Forest & Bird Magazine 317 August 2005 by Forest & Bird

FOREST BIRD Number 317 • August 2005

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High Country Six Pack of Parks • Urban Rail • Gilded Ghosts Restoring the Monarch • Political Animals • Tsunami Lessons

FOREST BIRD N umber 317 • August 2005 • www.forestandbird.org.nz

Features 16 Six Pack of Parks A portrait of high country heartlands worth protecting. by Eugenie Sage, Ann Graeme and Sue Maturin

26 Gilded Ghosts

Extinction unfolds in real time for Otago skinks. by Dave Hansford

30 Restoring the Monarch Saving French Polynesia’s birdlife. by Michael Szabo

34 Vote for the Environment Conservation issues and the election. by Barry Weeber

37 South Asian Tsunami Lessons learned the hard way. by David Pattemore

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

Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. Editor: Michael Szabo PO Box 631, Wellington. Tel: (04) 385-7374, Fax: (04) 385-7373 Email: m.szabo@forestandbird.org.nz Designer: Dave Kent Design Prepress/Printing: Astra Print Advertising: Vanessa Clegg Print Advertising Ltd, PO Box 13-128, Auckland. Tel: (09) 634-4982, Fax (09) 634-4951 Email: printad.auck@xtra.co.nz

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General Manager: Mike Britton Conservation Manager: Kevin Hackwell Communications Manager: Michael Szabo Conservation Services Manager: Julie Watson Central Office: 172 Taranaki St, Wellington. Postal address: PO Box 631, Wellington. Tel: (04) 385-7374, Fax: (04) 385-7373 Email: office@forestandbird.org.nz Web: www.forestandbird.org.nz Field Officers: Dave Pattemore PO Box 67 123, Mt Eden, Auckland. Tel: (09) 631 7142 Fax: (09) 631 7149 Email: d.pattemore@forestandbird.org.nz Debs Martin PO Box 266, Nelson. Tel: (03) 545 8222 Fax: (03) 545 8213 Email: d.martin@forestandbird.org.nz Eugenie Sage PO Box 2516, Christchurch. Tel: (03) 366 6317 Fax: (03) 365 0788 Email: e.sage@forestandbird.org.nz Sue Maturin PO Box 6230, Dunedin. Tel: (03) 477 9677 Fax: (03) 477 5232 Email: s.maturin@forestandbird.org.nz Ann Graeme, KCC Coordinator 53 Princess Rd, Tauranga Tel: (07) 576-5593 Fax (07) 576-5109 Email: basil@bopis.co.nz

40 Urban Rail Bringing back North Island weka and kiwi. by Ann Graeme

Regulars 2 Comment 4 Conservation Briefs Eyre Mountains; Takahe take-off; Shore Plover; Green Ribbon winner; Bats: Coal Island; Albatross; Snipe; Tararuas; Greville Harbour; Moa; Red List 2005; Bushy Park; Tauranga Wetlands; Hauraki Gulf; Tawharanui.

42 Itinerant Ecologist A couple of beauties by Geoff Park

44 In the Field A helping hand to native fish by Ann Graeme and Tim Galloway

46 Branching Out 2005 AGM; New President and Deputy President elected; New Executive elected; Old Blue awards; New Distinguished Life Members.

COVER: Large mountain daisy (Celmisia semicordata) flowering in tussock, Seaward Kaikoura Range.

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Comment Comment Turbulent times for conservation

ONSERVATION is in the firing line. 2005 has seen vindictive attacks on conservation policies and the Department of Conservation (DOC) from a few politicians who should know better. WWF NZ recently commissioned a survey which found 95% support for more marine reserves amongst New Zealanders. Despite this, some politicians are pitching to a narrow anti-conservation group of traditional farmers, fishermen, hunters and coastal property developers. In the May 2005 issue of Forest & Bird, I described National Party leader Don Brash’s extraordinary attacks on DOC. He plans a major restructure to drastically reduce DOC’s influence. On 1st July there were further National attacks on DOC at the NZ Deerstalkers Annual Conference. Coromandel National MP, Sandra Goudie, vowed that under a National government, DOC should get no more land despite her suggestion totally undermining the whole high country Pastoral Lease Tenure Review process originally started by National. Goudie claims that tenure review has been too dominated by "conservation objectives". At the same conference, ACT MP Stephen Franks described DOC as being dominated by the views of the urban "beards and sandals" brigade. At the Forest and Bird AGM in June, United’s Larry Baldock made clear that party’s opposition to DOC’s present structure and conservation policies. He was even more vitriolic at the Deerstalkers AGM. His party’s pet hate is aerial 1080 to control possums, rats and stoats despite there being no practical alternatives to 1080 over much of wild New Zealand. United is determined to restructure DOC into separate recreation and conservation divisions. Ironically, the response of the Deerstalkers to these attacks on DOC has been to support the campaign for six new DOC managed high country Conservation

Parks launched by Forest and Bird and Federated Mountain Clubs in June. In contrast to DOC bashing invective, Labour meanwhile has an outstanding nature conservation record and if reelected promises more. Since 1999, the Labour-led Government has increased DOC funding by 40%. More money has gone to saving endangered species. There has been a quantum improvement in funding for backcountry tracks and tracks in general. The Labour-led Government has also signed the Kyoto Protocol, established new marine reserves, protected Molesworth and created four new high country tussockland parks. Throughout this debate, Green Coleaders Jeanette Fitzsimmons – at the Forest and Bird AGM – and Rod Donald – at the Deerstalkers AGM – have remained staunch champions of DOC and nature protection. The Greens support more marine reserves, more parks and reserves, and more endangered species funding. In 2005, conservation isn’t a peripheral matter but a core part of our future. As a country we have to show the world that New Zealand is doing its best to be "100% Pure." I work in nature tourism. Daily I see growing interest and conservation commitment among both New Zealanders and visiting tourists. I also work in farming. The world pays a huge premium for New Zealand lamb because of our perceived environmental purity. Farmers with vision are preserving natural vegetation and safeguarding river margins and wetlands. Protecting tui, totara and bellbird makes landowners feel good, improves their property value and provides a greater range of diversification options. Smart landowners also know that DOC can be a good neighbour and partner in pest control, and land and people management. Given the range of work DOC does, it is not surprising

that concerns about that work are at times expressed by some people. For example, I deplore DOC's delay in using rat bait in the Hawdon Valley, despite overwhelming scientific evidence that their rat trapping wouldn’t prove effective in saving endangered yellowhead (mohua). But everywhere I go there are great DOC/ community partnerships that I support. Are we better off having a single government agency to manage public conservation lands, marine reserves, native species and recreation on conservation land? Unreservedly I say yes, particularly when compared to the expensive and inefficient multitude of agencies that managed these prior to 1986. How then can we make conservation work better? Not by embarking on a major DOC restructure. Nothing destroys the effectiveness and productivity of a government department faster than having all its staff focused internally on their future. The best staff soon depart and it is wild New Zealand that suffers most. Conservation partnerships such as those described at Kaikoura Island and other sites reported in this issue are the way of the future. Instead of promoting the destruction of DOC, those political parties minded to do so need to wake up and support this New Zealand conservation revolution. Dr Gerry McSweeney Immediate Past President

Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. (Founded 1923) Registered Office at 172 Taranaki Street, Wellington. PATRON: Her Excellency The Hon. Dame Silvia Cartwright PCNZM, DBE, Governor-General of New Zealand NATIONAL PRESIDENT: Dr Peter Maddison DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Dr Liz Slooten NATIONAL TREASURER: Stephen McPhail EXECUTIVE COUNCILLORS: Keith Beautrais, Mark Bellingham, Jocelyn Bieleski, Anne

Fenn, Mark Fort, Dr Philip Hart, Donald Kerr, Janet Ledingham, Carole Long, Dr Barry Wards. DISTINGUISHED LIFE MEMBERS: Dr Bill Ballantine MBE, Stan Butcher, Ken Catt QSM, Audrey Eagle CNZM, Dr Alan Edmonds, Gordon Ell ONZM, Hon. Tony Ellis CNZM, Hon. Sandra Lee-Vercoe QSO JP, Stewart Gray, Les Henderson, Joan Leckie, Prof. Alan Mark dcnzm CBE, Dr Gerry McSweeney QSO, Prof. John Morton QSO, Margaret Peace QSM, Guy Salmon, Gordon Stephenson CNZM, David Underwood. 2

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

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Local runholder Brian Hore and Conservation Minister Chris Carter arrive for celebrations to mark the opening of the Eyre Mountains Conservation Park.

View of the new Eyre Mountains/Taka Ra Haka Conservation Park.

Gerry McSweeney

conservationbriefs

Eyre Mountains/Taka Ra Haka Conservation Park opened

HE 65,000 hectare (ha) Eyre Mountain/Taka Ra Haka Conservation Park south-west of Lake Wakatipu was opened on June 15th. Conservation Minister Chris Carter and local community representative and runholder, Brian Hore (above left) joined with representatives of the Southland farming community, Ngai Tahu, regional and district councils, tramping clubs and Forest and Bird members to celebrate. Lying between Fiordland’s wet granite mountains and

the drier schist landscapes of Central Otago, the Eyre Mountains (above right) contain a biological treasure trove of rare plants and animals, including nine nationally threatened or uncommon alpine plant species. Plants endemic to this area include species of mountain daisy, mountain buttercup, forget-menot, hebe and pimelia. The Eyre Mountains also have the only known population of rock wren outside the Southern Alps and

unique invertebrates such as the giant Speden’s land snail and spear grass weevil. The Eyre Mountains lie just across Lake Wakitipu from Queenstown. Their importance as a recreation resource for Southlanders has resulted in strong local opposition to intrusive tourist developments. DOC's "Remote Experience" zoning should help preserve the natural and traditional values of the area while allowing for a continuation of activities such as climbing,

fishing, hunting, horse-riding and mountain-biking. Previously managed as four separate conservation areas, the creation of the Park provides a new management focus for DOC’s expensive but successful efforts to control feral goats and wilding contorta pines throughout the Range. The Park's Maori name, Taka Ra Haka, refers to the sun setting or dancing on the mountain-tops at day's end.  Eugenie Sage

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FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

conservationbriefs Takahe take-off! HE takahe has experienced a dramatic increase in numbers. Figures released in July indicate a 13.6% increase in the number of adult birds, with the number of breeding pairs up 7.9%. The takahe census is carried out annually by the Department of Conservation (DOC) and covers a core part of the 50,000 hectare (ha) Takahe Special Area within Fiordland National Park. The takahe team has set up a large network of traps for stoat control which effectively protects over 15,000 ha of this special area. "We will be keeping an eye on how the takahe in this area of the Murchison Mountains respond over the next few years, compared with other parts of the Takahe Special Area not protected by traps," according to DOC ranger Jane Maxwell. The takahe’s staple food, tussock grasses, is also still recovering from hard deer browse over three decades ago. However, 25 years after the

introduction of helicopter deer control within the Murchison Mountains, the tussock is now close to its original condition. The Takahe Recovery Programme now faces the new challenge of maintaining the rate of the increase in population. "The Murchison Mountain population is nearing capacity and we hope to see more takahe setting up home beyond the Special Area over the next few years," DOC Programme Manager Dave Crouchley says. The 2002 – 2007 National Takahe Recovery Plan has a goal of increasing takahe numbers by 25%. Fiordland is home to over 60% of the species’ total population, with 171 birds present. Others can be found on predatorfree offshore islands such as Tiri tiri Matangi, Kapiti, and Mana where they have been successfully transferred from captive breeding programmes. Ed Parnell BirdLife International

Rod Morris

Takahe numbers are increasing according to new census figures.

NE of New Zealand’s rarest birds, the endangered shore plover (tuturuatu), is set to spread its wings at a new offshore island location off the South Island early in the New Year. The Department of Conservation (DOC) and its partners in the Shore Plover Recovery Programme are gearing up to transfer10-30 captive-bred birds to the new site each year for approximately five years. This follows the success of the previous transfer programme to an island off the East Coast of the North Island which is free of introduced predators such as cats and stoats. That previous release programme came to a close earlier this year because the site now has a self-sustaining and increasing population currently comprising approximately 80 birds. More than 160 birds have been released at the site over the past seven years. It

will now be managed as a very valuable established population by preventing introduced predators from accessing the island and monitoring population health. As with the only other previous (though unsuccessful) transfer of shore plovers – at Motuora Island in the Hauraki Gulf – the birds to be transferred south will be raised at DOC’s Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre and the Isaac Wildlife Trust in Christchurch. DOC currently has seven pairs at Mt Bruce, and the Isaac Wildlife Trust has three pairs. The current wild population of shore plover is aproximately 200 birds. The Shore Plover Recovery Programme has a ten year goal of maintaining or establishing shore plovers at five or more locations with a combined population over 250 birds. If achieved this will mean increased insurance for the species against extinction

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Shore plover southbound

Shore plovers are to be transfered to a new island home off the mainland.

and down-listing from the endangered category to the lower threat category of vulnerable. Currently there are populations at South-East and Mangere islands in the Chatham group, and at an undisclosed island location off the East Coast of the North Island. This island is privatelyowned and its location not

publicised to respect landowner wishes. Two male birds remain in the wild at Beehive Island near Motuora Island. In the absence of any female shore plovers there, they are to be captured and taken to Mount Bruce where they will become part of the captive breeding programme for the planned transfers south. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

PHOTOGRAPH: GEOFF MOON

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conservationbriefs

Shining a light on bats

T’S true; bats really can fly into your hair and get stuck there. There are 25 of them – native short-tailed bats – endlessly circling inside this small, darkened aviary on Rangatira Flat on Kapiti Island, and one of them is fluttering in my forelock. As I gently tease it free, Dr Brian Lloyd is on his knees in the reeking leaf litter, measuring the wing length of another. Then he holds it OW it's official; young people. steady as an assistant takes a Ann Graeme is an Ann writes the fun and tiny, circular sample of the environmental hero. Ann informative KCC magazine, bat’s wing membrane. received a Green Ribbon Award which goes to 18,000 children. The sample goes to Department of Conservation this year for her conservation Ann and husband Basil have (DOC) Officer Lyn Adams, work and development of also worked tirelessly to rewho places it in a numbered the Kiwi Conservation Club establish populations of the vial. The loss of these tiny bits (KCC), Forest and Bird's club threatened North Island weka, of skin won’t slow the bats for children. including on Pakatoa Island down, but they will form the Ann won the Community and the Russell Peninsula (see Forest & Bird Magazine (full colour mag) basis of a groundbreaking action for the environment pages 40-41). genetic study designed to category award. She has been The award was presented Quarter page 133mm x 90mm wide monitor the fortunes of involved in environmental to Ann by Environment transferred bat populations. protection and education for Minister Marion Hobbs at a These short-tailed bats most of her life, running KCC ceremony in the Grand Hall in (pekepeka) were born in since 1992 to raise awareness of Parliament on June 5th, World captivity at the Mount Bruce the environment and educate Environment Day. National Wildlife Centre near Eketahuna. Their mothers were captured nearby, in the Waiohine catchment of the eastern Tararuas and held until they gave birth. Once their pups were weaned, the adults were set free again. It’s hoped their progeny will form the basis of a Community Action for the Environment new population here on Winner: Ann Graeme Highly commended: Waikaraka Estuary Managers Inc Kapiti Island, safe from the introduced predators that are Urban Sustainability slowly driving the Waiohine Winner: Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, Connell Mott MacDonald & Chow:Hill colony to extinction. But Lloyd says questions Sustainable Business Winner: Scrap Metal Recyclers Limited remain about the genetic

Ann Graeme – Green Ribbon Award winner 2005

Congratulations to the winners of the 2005 Green Ribbon Awards

Highly commended: Ascension Vineyard, Darryl & Bridget Soljan

viability of small founder populations like this; not just with bats, but birds, insects and reptiles too. "There’s a worry that you may not get enough genetic variation, which can have consequences like inbreeding depression." So he and Adams will be analysing the DNA they get from these wing samples to get some hard information about the effects of genetic bottlenecks in transferred populations. He says it could be a 20-year study, but the results will help ensure the success of future species translocations, including bats – New Zealand’s only native terrestrial mammals. After six weeks in the aviary, the young pekepeka are set free, by now hopefully imprinted on their new home. There are long-tailed bats here too, but Lloyd says the two species should get along just fine. "Virtually all (pekapeka) foraging is done within the canopy or on the ground, while long-tails forage outside the canopy on flying insects. Even their roost sites are very different." With luck, these bats will ensure the survival of the Tararua subspecies – an animal quite genetically distinct from other mainland pekepeka. And the lessons learnt will help their relatives elsewhere with plans already afoot for a further transfer to Tiritiri Matangi in the Hauraki Gulf. Dave Hansford

Rural Sustainability Winner: John Paterson Highly commended: David & Ngaire Bryant Dave Hansford/Origin Natural History Media

Young People Making A Difference Winner: Otahuhu Intermediate School Highly commended: Kimbolton School Highly commended: Hawke's Bay Youth Environment Council

Caring For Our Water – Fresh and Sea Water Winner: Guardians of Fiordland's Fisheries and Marine Environment

'Mouse on stilts': short-tailed bat or pekapeka is one of three native bat species, New Zealand's only native land mammals.

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

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New Zealand energy - changing our world. This summer a new, New Zealand-owned company will enter the power generation industry. NZ Windfarms Limited is committed to sustainable energy generation, and will specialise in the operation, ownership and development of wind farms.

The First Wind Farm NZ Windfarms has already secured a Resource Consent for its first wind farm, Te Rere Hau (near Palmerston North). The site is next to the Tararua wind farm which is recognised as being one of the best wind generation sites in the world. The Company plans to use the New Zealand designed and built Windflow 500 turbine for this project. Its analysis has shown that the Windflow 500 is the best wind turbine for the site.

The People The Board of NZ Windfarms is chaired by Derek Walker who pioneered the $50 million Tararua Windfarm as Chief Executive of CentralPower. A professional engineer and management consultant, he has 23 years experience in the electricity industry. He is supported by Barrie Leay, former Director of the Electricity Supply Association of NZ and founder Chairman of the APEC Energy Business Network; Juliet McKee, governance consultant, adviser to the Massey University Centre for Corporate and Institutional Governance and Honorary Fellow of the School of Government at Victoria University; Keith McConnell, business advisor and former Chief Executive of Southland’s Power Company; and Vicki Buck, Development Manager of the Christchurch Polytechnic and former Mayor of Christchurch and Director of the Reserve Bank. Chief Executive Officer Chris Freear has Engineering and Management Degrees and ten years experience in the electricity industry.

The Future

This $80 million project will use 97 Windflow 500 machines, ensuring that over 90% of project funds will be spent in New Zealand. The farm will provide sustainable power sufficient to supply 20,000 homes, and construction is scheduled to begin this summer.

NZ Windfarms has identified several other sites where it should be possible to obtain the necessary resource consents and that have good potential for generating electricity. While the larger corporations have tended to develop major installations for wind generation, NZ Windfarms will continue to seek opportunities with smaller, high return investments.

Proof only

Source: NZ Wind Energy Association

200 150 100

200

Year

200

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The Company is negotiating a 50/50 joint venture arrangement for the Te Rere Hau project with the consortium of Babcock and Brown Windpower and NP Power and already has a conditional memorandum of understanding in place with them. These two companies are major participants in the wind power industry.

New Zealand’s installed wind power (in megawatts)

NZ Windfarms has secured a contract with the Government for up to 519,000 tonnes of carbon credits from its Te Rere Hau project. This should generate additional income during the first commitment period from 2008 to 2012.

Wind Energy’s Role in New Zealand For more information on New Zealand’s sustainable energy future, please: • Visit our website www.nzwindfarms.co.nz • Or write to Chris Freear, Chief Executive, NZ Windfarms Limited, P.O. Box 13 952, Christchurch.

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Wind energy’s role in our foreseeable energy future is assured, with major generating companies espousing it and the costs of alternatives rising. New Zealand’s electricity demand is increasing by 150 MW each year, and if recent events are a guide, most additional generation capacity will come from new wind farms for the next decade or so. NZ Windfarms is a socially responsible company involved in our country’s sustainable energy future.

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

John Rhodes

conservationbriefs

Coal Island/Te Puka-Hereka, Fiordland.

New island sanctuary in Fiordland

John Rhodes

HE first communitydriven wildlife sanctuary in a World Heritage Area is being created on Coal Island in south-west Fiordland’s Preservation Inlet where stoattrapping operations are set to commence this year. The sanctuary is the brainchild of helicopter pilot and former West Coast selective logger, Wayne Pratt, who says his work relocating kakapo, takahe and robin around Fiordland and Stewart Island for the Department of Conservation (DOC) have given him a love of New Zealand’s endangered birds. "You can’t work with kakapo without getting emotional. Once you’ve seen a kakapo you

feel it’s important to try and save them. They’re fantastic – the largest parrot in the world – and they’ve all got characters of their own," he says. Wayne is also a part-owner of South West Helicopters and Preservation Lodge at Kisbee Bay in Preservation Inlet, which is maintained by the present owners for their quiet enjoyment and as a base for hunting. Four kilometres (km) from Kisbee Bay is low-lying Coal Island, site of a late 19th century coal mine and alluvial gold workings. It was while looking across the water one day from Kisbee that Wayne hit on the idea of transforming

Te Puka-Hereka supporters assemble at the helicopter. FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

the island into a communitycreated wildlife sanctuary. He persuaded his fellow company directors to run with the idea and they agreed to pay an administrator for three months to set up the South West New Zealand Endangered Species Trust and prepare funding applications. Adopting the island’s Maori name, they dubbed the restoration project Te PukaHereka – the tied anchor. With money from the New Zealand Lottery’s Environment and Heritage Fund the Trust developed an operational plan. After receiving approval for the plan from DOC the Trust began trapping to monitor

pests and in 2004 they marked stoat-trapping tracks using funds raised from Puysegur Holdings, WWF New Zealand, South-West Helicopters and Air BP. Last February a team of volunteers flew in to cut 15 km of track in preparation for trapping stoats over the coming winter, an operation expected to cost $30,000. "We’ll shoot the deer and control their numbers as more swim over from the nearby mainland," says Wayne. "It would be wonderful – but very costly – to be able to eradicate the mice, which eat lizards and invertebrates and compete with birds for food. Getting rid of mice would greatly increase the range of species we can put on the island." Possums have not reached South-West Fiordland yet; and remarkably, trapping has so far revealed no rats, although early gold miners complained of them. "Perhaps the stoats killed them all," muses Wayne. DOC Southland Technical Support Manager Andy Cox describes the project as "the first totally voluntary project in a World Heritage Area in New Zealand. It’s paid for entirely by their own fundraising and sponsorship. The local community runs it. DOC just advises when necessary." The project will also offer an opportunity to trial eradication techniques for larger islands, including a new stoat trap. Bird species that may one day be transferred to Te PukaHereka include saddleback (tieke), rock wren, yellowhead (mohua), robin (toutouwai), kiwi (brown or little spotted) and, in the long-term, perhaps kakapo. Potential native plant introductions include mistletoe (Peraxilla tetrapetala and colensoi and Alepsis flavida), orchid (Drymoanthus flavis), sand spurge (Euphorbia glauca), punui (Stilbocarpa lyallii) and water milfoil (Myriophyllum robustum). John Rhodes For more information about Te Puka-Hereka see: www. tepukahereka.org.nz w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Rod Morris

conservationbriefs

Albatross get a better deal

Antipodean albatross (pictured) is a species known to be caught in the New Zealand squid fishery.

Government action welcomed but research funding suffers.

HE Government has taken action to better protect albatrosses by reining in seabird deaths caused by trawlers. Minister of Fisheries David Benson-Pope announced the recall of vessels in the squid fishery in May after the fishing industry’s voluntary approach to reducing seabird deaths was seen to be failing. The Minister’s decision to recall vessels from the squid fishery was a response to the poor performance of the industry in meeting the requirements of a code of practice aimed at reducing the number of seabirds acidentally killed by their fishing activities – the so-called 'bycatch.' The vessels recalled included two chartered Ukrainian factory trawlers fishing for squid on the Snares shelf and around the Auckland Islands which caught 90 seabirds during six weeks of fishing. The codes of practice apply to hoki and squid trawl fishers and were developed under the Government’s National Plan

of Action to Reduce Seabird Bycatch in New Zealand fisheries. An estimated 10,000 seabirds die every year as a result of fishing in New Zealand waters, As HRH The Prince of Wales said in a speech at the Taiaroa Head albatross colony in Dunedin earlier this year, these deaths are avoidable. Precise numbers are not known because most commercial fishing vessels do not have independent observers on board. Based on the available data the squid fishery is estimated to kill more than 500 seabirds each year. Forest and Bird warmly welcomed the move by the Minister to implement new measures to reduce seabird bycatch from trawlers. As an interim measure the Minister agreed in July to require fishing vessels to use bird-scaring ‘tori’ lines while trawling. Research in the Falklands Islands, in part carried out by the BirdLife Interntional Partner – Falklands

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Conservation – found that using tori lines along with reducing the discharge of fish offal were the most effective means of reducing seabird bycatch in trawl fisheries. The Minister is now considering measures to implement further controls in trawl fisheries that will come into place from December 1st. Forest and Bird hopes a regulation will be introduced requiring vessels not to discharge offal while fishing because it attracts seabirds. In stark contrast to the Minister’s action, two government agencies decided to cease funding two critically important seabird research programmes in June when the Department of Conservation and the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology ended funding of long-standing albatross research programmes which monitor New Zealand’s wandering albatross populations at the Auckland and Antipodes islands and

southern Buller’s albatross at the Snares and Solander islands. These programmes were producing vital data on these seabird populations. Cutting funding for this research will make it more difficult for New Zealand to meet its obligations on reporting to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) and to monitor the impact of fishing on albatross populations. The good news on ACAP is that France and Peru recently ratified, bringing the total number of states party to the agreement to eight. There are hopes now that Chile, Argentina and Norway will also ratify by early next year. In July the Government ratified the United Nations Reflagging Agreement which aims to combat illegal 'pirate' fishing, a widesread practice estimated to kill 100,000 albatross every year. Barry Weeber is Forest and Bird's Senior Researcher. FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

conservationbriefs The return of the hakawai

Campbell by the ship rats that arrived aboard sealing ships in the early 1800s. In 2001, DOC turned the tables for these tiny waders, only a little larger than a blackbird, when they completed a world-leading rat eradication on Campbell in an aerial poison drop. And while they won’t officially declare the World Heritage Area island rat-free until 2006, traps left behind as a precaution remain empty, which gave DOC Programme

DEPARTMENT of Conservation (DOC) survey team on subantarctic Campbell Island could scarcely believe their eyes – or their luck – when their tracking dog, Gus, brought a rare snipe to hand in March. Campbell Island snipe were only discovered in 1997, on Jaquemart Island, a remote outlier off Monument Harbour. In all likelihood, Jaquemart became their last refuge after being exterminated on

Bird in the hand: Campbell Island snipe have come home to breed.

Manager Pete McLelland the confidence to return the even rarer Campbell Island teal to Perseverance Harbour last summer after a long exile. Now he’s confident the snipe will establish too, because examination of the survey team’s photographs delivered even better news. The captured bird turned out to be a dependent chick, incapable of making even the one-kilometre flight from Jaquemart. Campbell Island snipe had not only come home to roost, they’d come home to breed. McLelland says he’ll have his fingers crossed until next summer, when another team will resume the search for more colonists. He looks forward to the possibility of down-listing the snipe’s conservation status from critically endangered to the lesser category of range restricted one day. Snipe once lived on many of New Zealand’s offshore islands, includeing Great Barrier, the Chathams, Antipodes, Snares and Auckland. In Maori lore, their nocturnal display flights

and the strange, thrumming noise of their tail feathers vibrating in the air during vertical dives invoked the legend of the hakawai, a mythical night bird. The Stewart Island and North Island species are today known only from museum skins, as are their Norfolk Island and Fiji relatives. But last April, snipe took another step closer to the mainland when 30 birds from the Snares were transferred to the southern island of Putauhinu, itself cleared of rats in 1996 by DOC and Iwi. "The next step for snipe is to eradicate rats from Taukihepa (Big South Cape) Island next year," says McClelland. "Hopefully this will allow us to try and reintroduce the snipe along with many other species, but the presence of weka, also introduced to the island but now an important taonga, may stop them establishing." DOC will also consider transfers to a number of predator-free Fiordland islands. Dave Hansford

Te Rere Reserve ten years on T was ten years ago that a firestorm swept through Forest and Bird’s Te Rere Reserve on the Southland coast, a site well-known for its breeding yellow-eyed penguins (hoiho). At the time the fire devastated vegetation and paths, burned out nests and killed penguins. To mark the tenth anniversary Southland Forest and Bird Branch organised a gathering at the site in February which attracted over a hundred people to come and see for themselves the progress made in restoring the site since the fire. For example, several hectares (ha) of flax and shrubs have been planted during dozens of volunteer work days. New paths have also been cut and maintained through the growing area of coastal forest at the 100 ha reserve during that time and the number of hoiho is now estimated at 40-50

birds, around half the number present prior to the fire. The site visit was followed by a social function at Niagara hall where visitors enjoyed refreshments and heard about the history of the reserve. A presentation was also made to Brian and Chris Rance, longtime Forest and Bird members and recipients of the Loder Cup, for their dedicated efforts organising plantings, workdays and fundraising for restoration work at the reserve. Since the fire Forest and Bird’s Southland Branch has also received generous financial support to help pay for plantings, fencing, predator controls and a caretaker. Donors include the Lotteries Heritage and Environment Fund, the Community Trust of Southland, WWF New Zealand and, most recently, the Government’s Biodiversity Condition Fund.

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

The reserve also recently benefited from a generous donation from UK-based New Zealander Don Riley and his Russian business partner, Irina Kolbasina. Inspired by the volunteer effort at the reserve and charmed

by the penguins, they have contributed substantially to the cost of building a secure fence along the new northern boundary which encloses a 20 ha extension to the reserve made in 1996. Fergus Sutherland

Forest and Bird Southland Branch members and supporters gather to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the firestorm that swept through Te Rere Reserve in 1995.

Fergus Sutherland

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David Mudge

conservationbriefs

A possum caught in the act of raiding a bird's nest.

New approach to possum control in the Tararuas

HE Department of Conservation (DOC) recently announced it will increase 1080-based possum control in the 120,000 hectare (ha) Tararua Forest Park near Wellington to better protect native birds and forest canopies within the Park. DOC has decided to end ground operations in favour of more frequent aerial application of 1080 baits to increase the level of protection offered to native forests and species in the Park. As well as carrying out aerial 1080 operations over six canopy protection zones every six years to reduce possum browsing, a 4,000 ha Biodiversity Protection Zone within the Otaki Catchment will be established to protect a broad range of native wildlife from introduced rats and possums. Aerial 1080 operations in the Biodiversity Protection Zone will occur every three years and be timed for the spring to give the greatest possible protection to birds during the breeding season. The Park is home to native species including kaka, parakeet (kakariki), morepork (ruru), whitehead (popokatea), long-tailed bat (pekapeka), a rare subspecies of short-tailed bat, and various land snails.

Summer migrant shining (pipiwharauroa) and longtailed (koekoea) cuckoos also breed here.  DOC Wellington Conservator Alan Ross is confident the new approach will benefit native wildlife in the Park: "Over the past ten years, the Department’s possum control operations have successfully protected highaltitude forest, including the vulnerable tree fuchsia forest," he said. "This gives us confidence to consider more ambitious levels of protection. The Department is now extending protection to native fauna in the lower-altitude forests, while continuing to protect canopy trees in the Tararuas." Birds, forest plants and pests will be intensively monitored to determine the effectiveness of control operations. Northern rata, a favourite possum food, has already shown improved growth in areas treated with 1080 in the Park. The Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) has also been asked by   the Animal Health Board and DOC to reassess 1080 in order to lift public confidence in it and enable new information, such as the benefits of 1080 for protecting wildlife, to be evaluated. Geoff Keey

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EW Zealand’s moa died out because they grew almost ten times more slowly than other living species, according to a study by researchers at the Zoological Society of London’s Institute of Zoology (IoZ) in London.  The new study, published in the June issue of Nature, in collaboration with the University of Oxford and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, analysed moa leg bones and discovered up to nine growth rings (similar to tree rings) in bone crosssections, revealing that moa took almost a decade to reach their adult body weight. They then took several more years to reach sexual maturity. This is very different from all living birds, which reach adult size within 12 months. The strongest growth rings are shown by the alpine moa

Megalapteryx, which lived in the Southern Alps at elevations over 1,000 metres. Female moa were up to three times larger than males – the largest gender size difference of any species of bird or mammal. Ten species of moa are currently recognised, ranging in size from Euryapteryx curtus, not much bigger than a turkey, to the two largest species, Dinornis, which were over two metres tall and weighed a quarter of a ton. "The study gives a fascinating insight into the growth rate of birds in the absence of mammalian predators," according to Dr Sam Turvey of the IoZ. "New Zealand’s unique environment prompted the evolution of ‘delayed maturity’ in moa, enabling them to grow slowly over a long period of time."

B AHERN © DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION/TE PAPA ATAWHAI

conservationbriefs New study shows moa were slow developers

Leg bones of a moa being measured.

'Moa' duneland protected on D’Urville Island

RAMATIC rare duneland containing moa bones on D’Urville Island in the Marlborough Sounds has been purchased for the public by the Nature Heritage Fund, Conservation Minister Chris Carter announced in early July. With ownership due to transfer in March 2006, public access will be available from that time. In addition to the duneland, the 1,797 hectare block of coastal land at Greville Harbour contains the nationally important Bottle Cliffs Point and scenic lowland forest. Describing the purchase

Chris Carter said, "These dunes tower to a height of 25 metres and extend inland for 400 metres. They are archaeologically significant containing bones of early moa, kakapo, tuatara, kokako and various large petrels." Behind the dunes lies a spectacular lagoon, the largest freshwater body in the Sounds, and an important habitat for water birds and freshwater fish. "This area could easily have ended up in private ownership and on a developer’s drawing board," he said. "Now it is secured in its natural state for everyone’s enjoyment."

New email newsletter

S part of plans to increase communications with members, a new quarterly email newsletter is to be launched in September. The first issue will include an invitation to take part in an online poll to find New Zealand's Bird of the Year. Perhaps it will be the bird on the Society's logo, the tuneful tui? Perhaps it will be a kiwi? Or perhaps the fantail? The choice will be yours – the members. It will also contain topical items about wild New Zealand and the conservation work of the Society. If you are a member, please

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

be sure to update your email address and contact details should they change. You can do this online via the Forest and Bird website on the "membership" page or by telephoning central office on Freephone 0800 200 064 during office hours. If you are not a member and would like to receive information about the Society via email, please send an email marked "Email matters" in the subject field, containing your name and contact details, to Sarah Crawford at: s.crawford@ forestandbird.org.nz

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Rod Morris

Rod Morris © DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION/TE PAPA ATAWHAI

conservationbriefs

Rock wren was one of two New Zealand bird species added to the 2005 IUCN Red List. The closely related bush wren was last seen in 1972 and is considered extinct. Along with the rifleman the rock wren is one of only two surviving species of New Zealand wren, considered by some authorities to be the oldest living group of endemic New Zealand birds.

Chatham Island shag was one of two New Zealand bird species newly listed as critically endangered on the 2005 IUCN Red List. The world’s most threatened species of cormorant, it inhabits an extremely small area on three islands in the Chatham group. Surveys in 1997 found 840 pairs, but in 2003 only 270 pairs were counted. This species could be extinct by 2020.

WO native New Zealand bird species – rock wren and red-fronted parakeet (kakariki) – were added to the 2005 IUCN Red List of Globally Threatened Species in a reassessment released in June. This brings the number of New Zealand bird species on the Red List to 73, ranking New Zealand second only to the USA amongst the OECD countries. Seven New Zealand bird species already on the Red List also had their threat status revised to a higher threat category. Chatham Island shag and orange-fronted parakeet (kakariki) were up-listed from endangered to critically endangered, the same threat category as the kakapo. These changes mean that New Zealand's black-billed

gull now ranks as the most threatened species of gull in the world and the Chatham Island shag as the most threatened species of cormorant. A high predation rate during a breeding season could wipe out the orange-fronted parakeet forever. These South Island parakeets are victims of periodic rat and stoat plagues.  Predation has also contributed to the worsening status of kaka, red-fronted parakeet, yellowhead (mohua), blackbilled gull (tarapunga) and rock wren. The number of bird species now considered globally threatened with extinction stands at 1,212. This is 12.4% of the 9,775 bird species in the world. Amongst the 328 bird species that occur in New Zealand, 22% are now

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considered globally threatened. The 2005 reassessment was carried out by BirdLife International, a global alliance of non-government conservation organisations present in more than 100 countries.  BirdLife is the official "Red Listing Authority" for birds for the IUCN Red List. Forest and Bird was recently confirmed as the New Zealand Partner of BirdLife International and was consulted as part of the 2005 reassessment process. The new Red List was a timely reminder that New Zealand still needs to do more to stem the decline of its 73 globally threatened bird species, many of which do not have species recovery plans. Geoff Keey

J L KENDRICK © DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION/TE PAPA ATAWHAI

New Zealand bird species rise up the Red List

Red-fronted parakeet (kakariki) was one of two New Zealand bird species added to the 2005 IUCN Red List.

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T was a closure worth celebrating. After all the planning, fundraising and hard work that had gone into making the project a reality, there was no doubt that people were pleased to see the result of their generosity – the Bushy Park predator proof fence – officially closed by the Governor-General, Dame Silvia Cartwright. Luckily the rain held off for the more than three hundred people who gathered in front of the grand Bushy Park homestead, west of Wanganui, in early May. Speaking on behalf of Forest and Bird, executive member Keith Beautrais paid tribute to Allan Anderson, Chair of the Bushy Park Trust, whose vision and drive helped make the project possible; and Terry O’Connor whose efforts have helped build up an impressive number of school visitors. "This protected mainland island is a wonderful educational facility that I hope will spur us on to offer greater levels of protection to even larger areas," said Keith. Allan Anderson was at the forefront of the fundraising that brought in almost $900,000 in cash

and in kind, with significant contributions from local businesses and $100,000 from the Government’s Biodiversity Condition and Advisory Fund which aims to help landowners and community groups restore and preserve New Zealand’s unique species on private land. The audience responded enthusiastically as each member of the construction team was introduced, and there was no doubt that everyone appreciated the skill, hard work and professionalism that went into building the 4.8 km Xcluder fence on time and within budget. The main fence encloses the 87 hectare Bushy Park Forest Reserve with an additional shorter section protecting the public area comprising the entrance, driveway and paddocks around the 1906 historic homestead. Pest control work has been going on for many years and the magnificent stand of lowland northern rata forest is responding well with the canopy looking very healthy and dense regeneration within the forest. Species reintroductions into the Forest and Bird-owned reserve have already begun. Following the official opening,

Wanganui Newspapers

conservationbriefs Bushy Park fence closure cause for celebration

L–R: Dame Silvia Cartwright (Governor-General), Dot McKinnon (Deputy Mayor of Wanganui), Nick Smith MP (kneeling), Ian Brown (Board Chair), and Allan Anderson (Trust Chair) meet one of the robins released at Bushy Park.

Dame Silvia had an enjoyable encounter with a North Island robin, one of the recent reintroductions, as she toured the reserve. With the fence completed, eradication of pests, not just control, will be the aim, and the robin will shortly be joined

by a list of endangered species including North Island brown kiwi and kokako. The fence will also mean that a large kiwi crèche can be developed in the area as part of the Kiwi Recovery Programme. Kevin Hackwell

Tauranga invests in wetlands

N ambitious $20 million wetland restoration project in the Kopurererua Valley in Tauranga has been given the go-ahead after resource consents were approved in March to realign the Kopurererua River to its natural course and begin extensive habitat plantings. The landmark project will be undertaken by Tauranga City Council, a corporate member of Forest and Bird, and Ngai Tamarawaho Hapu with the support of a wide range of community groups, schools, Rotary Clubs and local businesses. A series of community plantings will involve Forest and Bird

members, schools, Tangata Whenua, service clubs and staff from Tauranga companies. Forest and Bird Tauranga Branch has welcomed the project: "We need restoration like this because more than 97% of local wetlands have been drained. Wetlands, which were formed when eroding ash from volcanic eruptions swamped river valleys and estuaries, once dominated the local landscape," says Branch Chair Basil Graeme. Two main Environmental Education programmes will be implemented by "Trees for Survival" and the Tauranga Environment Centre. A visitor shelter is to be

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constructed next year. It will feature interpretation panels and provide a meeting point for community planting briefings by the new Park Ranger due to begin work in January 2006. The site earmarked for the project is surrounded by commercial and residential development and crisscrossed by power, gas, water and sewerage utilities. The 325 hectares to be restored to wetland habitat will reverse decades of drainage, abandoned farming and neglect. The project will take 20 years and involves planting at least a million native plants, a 25 km network of pathways and

the creation of large areas of wetland habitat. Native species expected to benefit from the project include fernbird, spotless crake and freshwater fish such as galaxids and eels. "This is likely to be one of the biggest environmental projects in the country," according to Tauranga City Council Parks and Leisure Manager, Geoff Canham. The site will also need a pest control programme if ecosystem-level restoration is to be achieved: "We know some of our biggest challenges will involve repelling the constant assault of rats, cats, garden plant escapees or dumping," says Geoff Canham.

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UNDREDS of conservationists travelled to Kaikoura Island near the Great Barrier in May for the opening of a new scenic reserve by the Prime Minister, Helen Clark. The Prime Minister also announced the Government would be boosting funding for conservation projects on seven Hauraki Gulf islands as part of a wider $2 million investment in Project Hauraki in the 2005 Budget. These are to include new initiatives for pest eradication, track development and signage on Kaikoura, Waiheke, Motuihe, Motutapu, Rangitoto, Rakitu and Great Barrier (Aotea) islands. Forest and Bird General Manager Mike Britton, who met with the Prime Minister, welcomed the new initiatives and the purchase of Kaikoura Island: "This is a landmark day for conservation in the Hauraki Gulf. The opening of Kaikoura Island as a scenic reserve heralds the beginning of a nationally significant restoration project which Forest and Bird is proud to be a part of."

Kaikoura Island was bought from a private landowner with funds contributed from regional, city and district councils, the ASB Community Trust and the Nature Heritage Fund, effectively saving it from private development and securing public access. Unlike other such restoration projects, the island is already well on the way to regeneration with an almost complete canopy cover of kanuka. Large forest trees survive in a number of gullies and will provide an invaluable local seed source to restore a diverse forest cover once introduced pests such as deer, rats and pigs are eradicated. The island will also be developed as a centre for outdoor education, offering Auckland youth a wilderness experience and practical conservation opportunities. Project Hauraki will also allow greater numbers of Aucklanders and visitors from further afield to experience the magic of offshore conservation islands – a privilege once reserved only for scientists and wildlife officers.

Above: Waitakere Branch Secretary Ken Catt QSM (at left) discusses the new reserve with Forest and Bird General Manager Mike Britton (right). Below: Participants in the opening of the Kaikoura Island Scenic Reserve enjoy the views from the ferry as they pass the island.

David Pattemore

conservationbriefs New funds boost conservation in the Hauraki Gulf

HE song of the bellbird (korimako) is being heard again at Tawharanui Regional Park, north of Auckland, more often than anyone can remember. Last summer, close to a hundred bellbirds were observed in the Park compared to the one or two birds heard there in the last five years of monitoring. With so many now present, this species will be able to establish and breed here in this new predator-free sanctuary, thanks to a predatorproof fence. The fence is a vital part of the Auckland Regional Council’s innovative Tawharanui Open Sanctuary project, which also hosts recreational activities and a working farm. The Xcluder™ fence cuts through the base of the

Peninsula, enabling the large Park of 588 hectares to be protected with a relatively small-scale fence. Each end has specially designed koru-like whorls to prevent stoats and other pests from entering via local beaches. With the fence completed last year, the Park was closed for three months while the largest pest eradication on mainland New Zealand was undertaken. Using brodifacoum (Pestoff®) in a combination of aerial poison drops and ground-based followup, stoats, cats, hedgehogs, rats and other pests were removed from the Peninsula. The dramatic results after only one season show how important Pestoff® is for conservation in New Zealand, provided it is used wisely and handled appropriately.

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PAUL SCHILOV © DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION/TE PAPA ATAWHAI

Bellbird chorus restored to Tawharanui

Bellbird

Along with the return of the bellbirds, invertebrate numbers have increased markedly. Lizard species that had been severely impacted by predation have been found in large numbers in recent months, probably reflecting a greater population

size and increased freedom of movement. Other bird populations will be slower to recover, but dramatic improvements are expected over the next year or two. David Pattemore

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Six Pack of Parks The South Island high country is a place of wide open spaces and vistas; of landforms which have been created by Ice Age glaciers, twisted by earthquakes and shaped by large rivers. In June Forest and Bird joined with Federated Mountain Clubs to launch a campaign for a "Six Pack of Parks" to be established in the high country. Eugenie Sage, Ann Graeme and Sue Maturin describe the six proposals. Hawkdun/Oteake Range. 16

FOREST & BIRD â&#x20AC;˘ AUGUST 2005

Photo: Gilbert van Reenen www.cleangreen.co.nz

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Rod Morris © DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION/TE PAPA ATAWHAI Don Geddes Don Geddes

High country treasures: NZ falcon (karearea), alpine grasshopper and flowering orchid (Thelymitra pulchella).

he South Island high country comprises the mountains, valleys and inter-montane basins east of the Main Divide from Marlborough to Southland. It is among our most distinctive and treasured landscapes. And yet, it remains far from adequately protected, partly because so much of it has been leased out for pastoral farming since the pioneer days of the 19th century. Latest figures show that by 2005, the Government's tenure revue process had added 45,000 ha to the conservation estate and Nature Heritage Fund purchases such as Birchwood and Castle Hill had protected another 49,000 ha. This has enabled the creation of

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four new high country Conservation Parks – Korowai/Torlesse and Ahuriri in Canterbury, Te Papanui in Otago, and Eyre Mountains/Taka Ra Haka in Southland. But many more are needed to achieve an adequate level of protection. To this end, Forest and Bird and Federated Mountain Clubs (FMC) uncapped their "Six Pack of Parks" in June – a proposal to create six further parks in areas widely regarded as outstanding for their landscapes and indigenous plant and wildlife values. These six, which are considered achievable in the immediate future, are shown on the map and described over the following pages.

Kaikoura Ranges St James/Spencer Mountains Upper Rangitata/Arrowsmith Pisa Range

Hawkdun/Oteake

Remarkables

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Shaun Barnett/Black Robin Photography

Kaikoura ranges

HE Inland and Seaward Kaikoura ranges contain the highest mountains in the South Island north of the Aoraki/Mount Cook region. Visible from most parts of Marlborough, and on clear days the lower North Island, the ranges dominate the north-east of the South Island. South Marlborough is one of New Zealand’s most important mainland areas for species diversity and endemism. Fortysix plant and animal species or subspecies occur naturally only here where they are part of a distinctive dryland biodiversity centred on the Kaikoura ranges. A notable feature is the extent and

areas, thus providing a higher level of protection for existing stewardship land and better pest and weed control. It should also result in enhanced opportunities for public use and enjoyment in the area. A Kaikoura Ranges Park would adjoin the new Molesworth Farm Park and be another significant step towards establishing an east-west continuum of public protected lands from the Kaikoura coast in the east to Paparoa National Park in the west. The proposal represents a unique opportunity to safeguard a complete cross-section of the northern South Island’s diverse natural landscapes and habitats.

Gary Holz © DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION/TE PAPA ATAWHAI

diversity of the rock bluff and scree plant communities. Among the specialist plants found in these seemingly inhospitable habitats are the showy Marlborough rock daisy and species of sun hebe, scree harebell and tree broom. DOC has advised that the area meets the statutory tests for a Conservation Park. No pastoral lease or private land is involved in either proposal, though tenure review may change that situation. Giving Conservation Park status to the area would bring many advantages besides the immediate one of a higher profile for its dryland landscapes. It would also unify the management of scattered conservation

Mt Fyffe and the Seaward Kaikoura Range.

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Rod Morris

Flowering tree broom (left) and bluff weta (right) are among native species unique to this part of the high country. The Seaward Kaikoura Range is also the only breeding area in the world for the threatened Hutton’s shearwater (above). w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Andy Dennis

St James/Spenser Mountains

Gerry McSweeney

Tony Lilleby © DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION/TE PAPA ATAWHAI

New Zealand violet, St James. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

If protected, St James would become a paradise for back-country recreation. The popular St James Walkway, the Waiau Pass crossing to Nelson Lakes National Park, and ascents of southern Spenser Mountains peaks are the best-known of numerous opportunities for tramping. The Stevenson family, who own the St James lease, have withdrawn from tenure review. It would be a magnificent and generous act if they were to follow the inspiring example of the Williamson family on Birchwood in the Ahuriri Valley and sell their lease to the Nature Heritage Fund or DOC, enabling this land to become part of the conservation estate.

Gary Holz © DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION/TE PAPA ATAWHAI

includes intact natural sequences of shrubland, beech forest and alpine tussockland from valley floor to mountaintop, and is virtually weed-free. The proposal also includes the beech forests of the east Maruia Valley. These support high populations of parakeet (kakariki) and the highest recorded populations of South Island robin (ngirungiru). They also provide nationally important habitat for kaka, pigeon (kereru) and long-tailed bat (pekapeka). Threatened species here include New Zealand falcon (karearea), rock wren, longtoed skink, a rare whip cord hebe and both red and yellow-flowered mistletoes.

HE St James/Spenser Mountains proposal is the most ambitious because it would require Government to purchase New Zealand’s largest pastoral lease, the St James between Molesworth and the Lewis Pass, the St James and Opera ranges, and the upper catchment of the Waiau River, along with the adjacent headwaters of the Clarence River above Lake Tennyson. St James has long been seen as deserving protection because of its stunning landscapes, predominantly natural condition and high recreational values. But it is size and ecological diversity which make St James important. It

Tall matagouri, Ada Flats.

The black scree daisy is pollinated by butterflies.

South Island kaka. FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Gerry McSweeney

Giant flowering speargrass, a native species of the genus Aciphylla, Hawkdun/Oteake Range.

Hawkdun/Oteake Range Ann Graeme visits a high country heartland.

HE CENTRAL Otago landscape is old with flat-topped ranges and broad valleys smoothed by the storms of millennia. In contrast, the Canterbury landscape seems like another country; young and wild with sharp mountains tumbling to wide, braided rivers. In between crouches the tawny lion of the Hawkdun/Oteake Range, an outpost of the ancient Otago landscape. Artist Grahame Sydney knows and loves Central Otago, capturing its brooding landscape in his painting of the Hawkdun/Oteake Range. Golden tussock grasses run down its flanks. Clouds race

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across its long spurs and shadowed valleys, changing them from brown to ochre to purple-grey. In winter the mantle of snow highlights the geometry of a deeply eroded landscape, softened by the passage of time. The Hawkdun/Oteake Range, with its extensive tussock grasslands, is one of the least modified landscapes in Central Otago. Already some 10,000 hectares of montane tussock along its tops and flanks are dedicated conservation land. These protected grasslands are a patchwork dissected by grazing land but they could be united following tenure review of the two pastoral leases involved.

Then the tops of the range could form the core of a Conservation Park. On a recent visit to the Hawkdun/ Oteake Range with my husband Basil, Forest and Bird’s Otago/Southland Field Officer Sue Maturin explained to us why the existing core area is not sufficient to conserve the special flora, fauna and natural features found here and nowhere else. The lowlands here are not yet protected here and the terraces of red tussock, tumbled fans of shrublands and the valley floor where the finest short tussock communities remain are still being grazed. Here where the Otago schist and greywacke of Canterbury meet there is a world in miniature that deserves better protection. Sheltering between the tussocks grow delicate gentians, clumps of daisies and sprawling orange-berried coprosma. Amongst the Lilliput landscape roam a host of diminutive insects that mingle with giants; a weevil, a weta and various scree skinks – species marooned here so long they are now endemic to the Hawkdun/ Oteake. The New Zealand falcon and pipit are also here. But separating out the lowlands from the uplands is like divorcing Mount Ruapehu from the golden plains of the Desert Road. To protect the lowlands here would require the purchase of two properties but, as Sue commented, a Hawkdun/Oteake Conservation Park without them would be poor indeed. And when it comes to valuing native plant communities, tussock and shrublands are the poor relations of tall forest. Imagine a proposal to fell ancient rimu forest in a quiet corner of the South Island? Kiwis would be up in arms from Queen Street to Queenstown. Yet the unique tussock and shrub communities found here are comparable to a forest community – they’re just not as tall. The mountain looks tranquil, dreaming beneath the nor’west arch of the vast Central Otago sky. But if you look more closely the tussock is but a remnant of its former glory. It’s endured too many fires and too many teeth are still nibbling away at it. Among the tussock we notice a bright green sward on the lower flank and wonder why there is a field of turnips looking oddly out of place in this tawny landscape. It is apparent that grazing has already degraded the native plant communities. In time I expect that more intensive farming will come to the fertile lowlands and more w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Rod Morrris P Clerke © DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION

The tawny New Zealand pipit.

Ann Graeme

Scree skinks are well camouflaged in the schist.

Forest and Bird's Otago/Southland Field Officer, Sue Maturin.

Access to the Hawkdun/Oteake Range looks simple. And then we met this sign, ambiguous at best and hardly welcoming. But we need not have worried for when we checked, the road was indeed public access. How perfectly this sums up the usefulness of Conservation Park status. Instead of being met by an unfriendly sign, visitors would be welcomed and maps would show clearly where people could and couldn’t go.

Sue Maturin

pasture grasses and crops will be planted. Increased production may be a worthy goal for the farmer but if we want to preserve some of this original landscape intact, the turnips will need to be planted elsewhere in future. We were pleased, however, to hear that 17 local farmers and DOC have recently cleared wilding pines near the Hawkdun/ Oteake Conservation Area. The current tenure review offers some opportunities to secure the tops, but protecting the skirts of the mountain – the complete range of biodiversity and the whole of the landscape – requires fair purchase of entire pastoral leases. A public road already winds across the Hawkdun Plateau. Up here, where there is no sign of human habitation, the pipit soars and the wind soughs through the tussock. Imagine cycling through this splendid isolation and savouring the silence, or driving quietly to take in the unfolding landscapes. It is the sheer space and solitude of the Hawkdun/Oteake landscape that most impresses. We reached the foothills here after cycling the Central Otago rail trail, which offers a pleasant physical challenge to the amateur cyclist, as well as a glimpse into our history. The rail trail runs through farmland and small towns. This is fine productive country, but it’s not wild New Zealand. How well it would be complemented by an opportunity to cycle through a Conservation Park in the Hawkdun/ Oteake Range.

G H Sherley © DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION

A pair of tussock grasshoppers (Paprides nitidus) mating. The smaller male is clasping the female.

Ann Graeme is the National Coordinator of Forest and Bird’s Kiwi Conservation Club. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Hawkdun Spring

The rare scree pea occurs in the Lake Heron area.

winter coat peach-pale, and soon that snow will glow like a line of dull scarlet embers before the rising shadow line claims it for the night. That beautiful, slow show is one of the cherished gifts of my daily life. "I believe many of us identify ourselves most tellingly by the landscapes we find running deepest inside. For me, when I am overseas and thinking of New Zealand I am not thinking of the map of New Zealand, but of specific local points on that map – a view, a valley, a road, a private place. I believe each of us carries such a treasured image within us wherever we are, and it helps us know who we are, to ourselves and others. It’s an experience,

or visual version of the curl of hair lovers used to wear close to their heart, cased in a silver locket, and never removed. "Many New Zealanders know this lingering power of the landscape, and painters like me try to give it a form, to show what it feels like for me, and why it might matter . . . "I wish all strength to the arms of those who are making these parks a reality, and thank them for the gift they represent: to remain preserved as places of deep and natural pleasure, the eternal symbols of what it’s like being us." Grahame Sydney, Cambrian Valley, Central Otago, June 2005.

Don Geddes

RTIST Grahame Sydney has kindly allowed use of his 1996 painting "Hawkdun Spring" to help promote the "Six Pack of Parks" campaign. In a message supporting the campaign he wrote: "Of the six parks nominated thus far, two are particularly well known to me – Pisa Range and the Hawkdun/Oteake Range – and have staked out segments of both my heart and work. I lived beneath the glowering bulk of Mount Pisa for eight years until 1983; and I built my present house in order to have the pleated wall of the Hawkduns as my daily companion to the north: as I write this the sun is turning the Hawkdun¸s white

Graeme Sydney

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Southern crested grebe with chick on its back and eggs in the nest. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Gilbert van Reenen www.cleangreen.co.nz

View north across one of the Maori Lakes, south of Lake Heron in the headwaters of the Ashburton Catchment.

Upper Rangitata/Arrowsmith Range/ Lake Heron

The penwiper is a member of the cabbage family. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Given this area’s global importance for birdlife, unoccupied Crown land (managed by LINZ) in the beds of these rivers and their upper tributaries would be most appropriately transferred to and managed by DOC as part of the proposed park. The Ashburton lakes area is already a popular destination for picnicking, walking, fishing, and mountain-biking. The Nature Heritage Fund’s 2003 purchase of the Clent Hills pastoral lease with the Todhunter farming partnership has significantly increased recreational opportunities. It protects more than 10,000 ha on the shores of Lake Heron, and the western flanks of the Mt Somers and Taylor Ranges. Tenure review proposals on three pastoral leases between the Rakaia and Rangitata rivers should add another 11,000 ha to the conservation estate.

Don Geddes

important breeding site for southern crested grebe (puteketeke) and an important breeding site for New Zealand scaup (papango). The margins of the lakes have important plant communities including red tussock, sedges, rushes and special turf communities. Threaded by shining ribbons of water, the upper Rangitata and Rakaia riverbeds represent the two largest areas of intact and largely unmodified habitat for wading birds in New Zealand. Threatened species breeding here include banded dotterel (tuturiwhatu), black-billed gull (tarapunga), nearly 80% of the world population of wrybill (ngutuparore), and the black-fronted tern (tara piroe) which has a stronghold on the Rangitata.

Don Geddes

HIS would be a park of magnificent contrasts embracing as it does the rock and ice ramparts of the mountain ranges, the more accessible tussock hills and moraines around the Ashburton lakes, and the gravel expanses of the braided riverbeds. This proposal includes the mountains of the Jollie and Arrowsmith ranges, the dramatic headwater country between the Rakaia and Rangitata rivers, and the jewellike Ashburton/Hakatere lakes. The Rangitata-Rakaia Conservation Area is at the heart of the proposal – a place of big skies, endless space and grand mountains carved by snow and ice. The Ashburton lakes area is renowned for its well-preserved and extensive glacial landforms. Lake Heron is New Zealand’s most

Alpine grasshopper on a daisy flower.

A black mountain ringlet soaks up the sun. FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Colin Monteath/Hedhehog House

Pisa Range

shaped rock outcrops, wind-sculpted surfaces, glacial tarns within impressive cirque basins and distinctive escarpments. Rare alpine plants are found here and it contains some of the best remaining mid to low altitude Hall’s totara, dry silver beech forested gullies and kanuka-manuka shrublands in Central Otago. They allow the visitor to glimpse what these now dry hills once looked like. During summer the extensive rolling terrain on the crest of the range offers superb mountain biking on 4WD tracks.

A common gecko blends in with the lichen in the Pisa Range.

In winter it offers Nordic and alpine skiers the full gamut of skiable terrains and is a ski-touring destination par excellence. An old pack track traverses the range, making it a popular route for calvalcaders on horseback and trampers. DOC proposed a Pisa Range Conservation Park in 1998. More than 20,600 ha of the Pisa Range have been protected, mostly through tenure review. With two more key leases about to enter review, a Pisa Range Conservation Park could soon be a reality.

B Smith © DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION/TE PAPA ATAWHAI

Craig Robertson © DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION/TE PAPA ATAWHAI

FAMILIAR landmark near Wanaka and backdrop to Cromwell and Lake Dunstan, the Pisa Range is one of New Zealand’s most distinctive landforms. It dominates the Clutha Valley and, rising up to 2,000 metres above sea level, is the highest of Central Otago’s distinctive block-faulted mountain ranges. In the late afternoon light its tussock-cloaked eastern slopes ripple like an eiderdown. The range has a long and wide alpine plateau studded with clusters of curiously

The Pisa Range is a ski-touring destination par excellence.

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South Island edelweiss in flower. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Colin Monteath/Hedhehog House

The Remarkables

John Edwards© DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION/TE PAPA ATAWHAI

HE REMARKABLES, with their saw-toothed summit ridge, are internationally famous as a backdrop to Queenstown. Biodiversity values are high because the Remarkables lie in the transition zone between the wet Southern Alps and the drier tablelands of Central Otago’s flat topped mountains to the east. Some of New Zealand’s most showy alpine flowers characterise the wet mountains west of lakes Wakatipu, Hawea and Wanaka where they mingle with

the high alpine cushion plants that are a feature of the Central Otago highlands. The area contains extensive montane grasslands which are not well represented in the current parks and reserves network. Kea reach their eastern limit here (see below), as do some spectacular alpine plants such as the snow bank buttercup. The Nevis River is important for native freshwater fish, and the Nevis Valley has significant red tussock grasslands and wetlands, as well as historic goldfields. Thousands of day walkers visit Lake

Tramper, Wye Creek, The Remarkables.

Alta each year, many venturing further to walk in the valleys or climb on Double Cone. Creation of a Remarkables Park would expand the opportunities for skiing, botanising and mountain-biking, and fourwheel drive access along well formed tracks. The high profile of the Remarkables means there are significant tourism pressures, but these are not yet well managed. Park status and the development of a management plan for the area could improve the situation. A core area of 19,000 ha along the range from north of the Remarkables skifield to Loch Linnhe in the south is already protected as conservation land. Two pastoral leases lie between this core area and conservation land to the south. To create this park, the Government would need to purchase these leases and add them to existing conservation land. For more information see : www.forestandbird.org.nz Forest and Bird’s Canterbury/West Coast Field Officer, Eugenie Sage, wrote the descriptions of the proposed parks with the exception of the Pisa Range and Remarkables which were written by Otago/ Southland Field Officer, Sue Maturin. Acknowledgements

The kea is a parrot of the subalpine and alpine zones. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

The description of the Kaikoura ranges draws on the "Kaikoura Ranges National Park Proposal" (2002) by Mike Harding. Thanks also to Andy Dennis, Don Geddes and Rode Morris. FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Gilded ghosts Grand skink - a cluster of scales crafted into a jewel.

HY would you do it? Why would you leave your home for a tiny, two-room shack on the other side of the world to take what is most likely a pay cut, just to saddle yourself with the responsibility for saving two endangered species that have, at best, a 50/50 chance of making it? Call it passion. James Reardon was obsessed with reptiles even as a kid – although back then it was mostly about dinosaurs – and they’ve been part of his life ever since. He earned his doctorate from the University of Wales with a thesis on the evolutionary ecology of an arboreal lizard of the Caribbean. But today, at 31, he’s squinting into a crystalline Otago afternoon, across the montane tussocklands of Macrae’s Flat, checking for signs of life. The sun is blazing unhindered on the stark grey tors of schist that line a small stream, still breath-catchingly cold, although these late days of December have already urged the wildflowers to attention. As we walk, the tussocks bristle as

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writhing lizards flee our feet – this unlikely Eden is home to six species of skink and one gecko – an amazing diversity for the mainland, but they’re not the ones we’re seeking. Reardon is eyeing the schist towers. "There’s one," he says at length, "just at the entrance to that long crack on the left." I can’t see a thing. But Reardon, it transpires, has a hawk-like acuity for spotting his charges, sharpened over years of research and a stint as a wildlife cameraman. We walk toward the rock stack. There’s no need to crouch or crawl. Our quarry has already spotted us; either it’ll reverse into the crack or suffer our presence. This one stands its ground, and I get my first look at Oligosoma grande, the grand skink. It’s a cluster of scales crafted into a jewel. Dappled is too slight a word for this meteor shower of brilliant flecks – neither bronze nor silver. Whatever it is, it blends seamlessly into the patchwork lichens of the Otago rock. A crown of flawless gold runs in rivulets across its broad, archaic head, flowing about the lizard’s fathomless eye

Dave Hansford/Origin Natural History Media

Two of New Zealand’s most beautiful reptiles have survived the freezing winters of millennia. But unless we do something – quickly – they could be lost within a decade. Story and photographs by Dave Hansford.

James Reardon inspects his predator traps.

into a gilded circlet before melting into pale yellow undersides. Now I understand. Why wouldn’t you do all you could to wrest this creature from the black maw of extinction? There are probably fewer than 3,000 left; and their close neighbour and relative, the Otago skink, O. otagense, is faring even worse. If 3,000 individuals sounds like a healthy stock, consider this; recent studies suggest there were once 100,000 of them. Both species used to range all the way from Middlemarch across to Queenstown, Wanaka and Hawea. By the 1980s, surveys found that they had vanished from more than 90% of their homeland, save for a few w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Neville Peat © DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION/TE PAPA ATAWHAI

Dave Hansford/Origin Natural History Media

McRae's Flat is a haven for six species of skink, including the threatened Grand skink.

lonely outposts in the Lindis Pass and the animals here at Macrae’s, which are now considered the core population. And that decline shows no signs of slowing. "There’s one population that you might possibly call stable," says Reardon, "but we’re talking about 30 or 40 individuals. We’re almost beyond the point where we can apply basic ecological rules to these animals." "In skink terms, 30 animals is a desperately small population."

T’S a numbers game, and the lizards are losing. Reardon has applied population viability analyses – mathematical scenarios accounting for survival, age to reproduction, sex ratios, all the lizards’ life history data – and the results make grim reading. Even the most optimistic prognosis says both Otago and grand skinks will be functionally extinct within 20 years. The worst says they’ll be gone in six or seven. The way Reardon states it, the problem sounds self-evident. Too few animals are surviving the four long years to breeding age. And those that do aren’t living long enough. More of the maths; studies have shown that in any given year, they have between a 41% and 68% chance of making it to the next. Like many of New Zealand’s native animals, slow maturation and longevity

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(they can live for 12 years in the wild) go hand-in-hand with low, slow reproduction rates; grand and Otago skinks typically produce just two or three offspring – born live – each year. That simply isn’t good enough. If they’re going to cheat extinction, Reardon has to get that survivorship up to more than 90%. "We’ve done the maths on these animals and basically, we need them to be immortal." Worse still, rescue efforts don’t appear to be working: "Our best guess is that cats are causing the decline. A single cat was found with 49 skinks in its stomach. They’re very abundant here. But a massive cat-trapping operation has made no obvious difference." "We don’t know if that’s because cats weren’t trapped to a sufficient intensity, or if we focused on the wrong predator – maybe it’s rodents or mustelids instead." "Whatever it is, the time for prescriptive management has come and gone – we’re past the point of being able to address each of these issues individually, because they could be extinct in a decade." Reardon reckons he’s got just five years to come up with an answer. "Any longer than that and we’ll have so few animals left that managing them in situ will no longer be an option." For the present, "in situ" management consists of three mammal-proof

enclosures on a nearby hilltop, where small colonies of Grand skink can go about their lives safe from cats, stoats, rats and possums. We crawl through a small door and Reardon checks the traps left inside as a precaution against a predator getting past the electric fence. We find a female basking on a sunny shelf of schist. Her middle is swollen; she’s carrying babies. Not far off, a juvenile is watching us with intent, black eyes. Reardon thinks it may well be hers; newborn Otago skinks have been seen basking on the backs of females – very unusual behaviour, for lizards, that may imply a degree of parental investment. If so, it would just be another feature that makes these creatures special. Reardon says they’ve been seen out basking even as snow lies on the ground, in temperatures that would have driven other reptiles to torpor or death. "The sun needs to be out, and the rocks need to be warm, but the air temperature doesn’t seem to bother them. They’re thermoregulating through contact with the environment, as well as getting body heat directly from the sun." Otago temperatures are notoriously contrary; a freezing night can herald a 30º C day. But the skinks have evolved a simple yet effective way of coping, and it has everything to do with those schist outcrops. "If you live in an environment that can be freezing cold one day and boiling hot the next, it makes sense to make your FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Dave Hansford/Origin Natural History Media

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Typically, Otago skinks only produce two to three live offspring each year. Variations in patterning are illustrated here, above and below.

Mike Aviss © DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION

home in something with high thermal mass," explains Reardon. "And this rock really holds the heat. "So you start your day in the middle of your rock crack. If it’s warm, you move out into the open. Then, if it starts to get cold, you simply turn around and go back inside where it’s warmer." But even in this haven, the skinks aren’t breeding the way he hoped. Something else is at work, sapping their recovery. It may be that already, their numbers are so low that normal biological processes are beginning to fail. Inbreeding depression is the term scientists use to describe that breakdown. The fitness, the vigour of a population slumps as its genetic diversity seeps away. Reardon says Otago skinks have been found to carry abnormally high numbers of parasites, both externally and in their blood. "They’re not known to be dreadfully pathogenic, but when populations become as small and isolated as these – and we know that infection levels are increasing – you have to wonder if physiological stress isn’t responsible. At some point it must have costly effects on these animals." But the big picture is worse still. If the skinks are declining even within the reserve, the prospects of them ever reclaiming their former range beyond might be nil. Reardon says nothing will change until we do – until we stop burning the bracken and ploughing tussocks under and spraying chemicals. Until we can find a way to halt the march of the browsers; hares, rabbits, possums and the stray stock

Dave Hansford/Origin Natural History Media

James Reardon's childhood passion for dinosaurs has led him to a career in conservation biology on the other side of the world.

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EANWHILE, last February, the Drylands Ecological Restoration Trust was launched in Alexandra, along with a plan to create a reserve for the skinks so that they might come home again to Central Otago. And Reardon wants to see sponsors front up too – maybe not just solely focused on the skinks – but also on their home; these iconic tussock grasslands. He’s not shy about asking for help, especially since $100,000 of his budget was skimmed off to fund Operation Ark. "There are more conservation tasks

than money to do them (but) we need a significant investment in the skinks now, while there are still sufficient numbers to offer good odds of recovery." Those odds, says Reardon, will rapidly worsen with every coming year, as will our options – a vortex he calls "retreating opportunities." "The time to act is now, because there’s no second chance with extinction." Dave Hansford of Origin Natural History Media is a Wellington-based writer and photographer.

Dave Hansford/Origin Natural History Media

that nibble down native plants once visited by the skinks for their berries. In June, DOC built a $350,000 mammal-proof fence around the 22 hectares that hold the largest remaining population of skinks. But Reardon doubts that’s enough for long-term sustainability. "It’s questionable. I’m inclined to think that we probably have enough land, but it’s only just enough." "And just enough isn’t good enough – not for perpetuity. You end up with a zoo. Because of the constraints of a small habitat area and the division of the metapopulation, you’ll always have to manage them. That, to all intents and purposes, is zookeeping." "It’s a legacy I’d rather not hand on to the next generation." Instead, he hopes to enlist that generation in the fight to save the skinks. Strath Taieri School has adopted them as their mascot. "One of the teachers has a very keen interest in the skinks and wants to foster that among the kids, which I’m very excited about," says Reardon. "That’s the most effective way to get the message across." "These kids will grow up in Otago. They need to be raised with a sense of pride and ownership; a responsibility for the special wildlife that lives here."

Construction of DOC's mammal-proof fence started in June. It aims to protect Otago and grand skinks at Macraes Flat.

office@forestandbird.org.nz

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FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Thiérry Zysman

The Tahiti monarch (Pomarea nigra) is the size of the Chatham Island black robin. Known as ‘omama’o in the local Maohi language, it is – like the robin twenty years ago – on the verge of extinction. Adult bird at left, juvenile below.

MANU/Sparrman

Restoring the monarch In the face of incredible odds, Tahiti’s monarch clings on in French Polynesia. Michael Szabo meets Philippe Raust and reports from Papeete on prospects for the fragile birdlife of these far flung islands.

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

ERE in a secluded valley in tropical Polynesia the world’s most embattled monarch clings on. With only a few members of this royal dynasty left, time is running out for the Tahiti monarch, a forest bird unique to the island. But its restoration won’t be long in coming if Philippe Raust has his way. Philippe runs MANU, the Ornithological Society of Polynesia, which, like the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, is affiliated to BirdLife International. Along with fellow MANU supporters such as Jean-Marc Salducci, Caroline Blanvillain, Anne Gouni and Jean-Claude Thibault, Philippe has a plan to restore the monarch. He explains it to me as we make our way through the forest towards one of the bird's last breeding sites. Arriving at one of only three such sites we stop by a stream below a towering basalt cliff. Above the forest a dark Tahiti swiftlet glides by. Graceful fruit-doves and watchful kingfishers perch in the trees. Above the cliff a tropicbird dives, its delicate tail feathers streaming. No sooner have we arrived than we’re greeted by a pair of monarchs. First we hear the male's complex fluting song; soon it is joined in duet by the female. The male stands on a bough above the stream, silver-blue bill quivering skywards; the female answers from a bushy thicket. It's a moment to savour. Then Philippe inspects the banded trees and short sections of drainpipe that contain poison bait, in this case brodifacoum, used to control rats. He also points out where MANU volunteers have removed invasive weed species such as the African tulip tree and planted native mara trees which the monarchs favour for nesting. Scenic it may be, but for the Tahiti monarch this is the front line. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

rench Polynesia has four critically endangered bird species and MANU has a conservation programme for each one. The programme targeting the Tahiti monarch is now in its seventh year. During each breeding season poison bait is laid around the nesting sites and nest trees are banded to protect against rats. Each nest is closely monitored to get an accurate estimate of breeding success. These intensive conservation actions may have at least slowed the Tahiti monarch's decline but its population is still tiny, says Philippe. After small fluctuations over the past ten years, it now stands at 20 individual birds. Of these 11 birds are thought to be male and nine female. This year there were five nests and three fledglings. This species has an average life expectancy of 10â&#x20AC;&#x201C;12 years and around 40% are believed to be under four-years-old. "The regeneration of the ageing population was the most important success of the early years of the programme. This year the establishment of three new pairs in previously abandoned territories was an indication the population is increasing in at least two of the four valleys being monitored," says Philippe. Three other species of Pomarea monarch found in the Marquesas group north of Tahiti are unique to French Polynesia. Another species, the Maupiti monarch, was last sighted in the early 19th century and is now extinct. Of these three remaining monarchs the Fatu Hiva monarch also ranks as critically endangered. The main cause of its decline is thought to have been the invasion of the island by black rats in 1980. Following an assessment in 2002, a pilot scheme is now under way to protect nests in one valley and raise awareness about their plight among local people. There are an estimated 200 of these birds left, but the species is still thought to be in decline. The third of the critically endangered species is Marquesan imperial pigeon, or upe, as it is known in Maohi. MANU has successfully reintroduced the upe to the island of Ua Huka to create a new breeding population. It is estimated that the species numbers less than 140 birds. With assistance from Mike Thirsen of the New Zealand Department of Conservation (as part of an agreement with the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme), five birds were captured on the island of Nuku Hiva in 2000 and released on Ua Huka. Another translocation was undertaken in 2003 to strengthen the initial population which now stands at 18 birds. The fourth critically endangered species is the Polynesian ground-dove. These dainty ground-doves have long

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The extinct white-winged sandpiper (above) was known as the "titi" and the extinct black-fronted or Tahiti parakeet (below) as the "'a'a" in the Maohi language of Tahiti. Both paintings by Peter Schouten are from "A Gap in Nature" by Tim Flannery and Peter Schouten and published by William Heinemann.

since been lost from the main island of Tahiti, with only a small number of birds persisting in a few remote refuges, such as Tenararo, an uninhabited atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago. It is hoped a rat eradication programme on a nearby island will one day allow for the successful reintroduction of birds there, too.

A recent expedition in the southern Tuamotus, in part funded by the New Zealand Pacific Initiative on Environment, also found a small new population of 12 birds on Morane. A rat eradication programme on several islets near Morane is now in place and it is hoped the grounddoves will disperse and breed there as well. FOREST & BIRD â&#x20AC;˘ AUGUST 2005

Michael Szabo

Like the island’s birdlife, the coastal forests of Tahiti have similarities with those of New Zealand. These trees have been banded with aluminium by MANU volunteers to prevent rats climbing up and eating eggs and chicks of the critically endangered Tahiti monarch (adult bird inset).

N OUR way back to Papeete we discuss similarities between the birds of Tahiti and New Zealand. Like New Zealand, Tahiti was an island world dominated by birds before the arrival of humans and the new mammalian predators they brought with them. Among the birds that have spread across the region were species of rail, fruitdove, flycatcher and parakeet. These evolved and radiated into an incredible variety of new species ranging from the Antipodes parakeet in subantarctic New Zealand to the black-fronted of Tahiti parakeet in French Polynesia. Philippe explains that Tahiti has already lost unique species of rail, parakeet and sandpiper. Tahiti's rail was known as the "ve'a" – a similar bird to New Zealand’s weka – a similarity also reflected in its Maohi name. As he describes the situation in French Polynesia I can't help thinking the Tahiti monarch might have been the next species to slip into oblivion if MANU had not started to control the predators and protect the last remaining breeding sites back in 1998. It’s also heartening to hear that despite its small number of 75 members, MANU coordinates conservation programmes for all four critically endangered species and conducts surveys of less threatened species. If the predator control and tree banding techniques being applied here prove to be as effective as they have in Rarotonga and New Zealand, they may produce similarly positive results for birdlife in Tahiti. Further funds for MANU’s research and conservation work were recently

F O R E S T & B I R D • A U G U S T 2 0 0 5

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Michael Szabo

allocated by the European Union and the Government of French Polynesia, giving further grounds for optimism that the unique birdlife of eastern Polynesia will be preserved. "Now, after decades of decline, perhaps the fortunes of Tahiti’s most critically endangered species will at last begin to improve," says Philippe. If it does, then it will be thanks to the dedication of Philippe and a handful of MANU volunteers who have kept hope alive for them.

BORN PROFESSIONALLY

C. Blanvillain

Philippe Raust of MANU explains how low-tech bait stations containing brodifacoum are helping to control rat numbers.

The Polynesian ground-dove is critically endangered. These dainty birds have long since been lost from the main island of Tahiti with only a small number persisting in a few remote refuges.

• If you would like to find out more about the work of MANU in French Polynesia you can visit their English and French language website at: www.manu.pf

MANU’s conservation programme has been funded by the Pacific Development and Conservation Trust, the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), Conservation des Espèces et des Populations Animales (CEPA), Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO – BirdLife in France), Club 300 in Sweden, French Polynesia's Environment Ministry, the French Government’s Investment Fund for Economic and Social Development, BP Conservation Programme, the USbased Wildlife Conservation Society, and CEPA, a French zoo association.

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P Raust

OUTDOOR CLOTH I NG GLOVE S SLEEPING BAGS BACK PACKS TENTS

The writer visited Tahiti on assignment for Greenpeace International and acknowledges the organisation’s financial support in the preparation of this feature. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

MANU has successfully reintroduced the critically endangered upe or Marquesan imperial pigeon to the island of Ua Huka to create a new breeding population. It is estimated that the species numbers less than 140 birds.

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FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Political animals D

Biodiversity The conservation and protection of New Zealand’s biodiversity is a key election issue for the campaign. The implementation of the Biodiversity Strategy along with adequate funding of threatened species work and pest control are vital to this.

Comment While the Labour-led Government has substantially increased funding for Department of Conservation (DOC) pest 34

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control through the Biodiversity Strategy, and eradicated pests on Campbell, Raoul and Little Barrier islands, there is also much more that needs to be done. For example, more resources are needed to allow native forests to recover from the damage done by possums, deer and goats. National is yet to make public its funding commitments on conservation and the environment. The concern is: will DOC funding be cut to pay for any tax cuts?

High Country The South Island high country is a special part of New Zealand, with its dramatic landscapes and distinctive plants. With debate on tenure review hotting up over the past year, the protection and future management of high country Crown pastoral leases will be an important issue. The campaign is looking for commitments to significantly expand the public protected lands in the high country and to improve the tenure review process to deliver better results for conservation.

Dolphins don't have a vote, but you do.

benefits to lessees but only limited conservation and recreation gains so far. Conservation land gained through tenure review is mostly high altitude land above 1,000 metres with little value for farming. Few lowland areas and altitudinal sequences have been protected. Yet this is where the greatest and most vulnerable biodiversity values occur.  The Labour-led Government has initiated a review of current valuation methodology that the Greens support, which may result in more realistic rentals being set for tenured land. National and ACT have criticised DOC high country management and the focus

Comment As of June, 30 pastoral leases had been reviewed under the Government's tenure review policy.  This has resulted in the return of approximately 49,213 hectares (ha) to full Crown ownership and management as conservation land, and the freeholding of 93,740 ha to leaseholders. Tenure review is delivering substantial

Forest and Bird

URING the last six elections Forest and Bird, Federated Mountain Clubs, ECO and Greenpeace have worked together to raise the profile of conservation and the environment. The non-partisan joint campaign has asked questions of candidates, ranked each party’s policies, and made proposals for sound policies to all parties. The aim has been to inform voters looking to cast their two ticks in a conservation-minded or environmentfriendly way. The campaign does not endorse a specific party, but rather presents a summary of the party's relevant policies and views, and then ranks them. You – the voters – then make the decision that counts on the 17th of September.

The Vote for the Environment campaign aims to raise awareness of conservation and the environment at election time. Barry Weeber considers some key issues.

The Beehive: a habitat for politicians. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

of the tenure review process creating more conservation land. New Zealand First has criticised the revised focus of tenure review. United Future has focused on access for recreation.

The Resource Management Act (RMA) is a vital part of New Zealand’s sustainability law. In recent years it has been criticised by a range of development interests that have had projects turned down by councils or the Environment Court. Some politicians claim the RMA is slowing down economic activity but this argument is difficult to sustain when the economy has been growing rapidly, building consents are at record levels and a range of roading and power stations (geothermal, wind and gas) have been approved over the last six years. Claims that roading proposals have taken seven or eight years to complete are also hard to sustain. They might make for good headlines, but they don’t hold water. A recent study found that roading authorities have split up large projects into many stages and applied for consents separately over many years. The average time for getting consents for each of the stages was less than two years.

Gerry McSweeney

Resource Management Act

Cyclists taking in the high country near Molesworth.

The Labour-led Government has introduced a major amendment to the RMA which may be passed before the election. While the Local Government and Environment Select Committee has managed to cut many of its most troubling aspects, a number of core problems in the Bill still remain such as the ability of the Minister to over-ride stronger local body standards and permit an activity. For its part, National has proposed to introduce major amendments to the RMA and to pass them within nine months if in government. National proposes to go back to the days of the Town and Country Planning Act and reintroduce "standing," where a person or group must show that they will be affected by the resource consent in order to object. National also says it will remove the environmental legal aid fund introduced by the Labour-led Government. United and New Zealand First have also suggested changes to the RMA; the ACT Party has proposed repealing it altogether.

Energy and climate change Current levels of resource use associated with economic activity are unsustainable. For example, electricity use is currently increasing at more than 2% per year. According to the Ministry of Economic Development this will require an additional 150 megawatts (MW) per year w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Ministry of Fisheries

Comment

Bottom trawler hauls in a large coral.

of new electricity generating capacity. Trust Power’s controversial proposed Wairau River hydroelectric scheme would only meet six months of this. The now abandoned Project Aqua would only have met four years worth of extra demand. To meet this projected increase in demand New Zealand would need to build the equivalent of a Huntly power station every four to eight years. The wasteful use of Maui gas over the last 25 years has also brought an added crunch to both the cost of electricity and limited gas resources. While new gas fields may have been found they are unlikely to match the very low cost of Maui. If parties are serious about their commitments to the environment, greater investment is required into energy efficiency and direct use of solar energy. The increased risk of climate change and the commitments the Labour-led Government made under the Kyoto Protocol mean that coal is not a viable energy option. There are, however, a range of mechanisms in the Kyoto Protocol that New Zealand could use to

meet its commitments. For example, the Netherlands is using one of these mechanisms to invest in wind power in New Zealand.

Comment National, like United and New Zealand First, have opposed the carbon charge and want a review of Kyoto commitments, despite the party’s previous pledges to introduce such a charge. The Greens, Labour and the Progressives support the carbon charge.

Oceans and fisheries Around 80% of our biodiversity is found in the sea. New Zealand is responsible for managing a marine area representing about 1% of the planet’s surface area – 14 times larger than our land area. The long-term future of both industrial and recreational fishing is dependent on the maintenance of a healthy marine environment. The last five years have seen major cuts in hoki and orange roughy catches and a vigorous debate on the ecological impacts of destructive fishing FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Comment In the last three years, little progress has been made by the Labour-led Government on developing an oceans policy or passing the new Marine Reserves Bill. While 11 new marine reserves have been created only 0.19% of the territorial waters around mainland New Zealand are in marine reserves. National, United and NZ First have all adopted policy that would reduce the role of DOC in managing marine reserves and in advocating for them. The Labour-led Government's record on fisheries management has improved recently with the Minister of Fisheries taking action aimed at reducing the number of seabird deaths caused by

trawlers and the adoption of a new ecosystem-oriented fisheries strategy. The 2004 National Plan of Action on Reducing Seabird Bycatch has shown itself to be flawed because it failed to deliver results and to adequately protect seabirds. To rectify the situation the Minister is now proposing regulations to supplement the voluntary approach taken in the Plan. Surprisingly, National is proposing to move away from ecosystem-based management (despite having previously introduced the idea in its 1996 reforms to the Fisheries Act).

• If you would like to know more about

the Vote for the Environment campaign and see the comparisons that have been made between the political parties on significant environment and conservation issues, visit the campaign’s website at: www.environmentvote.org.nz

Dave Hansford

techniques such as bottom trawling and high levels of seabird and marine mammal bycatch. The big debate this year will be on whether the need to manage our fisheries in an ecologically sustainable manner will survive in our fisheries legislation.

National Party Conservation spokesperson and MP, Nick Smith.

Barry Weeber is Forest and Bird’s Senior Researcher.

The Vote for the Environment Coalition will be running joint candidate meetings prior to the election. Please consider asking candidates if they support:

creation of new parks in the high country including the six pack · The of parks being promoted by Forest and Bird and FMC? · Marine reserves and the passing of the Marine Reserves Bill? · Increased funding for DOC to restore New Zealand’s biodiversity? to the high country tenure review process to increase the · Changes amount of land protected as conservation land and improve public

Dave Hansford

Questions for candidates United Future Conservation spokesperson and MP, Larry Baldock.

access?

Dave Hansford

Kyoto Protocol on climate change and the implementation · The of a carbon charge to help reduce New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions?

Minister of Conservation and Labour MP, Chris Carter.

Dave Hansford

Sharn Barnett/Black Robin Photography

retention of DOC as an integrated agency advocating · The for conservation on private and public land?

Trampers enjoy the view from the Kaikoura Mountains.

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Greens Co-leader and MP, Jeanette Fitzsimmons. Talk back: Politicians answer questions at the Forest and Bird AGM held in Wellington in June. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

learned the hard way Story and photographs by David Pattemore.

The sand dune system has been left in place at Karon Beach, and there has been some work to restore it. The hotels at Karon are nestled behind the dunes and were spared the brunt of the tsunami's force by their dissipative function.

"11 January, 2005, en route from Bangkok to Phuket: The plane crosses the coast directly over Khao Lak National Park as we descend towards Phuket. I am on the wrong side to see the devastation in the tourist areas and at Ban Nam Khem, but the effect of the tsunami is apparent along the whole coastline, where a brown stain stretches at least 500 metres inland. The long, low approach over the coral reef to the airport at Mai Khao Beach belies what occurred just two weeks before. The sand is still golden, and the casuarinas and coconut palms all seem to be there. It is only as we touch down that you can see the trees are dying. Piles of rubble mark former buildings in amongst the coconut trees. Several things bring home the reality of what happened very quickly: the line up of 50+ large military and rescue helicopters, the boxes and bags of clothes stashed all around the airport, the check-in counters converted into emergency embassies, and, most dominant of all, a sombre atmosphere in the normally bustling airport."

LYING into Phuket is like a homecoming for me, as I lived on the island for more than a decade as a child. Over the last 20 years it has been transformed from a sleepy little island with an economy based on rubber, coconut and rice, to a bustling, over-developed tourist Mecca complete with skyscrapers and nightclubs. The rice fields have almost all been filled in for new development, so wetlands and water buffalo are now a rare sight. However, very little can truly detract from the spectacular coastline. Boxing Day 2004 changed all that when an undersea earthquake off Sumatra unleashed a dreadful wave which devastated coastlines around the Indian Ocean, reaching even as far as Africa. With the death toll now standing at around 300,000 it was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recent years. The tsunami reached Phuket at around 9:10 am on a Sunday morning. The "negative" wave arrived first, drawing the high-tide water right out and attracting a crowd. Then the big waves started coming in, bringing a surge of water several stories high. After two weeks of clean-up, many visible signs were starting to disappear,

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and few visitors would realise how many of those bare patches of sand and clay along the coastline used to be houses and hotels. My aim in returning to Phuket was to assist an indigenous tribe of fishers known as the Urak Lawoi, a group my family have lived and worked with for two generations. The Urak Lawoi live their very simple lives in three villages around the coast of Phuket, and on a number of the outlying islands. They showed amazing resilience in the face of the disaster. Their small villages of corrugated iron and coconut thatch stilt houses are located right on the beach, from where their boats can be easily launched. Given the devastation the tsunami wrought on multi-storey steel-reinforced concrete buildings, you would be forgiven for thinking that the wave would have wiped these villages off the face of the Earth. Yet, for the most part, they were spared the brunt of the tsunami, and, as far as I can ascertain, not one person from this tribe was killed. While 11 kilometres of tourist resorts along the Khao Lak coast were reduced to flat clay and sand, the little Urak Lawoi villages of Rawai, Sepum and Yuban still exist and thrive.

Although the tsunami was well beyond any living personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experience, geological records show that other similar sized tsunamis have struck the region in previous centuries. It is probable that the location of the villages is due to traditional knowledge of the beaches best sheltered from storms, which would have also helped protect against tsunamis. The effect of the tsunami was closely related to the slope and physical characteristics of the coast, which meant that some beaches were spared the full force of the wave. Surin beach is a small, steep beach nestled between two headlands. To the north and the south are the large, low-sloping beaches of Kamala and Bang-tao. Both were hit hard by the tsunami, the wave coming up to a kilometre inland, devastating the communities of hotel workers who lived in villages similar to the Urak Lawoi. Yet Surin was hardly touched. The wave only reached about one metre beyond the spring high-tide mark. Phuket was one of the first locations to be hit in Thailand; the wave striking the south-west peninsula first. It was half-an-hour or more until the wave hit the next province north, Phang-nga, FOREST & BIRD â&#x20AC;˘ AUGUST 2005

David Pattemore

This house on the beautiful little beach of Yanui on Phuket’s western coast was built on the remains of the dune system that would naturally have been covered by the pandanus trees visible in the foreground. The house was reduced to ruins, and the occupants lost.

killing thousands along just 11 kilometres of coastline. At a public meeting on rebuilding and learning from the disaster held in Phuket City in the first month after the tsunami, the question "Why weren’t the authorities in Phang-nga warned?" was repeatedly asked. The answer is simply that no-one thought of it.

David Pattemore

he amazing survival of the Urak Lawoi tribe was partly due to the actions of one young woman in the southern village of Rawai. When Miao first heard that the water at the beach had suddenly gone out, her first reaction was to run down to look. As the first wave came in, destroying almost all the fishing boats tied up in the bay, she quickly realised something was seriously wrong. Her father, Ahlin, had left on his

motorbike just 30 minutes earlier to attend a church service at Yuban village further up the coast. While many in Rawai had friends and relatives in Yuban, Miao was the only one with the presence of mind to realise the wave was traveling north. Her frantic call to her father’s cellphone allowed the whole of Yuban village to be evacuated before the wave hit. A doubleamputee, Dumin, was the last person out of the village, riding high in the back of a pick-up truck as the wave washed around the back wheels. If only this had been the immediate reaction of everyone, including the local authorities. This type of coastal disaster was never contemplated by the people on Phuket Island, and so the general lack of understanding about the tsunami and its effect is somewhat understandable. Given New Zealand’s high level of seismological

Forest and Bird's Northern Conservation Officer, David Pattemore (second left), shares an evening meal with Ahlin, Miao and the family.

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Multi-storey hotels along the eleven-kilometre Khao Lak coast (north of Phuket) were no match for the tsunami which reached up to three storeys in height and killed thousands. The swimming pool in the foreground took the place of a sand dune, and is the only remnant of this hotel. The whole area was a bustling seaside resort just three weeks before this photo was taken.

activity, the vulnerability of our coastal areas to frequent storms, and heightened public awareness of these issues, you’d think it might follow that we would be especially careful about what we allow in the coastal zone. But it is doubtful that we have been much better in our management of coastal areas. Sitting on Miao and Ahlin’s spacious deck on a balmy tropical evening in January, it was hard to fully comprehend the terror of that day. We watched chilling amateur video footage of the wave as it ploughed past south-east facing Rawai beach on its way north-west. Only the side-wash hit Rawai, but it was enough to destroy all boats in the bay and any buildings on the shore. The interface between land and sea can be a dangerous and dynamic zone. The range of coastline movement in New Zealand is measured in tens of metres, with cliffs in Auckland eroding up to eight metres per hundred years. Yet there are natural systems and buffers that serve to protect the coast; to absorb the impact and adapt to change. One of the most obvious of these is sand dunes. Most of the beaches in Phuket have had their sand dunes removed to allow better views or access to the beach. Karon beach, however, has retained significant dune areas and the hotels were all built behind these. Standing on Karon beach (directly south of the heavily damaged Patong beach which is almost identical in shape and profile), the benefits of dune systems were plain to see. The dunes at Karon are not spectacular, but they are at least three metres high and nearly ten metres wide. The wave did ride over them, but washed around the base of the hotels with its force dissipated. Where sand dunes had been removed, the wave cut w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

David Pattemore

a path of devastation hundreds of metres inland. Regardless of size, sand dunes absorb and disperse some of the destructive force of storm events and tsunamis. Where the beach front was 'protected' by rock and concrete walls, the hard surface merely increased the turbulence of the wave and focused the destruction around 'weak links' such as boat ramps, steps and each end of the seawall. In many places the wave had breached the seawalls, and by the time the surge had drained back out they had disintegrated. These 'hard engineering' solutions cannot replace the protection that dune systems provide. It was with a sense of disbelief that I returned home to New Zealand to hear that some communities here were still asking that the sand dunes in front of their houses be reduced or removed. In Auckland, for instance, there are only a handful of beaches left that retain their dune systems. Certainly there is a trend in New Zealand towards restoring sand dunes, but much of this occurs in front of parkland or in rural areas where a severe event would inflict less damage. Mangroves are also an important coastal buffer. At the village of Yuban, the wave rushed straight through the village from the beachfront. The large concrete water 'jars' that served to store rainwater were picked up and smashed against houses, and almost all houses in the village sustained structural damage. However, they were spared a second more deadly inundation from the rear, because the mangroves in the estuary behind the village stopped the wave coming from both angles. While mangroves, sand dunes and beach profile all play a part in reducing the impact of a tsunami, it is important to recognise that they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t remove the threat entirely, and no sand dunes or mangroves could have saved areas such as Banda Aceh that were simply too close to the epicentre to survive. In the midst of the tragedy there seems to be a powerful lesson about our attitude w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

to nature. While we may not be able to stop a tsunami, we can learn to live within the natural protection that has developed over millennia by looking after our sand dunes, estuaries and coastal vegetation,

and being mindful of the natural processes in the world around us. David Pattemore is Forest and Bird's Northern Conservation Officer.

FOREST & BIRD â&#x20AC;˘ AUGUST 2005

North Island weka

Ann Graeme reports from Russell Peninsula on a conservation success story close to her heart.

OO-EET, coo-eet, coo-eet," called the first weka. "Coo-eet" came the reply from a second, up the valley. Then more faintly and further away came another call, and then another. I was delighted as I listened with my husband Basil because these were not just any weka calling, these were our weka, the North Island weka, and their progeny, bred by Forest and Bird volunteers and released on the Russell Peninsula in Northland. We had chosen to release the weka here because of growing awareness that these flightless native birds cannot survive for long in the face of introduced predators, particularly stoats, ferrets and dogs. Pest control began here in 2001 and now extends over the entire Russell Peninsula, across 3,500 hectares of pasture, regenerating kanuka, native forest and Russell township itself. It seemed a suitable

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

place for our last captive weka release and in 2002 the Department of Conservation (DOC) issued a permit for it to go ahead. Weka were released in the autumn of 2002 from a holding aviary nearby. The first weka were heard calling in this valley three weeks later. Now six pairs have been recorded in the vicinity and weka are increasing in number, spreading over the Peninsula. Best of all, families of weka have been seen with parent birds feeding clutches from tiny, fluffy black chicks to feathered adolescents. The future looks bright for North Island brown kiwi here too. Recent nightly call monitoring in the valley records kiwi calls rising from four to eight since pest control began. This reinforces more widespread monitoring which indicates that brown kiwi numbers across the peninsula have doubled since 2002. All the native wildlife seems to have benefited from the reduction of pests.

Rod Morris

Urban rail

Since pest control began, a volunteer has carried out five-minute bird counts at five stations across the peninsula. Early results are encouraging. Tui numbers have gone up dramatically, much to the delight of the human community. Grey warblers (riroriro) are more conspicuous. Both they and the silvereyes (tauhou) seem to be more numerous, but the counts are complicated by seasonal fluctuations. The secretive fernbirds (matata) are increasing, as are the North Island tomtits (miromiro). Long-time Russell residents have no memory of tomtits in the neighbourhood, but these distinctive little black-andwhite birds are now being recorded there. Kukupa, as the native pigeon is often known in Northland, are few but increasing in number. Only the fantails (piwakawaka) are bucking the trend, although their apparent decline may reflect seasonal changes and drought. I see this as a very special wildlife conservation initiative. This peninsula is not primeval New Zealand – bush-clad and empty of people. It is a patchwork of farms, lifestyle blocks and a small town. The land here is privately owned. The native forest is – well – scruffy. Most people would call it scrub. But while native species dwindle elsewhere, this community can boast that their native wildlife is on the increase. So what’s the secret? Community involvement and pest control, as far as anyone can tell. Here, the pest control work is a community initiative, not funded by Government. The money for the pest control programme came from the Kawakawa Community Board, the Pacific Conservation and Development Trust, WWF New Zealand, the Environment and Heritage Lottery Fund, and local landowners. But the pest control won’t work without an informed community, which is why the project began with meetings, talking to people and spreading information. Everybody needed to understand the reason for killing pests with poison bait. Everyone needed to support the project with their own actions. For example, dogs can pose a threat to kiwi and weka, but at Russell the community understands the need control their dogs. Russell now offers a model for other communities. It shows that sanctuaries for native species need not be restricted to far-away forests. They can be located in remnant forested gullies, in shrubland struggling to regenerate, in pasture and in gardens. Pest control is the most effective tool, when it is driven by community understanding and goodwill, encouraged by DOC. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Pest control on the Russell Peninsula

Box of birds

but the risks need to be weighed against the benefits, and the increasing numbers of moreporks, themselves predators of mice, rats and insects, suggests careful use is justified. This is also a view endorsed by prominent Forest and Bird members including Distinguished Life Member, Gordon Stephenson, based on his lengthy experience working with community pest control projects in the South Waikato, and Immediate Past President Gerry McSweeney.

Laurence Gordon, the driving force behind the project.

Two brown kiwi at home in their new pest-free habitat.

Keith Russell

Although pest control has greatly reduced the risk of predation to kiwi on their nests, even one wandering dog can pose a threat. So Bob Frater and others designed and built kiwi boxes which are dog-proof. Their dimensions replicate those of a natural tunnel and burrow of a ‘Russell kiwi.’ Despite some initial skepticism, six well-camouflaged boxes were set out and in no time, local brown kiwi had investigated them.Twelve boxes are now in place, all occupied, with fourteen more to come. Remote cameras in six boxes will soon allow kiwi activity to be monitored without disturbing the birds. The days of live kiwi watching on the internet may not be far away. Stay tuned.

As he sees it, rats are everywhere: through our towns and cities, our farms and our forests. They eat the fruits and seeds of the forest, the invertebrates, the lizards, and the eggs and chicks of little bush birds. Rats are the staple food for feral cats, stoats and ferrets. At those predators’ dinner table baby fantails and kiwi chicks may provide the dessert but rats are the entrée and the main course. Get rid of the rats and many of their predators will starve or move on. Kiwi monitoring has also recorded double the number of morepork and kiwi. This increase is particularly encouraging as brodifacoum was frequently the poison bait used. Brodifacoum is the ingredient in most rat poisons used around the house and by councils. It is considered one of the most efficient of rat poisons. Rats don’t taste it so they are less likely to become bait-shy, and brodifacoum has the useful consequence of a secondary kill. Stoats or feral cats will die if they eat sufficient quantities of poisoned and moribund rats. However, the perceived accumulation of the poison, particularly in the livers of scavenging wild pigs, led to brodifacoum being largely outlawed on DOC land. Of course, any accumulation is undesirable,

Ann Graeme

HE Russell pest control plan and its implementation are the work of Laurence Gordon. Laurence is known for his success in restoring North Island kokako in the Rangitoto forest of northern Pureora and, in 1999, he was invited to Russell to look at protecting the 100 North Island brown kiwi living there. At the narrow neck of the Peninsula volunteers built a predator-control fence to funnel any incoming pests into blind alleys stocked with traps and poison bait. Laurence surveyed the Peninsula; then he set out and maintained 1,100 poison bait stations for possums and rats, and 200 fenn traps for stoats. The consumption of bait says it all. In 2001 the possums and rats munched through 3,500 kg of bait. In 2002 only 700 kg were eaten. In 2003 it went down to 300 kg and in 2004 to 200 kg. Last year Northland Regional Council surveys found possum numbers too low to measure and rat numbers "very low." Laurence now directs his energy into the network of bait stations which he considers the most efficient, cost-effective, and least labour-intensive way to achieve results. Besides the possums, he sees rats as the root of the predator problem.

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FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Itinerant Ecologist – Geoff Park

A couple of beauties

mean? A country of water sliding through kahikatea swamps, as Whangaroa once contained? Or waterways intertwining between hills timbered tall with kauri, as it also did? Either way, "the Land with all Woods and Waters" was an ecosystem that, by 1840, was vanishing across the North. And if Reeves and Kirk were right, then great beauty vanished with it. I looked in vain for clues of it in the countryside itself. Then I saw a name, Wairakau, on an archaeological map of Pekapeka Bay. A watercourse winding between as dense a pattern of pä and kainga as I’d seen. A chance visit had me nearby with time enough time to walk over to it and coincide with the top of the tide. An hour in scenically reserved second-growth forest where kauri once towered, and I emerged beside water. Golden kowhai and old puriri overhung eddies of flowers, only the mangroves signaling it was within the sea’s sinuous reach. What was evidently once a well-inhabited place was as beautiful a meeting of land and water as I’d encountered. Whangaroa is the harbour that primed the early 19th century portrayal of New Zealand as a land of savage cannibals. Its

kauri’s "proximity to the water’s edge" was a significant enough a factor in 1809’s "Burning of the Boyd" that decades after, naval ships coming for spars arrived with military detachments. One commander, Richard Cruise, considered it "a singular and beautifully romantic place … one of the finest harbours in the world. "Entering it a few years later, and not long after "scenery" became a word for landscape as well as the theatre, one of the first missionary detachment declared Whangaroa’s scenery to be "the most Grand, Majestic, Romantic and pleasing" he’d seen. What they meant wasn’t put in the words that shaped and delineated the colonial landscape until 1913, when local settlers wrote to the Commissioner of Crown Lands to "respectfully bring before him the attraction of Okomoko [Pekapeka] Bay as a tourist resort." Pekapeka’s scenery, they said, was "second to none in New Zealand," and because it was becoming increasingly popular with overseas yachties and tourists, they urged he "secure the water-front as a scenic reserve." Maps prepared the year before for the Native Land Court didn’t reveal the near 200 pä that have been discerned around Whangaroa’s waters. But they did show a number of existing kainga, fishing camps

Geoff Park

EAUTY swept away" is how William Pember Reeves described the destruction of New Zealand’s forests in his 1908 travelogue for English tourists. That was just four years after the Scenery Preservation Act gave us a means to counter axe and fire, and nine since the botanist Thomas Kirk claimed, in his Student’s Flora, that there was "no more striking sight... than a virgin kahikatea forest." Beauty is something that is often idealised, not least in the landscape. We’ve all seen, in our mind’s eye, landscapes more beautiful than we see in reality. For some of us this might put more birds in the picture, for others more mountains or beaches. In my case, I sometimes imagine what Reeves called New Zealand’s "complete beauty" when virgin forest spreads across valleys and down to the sea. So when I was first shown a pre-Treaty of Waitangi land sale deed, it wasn’t the muskets and gunpowder that caught my eye, or the vast Whangaroa acreage bought, but the phrase, "the Land with all Woods and Waters" describing the Far North country transacted. I’ve seen dozens of sale deeds since, many naming long–gone "woods," yet none quite as evocative. What exactly did it

Whangaroa was described as "a singular and beautifully romantic place" by Richard Cruise, an early 19th century commander who visited the area.

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

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The westering sun is bursting through snow clouds over Cathedral Peaks Scenic Paradise of the World." The idealising of landscape beauty was central to the whole ‘scenic paradise’ project, and it’s a founding principle of today’s protected area system that we shouldn’t forget in this age of biodiversity. Thus when the father of scenery preservation, Percy Smith, introduced the government’s first scenic tour guide – Elsdon Best’s Waikare-Moana: The Sea of Rippling Waters – it was with the idea that "of all the New Zealand lakes, Waikaremoana stands second for beauty, Manapouri taking first place." No New Zealander, Smith’s predecessor, James McKerrow, had said, should rest content until they had seen Manapouri; "Until then, they do not know the magnificence and grandeur of the native country." Having savoured the secondto-none scenery of the singularly finest harbour, it was an exhortation to heed. A few months later, I was on my way. Part of Manapouri’s enchantment is its sudden appearance. The westering sun is bursting through snow clouds over Cathedral Peaks as I arrive, shafting onto sweeping runs of whitecaps. The sheer, elemental wildness of water, rock and forest meeting, with no regard, nor need, for us, impels the gaze, and I know

immediately why Herries Beattie called it "Majestic Manapouri". I untie the canoe, but it’s too wild for a first foray, so I walk up though autumnal beech forest to first pay homage to a rock. Had Manapouri’s water level been raised as it almost was in the 1970s, the Manapouri Saved rock would have been on the new lake’s upper beach, and you would have looked down on the drowned trees and eroding shores of the kind you see at Monowai and Hawea. Another lost horizon. Instead, you still look out to James McKerrow’s scene of "wooded islets and peninsulas … fantastic bays and coves" that with its "girdle of high mountains and waterfalls" made it such "a beauty, an inspiration, a joy to every beholder." If the lake is raised, the Save Manapouri campaigners warned – Forest and Bird among them – "scenic and natural beauty will be disregarded in the name of progress and necessity." New Zealand’s beauty has been written about from the earliest days of pakeha settlement through to our own ‘clean green’ era. Yet it took a long time for it to sink into the New Zealand imagination that it had to be defended as well as cherished. For so many New Zealanders, it was here at Manapouri, where the meeting of woods and waters was considered the most beautiful of all, that a threshold was crossed. I look beyond the rock, across the bay to the crowns of the kahikatea whose threatened drowning moved me to join the march on Parliament under the ‘Save Manapouri’ banner. Next morning, I paddle across a serene, cold lake to walk beneath them.

Geoff Park

and other named places around the bay. Its 58 Maori owners were a fraction of the population before Hongi Hika’s muskets came avenging in 1827. But still too many, the Government decided, to gather signatures from, and so Pekapeka Bay was taken for scenery under the Public Works Act. Settlements of an earlier era tower above us as we cross the harbour to the bay-head of kikuyu grass where Whangaroa’s pakeha settlers held their annual picnics. Even from there, the Okahumoko and Oparae pä dominate the scene, their layer-caked, black volcanic cliffs seemingly more Marquesan than New Zealand, gleaming like ancient monoliths above the turquoise sea. We fall asleep to kiwi conversations in the scrub beyond, and anticipation of a morning tide and a river of trees. Winding under the Wairakau’s arching pohutukawa, with not a building nor boat in sight, it’s easy to imagine you’re in country in its original state. But that view is now a lost horizon. The only sign of the Wairakau’s old-growth "woods" is a stone embankment from which its kauri were floated away, so overgrown it’s barely discernible. I’m sure tall-trees-beside-water was part of what made Whangaroa singularly beautiful to Richard Cruise. What Whangaroa’s pakeha settlers considered "second to none" in the scenic stakes, and urged preserved, was the particular coming together here of water and what Cruise called "immense rocks rising in the most fantastic shapes." Pekapeka Bay was "taken for scenic purposes" when the government projected New Zealand as "the

"... of all the New Zealand lakes, Waikaremoana stands second for beauty, Manapouri taking first place." Percy Smith, father of 19th century scenery preservation. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

in the field

A helping hand for

Native Fish

Have you seen our native freshwater fish? Do you know how special they are, how diverse their species and how ancient their lineage? Text by Ann Graeme, Green Ribbon Award, 2005. Illustrations by Tim Galloway.

ou’re sure to know about our native eels, the shortfin and the longfin, but do you know about the marathon journey they make to breed in the deepwater trench near Tonga? Their elvers return and swim up our streams to live and grow for almost a human lifetime before they too set out on their epic journey into the Pacific Ocean. (KCC magazine 79) The amazing and primitive lamprey lives in our streams, as do thirteen species of Galaxids; the inanga, kokopu and koara, whose young live in the sea and return to the streams as whitebait.

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Night is the time to see freshwater fish. Look for them in a nearby creek or drain. Shine your torch into the dark recesses of banks and logs until you spot the reflected glint of their eyes. Then you will be able to see their particular markings, the striped flanks of the banded kokopu or the golden mosaic of the giant kokopu. It’s a fine adventure on a moonlit night. And in the daytime, when you’re on the digger, or out on the farm, or building a culvert, remember our native fish. They need a helping hand.

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The pest Gambusia or mosquito fish are the weasels of the waterways, eating insects and little native fish and nipping the fins off bigger fish. It’s not wise to put Gambusia into newly-created drains or ponds. Let the native fish and insects multiply so they control any mosquitoes. Advice is available at: www.freshwater.org.nz

Where streams are shaded, the cooler water retains more oxygen and supports more insects and fish.

Native fish can climb steep slopes, provided the surface is wet. But they can’t actually leap up the water and so fall from perched culverts or drop pipes. Always build a fish passage for the main flow and use drop pipes only as back-up for floods.

Any solidly-constructed slope down which water is always flowing will allow fish to climb, provided the slope doesn’t become eroded. Most regional councils will provide designs and give advice about fish-friendly passages.

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A culvert which blocks fish migration spells doom to the fish life upstream. If you know of such a culvert, let regional council staff know about it.

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

branchingout New President and Deputy

Barry Weeber

New National Executive declared for 2005-06 The Forest and Bird National Executive for 2005-06 was declared after an election at the June council meeting of the Society in Wellington. Executive Councillors (pictured above) are: at back from left, Dr Liz Slooten (Deputy President), Donald Kerr, Dr Philip Hart, Mark Fort, Dr Barry Downs, Dr Gerry McSweeney (Immediate Past President), Keith Beautrais: in front from left, Mark Bellingham, Carole Long, Dr Peter Maddison (National President), Janet Ledingham and Anne Fenn. Absent are Stephen McPhail, who was elected Treasurer, and Jocelyn Bieleski.

here are five new members on the National Executive after an election. All but two of the full list of candidates that stood were elected. The new members are: Mark Bellingham, an environmental consultant who has been active in Forest and Bird for 35 years. As the Society’s Field Director from 1987-91 he was a leading advocate of the formation of the Department of Conservation, the drafting of the RMA, and the launching of the Society’s coastal and marine conservation programme. Mark has taught environmental planning at Auckland and Massey universities, been a director of the Environmental Defence Society, an Auckland Regional Councillor, and a member of Ministerial Advirosy Committees on Protected Area legislation and Oceans Policy. He has also had a prominent role in the Waitakere Branch’s Ark in the Park project. Janet Ledingham, a longstanding member of the Dunedin Forest and Bird Branch for many years. She has been a member of the Branch Committee since 2004, during which time she has written submissions on the high country tenure review process for the Branch. She has a keen interest in

botany, ecology and threatened species, and a passion for alpine plants. Protection of the South Island high country is a top priority for her, along with the tenure review process and the establishment of more Conservation Parks in the high country. Carole Long, who has been a Forest and Bird committee member for the past 30 years, including a Branch Councillor in the Tauranga and Te Puke Branches. She also served on the National Executive during 1985 – 1990. She is Secretary of Otanewainuku Kiwi Trust, a local community group founded by Forest and Bird in 2002 which conducts pest control operations in the Te Puke area Carole has been described as a "live wire for conservation" and was active in the campaigns to protect Whirinaki and the Kaimais in the 1980s. She sees education and advocacy as important means to deliver the Society’s conservation messages and believes Forest and Bird can be a leader in the upsurge of community groups working for conservation. Donald Kerr, who is a science lecturer at UCOL (formerly Manawatu Polytech), is Chair of the Manawatu Forest and Bird Branch, and has previously served on the National Executive. In Palmerston North he has chaired a City Council Cycle Advisory Group,

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

initiated the Turitea Mainland Island project in the city water reserve, and been Deputy Chair of a trust protecting remnant podocarp forest within the city boundaries. The issues that interest him are habitat restoration, energy, involving young people – especially students – in conservation, and empowering branch members to be active campaigners. He says he believes that if Forest and Bird’s work is visible in the community, the Society’s membership will grow. Stephen McPhail, who has a background in business and finance. His current work includes supporting Inland Revenue in its pursuit of corporate tax cheats, and training and mentoring business managers. He also has three company directorships. Along with his wife Olinka, he owns 20 acres of former farmland in the Otaki Gorge where they have planted native trees in an effort to restore the forest and bring back the native birdlife. He worked as a senior executive with Morel & Co Ltd investment bank during the 1990s until 2003, including three years as managing director. Before that he was Investment Strategy Manager for Royal Sun Alliance. He was also Peace Movement Aotearoa’s Treasurer during the early to mid 1980s.

R Peter Maddison was elected unopposed as the Society's new President at the June council meeting. Dr Maddison is the first entomologist to become President of the Society. He has been a member of the Waitakere and Central Auckland Forest and Bird Branch committees for 15 years and a member of Forest and Bird's National Executive for the last eight, serving as Deputy President since 2003. Dr Maddison has been a Waitakere City Councillor and was involved with the development of its Eco City strategy and policies. "As President I want to encourage even more New Zealanders to get involved with Forest and Bird. The educational role of the Society is another key priority, especially through Forest and Bird's very popular Kiwi Conservation Club (KCC), our magazine, Forest & Bird, and other publications," he told delegates. Dr Maddison also paid tribute to the outgoing Society President, Dr Gerry McSweeney, who has led the Society since 2001.

R Liz Slooten was elected as the Society's Deputy President, winning more votes than the only other candidate for the post, Dr Barry Wards. Dr Slooten lectures in environmental science at Otago University and is known for her research on Hector's and Maui's dolphins. She received the Royal Society's Sir Charles Fleming Medal in a joint award with her partner Dr Steve Dawson earlier this year. She is one of New Zealand's leading authorities on marine mammals. Her research interests include visual and acoustic census techniques, study of pollutant levels in marine mammals and the effects of tourism on marine mammal behaviour. Dr Slooten represents New Zealand at the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission.

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Barry Weeber

branchingout

Gary Bramley receives his "Old Blue" award from new Society President Dr Peter Maddison.

Geoff Moon OBE is declared a Distinguished Life Member by Society President Dr Peter Maddison.

"Old Blue" Awards

Distinguished Life Members

Blue" awards were "O LD made at Forest and

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WO people were declared Distinguished Life Members at the Society's annual council meeting in Wellington in June: Geoff Moon OBE: There can’t be many Forest and Bird members who don't own one of photographer Geoff Moon’s books such as his many guides to New Zealand's birdlife. Many members will also know Geoff well from the hundreds of talks he has given to Forest and Bird branches and the wider community about birds and conservation. Geoff, who recently turned 90, is a long-standing friend of Forest & Bird magazine, his

photographs gracing its pages over many years. Along with Andrew Crowe and Gordon Ell, Geoff is one of only three conservation writers to appear in the top 20 NZ writers in libraries. Over the years, Geoff has been a generous and inspirational mentor to many, including Forest and Bird Past President, Gordon Ell. His Distinguished Life Member award continues the long tradition of honouring outstanding naturalists who have popularised the values of conservation and an appreciation of wild New Zealand.

Barry Weeber

Bird's June Council meeting, recognising outstanding contributions to conservation. Those honoured were: Gary Bramley, who has conducted research on the North Island weka. Gary served on the Waikato Forest and Bird Branch Committee from 1995 until 2000 while teaching conservation biology at Waikato University. He joined the Far North Branch and became its Chair in 2001, helping to rejuvenate the Branch. Since 2003 he has been a key person in the establishment of the Puketi Forest Trust, a partnership between Forest and Bird, DOC, local Iwi and business people. Gary is currently the Society's representative on – and Chair of – the Trust. Ken Lake, who has been Treasurer of the Central Auckland Forest and Bird Branch several times over the past 30 years. Although he retired from that position last year, Ken is still a regular at Forest and Bird functions. He has also been an active campaigner for conservation, making innumerable submissions and writing letters to decision-makers, both local and national, on conservation matters. Pete Lusk, who has been active in the major environmental campaigns on the West Coast, especially the long forests campaign. His updates, field trips and media publicity are now helping the public understand the impacts of Solid Energy’s coal mining.

Pete has been an active member of the West Coast Conservation Board and campaigned for West Coast councils to protect lowland forests. His involvement in practical projects such as weed-busting and native plant regeneration in Buller reserves are helping involve the community in conservation. Murray Hosking, who has had a distinguished public service career and part of DOC’s senior management from its inception. He was appointed Deputy Director-General of DOC in 1987. He became the General Manager, Conservation Policy in 1997, and played a key role in setting the strategic directions for the new organisation. Murray retired from the Department in 1998, but since late 2001 has undertaken a range of special duties for the Department. He has served as National Marine Reserves Facilitator and has been a key figure in the establishment of the Department’s new Marine Conservation Unit. Betty Normanton, who is a foundation member of the Te Puke Forest and Bird Branch Committee and is described by her colleagues as the "heart and soul" of the Branch. Her enthusiasm extends to restoration as well as propagation of native trees at the Rotoehu village site which owes its existence to Betty’s dedication. She is a tireless advocate for Forest and Bird and the Te Puke Branch site at the local A&P show is always popular because of Betty’s knowledge of plants and the trees she has grown for sale.

Lesley Shand is declared a Distinguished Life Member by Immediate Past President Dr Gerry McSweeney.

Lesley Shand: Lesley has been a long-time committee member of North Canterbury Forest and Bird Branch and a passionate advocate for conservation for more than 20 years. During that time she has mentored many young conservationists (and some not so young) into Forest and Bird and the defence of New Zealand's wild places. Her annual "kiwi listening surveys" in the Hurunui and Lake Sumner area, and

frequent field trips, have introduced many more to the special places of Canterbury and the Maruia Valley. Lesley has a strong sense of place and is a vigorous advocate for the Lewis Pass Scenic Reserve and surrounding areas, including Lake Sumner, Loch Katrine and Hurunui Valley. She is also a past member of North Canterbury Conservation Board and continues to be an active watchdog on the Board.

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society

CONSERVATION CALENDAR 2006

NEW ZEALAND CONSERVATION DIARY 2006 F E B R U A RY 2 0 0 6

JANUARY 2 0 0 6

M ARC H 2 0 0 6

M T W T F S S 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

M T W T F S S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Waitangi Day

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Stunning photos of New Zealand’s native ﬂora and fauna taken by some of New Zealand’s leading nature photographers. Envelope supplied; weight less than 200 gms for economical posting.

$14.99

includes post and packaging

This beautifully produced diary includes photographs of New Zealand landscapes, plants and wildlife. It includes ‘week to view’ pages and is spiral bound so it will lie ﬂat when open.

$24.99

includes post and packaging

Both calendar and diary are available now. Send orders with cheque and delivery details to: Upper Hutt Branch, Forest and Bird, PO Box 40875, Upper Hutt. Phone Pam Hurly 04 528 5461 Email: hurlys@paradise.net.nz To order by credit card, refer to the Forest and Bird website: www.forestandbird.org.nz

Bush & Beyond Guided Trekking

Kahurangi National Park Heaphy Track & Many more. Ask about the Cobb Comfort and West Coast Escape – Multi-day trips with daypack only!

www.naturetreks.co.nz 35 School Rd, RD3 Motueka, New Zealand Tel/Fax +64 3 528 9054 email: Bushandbeyond@xtra.co.nz

We emphasis conservation values Clients only expected to carry their personal gear

south east asia

Goose Farm Cottage

Thailand Laos Vietnam Cambodia

Delightful self-contained cottage available for nightly rent in the Karangahake Gorge (between Waihi and Paeroa). The Ohinemuri and Waitawheta Rivers are close by for fishing, lovely walks and great cafes for wanderers. For further information call Jill and Rick on 07 863 7944 or email: goosefarm@xtra.co.nz

Gecko Trails Insightful

small group adventures. Diverse cultures, enchanting people, stunning landscapes & unique experiences.

Please contact us for a brochure 03 546 7667 info@geckotrails.co.nz

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Miranda

Shorebird Centre Courses and Workshops Residential Field Course

15 – 19 January 2006 Bird ID. data recording, bird banding, migration, insects, mudflat survey, botany, choosing optics and more

Shorebird ID Workshop 19 – 20 November 2005 Learn to identify shorebirds

Protecting NZ Dotterel

7-8 September 2005 Further details contact: Miranda Shorebird Centre RD3 Pokeno 09 2322781 shorebird@xtra.co.nz www.miranda-shorebird.org.nz

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Fiordland Ecology Holidays 65ft Motor Yacht Breaksea Girl 3 to 7 day trips in Fiordland. Dolphins, seals and penguins, forest ecology, natural history combined with great food and company. Small groups so bookings essential. Forest & Bird members 5% discount. Suitable for all ages. Spring and Summer schedule now out. PH/FAX: 03 249 6600 FREEPHONE 0800 249 660 PO Box 40, MANAPOURI EMAIL info@fiordland.gen.nz www.fiordland.gen.nz

WINNER 1999

"Specialist Nature tours"

Australia

Offers nature lovers some of the last remote, diverse and spectacular wilderness areas left in the world. Let our professional naturalist guides share their love for nature with you. Experience the natural history highlights of Western Australia, Northern Queensland plus Lord Howe, Kangaroo and Christmas Islands. In 2005 we also explore the highly desired natural history destinations of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuadorian Jungle and Sri Lanka. For your 2005 brochure & tour details contact: E-MAIL: coates@iinet.net.au WEBSITE: www.coateswildlifetours.com.au TEL: (61 8) 9455 6611 FAX: (61 8) 9455 6621 P.O. Box 64, Bullcreek, W.A. 6149

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BIORESEARCHES

Albatross Encounter

CONSULTING BIOLOGISTS AND ARCHAEOLOGISTS ESTABLISHED 1972

KAIKOURA

Environmental Impact Studies Surveys of Marine, Freshwater & Terrestrial Habitats Pollution Investigations Resource Consent procedures Archaeological; Historic Places Appraisal

Pelagic tours by boat to view at close range an exciting number of sea birds including albatross, petrels, shearwaters and more. Tours daily at 9.00am and 1.00pm (duration 2.5 hours, 4 hour tours by arrangement)

bioresearches@bioresearches.co.nz www.bioresearches.co.nz P.O Box 2828 Auckland PH: AUCKLAND 379 9417 Fax (09) 307 6409

Phone 0800 733 365 for information and reservations Adults $75.00

Explore the wonders of Peru

Children $35.00 Website with latest sightings at www.oceanwings.co.nz

Small group – 19 days ex Auckland 2 departures in 2006: 6 May or 9 Sept

Email info@oceanwings.co.nz

Incas & Amazon CALL FREE 0800 528 465

For your free copy of our 2006 brochure Latin Link Adventure NZ’s Leading South American Specialists Email: marg@latinlink.co.nz

A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT An illustrated guide to 97 scenic walks in the South Island, with an emphasis on accessibility.

Banks Peninsula Track

$25.95 plus $4 postage

CONTACT:

anna-j@ihug.co.nz Fax: 03 466 7694 40 Pacific St,Dunedin www.accessiblewalks.co.nz

Sri Lanka

Known and enjoyed by thousands since 1989! Starts and finishes in charming Akaroa. Special feature during November and December is the guided viewing of white-flippered penguin colony Booking Office now open. Ph/Fax 03 304 7612 at Flea Bay. Email:bankstrack@xtra.co.nz • www.bankstrack.co.nz

OKARITO COTTAGE Well appointed cottage. Sleeps 3 but room for more in the attic. Close to West Coast beach, bush walks and lagoon. Southern Alps form a backdrop and Franz Josef approx. 30 kilometres on tarsealed road.

Cost $60 PER FAMILY Extra Adults $5.00 per night

Further enquiries contact Elspeth Scott, 19 Ngamotu Rd, Taupo 07-378-9390 email: ElspethScott@xtra.co.nz

PHILPROOF PEST CONTROL PRODUCTS WIPEOUT: Possums, Rodents, Mustelids, Rabbits Standard & Mini Philproof Bait Stations & Timms Traps Rodent Bait Stations and Block Baits. Rodent Snap Traps Fenn Traps (MK4 & 6), Trap Covers – Double or Single Also available: Monitoring Tunnels & Bird Nesting Chambers Phone/Fax 07 859 2943 Mobile 021 270 5896 PO Box 4385, Hamilton 2032 Website: http://get.to/philproof Email: philproof.feeders@clear.net.nz

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Explore the natural and cultural treasures with Kiwi Wildlife Tours – March 2006

Contact Karen Baird, Chris Gaskin PO Box 88 Orewa, Auckland Ph 09 422 2115 Fax 09 422 2358 info@kiwiwildlife.com www.kiwiwildlife.com

A Case Study of the Harassment of Environmentalists on the West Coast of NZ Available from: B Stuart-Menteath, PO Box 1268, Christchurch b.menteath@inet.net.nz Preview at:

http://users.snap.net.nz/~ b.menteath

RON GREENWOOD ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST The trust provides financial support for projects advancing the conservation and protection of New Zealand's natural resources, particularly flora and fauna, marine life, geology, atmosphere & waters. More information is available from the Trust, at: PO Box 10-359, Wellington

Ditrac DITRAC All-Weather BLOX is an extruded rat and mouse bait that gets excellent control indoors and out. Its active ingredient, Diphacinone, makes DITRAC an excellent maintenance bait. DITRAC contains the optimal blend of low wax and human food-grade ingredients for high weatherability and bait acceptance. • Multiple edges appeal to rodents desire to gnaw. • Highly weatherable, mold & moisture resistant. • Center hole allows Blox to be easily secured into bait stations or onto nails & wire. • Available as a 28g blox, packaged in 1.8kg & 8.2kg pails. • Used extensively by Government agencies.

Freephone: 0800 111 466•Web: www.nopests.co.nz FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

Join, renew or make a regular donation by Direct Debit Please fill out this form and the one opposite. Once completed please detach this form, fold it in four and post inside the self- assembled Freepost envelope opposite.

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FOREST BIRD

FOREST BIRD Membership

Join Forest and Bird and you will receive Forest & Bird magazine four times a year plus our campaign update Conservation News. You will have free entry to Forest and Bird’s reserves at Pauatahanui, Te Rere and elsewhere around the country and discounted entry to the Society’s lodges at Ruapehu, Piha and other scenic locations. You can also take part in conservation projects and enjoy talks and field trips through our 52 branches around the country, listed in the branch directory over the page.

Gift Membership To give a gift membership simply fill out the form below and send it in with your payment.

Kiwi Conservation Club Membership Join the Kiwi Conservation Club (KCC), our club for children, and you will receive five copies of the KCC magazine a year, a membership certificate, KCC stickers and notice of activities closest to you from one of our volunteer coordinators.

Join online at: www.forestandbird.org.nz Freephone: 0800 200 064

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Forest and Bird Memberships (Prices include GST) Family (# in family ____) $52

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KCC single $12

KCC family (# of children ____) $20

See www.forestandbird.org.nz for further categories

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FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

FOREST BIRD

Forest and Bird is New Zealand's leading independent conservation organisation

Join online: www.forestandbird.org.nz

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Freephone 0800 200 064

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branchdirectory Upper North Island Central Auckland: Acting Chair, Anne Fenn; Secretary, Isabel Still, PO Box 1118, Shortland St, Auckland. Tel: (09) 528-3986. Far North: Chair, Gary Bramley; Secretary. Michael Winch, PO Box 270, Kaeo, Northland. Tel: (09) 405-1746. Franklin: Chair & Secretary, Keith Gardner, 5 Stembridge Ave, Pukekohe. Tel: (09) 238-9928. Great Barrier Island: Secretary, Jenny Lloyd, 165 Shoal Bay Rd, RD1, Gt Barrier Is. Tel: (09) 429-0404. Hauraki Islands: Chair, Petra White; Secretary; Simon Griffiths, PO Box 314, Ostend, Waiheke Island. Tel: (09)‑372-9583. Hibiscus Coast: Chair, Spencer Drinkwater; Secretary, Carrie Drinkwater, P O Box 310, Orewa. Tel: (09) 427-5517. Kaipara: Chair, Suzi Phillips; Secretary, Maire Thompson, Private Bag 1, Helensville 1250. Tel: (09) 411-5494. Mid North: Chair, Warwick Massey; Secretary, Raewyn Morrison, PO Box 552, Warkworth 1241. Tel: (09) (09) 422 9123. Northern: Chair, vacant; Secretary, Beverly Woods, PO Box 1375, Whangarei. Tel: (09) 436-0932. North Shore: Chair, Neil Sutherland; Secretary, Jocelyn Sanders, PO Box 33 873, Takapuna, North Shore City. Tel: (09) 479-2107. South Auckland: Chair, to be confirmed; Secretary, Ken Rutherford, PO Box 23 602, Papatoetoe. Tel: (09) 537-2093. Thames/Hauraki: Chair, Mrs Hazel Genner; Secretary, Marcia Sowman, 507 The Terrace, Thames. Tel: (07) 868-8696. Mercury Bay Section: Chair, Bruce Mackereth; Secretary, Mona Candy, PO Box 205, Whitianga 2856. Tel: (07) 866-4648.

Upper Coromandel: Chair, Tina Morgan; Secretary, Lettecia Williams, PO Box 108 Coromandel. Tel: (07) 866-6926. Waitakere: Chair, Peter Maddison; Secretary, Ken Catt, PO Box 45144, Te Atatu Peninsula, Waitakere. Tel: (09) 834-6214.

Central North Island Eastern Bay of Plenty: Chair, Arthur Sandom; Secretary, Sandee Malloch, c/- 260 Ohiwa Harbour Rd, RD2, Opotiki 3092. Tel: (07) 315-4989. Gisborne: Chair, to be confirmed; Secretary, Grant Vincent, 1 Dominey Street, Gisborne, Tel: (06) 868-8236. King Country: Secretary, Steve Poelman, 37 Rangaroa Road, Taumarunui. Tel: (07) 896-7557. Rotorua: Chair, Chris Ecroyd; Secretary, Herb Madgwick, 36 Selwyn Rd, Rotorua. Tel: (07) 345-6255. South Waikato: Chair, Anne Groos; Secretary, Jack Groos, 37 Waianiwa Place, Tokoroa. Tel: (07) 886-7456. Taupo: Chair, to be confirmed; Secretary, Betty Windley, PO Box 1105 Taupo, Tel: (07) 377-1186. Tauranga: Chair, Basil Graeme; Secretary, Cynthia Carter, PO Box 487, Tauranga. Tel: (07) 571 1455. Te Puke: Chair, Neale Blaymires; Secretary, Colin Horn, PO Box 237, Te Puke. Waihi: Chair, Ian Bradshaw; Secretary, Krishna Buckman, 17 Reservoir Road, Waihi. Tel: (07) 863-8455. Waikato: Chair, Dr Philip Hart; Secretary, Jim MacDiarmid, PO Box 11-092, Hillcrest, Hamilton, Tel: (07) 849-3438. Wairoa: Chair, Stanley Richardson; Secretary, Glenys Single, 72 Kopu Rd, Wairoa 4192. Tel: (06) 838-8232.

Lower North Island Central Hawke's Bay: Chair, Phil Enticott; Secretary, Max Chatfield, PO Box 189, Waipukurau. Tel: (06) 858-9298. Hastings/Havelock North: Chair, Peter Collins; Secretary, Doreen Hall, Flat 1, 805 Kennedy Rd, Hastings. Tel: (06) 876-5978. Horowhenua: Chair, Robert Hirschberg; Secretary, Joan Leckie, Makahika Rd, RD 1, Levin 5500. Tel: (06) 368-1277. Kapiti: Chair, David Gregorie; Secretary, John McLachlan, 78 Langdale Ave, Paraparaumu. Tel: (04) 904-0027. Lower Hutt: Chair, Stan Butcher; Secretary; Bill Watters, PO Box 31194, Lower Hutt, Tel: (04) 565-0638. Manawatu: Chair, Donald Kerr; Secretary, Brent Barrett, PO Box 961, Palmerston Nth, 5301. (06) 357-6962. Napier: Chair, Isabel Morgan; Secretary, Margaret Gwynn, 23 Clyde Rd, Napier. Tel: (06) 835 2122. North Taranaki: Chair, Molly Molloy; Secretary, Murray Duke, 28 Hurford Rd, RD4, New Plymouth 4621. Tel: (06) 751 2759. Rangitikei: Chair, Kit Coleman; Secretary, Betty Graham, 41‑Tutaenui Rd, Marton. Tel: (06) 327-7008. South Taranaki: Chair, Rex Hartley; Secretary, Lynda Sutherland, 39 High St, Eltham 4657. Tel: (06) 764-7479. Upper Hutt: Chair, Barry Wards; Secretary, to be conformed, P O Box 40-875, Upper Hutt. Tel: (04) 971-9739. Wairarapa: Chair, Geoff Doring; Secretary, c/- Mike Lynch, 179 West St, Greytown. Tel: (06) 304-7222. Wanganui: Chair, Stephen Sammons; Secretary, Ray Hutchison, PO Box 4229, Wanganui. Tel: (06) 345-2651. Wellington: Chair, Gordon Purdie; Secretary, Louise Taylor, PO Box 4183, Wellington. Tel: (04) 971-1770.

South Island Ashburton: Chair, Bill Hood; Secretary, Edith Smith, PO Box 460, Ashburton, Tel: (03) 308-4440. Dunedin: Chair, Jane Marshall; Secretary, Mark Hanger, PO Box 5793, Dunedin. Tel: (03) 489-8444. Golden Bay: Chair, Jenny Treloar; Secretary, Jo-Anne Vaughan, Puponga Rd, Ferntown, RD1, Collingwood 7171. Tel: (03) 524-8072. Kaikoura: Chair, Linda Kitchingham; Secretary, Barry Dunnett, Pooles Rd RD1, Kaikoura. Tel: (03) 319-5086. Marlborough: Chair, Andrew John; Secretary, Michael Harvey, PO Box 896, Blenheim. Tel: (03) 577-6086. Nelson/Tasman: Chair, Dr Peter Ballance; Secretary, Gillian Pollock, Dawson Rd, RD1, Upper Moutere 7152. Tel: (03) 540-3495. North Canterbury: Chair, Bruce StuartMenteath; Secretary, Maria StokerFarrell, 12 James Drive, Church Bay, RD1, Lyttelton 8012. Tel: (03) 309 4333. South Canterbury: Chair, John Talbot; Secretary, Thelma Boyce, 30 Birkett St, Temuka, South Canterbury 8752. Tel: (03) 615-8234. Southland: Chair, Craig Carson; Secretary, Barbara Boyde, P O Box 1155, Invercargill. Tel: (03) 216-0353. South Otago: Chair, Carol Botting; Secretary, Verna Gardner, Romahapa Rd, Balclutha. Tel: (03) 418-1819. Upper Clutha: Chair, Barbara Chinn; Secretary, Errol Carr, PO Box 38, Lake Hawea, Central Otago 9192. Tel: (03) 443-8669. Waitaki: Chair, Ross Babington; Secretary, Annette Officer, 21 Arrow Crescent, Oamaru. Tel: (03) 434-6107. West Coast: Secretary/Treasurer, Carolyn Cox, PO Box 415, Westport. Tel: (03) 789-5334.

fax: (04) 385-7373. Email: office@forestandbird.org.nz

or 10 mins from Days Bay. Ideal place to relax in beautiful surroundings, with accommodation for 8. Bring your own food and bedding and a torch. Smoking is banned everywhere on the island, including the house. For information sheet, send stamped addressed envelope to: Accommodation Officer, PO Box 31-194, Lower Hutt. (04) 567-1686.

lodgeaccommodation Arethusa Cottage An ideal place from which to explore the Far North. Near Pukenui in wetland reserve. 6 bunks, fully equipped kitchen, separate bathroom outside. For information and bookings, contact: John Dawn, Doves Bay Road, RD1, Kerikeri. Tel: (09) 407-8658, fax: (09) 407-1401. Tai Haruru Lodge, Piha, West Auckland A seaside haven set in a large sheltered garden on the rugged West Coast, 38km on sealed roads from central Auckland. Close to store, bush reserves and tracks in the beautiful Waitakere Ranges. Double bedroom and 3 singles, plus large lounge with open fireplace, dining area and kitchen. The self-contained unit has 4 single beds. Bring food, linen and fuel for fire and BBQ. Booking officer: Patrticia Thompson, 78 Neil Avenue, Te Atatu Peninsula, Waitakere City. Tel. (09) 834-7745.

Waiheke Island Cottage Located next to our 49ha Wildlife Reserve, 10 mins walk to Onetangi Beach, general stores etc. Sleeps up to 8 in two bedrooms. Lounge, wellequipped kitchen, separate toilet, bathroom, shower, laundry. Pillows, blankets provided. No pets. Ferries 35 minutes from Auckland. Enquiries with stamped addressed envelope to: Robin Griffiths, 125 The Strand, Onetangi, Waiheke Island. Tel: (09) 372-7662. Ruapehu Lodge, Tongariro National Park Situated 600 metres from Whakapapa Village, at the foot of Mount Ruapehu, this lodge is available for members and their friends. It may also be hired out to other compatible groups by special arrangement. It is an ideal base for tramping, skiing, botanising or visiting the hotpools at Tokaanu. The lodge holds 32 people in four bunkrooms and provides all facilities except food and bedding. Bookings and inquiries to Forest and Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington. Tel: (04) 385-7374,

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William Hartree Memorial Lodge, Hawkes Bay Situated 48km from Napier, 8km past Patoka on the Puketitiri Rd (sealed). The lodge is set amid a 14ha scenic reserve and close to many walks, eg: Kaweka Range, Balls Clearing, hot springs and museum. The lodge accommodates up to 15 people. It has a fully equipped kitchen including stove, refrigerator and microwave plus tile fire, hot showers. Supply your own linen, sleeping bags etc. For information and bookings please send a stamped addressed envelope to Pam and John Wuts, 15 Durham Ave, Tamatea, Napier. (06) 844-4751 Email: wutsie@xtra.co.nz Matiu/Somes Island, Wellington Harbour Joint venture accommodation by Lower Hutt Forest and Bird with DOC. A modern family home with kitchen, 3 bedrooms, large lounge and dining room, just 20 mins sailing by ferry from the centre of Wellington

Tautuku Lodge State Highway 92, Southeast Otago. Situated on Forest and Bird's 550ha Lenz Reserve 32km south of Owaka. A bush setting, and many lovely beaches nearby provide a wonderful base for exploring the Catlins. The lodge, the Coutts cabin and an Aframe sleep 10, 4 and 2 respectively. No Animals. For information and rates please send a stamped addressed envelope to the caretaker: Diana Noonan, Mirren St, Papatowai, Owaka, RD2. Tel: (03) 415-8024, fax (03) 415-8244. Email: diana.n@clear. net.nz

FOREST & BIRD • AUGUST 2005

FOREST & BIRD â&#x20AC;¢ AUGUST 2005

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