of nature and ultimately to become dedicated members of Forest & Bird. Isabel led the group for an incredible 42 years, until 2009. She also lobbied for the interests of young conservationists at national level. Isabel attended Forest & Bird’s Annual General Meetings and told the leadership about her Napier youth group. Her contribution of ideas and enthusiasm eventually saw all branches agree to come together to form the Kiwi Conservation Club in 1989 – the country’s first national environmental organisation for children. Isabel was a member of the Napier branch committee for more than 53 years from 1966 until her death. She became branch chair in 1981 and retained this

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position until 2007. In 1970, she organised for six trees to be planted at Lake Tutira. From this humble beginning, her tree plantings grew in number year by year, until many thousands had been planted around the lake and in other areas around the Hawke’s Bay. In the late 1980s, she encouraged the Department of Conservation to get involved, and a nursery was set up to grow trees for the lake and many other sites around the Hawke’s Bay. Forest & Bird members provided the people power, while materials were supplied by DOC. The partnership continues today, with more than 8000 trees grown each year. In 1981, Isabel led the formation of the Ahuriri Estuary Protection Society and persuaded DOC, Napier City Council, and the Ornithological Society to join Forest & Bird in cleaning up the estuary. Today, the Ahuriri Estuary is a nationally important habitat for bird and fish life and a much-loved recreational resource. Forest & Bird members still provide monthly working parties to clear invasive weeds, pick up rubbish, and keep the tracks clear. In 1988, Puketitiri farmer Rob Whittle wrote to the Napier Branch offering a 11ha forest block known as “Little Bush” to the Society. Isabel sought funds and helped raise enough money to buy the land. The reserve is still owned by the organisation today. Isabel won the Loder Cup in 1996, a Forest & Bird Old Blue in 2008, and in the same year was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her conservation work. For more than six decades, Isabel Morgan’s name was synonymous with Forest & Bird throughout the Hawke’s Bay. Her legacy lives on.

Parting shot This photo of a juvenile kea was taken in the Forbes Valley, Canterbury, during the week before the Covid-19 lockdown. My son Jeremy and I had gone tahr hunting and, after spending a night high up the Forbes River, were descending a scree slope when a pair of juvenile kea flew in to check us out. One of them landed on a rock just in front of me. After hanging out with us on the scree slope, the pair proceeded to entertain us with an aerobatics show. Robert Sanson, Palmerston North

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. 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 issueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s winner will receive a Kiwi Camping Rifleman 2 Hiker Tent (RRP $299). This two-person single room tent is ideal for overnight escapes and hikes. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lightweight and compact, compressing down to fit in a backpack. The double entrances with vestibules mean you can come and go regardless of the weather direction and can keep packs and wet boots separate and dry. Made from double-coated polyester with 3000mm aqua rating, it will stand up to the rigours of the outdoors all year round, boasting a three-year warranty. The prize is courtesy of Kiwi Camping. For more details, see www.kiwicamping.co.nz.

we ARE tramping

Tramping on Mt Howitt, Hooker Range, high above the Landsborough Valley Photo: Mark Watson / Highluxphoto

Whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a day trip with the family or a multi-day adventure deep into the wilderness, Bivouac has the best gear, from the top brands, to keep you safe, comfortable, warm and dry. Our friendly staff are happy to provide expert advice, ensuring you get the right equipment and the right fit. If you need it for tramping, we have it, because at Bivouac Outdoor we ARE tramping.

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