Forest & Bird Magazine 320 May 2006 by Forest & Bird

FOREST BIRD N u m b e r 3 2 0 • M AY 2 0 0 6

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Save Our Sealions • Subantarctic Islands • Alpine Geckos New Zealand Fairy Terns • Great White Sharks • Ulva Island

SAVE OUR SEALIONS

Tui De Roy/Roving Tortoise Photos

New Zealand sealion pups, Auckland Islands

Dear Member Our native sealion pups need your urgent help. These vulnerable youngsters will die of starvation if their mothers are among the 150 sealions set to drown in squid trawl nets around the Auckland Islands this season. Each female sealion killed in a squid trawl net further threatens this vulnerable species. The population is estimated to be at its second lowest in ten years and last season’s pup production was down on the previous two years. Two thousand sealions have drowned in squid nets since 1980 causing an estimated 1,000 pups to die of starvation, unable to survive without their mothers to feed them. This high death toll is a continuing concern for the survival of

the species. The New Zealand sealion is now the most threatened of the world’s five sealion species according to the global ‘Red List’ of species that face extinction. More than 1,200 Forest & Bird members and supporters recently wrote to Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton urging him not to approve a mid-season increase in the annual sealion ‘kill quota’. Only a handful of submissions supported such a move. Unfortunately, he approved a 55% increase from 97 to 150. With dozens more sealions set to drown in squid trawl nets this season we urgently need your support to help Save Our Sealions. Please support Forest & Bird’s appeal. Thank you for your generous donation.

Dr Peter Maddison Forest & Bird National President

Your donation will enable Forest & Bird to

Conservation Successes Forest & Bird has helped achieve

Campaign for the sealion ‘kill quota’ to be reduced closer to zero and encourage the fishing industry to switch to jigging, a safer squid fishing method previously used in this fishery.

• Horoirangi Marine Reserve established near Nelson

Advocate for the species in relation to the NZ sealion population management plan that DOC is developing.

• North-West Wildlink Accord signed in Auckland

Undertake research to identify sealion ‘hot spots’ in NZ waters where marine protected areas will help Save Our Sealions.

• Reductions in snapper and southern blue whiting quotas

• Robin breeding success at Ark in the Park in the Waitakere Ranges

• Defended the Gowan River from a hydro-electricity proposal

You can make your donation: Online at www.forestandbird.org.nz

Rod Morris

Freepost using the envelope included in our recent appeal

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Freephone 0800 200 064 weekdays during office hours Using the tear-out freepost envelope device on page 53. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

FOREST BIRD N umber 320 • MAY 2006 • www.forestandbird.org.nz

Features

16 Riders on the storm New Zealand meets Antarctica in the Southern Ocean. by Michael Szabo

22 Small is beautiful New Zealand’s smallest and rarest terns. by Rex Williams

24 A shark’s tale Tigers of the Seas. by Mark Bellingham

26 Geckos with altitude Meet the new alpine geckos. by Dave Hansford

30 One good turn Restoring coastal birds at Tern Island. by Meg Collins

49 Annual Report 2006

Forest & Bird incorporating Conservation News is published every February, May, August and November by the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society Inc. The Society's objectives are to preserve and protect the indigenous flora and fauna and natural features and landscapes of New Zealand for their intrinsic worth and for the benefit of all people. Forest & Bird is a member of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the New Zealand Partner 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. Editor: Michael Szabo Deputy Editor: Helen Bain PO Box 631, Wellington. Tel: (04) 385-7374 Fax: (04) 385-7373 m.szabo@forestandbird.org.nz h.bain@forestandbird.org.nz Contributing Writer: Shelly Biswell 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

Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. General Manager: Mike Britton Communications Manager: Michael Szabo North Island Field Coordinator: David Pattemore South Island Field Coordinator: Eugenie Sage Advocacy Manager: Kevin Hackwell Services Manager: Julie Watson Central Office: 90 Ghuznee 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 Auckland Office: PO Box 67 123, Mt Eden, Auckland. Tel: (09) 631 7142 Fax: (09) 631 7149 Email: d.pattemore@forestandbird.org.nz Christchurch Office: PO Box 2516, Christchurch. Tel: (03) 366 6317 Fax: (03) 365 0788 Email: e.sage@forestandbird.org.nz KCC Coordinator: Ann Graeme 53 Princess Rd, Tauranga Tel: (07) 576-5593 Fax (07) 576-5109 Email: basilann@nettel.net.nz

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Regulars 2 Comment

A Year of Achievement by Dr Peter Maddison

3 Conservation Briefs Sealions; Volvo Ocean Race; Parakeets; Balleny Islands; Robins; Wildlink Accord; NZ Falcons; Blue Ducks; Shearwaters; Fairy Prions; Horoirangi Marine Reserve; Chatham plants; Campbell Island Snipe; Weta; Frogs; Takahe; Kiwi; Maungatautari; Mt Cook; Matata; Penguins; Kakapo; Pygmy Sperm Whales; Doubtful sounds; Kokako; Stitchbird; Brown Teal.

32 Going Places Ulva Island Open Sanctuary and Marine Reserve by Michael Szabo

36 Itinerant Ecologist MacIntyre’s River by Geoff Park

38 In the Field Weedbusters by Ann Graeme and Tim Galloway

40 Branching Out Queen’s Service Medals; Seaweek; New Staff; Farewell to the Birds; KCC Coordinators gather.

43 Product review Trinovids put through their paces

44 Bulletin Ruapehu Lodge; Appreciations

45 Conservation News Sealions; Wairau River; Whangamata; Snails; High Country; Tuatara; Marine Protection; Sharks; Sustainable Water Plan of Action. COVER: New Zealand sealion pups on Enderby Island in the Auckland Islands. See page 3. PHOTOGRAPH: TUI DE ROY/ROVING TORTOISE PHOTOS F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

Comment A Year of Achievement

OOKING back over the last year, it is heart-warming to reflect on the many achievements for nature conservation highlighted in this year’s annual report. 2005 got off to an auspicious start with the visit of Prince Charles to Taiaroa Head royal albatross colony, where he made a heartfelt speech on the plight of the world’s albatrosses. It ended well with the skippers of the six Volvo Ocean Race teams pledging their support to Forest & Bird’s Save the Albatross campaign in Wellington. These achievements framed a year of successes of which Forest & Bird can be proud. Branch efforts to Restore the Dawn Chorus were rewarded in a number of ways during the year. After an absence of more than 100 years North Island robins were returned to the Waitakere Ranges in April, with 53 birds transferred to the Ark in the Park. By October dozens of chicks had fledged. The predator-proof fence at Bushy Park near Wanganui was “opened” by Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright in August, improving survival chances of robins transferred there. Forest & Bird’s efforts have helped restore kokako at Tiritiri Matangi Island and Boundary Stream, where nine chicks were hatched over summer. Kiwi, blue duck (whio) and kakariki all had successful breeding programmes assisted by Forest & Bird members. Forest & Bird signed the North-West Wildlink Accord in Auckland in February, a groundbreaking new regional initiative to provide more natural habitat for native species and increase community participation in conservation. Our High Country Six Pack of Parks campaign with Federated Mountain Clubs was launched in June, and the Society celebrated the creation of the 65,000 hectare Eyre Mountains/Taka Ra Haka Conservation Park in Southland and the

opening of the 49,000 hectare Ahuriri Conservation Park in the South Island High Country. Protection for marine species was also secured in several locations around the country. The Government opened Te Matuku Marine Reserve at Waiheke Island in August and Horoirangi near Nelson in February. It approved three more marine reserves: Whangarei Harbour, Volkner Rocks in the Bay of Plenty and Parininihi in North Taranaki. During the year Forest & Bird continued its long-term advocacy for our unique marine mammals – New Zealand sealions and Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins. Forest & Bird, through its membership of BirdLife International, promoted the creation of the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, which came into force in November. The Society also successfully fought a number of battles that will bring increased protection for New Zealand’s endangered plants, wildlife and habitats. We helped successfully defend the Gowan River from a hydroelectric proposal and continued the campaign to protect the Wairau River in Marlborough. The Horowhenua Branch’s advocacy secured formal listing of the Manawatu Estuary under the prestigious Ramsar Convention, while the Kaipara Branch successfully opposed a large-scale oyster farm proposal in the South Kaipara Harbour. Forest & Bird fought in the High Court to save the habitat of the giant carnivorous Powelliphanta “Augustus” land snail from being mined by Solid Energy on the West Coast. While the Conservation and Associate Energy Ministers allowed mining to go ahead, better conditions to improve the snails’ chances of survival were set. We played a leading role in the campaign to defend the Resource Management Act (RMA) with most,

though not all, of the changes we opposed being moderated. Forest & Bird and DOC also succeeded in protecting wetlands on the South Island West Coast, winning an Environment Court appeal against the regional council’s decision to withdraw almost all provisions from its regional plan protecting wetlands. With a refocusing of the structure of the Society in February, Forest & Bird is now well-positioned to advocate even more effectively for the protection of our most vulnerable native species and habitats. There were, of course, some disappointments. After initially reducing the permitted bycatch of New Zealand sealions in the southern squid fishery by 20% in December, the Minister of Fisheries has since allowed a 55% midseason increase, despite the lack of any scientific data to support the decision. Forest & Bird is determined to keep campaigning for the adoption of squid fishing methods that avoid killing the world’s most threatened species of sealion over the coming year. With your long-term support I’m confident we will do so. I recently wrote to all members to ask for contributions to the Save Our Sealions appeal. I would ask those of you that have not already done so to contribute as much as you are able to help Forest & Bird win this vital campaign. Dr Peter Maddison National President

Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc. (Founded 1923) Registered Office at 90 Ghuznee 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 QSM, 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 QSM, Prof. Alan Mark DCNZM CBE, Dr Gerry McSweeney QSO, Geoff Moon OBE, Prof. John Morton QSO, Margaret Peace QSM, Guy Salmon, Lesley Shands MNZM, Gordon Stephenson CNZM, David Underwood. 2 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

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conservationbriefs

New Zealand sealion ‘kill quota’ unscientific

Tui De Roy/Roving Tortoise Photos

ATEST New Zealand sealion (kekeno) population estimates are the second lowest in ten years with last season’s pup production down 15% on the previous two years, according to results of surveys conducted over summer. These results and the absence of new data to support Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton’s April announcement of a 55% midseason increase in the allowable number of sealions killed by the southern squid fishery, highlight the unscientific nature of his decision. Forest & Bird has been campaigning for the adoption

of squid fishing methods that do not kill the world’s most threatened sealion species and will redouble efforts to persuade the minister to reduce the number the southern squid fishery is allowed to kill closer to zero when he sets it for 2007 later this year. The sealion death toll could be cut to near zero by applying alternative fishing methods such as jigging with bright lights, rather than trawl nets. To support the campaign please donate to our appeal: www.forestandbird.org.nz

Tui De Roy/Roving Tortoise Photos

Dozens of New Zealand sealion pups, such as these at Enderby Island, starve each year when their mothers drown in the southern squid fishery.

Help Our Sealions

Get a Life www.forestandbird.org.nz

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F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

L-R: ABN AMRO ONE skipper Mike Sanderson, Conservation Minister Chris Carter and Forest & Bird General Manager Mike Britton with the Save the Albatross pledge card at Queen’s Wharf, Wellington.

Yacht race teams support Save the Albatross campaign

HE skippers of the world's premier ocean yacht racing teams pledged their support for Forest & Bird’s Save the Albatross campaign at a ceremony hosted by Conservation Minister Chris Carter in Wellington in February. “The efforts of the Volvo Ocean Race teams to promote awareness of the plight of albatross around the world is enormously important and should be celebrated by New Zealanders,” Chris Carter told spectators at Queen’s Wharf. “We are lucky enough to live in the albatross capital of the world, but our albatross visit many countries and cross many borders, and they are vulnerable in all of them. Poor fishing practices in one nation can have a profound effect on albatross numbers in another nation. Because of this, the survival of the albatross lies in the hands of the whole international community. The Volvo Ocean Race is a terrific way of emphasising the responsibility we all share to preserve these remarkable birds.” Forest & Bird General Manager Mike Britton, who joined the minister in welcoming the teams, said the support of the Volvo Ocean Race teams was vital to helping secure the future of the world’s great albatrosses. “Each team will be a beacon of hope as they race their way across

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

the Southern Ocean towards Brazil,” he said. Mike Sanderson, skipper of ABN AMRO ONE, spoke of his encounters with albatrosses: “As a sailor it’s great to see albatrosses while you’re out in the middle of nowhere. It can get pretty lonely when you’re at sea for weeks on end, so seeing these awesome birds is a great sight for us.” “I remember seeing a lot of albatrosses in the Southern Ocean when I first started round-the-world sailing, but now they’ve become much rarer. For me it’s a fantastic feeling to be back in New Zealand, leading the Volvo Ocean Race; it would be great if New Zealand became a world leader in albatross conservation,” he said.

The six skippers signed a large Save the Albatross campaign pledge card which Forest & Bird plans to deliver to diplomatic representatives of Taiwan, Japan, Brazil, Australia, South Africa, Spain, Chile and Argentina in New Zealand. These countries either have important longlining fleets or are albatross range states, and will be encouraged to adopt the use of seabird bycatch mitigation measures by their fisheries operations. Countries that have not done so already will also be asked to sign the Agreement for the Conservation of Albatross and Petrels (ACAP). “It is appropriate that the race teams are in New Zealand because more species of albatross breed here than any other country – 11 species out of 21. This is why seabird scientists refer to New Zealand as the albatross capital of the world,” Mike Britton said. “Some albatross species have declined by as much as 90% over 60 years, mostly due to longline fishing. Extinctions will occur unless there are reforms to fisheries practices in New Zealand and around the world. More than 10,000

albatrosses and petrels are killed annually in New Zealand waters. 300,000 are estimated to be killed worldwide every year.” Efforts by fishing boats operating in New Zealand waters show that by adopting simple techniques it is possible to reduce seabird by catch to very low levels. “For example, chartered Japanese tuna boats operating in New Zealand waters are required to do so and have reduced seabird by catch in New Zealand waters from 4,000 seabirds per year to well under 50 individual birds. The techniques used were not rocket science. They involved some simple techniques and careful management”, he said. Forest & Bird also praised the Government for taking steps to improve the situation at home and promoting the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) overseas. “Forest & Bird welcomes the Government’s new rules requiring seabird bycatch mitigation measures in all longline fisheries. We look forward to seeing more progress made in reducing seabird bycatch through limiting the discharge of offal at sea,” Mike Britton said. The skippers were (L-R) Torben Grael of Brasil 1, Mike Sanderson of ABN AMRO ONE, Bouwe Bekking of movistar, Paul Cayard of Pirates of the Caribbean, Sebastien Josse of ABN AMRO TWO, and Neal McDonald of Ericsson. Mike Britton speaking, Chris Carter at right.

Dave Hansford © ORIGIN NATURAL HISTORY

conservationbriefs

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conservationbriefs New home for orange-fronted parakeet

The critically endangered orange-fronted parakeet (kakariki) numbers 80-200 birds in the wild.

of 16 birds, was in December, and the birds were monitored for 10 days after release. Results were better than expected, with two-thirds of the birds surviving for the first 10 days. Most of these birds were seen alive again a month later.  A second group of 15 birds was released in February.  They did even better and after four days of monitoring, all but one bird was still alive. These

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Rod Morris

HE discovery of four nests of the critically endangered orange-fronted parakeet (kakariki) on Chalky Island has lifted hopes they may be brought back from the brink of extinction. Thirty-one captive-bred orange-fronted parakeets were released on predator-free Chalky Island (Te Kakahu o Tamatea) in Fiordland over the summer, and their subsequent success has exceeded the hopes of the Department of Conservation (DOC) team monitoring their progress. Juvenile birds hatched and reared at Isaac Wildlife Trust’s Peacock Springs site over summer, and fitted with tailmounted transmitters, were flown by plane to Invercargill, and then by helicopter to Chalky Island. The first release, of a group

birds dispersed more rapidly than the first group, and one flock of eight parakeets was seen together the next day. Two individual birds from the first release group were also seen. In late March, a final check of the February released birds before their transmitters expired found not only that most of the birds were alive and well, but also discovered that four pairs were nesting

– with three nests already incubating eggs. Coming just a month after the second release, the results have surprised and delighted DOC staff monitoring their progress. The ultimate success will be whether chicks from these nests survive and go on to form a self-sustaining population on the island. Helen Bain

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

Franz Smith

conservationbriefs

The Weddell seal is the most southerly living seal.

A chinstrap penguin and two adelie penguins at the Balleny Islands.

Balleny expedition supports case for marine protected area

N expedition by a team of scientists to the Balleny Islands has gathered information to support New Zealand’s proposal for a Marine Protected Area around the remote archipelago. The Ministry of Fisheries (MFish) funded expedition to the Balleny Islands, on the edge of the Ross Sea, surrounded by ice for 11 months of the

year, was made on Tiama, a 15metre yacht purpose-built for Antarctic conditions. Expedition leader Dr Franz Smith says the islands’ isolation makes the marine life there unique. The area is a potential hotspot of Antarctic marine life, which may be critical to the health of the entire Ross Sea ecosystem. The expedition found the

diversity of marine algae at the Balleny Islands is equal to, or even greater than, that of the entire Ross Sea. Another significant discovery was that the colony of chinstrap penguins on Sabina Island, previously thought to number just a few dozen birds, now com-prises 212 adults and 119 chicks. An entirely new colony was also found on

another island. The expedition also photographed and filmed humpback whales to compare with images from tropical breeding grounds to identify which populations make this migration. For more information about the expedition see the Ministry of Fisheries website or www.tiama.com Helen Bain

Ruakituri wilderness area gazetted

HIRTY years after it was proposed, the Ruakituri Wilderness Area (right) in Te Urewera National Park was gazetted in February. Chair of the East Coast Hawke’s Bay Conservation Board, Lloyd Beech, said the Ruakituri Wilderness Area has long been recognised as having a special character. It is a place

where visitors can experience nature on nature’s terms. With the exception of Rua’s Track, which will be maintained to standard because of its historical significance, no other man-made structures or facilities will be built or maintained in the 23,547 hectare forested area. Shelly Biswell

E have all heard of windy Wellington, but what about weedy Auckland? Our largest city now ranks as the weediest city in the world. The 220 weed and 10,000 exotic plant species that grow in the city significantly outnumber the 400 native plant species that exist there. Each year an average of four exotic plant species naturalise, by escaping cultivation and reproducing in the wild. There are now 1,100 naturalised exotic

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plant species in urban Auckland. Both naturalised exotics and weeds can displace native plants, alter soil chemistry and reduce food for native animals. “New Zealanders tend to wait to assess how a potential weed will impact on the environment. But by then it’s too late, because the plant has often already spread and become a weed,” says Landcare Research botanist Dr Peter Williams. Shelly Biswell

©Department of Conservation

Auckland world’s weediest city

The Waitangi Falls is part of the recently gazetted Ruakituri Wilderness Area.

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while Matiu/Somes Island was not suitable for species requiring larger areas of habitat, it was ideal for robins as they tended to stay in a small area and feed on insects, grubs and worms from the forest floor. “What we’ve seen with the kakariki on the island is that without the presence of introduced mammalian predators they thrive as a species.  The kakariki population has increased over the past two years and they’re actively breeding.  Our hope is that the North Island robin will settle in just as well.” With the exception of a few sanctuaries, robins are now extinct in the Wellington region.  Once widespread throughout the North Island, they are only found in isolated populations from Taranaki to the Bay of Plenty, and on several pest-free offshore islands. Red-crowned parakeets had a very successful breeding season at Matiu/Somes Island over summer with 30 chicks fledging. This has boosted the population to 60 birds at a site which has been a longterm ecological restoration project for the Lower Hutt Branch and the Department of Conservation. Shelly Biswell

T E N T S

OWER Hutt Forest & Bird Branch had cause for celebration in April when 21 North Island robins (toutouwai) from Kapiti Island were released on Matiu/Somes Island. The chatter of the redcrowned parakeets (kakariki) transferred from Kapiti Island to Matiu/Somes Island in 2003 and 2004 could be heard above the speeches as the new arrivals awaited their release. “It’s quite exciting to see the forest that we’ve planted and tended over the years now filled with native wildlife,” said Forest & Bird Lower Hutt Branch Chair Stan Butcher QSM. The robin transfer was made possible with the financial support of the Lower Hutt Branch and the Matiu/Somes Charitable Trust. Robins from Kapiti Island have previously been successfully transferred to the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary and Mana Island. They are expected to also thrive on 25 hectare Matiu/Somes Island, where native vegetation planted by Forest & Bird Lower Hutt Branch members over more than 20 years is maturing to provide the necessary habitat for the birds. Department of Conservation (DOC) Biodiversity Programme Manager Rob Stone said that

S Y S T E M S

Robins released at Matiu/Somes Island

S L E E P I N G

Twenty-one North Island robins were trapped on Kapiti Island and transferred to Matiu/Somes Island by (L-R) Rob Stone (DOC), Christine Mander, Barry Dent, Ros Batchelor, Annette Harvey, Sue Freitag, Peter Reese and Andrew Morrison (DOC).

M O U N T A I N W E A R

O U T E R W E A R

conservationbriefs

Top photos © John Burcham; large photo © Cameron Lawson

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conservationbriefs

Michael Szabo

Auckland Central Forest & Bird Branch Chair Anne Fenn signs the North-West Wildlink Accord, along with Sandra Coney (ARC), Mayor George Wood (North Shore), Mayor Bob Harvey (Waitakere) and Auckland DOC Conservator Sean Goddard

Wildlink Accord aims to restore native species to Auckland

OREST & Bird signed a groundbreaking new initiative in Auckland in February which aims to provide more habitats for native species and increase community participation in conservation. The North-West Wildlink Accord was signed by Forest & Bird Central Auckland Branch Chair and National Executive member Anne Fenn, the Mayors of Waitakere City Council, North Shore City

Council and Rodney District Council, and representatives from Auckland Regional Council (ARC) and the Department of Conservation. It is the first of its kind in New Zealand and seeks to bring local and national government together with community groups to coordinate conservation efforts towards a significant vision of biodiversity restoration. “This new initiative developed

out of Forest & Bird’s Auckland Naturally project which already promotes a similar approach to community-based conservation throughout the region,” Anne Fenn said. “It is an exciting new initiative that aims to connect local communities with conservation projects that bring native birds back into urban areas where they can be appreciated by the wider community.” ARC Parks and Heritage Committee Chair Sandra Coney said that a coordinated approach in the region is the most effective way to address

biodiversity conservation and community participation issues. “By focusing on existing and potential restoration projects we will create a patchwork of safe and healthy ‘stepping stones’ to connect two of the region’s biodiversity hotspots – the Hauraki Gulf Islands and the Waitakere Ranges,” she said. Forest & Bird branches along with other community groups are already involved in a variety of conservation projects across the North-West Wildlink zone. The island sanctuary of Tiritiri Matangi and the Ark in the Park project in the Waitakere Ranges already provide significant areas of safe habitat for native birds, many of which will be able to expand into surrounding urban areas as a result of this project. The next step will be to take the project to the community and local iwi through a series of workshops and hui where the opinions and views of various community groups will be sought to help refine the vision of the project and set achievable goals. “Local communities are the lifeblood of this project,” adds Forest & Bird’s North Island Field Coordinator David Pattemore. “Everyone has a part to play, whether it’s in their own backyard or by getting involved with neighbours to look after a local reserve.”

HE Falcons for Grapes project to boost numbers of New Zealand falcons in Marlborough will build predator-proof nests this winter to increase the falcons’ chances of breeding successfully. Monitoring of falcons (karearea) in Wairau, Waihopai and Awatere catchments during the project’s first season found signs of falcons at 40 sites, and pairs attempting to breed at 18 sites – with 10 of these pairs successfully raising young. Less than half of the pairs that nested on the ground successfully reared young and averaged 0.7 chicks, but 100% of those that nested on cliffs succeeded and averaged two chicks. The project is now building

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predator-proof nest barrels on bluffs and trees, to encourage the falcons to nest off the ground and improve their chances of escaping ground predators like cats, ferrets and possums. Falcons for Grapes is a joint project between the Department of Conservation and International Wildlife Consultants, which aims to bring falcons back to the modified landscapes of Marlborough. Working in collaboration with winegrowers in the area, the project aims to harness the falcons’ natural predatory instincts to help deter small birds from damaging the grape crop in local vineyards. Helen Bain

Falcons breed near Marlborough

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conservationbriefs

LEVEN young blue ducks (whio) were released in Kahurangi National Park at the top of the South Island in March as part of a Department of Conservation (DOC) project to rebuild the endangered torrent ducks’ population in the Wangapeka River catchment. “We’ve been checking on the birds weekly since the release. Unfortunately, one of the young females unexpectedly died. The good news is that the remaining 10 are doing well, and although they are now spread out over about 10km of river, they are still within the area protected by stoat trapping,” says DOC ranger Gavin Udy. The recently released whio came from eggs taken late last year from nests of two wild pairs in Kahurangi National Park, one in the Rolling and the other in the Pearse River. The chicks were raised at Peacock Springs wildlife centre.

When the project began in 2003, whio numbers in the Rolling River, a tributary of the Wangapeka, were just three – a male and female pair and a lone male. Thanks to the recent release, the number of birds on the Rolling River now stands at 27. Whio bred on the Manganuia-te-ao River near Raetihi along a 10 km stretch under predator control this breeding season with 13 resident pairs fledging 25 ducklings. Several pairs are now resident outside the predator-controlled area with some of these also producing ducklings. Encouragingly, a number of banded birds that fledged from the predator-controlled area in previous years have established territories elsewhere on the river system and bred this year. As in previous years, stoats and cats continue to form the bulk of predators trapped. On Mt Taranaki the survival

Blue ducks hold their own North and South

‘Aurora’ and ‘Luminousa’ needed little encouragement to emerge from their carry cases into the clear running waters of the Point Burn, a stoat controlled area in the Murchison Mountains takahe territory.

of translocated birds has also increased dramatically since stoat control operations started. Survival to the end of the first year after release is now running at 70-80%, compared to 40% before stoat trapping. An estimated 60 birds are now resident on the mountain including those released this year. Twelve whio ducklings fitted with transmitters were released

into stoat controlled areas of Fiordland over the summer by DOC. The whio were hatched and reared in Te Anau and released as part of the Operation Nest Egg (ONE) Programme after eggs were taken from nests outside stoat-controlled areas where they would have had little chance against introduced predators. Shelly Biswell

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F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

conservationbriefs

One of the fluttering shearwater chicks transferred to Mana Island over the summer.

Fluttering shearwaters leave Mana Island

New digs for Hutton’s shearwater

IGHTY-six Hutton’s shearwater (titi) chicks were moved from the Seaward Kaikoura Range to new artificial burrows on the Kaikoura Peninsula where they fledged in March and April. By early April all but two of the chicks had fledged, with the majority of the young birds having been present at the new site for at least eight nights – a long enough period to give scientists hope that the young birds had imprinted on the area and would return to breed there in four years. Because Hutton’s shearwaters currently only breed at two sites in the world – both in the Seaward Kaikoura Range – establishing a new breeding colony will help ensure the long-term survival of this globally threatened species. The project is a community endeavour, with the Department of Conservation (DOC) providing expertise and funding, Whale Watch Kaikoura providing access to the site, and a number of local businesses and individuals, including Kaikoura Forest & Bird Branch members, volunteering their time and resources. Heightened community

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awareness this year also played a role in saving the lives of 160 other Hutton’s shearwater fledglings from one of the two established colonies. The chicks fledged on nights that were wet and misty. The poor visibility meant the young birds became disoriented by the town’s lights and ended up in back gardens and on streets around Kaikoura. Concerned community members got involved, and with a dedicated group of volunteers and DOC staff, they were able to collect the fledglings and take them to the new site on the Kaikoura Peninsula. There the birds were placed in boxes and were able to recover enough to fledge again. “With the activity associated with establishing the new colony and the number of birds being found around town, the profile of the species has been lifted significantly within the community.  Our hope is that Hutton’s shearwaters will become as identified with Kaikoura as much as the whales,” says DOC ranger Steve Cranwell. Shelly Biswell

“They were probably very close to fledging when they were taken from Long Island so we will be targeting chicks that are between two to five weeks from fledging for the next two annual transfers. This will allow the chicks time to recover and gain weight lost during the transfer before they emerge from their burrows.” The rest of the chicks were in good condition at the time of fledging, thanks to the care given them by a team of nine volunteers who stayed on the island and worked full-time to feed the chicks and monitor their progress. Up to 200 birds will be taken to Mana Island over the next few years. Shelly Biswell

Fairy prions breed at Mana Island

FAIRY prion pair have produced the first prion chick hatched on Mana Island in recent times, which fledged around the same time as transferred fluttering shearwater chicks in March. A sound-system installed on Mana Island in 1993 to play seabird calls may have been one of the reasons the fairy prions chose Mana Island to nest. “We don’t really know whether the birds were attracted to the island because of interactions with other birds at sea or if the sound system helped lure them,” says Department of Conservation (DOC) technical support manager, Dr Colin Miskelly.

Fairy prion chick

“Since 2004, four adult fairy prions have been seen on the island – two returned chicks and two unbanded birds. The two unbanded birds went on to nest at the island this past breeding season.” The first birds to heed the call of the sound-system were two common diving petrels in 1997. Those birds arrived just before the first transfer of common diving petrel chicks was carried out on the island. Shelly Biswell

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Michael Szabo

Dave Walford and Steve Cranwell of DOC removing a Hutton’s shearwater chick from a burrow in the Uerau Nature Reserve for transfer to the new colony being established at the Kaikoura Peninsula.

LUTTERING shearwater (titi) chicks hand-raised with sardine smoothies by volunteers on Mana island in March have fledged and flown out to sea. The latest seabird species to be transferred there, the shearwaters will hopefully return to the island to breed in the next five or six years. Forty were captured as chicks at Long Island in the Marlborough Sounds in January and flown by helicopter to Mana Island where they were placed in artificial burrows. DOC contractor Helen Gummer reports one of the chicks died and another ten unexpectedly left the island within days of the transfer, which may compromise their chances of survival.

conservationbriefs

Bill Sinclair

Dr Andy Dennis of the Nelson/Tasman Branch of Forest & Bird was there to celebrate the new marine reserve.

Orca show up for new marine reserve

OREST & Bird Nelson-Tasman Branch members were among those lucky enough to witness a pod of orca surface just metres from shore as the new 904 hectare Horoirangi Marine Reserve north of Nelson was blessed in a ceremony on 27th January. Kiwi Conservation Club member Tessa Patrick spotted the first orca fin cutting through the water around 5.30 am. “It was a real spine-tingling sight,” she said. Forest & Bird Top of the South Field Officer Debs Martin was also there. “They just glided through the still morning water surfacing several times as they swam the length of the reserve.” The reserve is 11 kilometres north of Nelson, and stretches five kilometres from Glenduan on the Boulder Bank to Ataata Point at the south-west entrance to Cable Bay. It is adjacent to the Whakapuaka taiapure, an area managed by local iwi where fishing and harvesting are restricted. Nelson-Tasman Branch started to advocate for the marine reserve more than 20 years ago and officially applied for marine reserve status in 1999.  Branch committee member Andy Dennis, who

has been at the centre of efforts to promote the reserve, says it has been a long uphill struggle but that persistence paid off in the end. “Although it was clear from the beginning that there was strong support from both the local community and public at large for a marine reserve in this area, the present Marine Reserves Act makes it far too easy for self-interested objectors to derail marine reserve applications. But we were never going to give up,” he said. “Given the extent to which both marine science and marine protection lag behind our knowledge and protection of terrestrial ecosystems here in New Zealand, we saw no alternative but to ensure that the application eventually succeeded – no matter how long it took or how many obstacles were put in its path.” Debs Martin says that since the marine reserve opened an increasing number of people have visited to swim there and explore the richness of marine life present in the rock pools at low tide. “To have a marine reserve of such high value close to a main centre is a real treasure,” she said. Shelly Biswell

Flightless ducks breed at Campbell

DEPARTMENT of Conservation (DOC) team that visited Campbell Island over the summer found evidence that Campbell Island teal are breeding there, once again. It found five different ages of duckling, a promising sign for this critically endangered flightless species. “As well as finding ducklings, the team discovered nesting remains and unbanded adult ducks, which are last year’s ducklings,” Pete McClelland of DOC says.

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The Campbell Island teal became extinct on Campbell Island soon after the introduction of rats in the 1820s. Twenty years ago, 11 Campbell Island teal were brought back to the New Zealand mainland for breeding as a captive population. This was followed by the reintroduction of the Campbell Island teal back to their natural habitat with 50 being released there in 2004 and a further 55 in 2005. Shelly Biswell F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

conservationbriefs

New populations of the nationally endangered Poor Knights spleenwort Asplenium pauperequitum (both images) have been discovered at the Chatham Islands.

Chatham plant discoveries

OTANISTS have confirmed the existence of four plant species not previously known from the Chatham Islands. Department of Conservation (DOC) botanists Peter de Lange, John Sawyer and Amanda Baird, along with Landcare Research biosystematists Peter Heenan and Rob Smissen, conducted an extensive botanical survey of the Chatham Islands during two weeks of field work over January and February. Arguably the most important of the findings was the discovery of three

populations of the acutely threatened Poor Knights spleenwort Asplenium pauperequitum on Chatham Island. This nationally endangered fern species is now thought to be extinct on the Mokohinau Islands and is not faring well on the Poor Knights Islands. Forest & Bird National Executive member Mark Bellingham collected a specimen of the fern on the Forty Fours in the Chatham Islands in 2005, so botanists were hopeful that populations would be found in other

locations on the islands. The semi-aquatic sedge Schoenus fluitans hook was also discovered during the survey. Prior to this discovery, the sedge had only been known to exist in the Central Volcanic Plateau and Ruahine Ranges of the North Island. At-risk in New Zealand, the sedge is considered common in Australia. The botanists’ fieldwork also uncovered isolated populations of two daisies Senecio sterquilinus and Senecio marotiri C. Webb. Both species have been found in other parts of New Zealand, but were not previously known from the

Chatham Islands. These findings also add to the growing list of North Island/Chatham plant range disjunctions. “These North Island/Chatham disjunctions may actually be remnant populations of a formerly widespread and interconnected seabird driven ecosystem. With the loss of seabirds from large parts of New Zealand, many of the plants dependent on seabird guano deposition have died out and frequent disturbance and loss of habitat has compounded the problem,” Peter de Lange says. Shelly Biswell

DEPARTMENT of Conservation (DOC) survey team has discovered a small colony of snipe at Campbell Island living on their namesake island, 150 years after they disappeared from it. The population, estimated at 30 birds, appears to have recolonised the pest-free island. The DOC team collected DNA samples from 17 birds over the summer to enable scientists to classify the subspecies. It is hoped the snipe will become the first new bird named in over a century. Snipe were only discovered in the Campbell Island group in 1997, when a remnant population was found living on Jacquemart Island near the main island. Although archaeological evidence indicated the snipe had once lived on Campbell Island, the introduction of rats in the 1820s wiped out the population there. By 2000, Campbell Island

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

had the world’s highest density of Norway rats. In a bid to save the remaining native flora and fauna in 2001, DOC undertook the largest pest eradication programme ever attempted. Two years later the rats were gone and seabird populations, including Campbell albatross showed signs of rebounding. In 2003 survey teams found possible snipe footprints on Campbell Island and in 2005 two snipe were sighted and one caught on the island. “The snipe’s return to its natural stomping ground of Campbell Island in the absence of introduced predators such as rats, is a very good indicator of the importance of the rodent removal, and how quickly native wildlife can adjust without predators wrecking their survival chances,” says DOC programme manager for the Subantarctic Islands, Pete McClelland. Shelly Biswell

Southern snipe fly home

Dr Colin Miskelly of DOC with a Campbell Island snipe on its namesake island. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

H O T,

and

COOL.

Wellington Tree Weta

Some seeds do better with help from a weta

ESEARCH from Victoria University published in the journal Science has revealed that weta distribute seeds for regeneration in a way no other insect in the world is known to do. According to co-author Catherine Duthie, “Weta appear to have taken on the distinctive ecological niche of small mammals by forming partnerships with plants as seed dispersers. What’s so exciting about this discovery is that it hasn’t been explored since Charles Darwin wrote a couple of sentences about whether insects disperse seeds in The Origin of Species in the 1880s.” Catherine Duthie and her supervisor, Dr Kevin Burns, investigated their hypothesis through a series of experiments and field observations in the Wellington area

involving Wellington tree weta, one of 70 weta species in New Zealand. “While birds are more effective at dispersing seeds, we hypothesise that some species of weta may play a role in the dispersal of seeds of shrubs with diverging branches, so while the weta are more localised in their dispersal, they can help plants regenerate by working with the fruit that the birds can’t reach,” she says. “This discovery has only scratched the surface of what we need to know. Because many weta species are endangered, more research is urgently needed to determine if the loss of weta from natural ecosystems will generate cascading effects on the structure and function of New Zealand forests.” Shelly Biswell

B O R N P R O F E S S I O N A L LY

conservationbriefs

Karori Wildlife Sanctuary

Maud Island frog

Native frogs hop Cook Strait

WENTY-one Maud Island frogs (pepeketua) crossed Cook Strait to be released at Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in February. The transfer marks the return of the species to the wild on the mainland for the first time in hundreds of years. The rare native frog is the first amphibian species to be released at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary and brings to 14 the number of threatened or endangered native species reintroduced there over the ten years since the sanctuary was set up. “The release of the frogs was a momentous occasion for not only Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, but for all of us working to return native species to mainland New Zealand,” said sanctuary Chief Executive Nancy McIntosh-Ward. “Visitors probably won’t see the tiny, well camouflaged frogs, but the frogs are an

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important component in re-establishing a native ecosystem at Karori.” More Maud Island frogs are to be released at the sanctuary this year. A fish tank display containing native freshwater fish species once common throughout the Wellington region was recently installed in the sanctuary. Torrentfish, redfin bullies, inanga and koaro have been adjusting to life in their new surroundings, with a number of other freshwater species, including banded kokopu, set to be added to the tank this year. The fish tank is part of a covered interpretation kiosk developed to provide information about the sanctuary’s wetland and the role of aquatic species in New Zealand’s freshwater ecosystems. Shelly Biswell

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F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

Takahe head for the hills FIORDLAND’S takahe population has been boosted by 21 healthy takahe juveniles, a breeding record for DOC’s rearing unit at Burwood. A mild winter provided the right conditions for takahe to breed earlier than usual in the Murchison Mountains. The young birds will be transferred to an 80 hectare takahe enclosure to await release into the wild in the mountains in October.

Coromandel kiwi comeback MOEHAU Kiwi Sanctuary has released Macintosh, the first kiwi chick to be produced by a monitored kiwi in the area. The Kiwi Recovery Programme, which has been tracking brown kiwi fitted with radio transmitters since 2000, returned Macintosh to forest near the Coromandel Walkway in January. The egg produced by Macintosh’s mother, Taniwha, was retrieved in October and incubated at Kiwi Encounter in Rotorua because of difficulties monitoring the nest site.

More kiwi for Maungatautari OTOROHANGA’S Kiwi House raised its biggest clutch of kiwi chicks in years this past breeding season. Six western brown kiwi are being weighed and measured and are learning to forage in preparation for their release at Maungatautari, near Cambridge. Kiwi House had scaled back its breeding programme because there was nowhere safe to release the birds, but can now safely release them in the predatorfree southern enclosure of Maungatautari Ecological Island. 1 4 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

Don’t feed the “Cook’s”

World’s oldest penguin . . .

A BUMPER breeding season for Cook’s petrel (titi) on Hauturu/Little Barrier Island has resulted in juvenile birds crash landing in Auckland. Bird rescue centres have come to the aid of a number of the young petrels that have become disorientated as they migrate to the north Pacific. The Department of Conservation (DOC) advises anyone who finds a young Cook’s petrel to call their local DOC office, keep the bird safe in a cool place away from direct sunlight, and not to feed them. The abundance of juvenile Cook’s petrels is attributed to the eradication of Pacific rats (kiore) on the island two years ago.

FOSSILISED penguins found in a Canterbury riverbed have been confirmed as the world’s oldest penguin remains. Scientists now believe the fossilised remains of the four penguins found in the 1980s could be the missing link that proves modern penguins lived alongside dinosaurs. DNA tests on the Waimanu penguin fossils, found near the Waipara River, determined they are 60-62 million years old which is up to 10 million years older than any other penguin remains discovered.

Mt Cook trappers boost birds EFFORTS by DOC staff and volunteers at Mt Cook/ Aorangi to trap and remove introduced predators has led to a visible increase in native birdlife in the national park. In just over a year nearly 1,500 introduced predators (758 hedgehogs, 381 stoats, 152 ferrets, 100 cats, 53 possums and 22 weasels) have been trapped, leading to a resurgence in numbers of kea, falcon (karearea), tomtit (ngirungiru), rifleman (titipounamu) and silvereye (tauhou).

Doubtful sounds DOC is not convinced by sound recordings that are claimed to be of the presumed extinct South Island kokako. Christchurch researcher Ron Nilsson believes sound recordings he made in the Puysegur Point area of Fiordland in January were of kokako. Head of the Kakapo Recovery Programme, Paul Jansen, said he and colleagues listened to the recordings but were not convinced they were of kokako. He said DOC would need more evidence – such as feathers, droppings or photographs – before committing money to a search.

Whale scholar Emma Beatson

… and the largest CHILDREN on a fossil hunt near Kawhia have discovered the remains of what may have been the largest penguin to waddle the planet. The 22strong expedition from the Hamilton Junior Naturalists Club made the find when they noticed what looked like several bones sticking out from a sandstone platform uncovered by the tide near Te Waitere in Kawhia Harbour. Experts think the 40 million-year-old fossils may be the finest example of the long-extinct bird ever found, and perhaps the largest in the world. The size of a human adult, the Kawhia giant dwarfed the huge emperor penguin at about 1.5 metres tall and more than 100 kilograms.

Kakapo trail goes cold A THREE-week search has failed to find kakapo in Fiordland. DOC and Forest & Bird staff searched five areas between Dusky and Doubtful Sounds where kakapo sightings had been reported, and spent

nights playing recordings of the kakapo’s call and listening for males booming. No trace of the birds was found.

Pygmy sperm whales PYGMY sperm whales feed mainly on squid, according to new research into their diet conducted by Auckland University of Technology honours student Emma Beatson (above). Funding from the BAYERBoost Environmental Scholarship Scheme allowed her to analyse the stomach contents of 25 of the rare whales that stranded on New Zealand beaches between 1991 and 2003.

Lifeline for lagoon THE Government will spend $225,000 restoring Matata (fernbird) lagoon near the Tarawera River in the Bay of Plenty. The wildlife management reserve at Matata’s western lagoon was destroyed by floods in June. DOC will carry out the restoration work in conjunction with the local community. The wetland site supports globally threatened bittern (matuku) and dabchick (weiweia), and is a wintering site for kotuku (white heron). Helen Bain

Michael Szabo

Takahe

Auckland University of Technology

conservationbriefs

No kakapo were found in the wild in Fiordland during a three week search over the summer. This bird is from Codfish Island. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

conservationbriefs A salmonella outbreak has delayed plans to release hihi (stitchbirds) at the Ark in the Park.

Brent Stephenson

Kokako numbers are on the increase thanks to the Kokako Recovery Programme.

Salmonella strikes Tiri hihi

Kokako breeding success

Island, both of which are sites where local members have helped restore this threatened forest species. Four pairs successfully produced six chicks at Pukaha Mt Bruce. This was the highest number produced in a season in the Pukaha Forest to date.

HE planned transfer of hihi (stitchbirds) to the Ark in the Park in the Waitakere Ranges was postponed in February due to a salmonella outbreak affecting some of the hihi population at Tiritiri Matangi Island, the source of birds for the transfer. “This strain has never before been detected in bird populations in New Zealand, but there have been three previous isolations from humans,” says Department of Conservation (DOC) Biodiversity Islands Manager, Richard Griffiths. “It appears the outbreak of

the disease was isolated and the Tiri hihi population was only partially affected. The population is reduced by about 25%, although we will have a better idea at the start of the next breeding season,” he says. The halt to species transfers from the island is a temporary state of affairs and all going well next year, transfers will be back to normal. This is another example of the vulnerability of endangered native species, and highlights the importance of establishing new populations of hihi at sites on the mainland, such as Ark in the Park.

OREST & Bird’s participation in the Kokako Recovery Programme with the Department of Conservation has helped contribute to another successful breeding year for kokako. Nine kokako pairs produced nine chicks over the summer at Tiritiri Matangi Island and Boundary Stream Mainland

Brown teal (pateke) being released by Barry Dent and Andrew Baucke.

Teal back in the bay

WENTY-eight brown teal (pateke) were transferred to Tuhua/Mayor Island in the western Bay of Plenty in February. “With only 1,000 pateke remaining in the wild in New Zealand, we are extremely pleased and excited to work in partnership establishing this new population on Tuhua,” said Department of Conservation (DOC) spokesperson Stephanie Twaddle. The teal, a globally threatened species, will be monitored by DOC using radio transmitters and receivers for at least the next 12 months to

ensure they settle in safely. Tuhua/Mayor Island was declared pest-free in 2002. The northern end of the island is a marine reserve, with the rest of its surrounding waters being a restricted fishing area. The island boasts an exceptional pohutukawa forest that supports populations of bellbirds (korimiko), North Island robins (toutouwai) and other native species. It also features wetlands and lakes, which should provide excellent habitat for the island’s newest feathered residents.

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

Riders on the storm

Forest & Bird campaigned for New Zealand’s Subantarctic Islands to be designated as a World Heritage Area 10 years before they were established by government in 1998. Michael Szabo joined Heritage Expeditions’ Cruise for Conservation in January for a first hand encounter with the albatrosses, sealions and megaherbs that call these islands home. 1 6 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

Southern Ocean

HEY have been compared to Siamese cats because of their silvery grey pelts, but they seem more panther-like to me. As a top predator here in the Southern Ocean, the light-mantled sooty albatross (toroa-hainui) hanging on the air above has the powerful quality of a big cat rather than a tame tabby. As it forages for squid over the ocean, it takes the roaring forties in its stride, swooping effortlessly amongst the flight of albatrosses following the ship which includes three-and-a-half metre wingspan royals and wanderers, slightly smaller Salvin’s, white-capped and blackbrowed, and smaller still Buller’s and Chatham species. Nine of eleven albatross species

that breed in the New Zealand region have followed us today as we cruise towards Campbell Island aboard the polar research vessel, Spirit of Enderby, confirmation that this is probably the best place in the world to encounter albatrosses at sea. Seeing so many of these majestic birds is a refreshing reminder of how Darwin came to his theory of evolution: perceiving the differences in the similar-shaped beaks of finches at the Galapagos Islands and deducing that they all started from a common ancestor. Over time geographic isolation and the accumulation of changes were sufficient for new species to arise on different islands. Despite the vast distances they range across, research shows albatrosses w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

nearly always breed at the same island where they fledged. This instinct to breed close to home has isolated each population in a way similar to Darwin’s finches. They have undergone changes at their subantarctic island breeding sites just as Darwin’s finches did at the Galapagos Islands, even though here in the Southern Ocean albatross breeding grounds are separated by hundreds rather than tens of kilometres. This has given rise to new southern species clustered in three main groupings – the greater albatrosses, the mollymawks, and the sooty albatrosses. Standing on deck, it strikes me that subantarctic albatrosses help illustrate this with more colour than Darwin’s finches. Nature has painted their formidable w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Peter Morris/Birdquest

Large food items are not a problem for Salvin’s albatross to swallow as they can disconnect their mandibles and expand their gape.

Tui De Roy/Roving Tortoise Photos

A pair of light-mantled sooty albatross courting at the nest on Campbell Island. Arguably the most beautiful of all the albatrosses, their synchronised aerial display flights and haunting call, which is known as the sound of the subantarctic, are part of their allure.

Tui De Roy/Roving Tortoise Photos

A svelte velvet light-mantled sooty albatross in flight. One of 11 species of albatross seen on the Cruise for Conservation, they fly on average 2,000 kilometres to the Antarctic ice edge and back to the subantarctic islands on each trip when they forage to feed their single chick during the breeding season.

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

Andrew Maloney

A pink-billed southern royal albatross (toroa) in flight over heathland on Enderby Island. This endemic species has the largest wingspan of any living bird species, and nests here alongside banded dotterel and subantarctic snipe.

Auckland Island banded dotterel perched in front of Ross lillies Bulbinella rossi in flower.

hooked bills with a palette of colours: pink, orange, yellow, blue-grey and black. One of these colour-coded ‘Swiss army knives’ even has a sky blue stripe running along its length. With razor sharp edges they’re perfectly adapted for seizing and cutting squid and fish. They are also used as visual signals in courtship and for fencing and preening. But it is their aerial ability that most impresses. Wanderers and royals boast the largest wingspan of any living bird. They’re as much part of New Zealand’s Olympian avian heritage as the giant Haast’s eagle and moa species that evolved before people arrived. Except, of course, these avian giants aren’t extinct – yet. For all their nine kilograms of weight – as much as a newborn Hector’s dolphin – the royals and wanderers still manage to float on air. In flight they can lock their double articulated wings in position at the elbow and wrist, and glide for days. The flight muscles of most birds make up 16% of their body weight, but for these birds the figure is only 6% – a measure of their ability to harness the elements. They sail the wind with such little effort that the heart of a wandering albatross beats slower in flight than when resting on the water. The greatest long-distance wanderers 1 8 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

of our planet, they spend 95% of their lives at sea, mostly flying, and only coming ashore to court and breed on a few remote islands and at Taiaroa Head. On foraging trips to feed their chicks, adult birds can travel thousands of kilometres, at times sleeping on the wing. In the course of an albatross’s lifetime an individual bird can fly the equivalent of three times around the Earth every year. It has been estimated that by the time an albatross reaches its fiftieth year, it will have flown at least five million kilometres. No one, though, has yet calculated how many longline fishing hooks an albatross must avoid getting caught on in a lifetime spent foraging over the Southern Ocean. By the time the ship reaches Campbell Island the next day, two more species of New Zealand breeding albatross have crossed our path – the endemic Campbell and the circumpolar grey-headed. Altogether, New Zealand has seven endemic species of albatross: Campbell, antipodean (wandering), Buller’s, Chatham, Salvin’s and northern and southern royals (toroa). The other four species breed in New Zealand but have a circumpolar breeding distribution. This helps explain why New Zealand is known as the albatross capital of the world among many seabird scientists.

Campbell Island

rriving at Cable Cove there are several elephant seals lounging in muddy pools moulting. This is the only mammal to moult, fellow passenger and Forest & Bird past president Gerry McSweeney explains. In contrast, delicate white Antarctic terns fly around the cove dipping for fish, while a New Zealand pipit bobs around a seal’s ‘trunk’. These small endemic birds have quickly recolonised Campbell Island from nearby offshore islands after rats were eradicated here in 2001. A pair of light-mantled sooty albatross fly low overhead toward Mt Beeman, wheeling round in unison as they dance their aerial pas des deux. It’s no wonder the haunting call of these spectral birds is known as ‘the sound of the subantarctic.’ Tramping around Mt Beeman towards Col Lyall saddle, blue sunflowers Pleurophyllum speciosum begin to appear. The scene is memorable with pinkbilled albatross at the nest, colourful subantarctic herbfields in flower, and a New Zealand sealion amongst the tussock. The herbfields are a profusion of pink and mauve flowers; the giant pink flowering Anistome latifolia is unexpectedly fragrant. Colin O’Donnell of the Department of w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Darwin’s finches writ large

Peter Morris/Birdquest

The diet of the critically endangered Chatham albatross consists of mainly squid and fish obtained by surface-seizing with its large yellow bill.

Enderby Island

E arrive at Enderby Island in the Auckland Islands two days later, landing by the New Zealand sealion rookery at Sandy Bay. Brown skuas (hakokoa) are squabbling over the sealion pup carcasses at the end of the beach, some of which may have died of starvation after their mothers drowned in squid trawl nets. Yellow-eyed penguins (hoiho) gather in small troupes and waddle across the beach to plunge into the surf. There are harems of female sealions each with a bull and a nursery of pups. Here and there a bull chases a female. One bull attempts to mate with a reluctant female, but she inches away while he’s distracted and escapes into the water. Up on the heathland at the highest point on the island there are several royal albatross at the nest. Banded dotterels (tuturiwhatu) and subantarctic snipe (hakawai) also lurk here, the snipe looking like miniature kiwi in tweed jackets. I watch one run with its head and bill outstretched, and held close to the ground. It dives for cover into the low vegetation like a panicked rabbit fleeing a predator – most likely here to be a New Zealand Falcon. From here the track leads to the north

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The diet of the vulnerable grey-headed albatross consists of mainly squid and small fish which are usually taken by surface-seizing and occasionally surface-diving or shallow-plunging with its distinctive yellow striped black bill. Feeding is thought to be largely nocturnal in the company of other albatrosses and sometimes minke whales, pilot whales and orca.

The diet of the light-mantled sooty albatross consists of squid, fish, krill and carrion with food items taken by surface-seizing, surface-diving, surface-plunging and shallow-diving. When surface-filtering they suck water and krill into their partly open sky blue striped black bill. Infrequently observed, possibly because they are nocturnal, they have been seen feeding alone, in small groups, and in association with wandering albatrosses, pilot whales and southern right whale dolphins.

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

Andrew Penniket

The diet of the honey-eyed Campbell albatross consists of fish, squid, krill and carrion, with most prey taken by surfaceseizing as well as pursuit-plunging, surface-plunging and surfacediving with its golden orange bill.

Conservation (DOC) and I head off into the wind towards North Bay in search of the rockhopper penguin colony. On the way back from our quest the wind is so strong that at one point it literally blows both of us to the ground. Approaching Col Lyall a trio of southern royal albatross display with wings raised. The wind prompts me to lay on the ground five metres from them as more albatross glide in and land nearby, stalling on the wind before their huge pink webbed feet reach out to touch down. The displaying birds’ bills clap open and closed like the repeated snapping of a wooden box, accompanied by plaintive calls and whinnying. As the dance intensifies they bow and shake their heads, then point their bills skywards in synchronised fashion. This is as close to these sublime birds as we’re allowed to get, but I can’t imagine needing to be any closer. I feel I’m a privileged observer, partly because they seem unconcerned at my presence, and partly because so few people have witnessed this scene which has been repeated here on Campbell Island for millennia.

Joseph Hooker described subantarctic herbfields as “producing a floral display second to none outside the tropics.” It is still a mystery to botanists why subantarctic megaherbs such as the blue sunflower Pleurophyllum speciosum, pictured here at Col Ridge on Campbell Island, have such large leaves and colourful flowers. Several theories exist but no-one is certain of the reasons why.

coast where light-mantled sooty albatross nest on the cliffs. With binoculars it’s possible to see the blue stripe along their black bills. They raise one chick every three or four years, the lowest reproductive rate of any albatross. At an open area of limestone rocks further on, banded dotterels and small flocks of red-crowned parakeets (kakariki) feed on the ground. A turnstone flies past and lands by a pool – an Arctic breeding bird summering in the subantarctic to escape the northern winter. In the nearby southern rata goblin

forest bellbirds (korimako) call, tomtits (ngirungiru) flit around and a vocal tui perched nearby gurgles away, resplendent in its blue-green iridescent feathers. This is where New Zealand meets Antarctica. From here south lies more than a thousand kilometres of open ocean to the Balleny Islands and the Antarctic ice edge. Light-mantled sooty albatross forage south from here to the coast of Antarctica before returning to breeding grounds at Campbell and the Auckland Islands to feed their chick. As I look out to sea, another pair glides

past the coast. These graceful, tenacious birds epitomise the vast wilderness of the Southern Ocean. Elegant in the face of the most extreme elements, they seem to me to be the most inspiring birds of all. Riders on the storm. Michael Szabo travelled to the Subantarctic Islands on the Cruise for Conservation organised by Heritage Expeditions. The trip raised $10,000 for Forest & Bird’s Save the Albatross campaign with a portion of each ticket sold being donated.

Albatross by numbers 5,000,000 = the estimated number of kilometres flown by an albatross at age 50

15,000 = the number of feathers on an adult albatross

9 = the number of kilograms a full

Michael Szabo

grown royal albatross weighs, which is equal to four brown kiwi or ten kotuku or one thousand fantails or a single newborn Hector’s dolphin.

100,000 = the estimated number of Brown skuas (hakoakoa) squabbling over a sealion carcass on Enderby Island. This sealion pup may have died as a result of its mother being drowned in the southern squid fishery. More than 2,000 adult sealions have drowned in this fishery since 1980.

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albatrosses that drown on longline hooks each year.

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Tui De Roy/Roving Tortoise Photos

The Antarctic tern breeds on all five New Zealand subantarctic islands. It is the southern-most breeding species of the seven tern species which breed in New Zealand. They range from the subantarctic islands north to Stewart Island.

A juvenile northern giant-petrel at the nest under coastal scrub on Enderby Island in the Auckland Islands. The smell emanating from their nests is not pleasant. Little wonder these birds used to be known as stinkpots.

The southern elephant seal is the largest of the seals with males weighing up to four tonnes. They dive to 1,500 metres and can hold their breath for two hours. They are the only mammal in the world to moult.

This is the king penguin that Colin O’Donnell of DOC found amongst the yellow-eyed penguins on the coast of Enderby Island in the Auckland Islands. This one is a moulting bird that probably straggled across from Macquarie Island, Australia.

Michael Szabo

Extinct on the mainland, snipe are still found at some subantarctic islands. The Auckland Island snipe (hakawai) looks like a miniature kiwi in a tweed jacket.

Tui De Roy/Roving Tortoise Photos

The red-crowned parakeet (kakariki) is a familiar bird of the New Zealand mainland. The Auckland Islands are at the southern limit of the range of this native species which occurs from subtropical New Caledonia to subantarctic New Zealand.

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F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

Rex Williams

Small is beautiful Just as the future was starting to look brighter, one of our rarest birds faces a new potential threat. Story and photographs by Rex Williams.

New Zealand fairy tern, Waipu Estuary, Northland.

EW Zealand’s tiny population of diminutive fairy terns (tara-iti) has had a successful breeding season, with seven chicks raised over the summer. While seven chicks may not sound like many, the New Zealand fairy tern has an estimated total population of 35 individuals, so this season’s breeding success represents a 20% increase in the total population During the previous breeding season only three chicks survived to fledge, all from Waipu Cove Wildlife Refuge in Northland. This season’s fledged chicks came from three breeding sites in the north of the North Island: three from the Mangawhai Wildlife Refuge, three from Waipu Cove Wildlife Refuge and one from Pakiri Beach, the first record of a chick to fledge there in 42 years. The last season such a healthy number of chicks were raised successfully was 2001-2002 when eight chicks fledged. In most years, eggs are transferred between nests and to and from Auckland Zoo when threatened or rescued. This season one of the chicks raised at the Mangawhai Wildlife Refuge was hatched from an egg which originally came from Papakanui Spit at the South Head, Kaipara Harbour. Two fertile eggs were transferred to Auckland Zoo for incubation when their nest was washed

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out by storms on the west coast. These eggs were then transferred to the Mangawhai Wildlife Refuge just prior to hatching and fostered to a pair of fairy terns, which had produced two clutches of infertile eggs during the season. The two fertile eggs were successfully swapped with their second clutch of two infertile eggs, with two chicks hatching from these transferred eggs. One chick unfortunately died just after hatching, the other chick fledged in January from this nest. Weighing only 70 grams, the New Zealand fairy tern is the smallest and rarest of the four tern species that regularly breed around the North Island and South Island, the others being white-fronted tern (tara), black- fronted tern (tara-piroe) and Caspian tern (tara-nui). The New Zealand fairy tern is listed as critically endangered at the national level and breeds at only four locations in New Zealand: Mangawhai Wildlife Refuge (4 pairs in 2005-06), Waipu Wildlife Refuge (3 pairs), Papakanui (2 pairs) and Pakiri Beach (1 pair). The New Zealand fairy tern has teetered on the brink of extinction since the 1970s with less than ten pairs attempting to breed each year. The population plummeted to three pairs in 1984, at which time the Wildlife Service began nest protection at the remaining nesting areas. Since then the population has very slowly

crept back up to ten pairs. Unlike many other tern species, the New Zealand fairy tern does not breed in large colonies. Most, but not all, breeding pairs tend to nest well away from other New Zealand fairy terns. At the Mangawhai Wildlife Refuge, for example, each of the three nest sites were spaced about one kilometre apart over the 250 hectare reserve this last season. All the New Zealand fairy tern nesting sites are fenced off with temporary fencing by Department of Conservation (DOC) staff to prevent people accidentally walking on the eggs or chicks, which are camouflaged and very hard to see in the shell beds where the birds set up their nest. New Zealand fairy terns nest between October and February and will usually lay one to two eggs, which both parents take turns to incubate for 22-24 days. The chicks start to fly after three weeks but continue to rely on their parents for food until they learn to hover and dive for small fish themselves. Parents vigorously defend nests and chicks against intruders, such as humans, gulls or other shorebirds. They do this by dive-bombing and defecating and their accuracy is very good! Two main factors have contributed to the successful breeding this season. The first is the weather. Apart from two storms with gale-force winds – one in late w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

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Rex Williams

New Zealand fairy tern chicks hiding at the nest.

Rex Williams

November which destroyed two nests, and the other in late January which caused the death of two eleven-day-old chicks – the weather was relatively settled over the summer. New Zealand fairy terns will abandon their nest in very high winds and extensive periods of heavy rain. The other contributing factor is the work done by DOC trapper, Doug Gordon, who maintains predator traps at the New Zealand fairy tern breeding sites over the summer season. At the Mangawhai Spit since October last year Doug has caught 5 stoats, 7 weasels and 8 feral cats. Since the last feral cat was caught in mid-December, no cat prints were seen on the Mangawhai Spit for the remainder of the season. Between October to December 2005, cat tracks were followed on several occasions going to variable oystercatcher and New Zealand dotterel nests where only broken, empty egg shells remained after they had been eaten. Last year several chicks and a breeding adult New Zealand fairy tern were eaten by a large ginger cat that evaded capture for the entire season, resulting in no chicks surviving from the Mangawhai Wildlife Refuge in the 2004/05 breeding season. Once the chicks are able to fly and thus escape from predators such as stoats, weasels and feral cats, their chances of survival improve dramatically. At Waipu Cove Wildlife Refuge some visitors bring quad bikes and dogs into the reserve throughout the breeding season, and jet-skiers drive fast in the estuary where they disturb nesting and feeding birds. The success of this last breeding season could not have come at a better time for the terns. A recent report by researchers at Auckland University on the genetics of the New Zealand fairy tern described a unique trait, which shows that the New Zealand fairy tern is an endemic population. In the past the New Zealand fairy tern (Sterna nereis davisae) has been described as a separate subspecies of the Australian fairy tern (Sterna nereis) based on morphological, behavioural and geographic differences, including a distinctive area of enlarged black feathering in front of the eye which extends towards the yellow-orange bill. The Auckland University report recommends, “that the New Zealand population should continue to be considered as a distinct population from the Australian and New Caledonian populations, due to the restricted gene flow and the presence of the unique haplotype”. This DNA result increases the importance of the work being done on the New Zealand fairy terns, confirming them as the most critically endangered bird in New Zealand with an estimated population of 35 individuals. The more

Egg shell remains left by an unknown predator.

famous kakapo by comparison has a total population of 86. Continued intensive management and even greater support is needed if the New Zealand fairy tern is to be pulled safely back from the brink of extinction. With only ten breeding pairs after twenty years of conservation work,

the survival of the New Zealand fairy tern is still far from secure. Rex Williams is a former Department of Conservation worker who is now a wildlife contractor specialising in seabird and shorebird conservation work.

House of sand

Forest & Bird agrees. North Island Field Coordinator David Pattemore says PROPOSED subdivision in that, with just 11 breeding pairs of New Northland poses a threat to the New Zealand fairy tern remaining, predation Zealand fairy tern, say conservationists. by just one cat or dog could do enough The subdivision of between 1,400 and damage to the tern population to push 2,000 houses near Mangawhai Heads the birds over the brink to extinction. is proposed by Kaipara hapu Te Uri o Restrictions on domestic pets in such Hau and Darby Partners, and would a large settlement would be impossible need consent for a variation to Rodney to enforce all the time, and so would District Council’s district plan before it inevitably be breached – with potentially could go ahead. disastrous consequences for the New A report on the environmental impact Zealand fairy terns, David Pattemore of the subdivision, commissioned by says. DOC, says having up to 8,000 residents As the tiny terns nest on the ground, so close to the terns’ key breeding incubating their eggs for 22-24 days, and areas poses a significant threat to their then rearing the chicks for another three survival. weeks before they fledge, these birds are DOC says the developers’ proposal to extremely vulnerable to predation, and ban cats in the subdivision and restrict to disturbance of nest sites by people and dogs to leashes is insufficient to protect 4WD vehicles. the terns from the threat of predation. Helen Bain

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

A shark’s tale Siberian tigers are the terrestrial equivalent of great white sharks. Mark Bellingham explores the reasons why it is time to protect these blue ocean predators.

REAT white sharks are supreme marine predators equalled only by a few marine species such as orca, sperm whale and pilot whale. They are found mainly in temperate waters, and occur from the surf line to well offshore and down to more than 900 metres deep. Around New Zealand they may be seen, if you are lucky, cruising off small coastal islands and offshore reefs inhabited by fur seals or sealions. Great white sharks are the largest carnivorous shark species with adult females reputedly reaching seven metres in length, although larger females rarely exceed five-and-a-half to six metres. This still doesn’t come close to its prehistoric ‘cousin’, Carcharodon megalodon, a shark species which grew to 17 metres in length and died out at the end of the Pliocene, some two million years ago. Until very recently, little was known about great white shark reproduction and recent knowledge comes mostly from pregnant females caught by fishers. Great white shark litters range from five to ten pups with individual pups reaching 120-150 cm long at birth. Pregnant

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females probably come into temperate continental shelf waters to pup in spring and early summer in New Zealand and many of the records are from coastal areas and entrances of the large harbours in Northland and Auckland (Parengarenga, Hokianga, Kaipara, Manukau), where a number of other shark species also pup. As with the great albatrosses, electronic tracking of great white sharks has revealed new insights into facets of their movements and behaviour. Although primarily occupying and journeying within continental and insular shelf habitats, some great white sharks, generally larger individuals, undertake long-distance journeys across the great ocean basins. A great white shark crossed the Indian Ocean from South Africa to Australia and back again within nine months and another tagged animal travelled 780 kilometres in 28 days. But whilst tagging has demonstrated long-distance movements, the same studies have also highlighted the tendency of great whites to be short- to medium-term residents in a suitable area. The great white population at a locality appears to be constantly changing, with numbers of sharks on any one day probably comprising both ‘resident’ individuals and short-term ‘nomadic’ visitors. Although great whites are formidable marine top predators, their most important prey are fish and marine mammals. Smaller sharks primarily feed on fish, but as they grow larger they eat a wider variety of prey. In the marine mammal-rich waters of the Chatham Islands, great whites recently tagged by researchers were attracted with fresh tuna.

Great whites are threatened mainly by their habit of scavenging from fishing nets and longlines, which can lead to accidental entrapment and death. Recently a one-anda-half tonne female white shark was caught in a Raglan fisher’s set net, and another entangled in a craypot buoy line at the Chatham Islands. It’s hard to imagine there wouldn’t be an outcry if orca rather than great white sharks were being accidentally caught and drowned in fishing nets. But many net captures come from anti-shark netting on beaches. In parts of South Africa, Australia and here in Dunedin this practice appears to have led to a decline in local shark populations. In fact, in Dunedin most of the sharks caught were harmless. A few great whites were caught initially, but none have been caught in the past 20 years. The development of electronic shark repellers may be more effective for human safety and also have less impact on sharks, non-target fish and marine mammals. Being a highly mobile, pelagic species the threat of habitat loss may appear generally minimal to great white sharks. However, disruption of marine ecosystems from overfishing and pollution pose potential threats and this may account for their decline in the Mediterranean Sea. Despite this, great whites are adaptable predators capable of shifting diet as conditions dictate and they may simply cease inhabiting a degraded area and move elsewhere. No one is sure of the long-term effects of these threats on regional populations. In recent years, cage diving for great white sharks has become an important aspect of nature-based tourism, most notably in South Australia’s Spencer w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Gulf, along the South African Cape Coast and the warm waters of Baja California. Originally, cage diving and white shark viewing blossomed in Australia, following the success of the film Blue Water, White Death and later Jaws, with interest in shark cage diving in the Chatham Islands taking its lead from South Australia. Whilst cage diving can clearly benefit the white shark in many ways, and offer a more passive and profitable incentive to former game or commercial fishers, problems in South Africa have shown that this sector needs to be controlled to minimise its impact on shark populations. The elusive nature of great white sharks has been a problem in applying conservation measures, as there is the lack of baseline data on factors such as age, fecundity, growth and population numbers. Such data is particularly difficult to obtain, as they are generally rare and cryptic animals wherever they occur, and pregnant females are rarely captured, let alone examined by fisheries workers. Survival rates for this species are unknown and only recently have tagging studies provided data. It will take a number of years to amass sufficient recaptures and tag-returns to work this out though. In spite of this, a number of countries have taken a precautionary approach and now have legislation to protect great white sharks. Australia’s pursuit of protection for this species under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has significantly raised the conservation dilemma that surrounds great whites and has spurred New Zealand conservationists, fishers and the government to follow international protection measures. In March 2006, the Conservation and Fisheries Ministers released a policy paper proposing greater protection of great white sharks in coastal waters and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), under the Wildlife Act. This w w w . f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z z

Heather Fener/ WCS

Heather Fener/WCS

Tobias Bernhard / hedgehoghouse.com

Tim Gregory-Hunt, a champion for protection of the great white shark.

A great white shark surfaces off the Chatham Islands.

included full protection for the species. It was fitting that this was announced from the Chatham Islands, where local fishers have championed the protection of great whites and played a major part in recent tagging research for the species. But even there, opposition as well as support for the protection proposal was voiced by divers that have had close and near-death encounters with these sharks. The challenge for New Zealand is now to effectively control the local set net fisheries which catch many great white sharks, along with their Hector’s and Maui’s dolphin bycatch. Another target must be the largely unreported bycatch of shark fins by foreign-crewed vessels in New Zealand waters, which are playing a part in the demise of this magnificent marine predator, and many other large shark species. Supporters include Kina Scollay, a former paua diver who survived a great white attack in 1995, while paua diving, and his skipper Tim Gregory-Hunt. This close encounter has not only fuelled their fascination with this ocean predator, but also led them to becoming champions for the protection of the great white shark, hosting the Minister of Conservation and international researchers on shark cruises. Long-time Chatham marine conservation advocate Moana King, who first brought attention to the plight of great whites in the Chathams, has with her husband Ian promoted their protection and studied these sharks from their own shark cage. The Government also needs to address great white shark protection through

international fisheries agreements and CITES, spheres where Australia has played a leading role. One thing is clear: the long-term survival of the great sharks will require a raft of local, national and international protection measures. It is time we respected this intelligent predator of our coasts for it is our equivalent of the tiger – an elusive but potentially lethal wild animal, not a bloodthirsty, mindless killer. Mark Bellingham is a leading conservation planner, who was a member of the Government’s Oceans Policy Committee.

Porbeagle shark after its fins have been cut off.

South Africa

Full protection 1991. Coastal waters and EEZ 1998 further controls on cage diving and research

Namibia

Full protection 1993. Coastal waters and EEZ

United States

California

Full protection 1994-97, apart from tag-and-release fisheries.

Australia

All states

Full protection 1997. Pursuing CITES protection.

New Zealand

Options for protection proposed in 2006. Coastal waters and EEZ F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

Male Takitimu gecko, south of Spence Burn.

Recent discoveries of ‘alpine’ geckos high in the mountains of Southland and Otago have scientists wondering just how rich New Zealand’s lizard fauna might really be. Dave Hansford entered uncharted territory in search of enlightenment.

IGHT now, I care much, much less about discovering a new lizard than I do about getting out of here alive. The only discovery I’ve made so far is that the shattered rocks up here in the Hopeless Basin, beneath Mt Angelus in Nelson Lakes National Park, have been perched delicately for eons waiting for a hand or foot to place unwarranted faith in them. Every handhold is a confidence betrayed as the rock parts and clatters into the tumbling creek below. The very idea that a gecko could make a living up here contradicts everything we ever learnt in Biology 101. But they do – or at least did. In 1968, someone caught a juvenile right next door in the Cupola Basin. It’s been floating

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in a jar of formalin ever since, and nobody paid too much attention to it until recently, when geckos started turning up in some of the most hostile habitats imaginable. Some 200 metres above me, Tertia Thurley and Matt Charteris are patiently turning over rocks in the jumbles that stream down from the tops, prospecting for any surviving descendants of that Cupola specimen. The trick, says Charteris, is to think like a gecko. That’s why they picked this sunny, north-facing slope, with its early snow melt and ideal matrix of rocky shelter and fruit-bearing alpine plants. They earn their money, these two. Just visiting them in their workplace is a hand-over-hand scramble through needle-sharp quivers of Spaniards and slippery snow grass. When I finally arrive,

Rod Morris

Geckos with altitude

gasping, during their afternoon tea, Charteris has the binoculars trained on a pair of rock wren fossicking under the boulders nearby. He’s pleased to see them. “It means the predator pressure up here may not be so great.” He reckons that in a mast season, when the beech forest below erupts in seed, rats, mice and stoats breed so profusely that sheer weight of numbers force introduced predators up into these alpine herbfields, where they might be further sustained by tussock mast. None of which is great news for a gecko. If you trace the fortunes of New Zealand’s native reptiles against those of our birds, you’ll see the two graphs plummet in a remarkable, tragic tandem. Work by Dr Charles Dougherty at Victoria University in Wellington points out that the largest surviving species of tuatara, skinks, and geckos are now extinct on the mainland outside of special sanctuaries. Around 40% of our known reptile species now cling to this world only on rat-free islands, while much of the rest have been scattered before hordes of rats, cats, stoats and possums to the last safe mainland havens, remnants of once wider distributions. So it may be that the creatures we’re now calling ‘alpine’ geckos, once ranged far and wide – indeed, one turned up in forest in the Takitimu mountains – but, like the blue duck (whio), they’ve been driven ever-higher in search of sanctuary. The fact is, we know very little about them. “All we can say,” according to Department of Conservation (DOC) project manager Andrea Goodman, “is that we have a few species or subspecies and some big gaps.” Thurley and Charteris have been sent up here to try to fill in some of those gaps. Both ex-DOC staff-turned-contractor, they’ve worked on kakapo, kokako, native frogs and an arkload of other threatened species, but this could be their greatest challenge yet. Paid with sponsorship money from outdoors retail chain Kathmandu, they’re searching likely mountaintops here in Nelson Lakes, and westward in the Paparoas, for sign of alpine geckos. Ten years ago, rock climbers began noticing geckos in places where, by rights, no gecko should be. In 1996, a single specimen – which proved to be new species Hoplodactylus cryptozoicus – was found in the Takitimu Mountains in Southland at 1,140 metres altitude. In 1998, another new gecko was spotted on Roy’s Peak, near Wanaka, at 1,600 metres. A year later, another on Mt Alpha. In 2002, in the Moke Valley, and again in the Sinbad Valley the next year. In the summer of 2004-05, the Kathmandu survey, aided by Puti Puti Rapua, a specially-trained lizard sniffing w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

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Dave Hansford © ORIGIN NATURAL HISTORY

Contract wildlife officer Matt Charteris looks for signs of alpine geckos high in the Hopeless Basin, Nelson Lakes National Park. Part of a South Island-wide survey, Charteris’ search proved fruitless, but, he says, the work should continue; “because, for one thing, they’re unique. And they’re a valuable indicator species as to the health of the alpine environment. We don’t know how widespread or common they may have been, but potentially, they could have been a very important megafauna player up here.”

Rod Morris

dog, found more in the Rees Valley and the North Dunstans, and a new population of a creature provisionally dubbed H. "Cascades" near the Homer Tunnel. The 05-06 summer search found no new specimens, but did extend “Cascades” known range. Rod Hitchmough won’t be at all surprised to see more across his desk. He’s a DOC scientist charged with figuring out which geckos are new species, and which are simply different-looking variations on an already-described theme. Geckos are notoriously ‘cryptic,’ which means in one sense that they’re hard to spot, but more vexingly for him, that their familial relationships are somewhat obscure. But now, by analysing a particular gene, he can trace the family trees of the new geckos with confidence. They’re all thought to belong to two basic groups in the genus, Hoplodactylus; H. granulatus – a forest gecko – and H. maculatus, the common gecko. The new species bring our total gecko fauna to between 38 and 40, says Hitchmough. "We have eight described green geckos, and one undescribed. There are ten named brown geckos and 20 undescribed. Plus there are a few more that we’re not certain of – possible, but not likely, new species.” “New Zealand geckos seem to have started speciating about 30 million years ago, which was when the Oligocene drowning happened and New Zealand was reduced to an archipelago.” Subsequent glaciations, he says, probably split populations further into discrete groups that eventually became genetically distinct. Maybe it was during those ice ages that the geckos evolved their extraordinary alpine coping skills. Nobody has even begun to look at their ecology or physiology, but certainly, says Hitchmough, it must be pretty special for them to survive in some of the places they do. “They probably grow very slowly and breed very slowly. They’re cold blooded, so they must be torpid and inactive for large chunks of the year. It may be that they can avoid freezing by crawling deep into crevices, or even that they let themselves freeze, as do some weta and frogs.” If those glaciers, or introduced predators, once drove geckos up here into the Hopeless Basin, they seem to have checked out for good. As I stumble about on the wobbly rocks, gaudy alpine grasshoppers hurl themselves away from my feet, cartwheeling off the rocks. I’m struck by a sense of irony; maybe they adopted such reckless behaviour to escape the very geckos we’re vainly seeking – a phantom menace. Even an old shed skin or dropping

Harlequin gecko, Stewart Island

will do, but all my “skins” turn out to be sheetwebs, and gecko droppings, it turns out, looks frustratingly similar to a pipit’s. What I do find, in abundance, are possum droppings. A look at my altimeter tells me that they routinely come up to 1,500 metres to feed – or hunt. So Charteris’ mast fears could be well-founded. Nevertheless, Hitchmough says we’ve yet to meet maybe 20% of our reptile fauna. "I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we eventually find that there are over a hundred reptile species in New Zealand, because there are similar numbers of skinks, and they’re still being discovered as well." Goodman too, is convinced that more geckos lurk under boulders in the South Island High Country. “People have gone to locations where they know damn well the geckos are, yet they couldn’t find them. They can go back two or three times, then find them on the fourth. Just because they haven’t been found in those northern sites, doesn’t mean they’re not there.” But if they are, it’ll be climbers or trampers that find them, because the

Kathmandu money stopped at the end of this season. Goodman is upbeat though, because backcountry travellers have actually proved more successful than DOC at finding geckos. “In the first year ... we got five new records from eight public sightings.” So posters now hang in alpine huts, pamphlets sit on Kathmandu counters and adverts grace the pages of outdoors magazines. With advocacy like that, says Charteris, “you can have a thousand people a year looking for alpine geckos.” He says these craggy tussocklands are dear to many New Zealanders, but they’re well overdue for scientific study – and protection. “I think we should be expressing a concern about the alpine environment in general,” “If we have rehabilitation aims for the high country, then it’s important to understand the processes that drive it.” “We don’t know how widespread or common [the geckos] may have been, but potentially, they could have been a very important megafauna player. They would F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

Dave Hansford © ORIGIN NATURAL HISTORY

Dunstan gecko, Dunstan Range.

Rod Morris

Contract wildlife officer Matt Charteris leaves no stone unturned in his quest to find alpine geckos high in the Hopeless Basin, Nelson Lakes National Park.

have been seed dispersers – regulated invertebrate populations. If they’ve disappeared, what are the consequences of that loss? Maybe the butterfly and moth communities are quite different now. Goodman agrees. “If we don’t know what we have, we don’t know what we’re losing. We’re getting different species of gecko where we’re finding different species of weta, so we’re seeing distinct patterns – it all helps us to understand our biota.” In any event, Charteris isn’t inclined to panic over the geckos – yet. “They’ve had 200 years of pressure from predators already. They may even have some sort of coping strategy.” But, he adds, “It’s difficult to imagine that they weren’t formerly common in this environment – and they’re not now. We wouldn’t want to leave it too long – we may have witnessed the disappearance of these things from the Travers within the last 30 years. “The next step should be some time on the ground researching those populations we’ve discovered get a handle on density, breeding, life history. That would be really important. We have to learn a lot more about how these things live.” Back at Hopeless Hut that evening, Thurley hangs a thermometer outside as fingers of chill shadow reach out from Mt Angelus and grasp the valley. If it stays above six degrees tonight – the geckos’ minimum operating temperature – they’ll go back up after dark, looking for gecko eyeshine in a spotlight, or listening for their croaky chirp. It’s difficult and dangerous work, and the pair are drawing deeply on their self-motivation. Yet Charteris remains optimistic. “We always knew it was going to be a challenge. But you need to keep an open mind – never give up.” If it’s good enough for the geckos to hang in there, it’s good enough for him. Dave Hansford of Origin Natural History Media is a Wellington-based writer and photographer.

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Rod Morris

Mt Creighton gecko, Moke Lake, Queenstown.

©Department of Conservation Te papa Atawhai/G H Sherley

Black-eyed gecko, Seaward Kaikoura Range.

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Your Beneficiaries

There are more of them than you realise! The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society has always understood the vital connection between people and nature. By including a bequest to the Society in your will, you can help ensure a brighter future for both. To make a bequest, please use the following language in your will: I give to the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Incorporated a _____% share of my Estate (or the sum of $___________) for its general purposes. A receipt given on behalf of the Society will be a complete discharge to my trustees for the gift. To find out more, call for a free brochure. Sarah Crawford, Membership Administrator, Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Incorporated, PO Box 631, Wellington, Freephone 0800 200 064 Email: s.crawford@forestandbird.org.nz

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F O R E S T & B I R D â&#x20AC;˘ M AY 2 0 0 6

Brian Chudleigh

One good turn

A white-fronted tern (tara) feeds its chick, one of 300 that fledged at Tern Island over summer thanks to rat control at the site.

This past summer has been a season of unprecedented breeding success for blackbilled gulls and whitefronted terns at Tern Island in the Bay of Plenty, thanks largely to the efforts of Forest & Bird members Meg and Mike Collins. Meg Collins writes about the pleasure – and hard work – involved in seeing the island and its birdlife begin to flourish. Photographs by Brian Chudleigh.

UR house looks out on Tern Island (Whangakopikopiko), an 11 hectare sand island in Ohiwa Harbour, just off Ohiwa Spit in the Bay of Plenty. Two years ago, as keen conservationists, we began to think about controlling pests on the island, and approached Matt Cook from the local Department of Conservation (DOC) office. We decided to start by controlling rats, as they were causing the most damage. Our efforts were rewarded after 18 months of rat control, in late November 2005, when a breeding colony of coastal birds formed at the north-east end of the island, comprising black-billed and redbilled gulls (tarapunga), white-fronted terns (tara), New Zealand dotterels

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(tuturiwhatu), Caspian terns (tara-nui) and variable oystercatchers (torea-pango). By January this year, 11 bird species were nesting on the island, sharing it with the migrant Arctic waders that spend the summer in New Zealand, such as eastern bar-tailed godwits (kuaka) and Pacific golden plovers. Monitoring with 10 tracking tunnels after Christmas 2005 brought further proof of successful rat eradication. Much to our delight, no signs of rats were found when these were inspected. By the end of January, 200 black-billed gull chicks, 300 white-fronted tern chicks, 40 red-billed gull chicks and three New Zealand dotterel chicks had fledged. To our surprise, 50 white-fronted terns even laid a second clutch in early February. Visiting bird photographer Brian Chudleigh commented that, although variable oystercatchers lay two or three eggs in a clutch, usually they are lucky to raise just one or two chicks. This year on Tern Island 12 pairs of variable oystercatchers fledged 23 chicks. The previous year just two fledged. The 200 black-billed gulls that bred at the site this year make up more than 1% of the global population of this endangered species, which means that Tern Island would qualify as a wetland of international significance under the prestigious Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Although the Caspian terns did not nest here this season, they were useful ‘guard birds’ at the colony, keeping the larger black-backed gulls (karoro) away from the area and screeching at other intruders. The behaviour of these birds, which we watched through our telescope, was

striking for the level of co-operation displayed. For example, we saw whitefronted terns and red-billed gulls together chasing black-backed gulls away from their chicks and nests. Two of the four pairs of New Zealand dotterel fledged three chicks, and we heard six fernbirds and saw a banded rail. The fernbirds and banded rail benefited from the rat control, but we were unable to determine how many chicks they fledged. We enjoyed watching the terns flying in with small fish, some as long as ten centimetres – almost as big as the tern chicks, which then tried to swallow the fish whole. With the harbour full of fish over the summer, the adult birds did not have far to travel to feed. We also observed that black-billed gulls have a gentler disposition than their redbilled cousins, which are noisier and more territorial. As we learned more about blackbilled gulls, we made contact with Tony Habrakan, who monitors the species throughout New Zealand. He told us that only two of their five breeding areas in the South Island had been used by the gulls this year and their breeding area around the Rotorua lakes had not been used at all. “We are very pleased with the success on Tern Island,” he says. “Having 200 young chicks fledge is great news for the species, which is having a hard time because suitable habitat is declining.” Matt Cook at DOC in Whakatane was also enthusiastic. “We are only too pleased to help communities protect environments close to their homes,” he said. “Our resources can only stretch so far, and it is especially pleasing that New w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Brian Chudleigh

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Variable oystercatcher (toreapango) with chicks.This year 12 pairs fledged 23 chicks. Last year just two fledged.

on with our restoration work, and look forward to continuing support from Forest & Bird, DOC and Environment Bay of Plenty. Students from Waiotahi Primary School have also got involved. They have collected kanuka seed from the island, which they will be germinating and growing on in a greenhouse back at their school. When the seedlings are big enough and the rabbits gone, the children will help with a replanting programme over the next three years.

White-fronted terns can be rather capricious in their choice of breeding site, tending to move around a lot, so perhaps they and the black-billed gulls will return to breed later this year. But even if they don’t appear next season, Tern Island will continue to be a safe haven for the other coastal birds that are now breeding here. Meg Collins is a Committee Member of the Eastern Bay of Plenty Branch of Forest & Bird and a former Regional Councillor for Environment Bay of Plenty.

Brian Chudleigh

Zealand dotterels are nesting there. They are certainly having a tough time on the mainland with four-wheel-drive vehicles, dogs and people.” Tern Island is a Wildlife Refuge and the public should not land there during the crucial summer breeding season as they could disturb breeding – all landings are by permit only. To help us protect the site, the Eastern Bay of Plenty Branch of Forest & Bird paid for temporary signs during the summer advising the public not to land. New signs will be put up next breeding season, along with a pamphlet explaining the ecology of the island and its international significance for migrant wading birds and the two globally threatened species present, New Zealand dotterel and black-billed gull. The unprecedented success of this past breeding season is just the start of a longer-term restoration we are planning for Tern Island. Next year we would like to tackle the rabbits and remove pest plants, particularly blackberry and pampas, to help the native plantlife flourish. At the western end of the island there is a stand of kanuka where the understorey is dominated by sea couch, sea rocket, Muelenbeckia complexa and the local club rush, Isolepis nodosa. The sandfields include spinifex, and further inland, grassland species include Yorkshire fog, tall fescue, jointed twig rush and oioi. In the band of saltmarsh skirting the southern side of the island you can find sea rush tussock-land, a small stand of marsh ribbonwood, mangroves, sea primrose, flax and several small pohutukawa. However, until the rabbits are removed, regeneration of the existing native flora will be held back and supplementary planting would be a wasted effort. Mike and I are determined to keep

Brian Chudleigh

Endangered black-billed gull (tarapunga) with juvenile, one of 200 that fledged at Tern Island over summer. This is the most threatened species of gull in the world.

Meg and Mike Collins

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

Rod Morris

goingplaces

Ulva Island Open Sanctuary and Marine Reserve Ulva Island is a beautiful open sanctuary and marine reserve in Paterson Inlet on the eastern side of Stewart Island/Rakiura. To visit this 269-hectare island sanctuary and the adjoining 1,075-hectare marine reserve is to step – or snorkel – back in time. Words by Michael Szabo.

Site description

T is the impressive array of intact native forest, ancient plantlife and endemic birdlife, including two representatives of the oldest bird families in New Zealand – Stewart Island brown kiwi (tokoeka) and Stewart Island rifleman (titipounamu) – which help make a visit to Ulva Island special. The dense lowland podocarp forest is typical of southern New Zealand, dominated by mature rimu, southern rata and kamahi, and stands of Hall’s totara and miro. Once you are inside the forest there is a diverse understorey of broadleaf species and smaller plants, including filmy ferns and our most ancient plant – the tuatara of the plant kingdom – Tmesipteris (pro-

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nounced mis-ip-trus). Tmesipteris is the plant that time forgot – a dark waxy-leaved plant which grows no more than 10 centimetres tall, but has remained much the same for 400 million years. Like lanternberry, Tmesipteris can be seen growing close to parts of the track on the island, although lanternberry is a relative youngster, with a lineage that dates back just 100 million years. The larger rimu here host their own worlds of epiphytes, native orchids – including the white-flowered ladies slipper orchid – and southern rata. Now add the island’s profuse birdlife to complete the scene. Ulva Island is arguably one of the best places to see a

Stewart Island brown kiwi (tokoeka) can be seen at Ocean Beach and Mason Bay.

wide range of Stewart Island species and subspecies in close proximity, in particular the endangered yellowhead (mohua) or bush canary. Stewart Island brown kiwi and Stewart Island weka have been reintroduced, along with Stewart Island saddlebacks (tieke) – descended from the Big South Cape population – Stewart Island robins (toutouwai), and Stewart Island rifleman. Weka are quite abundant, especially at the four main beaches, so it pays to keep an eye out for adult birds with chicks during the summer. There are just 20 pairs of kiwi on the island, so visitors are much less likely to see them. If you want to see kiwi, nearby Ocean Beach or Mason Bay, which is on the west coast of Stewart Island, are more reliable locations. All the reintroduced bird species have fared well. Thirty saddlebacks were released in 2000 and numbers are now at 170. From 20 Stewart Island robins released in 2000 there are now 106. And the 30 South Island rifleman released in 2003 have increased to 50. South Island kaka, tomtit (ngiringiru), red-crowned and yellow-crowned parakeets (kakariki), and brown creeper (tititi) abound, as do more familiar species such as tui, bellbird (korimako), kereru w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

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Rod Morris

Yellow-crowned kakariki is the smaller of the two parakeet species present on Ulva Island.

Rod Morris

Michael Szabo

Tmesipteris, the tuatara of the plant kingdom.

Yellowhead (mohua) or bush canary.

Michael Szabo

and fantail (piwakawaka). Stewart Island is also the southern limit of several native species, including kingfisher (kotare), reef heron (matuku moana) and long-tailed cuckoo (koekoea). The incredible variety of bird song and calls bring the forest to life: the cheerful, melodic whistle of the bush canary, the loud refrain of the larger Stewart Island robin, the chattering of kakariki, the squawk of kaka, the explosive call of the saddleback, and the unmistakable weka. The birdlife thrives because Norway rats were eradicated from Ulva Island in 1995. While reinvasion by rats is an ongoing issue – two were caught on the island last summer – there is a trapping bait station network set up to control them. One of the most uplifting sights here is a mixed flock of mohua, kakariki, brown creeper and fantail moving through the forest, feeding in a group. There is a record of a mohua from Stewart Island in the late 1800s, suggesting they would have originally lived here. Since 27 mohua were transferred to Ulva Island from the Blue Mountains in West Otago in 2001 numbers have been increasing on the island. Mohua have produced at least 20 offspring since 2001, with the estimated population put at 44 in 2004.  The presence of little blue penguins (kororoa) and Stewart Island shags around the coast is another point of interest. It is also possible to see yellow-eyed (hoiho) and Fiordland crested penguins (tawaki) off the coast on the way to or from the island, although a boat trip on Paterson Inlet is a more reliable way to see these rarer species. Established in 2004, the marine reserve contains highly diverse kelp forests and one of the world’s richest habitats for brachiopods or lamp shells, the most ancient of filter feeding shellfish. Abundant in prehistoric oceans 300-550 million years ago during the Palaeozoic period, living examples of lamp shells are now comparatively rare. Stewart Island has more varieties of seaweed than anywhere else in New Zealand, with 70% or 261 species present in Paterson Inlet. The inlet is an ancient river valley which has been submerged. The rivers that flow into it carry little sediment. As a result, inlet waters support a wide range of marine plants and animals, including kina, sea cucumbers and starfish. Seaweed forests provide habitat for diverse populations of fish and marine mammals and meadows of red seaweed grow on the sand where they provide important shelter for scallops. But be warned, the water here is cold so don’t forget to bring a wetsuit if you plan to go snorkeling.

Leopard seals have a diet that consists of other seals, penguins, squid, fish and krill, and range from the Antarctic pack ice to southern New Zealand, with stragglers occasionally hauling out at Stewart Island. F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

goingplaces

Michael Szabo is Forest & Birdâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Communications Manager. A pied-phase Stewart Island shag.

Michael Szabo

ACCESS to Ulva Island is by modestly priced water taxis, which depart quite regularly during the summer from Golden Bay and are easy to book from the DOC office in Halfmoon Bay, Oban. The ride to the island takes about 10 minutes each way during calm weather. Once on the island there is a series of easily walkable tracks accessible from the wharf at Post Office Bay on the north coast of the island where water taxis drop off and pick up. Flagstaff Point is a 10minute walk from the wharf. Sydney Cove, where there is a sheltered open hut and picnic area with interpretive signs, is a 20 minute walk direct from the wharf. You can also walk the Conservation Walk loop, which takes about 40 minutes from the wharf to the cove. Allow 20 minutes for a return walk to the wharf via Flagstaff Point. Weka are likely to be seen at this, the largest of the beaches accessible from the tracks. It is also a good place to snorkel, dive or kayak. It is a one-and-a-half-hour return walk from the wharf to Boulder Beach, which also has weka. It is worth pausing at the seat halfway along the track to take in the view of the forest. The walk to West End Beach is the longest, at two hours return. The best time of year to visit is during spring or summer, especially when breeding forest birds such as mohua feed in the forest with their newly fledged chicks, which means they are easier to hear and see. The pre-breeding period in August can also be a good time because there are a lot of mohua calling at this time. It is possible to see flocks of dozens of mohua during the colder winter months.

Michael Szabo

Where and when to go

Stewart Island weka are quite abundant, especially on the main beaches around Ulva Island, such as Sydney Cove.

To Golden Bay

Paterson Inlet

Native Island

fic Of

Marine reserve

st Flagstaff Point

West End Beach

Sydney Cove

B er

Ulva Island

d ul

Marine reserve

Rod Morris

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1 Kilometre

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Fact file: Ulva Island The DOC Stewart Island Field Centre is on Main Road in Halfmoon Bay. Tel. 03 219 0002. Ruggedy Range Tours run daytime trips to Ulva Island and overnight trips to see kiwi at Mason Bay. Tel. 03 219 1066 mail@ruggedyrange.com www.ruggedyrange.com Bravo Adventure Tours can be contacted on Tel/Fax 03 219 1144 philldismith@xtra.co.nz Water taxis depart from Golden Bay. For visitor information and details of ferry crossings and flights see: www.visit.southlandnz.com www.stewartisland.co.nz/

Other sites nearby Getting to Stewart Island is part of the attraction – the ferry crossing from Bluff is renowned for southern seabird species such as albatrosses, penguins and petrels. Oban: The main settlement on Stewart Island has good numbers of kaka, tui and kereru, as well as some kakariki and weka. Nearby Mill Creek has white-faced heron, grey duck and kingfisher. Further

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along the same road, Butterworth Beach has spotted and Stewart Island shags, white-fronted terns, bellbirds and tomtits. Albatrosses can be easy to view from here when the small fishing boats come back to Oban and wash their decks offshore in the late afternoon or early evening. Last summer I found a large seal resting on the beach at low tide one afternoon which turned out to be a leopard seal, an Antarctic breeding species. Ackers Point: In the right conditions it is possible to see several species of albatross flying over Paterson Inlet from the lighthouse lookout area at Ackers Point, including Buller’s, Salvin’s, northern royal and white-capped albatross. Flocks of white-fronted terns and red-billed gulls feed near the coast here during spring and summer, and are sometimes joined by Antarctic terns. The presence of terns over the water may signal there are little blue penguins feeding below. It is also possible to see long-tailed bats at dusk. The whole peninsula here is pest-controlled which helps attract little blue penguins and sooty shearwaters to nest around the point. These can be seen and heard late at night during the breeding season when they

return to their burrows after dusk. Fur seals and elephant seals are sometimes seen near Fisherman’s Point. Ocean Beach: This is quite a reliable site for Stewart Island kiwi. A commercial boat trip here with Bravo Adventure Cruises also offers the chance to see sooty shearwaters, mottled petrels, cape pigeons and various albatrosses on the way out before darkness falls during summer. A three-hour search of the forest and beach area was rewarded with a close encounter with a kiwi the night I did the trip. The small group of visitors that night spent half an hour watching the kiwi probing the forest floor for food.

Tui De Roy/Roving Tortoise Photos

Access and tours

Fiordland crested penguins.

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

Itinerant Ecologist Itinerant Ecol– Geoff Park

McIntyre's River

HE LANDSCAPES I love most are more than scenes. Their beauty is as much a matter of the health and wellbeing of the ecosystems of which they are part and the ecological processes that have made them what they are, as how attractive they appear. In the midst of my learning this, in the early 1970s, I found myself living in the Australian high country, missing New Zealand awfully. I have been intrigued ever since with the landscape I missed most. It wasn’t a home landscape, nor any to which an inveterate regard for wild country had taken me. It was a landscape that in the 1970s I knew only from paintings. It was the late Peter McIntyre’s Kakahi: a King Country corner where the Whanganui and Whakapapa rivers meet below papa cliffs and pumice terraces of paddocks and old kahikatea groves, and Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu peep over bush ridges. It takes a great artist to create in you a regard for a place you haven’t visited, to communicate that intangible something that attracts your attention and sympathy. By the time I encountered McIntyre’s

Kakahi in the flesh, so to speak, it was not so much his painted landscapes that attracted my attention as his superbly observed evocation of its forests and trees, kahikatea especially. Later in the 1970s, the state of lowland kahikatea forests, and the history of their vanishing as the colonising farm took their river flats and terraces, began becoming a preoccupation. In the process, my ecologist eye became honed to the myriad nuances of kahikatea much as an Inuit hunter’s might to the nuances of snow. As is evident in the book of his Kakahi paintings and drawings, McIntyre’s artist eye did too. Kakahi’s river flats and terraces carry kahikatea forests of a range of ages. Most of his drawings of them are sketches, but you can discern the still slightly conically-crowned kahikatea down on Whakapapa Island between the two rivers, where he said it was like walking under the high Gothic windows of a cathedral, from the more ancient ones heavy with epiphytes on the terrace created after the Taupo Eruption, on which Kakahi village stands. McIntyre’s Kakahi kahikatea images reflected his knowing “every track in the surrounding bush.” He drew the older trees to illustrate what vanished from

“From the lawn of my cottage the early morning mists roll and tumble across the river.” Peter McIntyre, from Kakahi New Zealand, Reed, 1972

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Old kahikatea on the Taupo Eruption terrace. Peter McIntyre, from Kakahi New Zealand, Reed, 1972

Kakahi country in the logging era; “the end of some of the most magnificent and beautiful forest in the whole world.” They survived because Kakahi in its prime was a station on the North Island Main Trunk Railway. Puawai Scenic Reserve was gazetted in 1908, the same year the line opened – in the first phase of scenery preservation – for tourists to see at least something of the bush that almost everywhere else by then had been converted to burnt stumps and paddocks. What McIntyre called “a reserve on the edge of the village adding much to the charm of Kakahi” is in fact one of the best and oldest preserved kahikatea forests in the North Island. He discovered Kakahi’s charm completely by chance in the early 1960s, when he and his family somewhat reluctantly changed their summer plans and took up a fishing invitation, when the Whakapapa river had hardly a willow amongst its wild bush. “At last” he wrote in his Kakahi book, “a place where we could explore and wander, where the beauty and charm were provided by Nature, not Nature organised by man.” He’d soon brought a strip of cliff-top paddock edged with kanuka and built a verandahed cottage looking “across to a long pool in the river under the bush … nothing but bush and river for miles – not a red roof in sight.” “We have the perfect thing” he told a Listener reporter in 1969, at the height of his fame and popularity; “… the perfect river, the bush around it and the birds.” But he knew already that the perfect river was threatened. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Underwriting McIntyre’s Kakahi is a sense of it as “a perfect miniature New Zealand, a sort of preservation … in a country of fast-disappearing wilderness.” He considered it a refuge from a tortured world. As walking every track, observing the details of the bush that his art demanded, led McIntyre to know Kakahi’s forests so well, “knowing every pool on the river” from fishing it, revealed the Whakapapa’s ecology. But no sooner than it did so, the artist at the river was having to become a conservation activist. In 1964 Peter McIntyre went public with his anxiety about the “sacrifice on the altar of progress … of one of the most beautiful rivers in New Zealand.” A decade earlier, the Government had commissioned a London firm to appraise the prospect of harnessing the headwaters of the Waikato and adjoining rivers for an engineering project that barely 30 years later the Treasury was describing as one of New Zealand’s most misguided. The artist on the river at Kakahi was its most immediate and vociferous opponent, The Listener calling him the ‘champion of unspoiled countryside … who coined the now-famous phrase “philistine with a bulldozer,” a repute that also brought nasty letters and public ministerial rebukes about “selfish motives.” In 1973, the lowering of the Whakapapa “an established fact,” McIntyre told readers of Wellington’s Evening Post that, at the level proposed, “the Whakapapa as a river will be ruined; it will simply cease to be a river.” For his last quarter-century

of summers he described it as “trickles between vast areas of dry boulders.” With the lowered flows came a new river ecology. Invasive willows and buddleia spread like wildfire. In 1976, Bryan Haggitt, a McIntyre neighbour who’s known the Whakapapa since 1946 when willows were a curiosity, photographed them shrouding both banks, their crowns almost touching, where McIntyre had fished sparkling pools beside kahikatea, totara and matai. By 1982, the once main channel of the

“At last”. . . “a place where we could explore and wander, where the beauty and charm were provided by Nature, not Nature organised by man” Whakapapa below their clifftop had ceased to flow because of willow infestation. McIntyre died in 1995, the year before a succession of floods; “…just in time, I think” says his daughter Sara. After the 1996 and 1997 events, an anxious Bryan Haggitt told the regional council the willow growth was such that “the river is having to form a new course beyond the left bank and beyond the flood plain of the past 90 or more years.” The full flow is now directly into the McIntyre’s bluff uncovering ancient trees burnt and semi-petrified 2,000 years ago

by the Taupo Eruption. The worst was right beneath the McIntyre cottage. One more flood of the magnitude of ’96 and ’97 floods, he said “will cause it to slip away completely.” In 1998 it happened, but Kakahi rallied, emptied the cottage, and hauled it off its concrete pad, back across the paddocks to where it stands today. In my favourite McIntyre Kakahi painting, exquisitely-rendered young lancewoods are silhouetted between kanuka against autumn river mist. McIntyre’s grandson, Matthew, a fine artist himself, knew them as big trees with adult foliage. He was waiting for me the first time I went to Kakahi. We stepped over the cliff-top barrier and looked down to a scattering of black and white house tiles among the andesite river stones, before he nudged me and pointed out into space beyond. “The lancewoods were out there,” he said. Late in the years of lowered flow, a boilermaker at Taumaranui Hospital, a feisty character with an instinctive dislike of injustice and big government, turned up at Kakahi, and kept turning up. Peter McIntyre recognised a campaigning energy in him when his own was running out, and gave him use of a cottage with a view down the damaged river. Keith Chapple’s passion for the Whakapapa – and its whio – was soon being channeled into its restoration; “McIntyre’s River,” as he called their stretch of it, eventually getting its summer flow back, and Forest & Bird a National President who called Kakahi home.

Sara McIntyre

The new Whakapapa river-cliff formed by the 1997-99 floods.

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F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

in the field

Weedbusters!

Illustration courtesy of Weedbusters!

Words by Ann Graeme. Illustrations by Tim Galloway.

EW Zealand is a very special place for plants. It is one of only 30 internationally recognised centres of plant diversity in the world, a big distinction for a relatively small country. But a visitor’s first impressions of New Zealand are not likely to be of this wonderful native diversity, but of landscapes of exotic plants, many useful – but also many weeds. There are 2,345 native plant species and some 35,000 exotic (non-native) plant species in New Zealand. Of these exotic species, 2,375 have naturalised – they now live in the wild , where they now outnumber our native plant species. Over 300 exotic plant species are now serious environmental weeds, and 12-15 more go wild every year. These environmental weeds are aggressive. In a suitable environment where their own native competitors are absent, they all too often beat native species hands down, growing faster, seeding further and smothering native ecosystems. I got to know many of these alien invaders well and have in the past misguidedly nurtured many of them in my garden. There was the ladder fern, which I used to think was native. It spread like wildfire and took years to eradicate from our forest planting. There were the arum lilies that looked so pretty in the paddock – before they galloped down the drains and took over the wetland. There were the tiny grass plants which we gathered from the roadside, which grew into exotic pampas instead of native toetoe. And there was the Mexican daisy seedling I carried home wrapped in my handkerchief. Its descendants still pop up in my lawn, 30 years later. It’s people like me who are the reason that weeds are so widespread in New Zealand. Three-quarters of all environmental weeds originated as garden escapes or have been dumped in parks and waterways. Plants that may seem pretty and easy to grow to the gardener often turn out to be environmental weeds. The word “weed” means different things to different people. To some home gardeners, fumitory and chickweed are weeds but the dainty Mexican daisy which carpets the clay bank is a welcome plant.

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But while fumitory and chickweed are simply a short-lived and easily controlled nuisance, Mexican daisy is more sinister. Its seeds are wind and water borne, allowing it to invade forest margins and stream sides – even the cliffs of offshore islands. The weeds that threaten our native plants, our natural heritage and our economy, are “pest plants” listed in regional councils’ pest management strategies. It is illegal to spread or sell them, but many still live in our gardens. “But I love my agapanthus,” some garden enthusiasts say. “It’s a carpet of blue flowers all summer and it’s so easy to establish on difficult banks.” Agapanthus is easy to establish in the wild, too, and it is popping up all over the Waitakere forest, from wind-blown seed and tubers from dumped garden rubbish. It is also a threat to native plant communities on rocky headlands, offshore islands and even sand dunes. If you care about protecting native New Zealand species please consider the plant alternatives. There are other plants, both native and exotic, which can replace invasive weeds: • Jasmine (Jasminum polyanthum) smothers forest margins and open forest. Replace it with star jasmine, Trachelospermum jasminoides. It is less rampant but just as pretty and scented. The native jasmines (Parsonsia spp.) also have pretty, scented flowers. • Blue agapanthus can be replaced with colourful day lilies (Hemerocallis spp.) or the native rengarenga lily (Arthropodium cirratum ) which bears sprays of starry white flowers in spring and whose grey-green foliage crowds out weeds. • Mexican daisy (Erigeron karvinskianus) can be replaced with the sun-loving New Zealand daphne (Pimelea prostrata) which forms a dense mat with sweetly scented flowers. • The helicopter seeds of the sycamore tree (Acer pseudoplatanus) are invading native forests, shrubland, tussockland and riversides. The saplings form dense stands which prevent the re-establishment of native species. In the greater Wellington region, sycamore is becoming one of the most serious threats to native forests. Sycamores can be replaced with a host of benign species, small native trees such as kowhai or tree fuchsia, big native trees like titoki, totara, or w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

less invasive exotic species such as maples and birches. • Both arum lily and its cultivar “green goddess” thrive in both deep shade and full sun. They rampage in damp, shady wetlands, swiftly displacing the endangered native wetland plants. You could plant instead the plantain lily (Hosta spp.) with its variegated leaves. Another shade-loving alternative is the magnificent Chatham Islands forget-me-not (Myosotidium hortensia). • Monkey apple or lilly pilly (Acmena smithii) may be an attractive hedge but it seeds prolifically into shaded areas and can quickly replace native forest. Better to plant a range of native species to attract birds, such as titoki, towai, houhere, puka, taupata and kawakawa. Among the non-natives, try camellias, philadelphus, magnolias or laurel. It pays to think carefully in your garden. I learned the hard way, (and my husband the even harder way, as he had to exterminate the weeds I planted), but now our garden, bush and wetland are almost weed-free – and beautiful too. For more information about invasive weeds and planting alternatives, DOC’s guide “Plant Me Instead” is available from bookstores and garden centres. Visit the Weedbusters! website at: www.weedbusters.org.nz Acknowledgements John Sawyer, Plant Ecologist, Wellington DOC and Jack Craw, Biosecurity Manager, ARC.

Forest Friendly Campaign

N the early 1990s botanists and conservationists realised that native ecosystems might be even more endangered by weeds than they were by introduced animal pests. This was a radical idea at the time – some gardeners and garden shops rejected any suggestion that they were the source of invasive weeds. Forest & Bird led the way in changing awareness. In 1993 we initiated the “Forest Friendly” campaign. This was the brain-child of Jack Craw, then Chair of Forest & Bird’s Northern Branch, President of the Noxious Plants Institute, and now Biosecurity Manager for Auckland Regional Council (ARC); and Fiona Edwards, then Auckland field officer. Forest & Bird members visited every garden centre in New Zealand, explaining the problem and asking them to refrain from selling a list of invasive plants, specific to each region. Those centres that agreed were presented with a Forest Friendly Award. The campaign increased public awareness of the damage invasive plants could do. It also set the stage for the first Regional Plant Pest Management Strategies in 1996 which made it illegal to grow or sell environmentally damaging plants. The mantle of the Forest Friendly Awards has in part now been passed on to “Weedbusters!”, a weeds awareness programme under the auspices of the New Zealand Biodiversity and Biosecurity Strategies.

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F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

branchingout

Forest & Bird champions honoured

ong-time Forest & Bird members Joan Leckie and Stan Butcher’s lifelong dedication to conservation has been honoured with Queens Service Medals in the 2006 New Years Honours. To say Joan and Stan are advocates of the natural environment is an understatement. Reading the list of activities they’ve been involved in and the difference they’ve made for conservation is a humbling exercise, but it is also a call to action. They are truly both examples of how individuals can make a difference.

Joan Leckie QSM

“A

tower of strength,” is how Forest & Bird Past President Dr Gerry McSweeney describes Joan. Joan joined Forest & Bird in the 1970s and has been involved at both local and national level. A past national secretary of the organisation, she also worked at Forest & Bird central office for nine years Joan made sure Forest & Bird staff and members fighting the battles for our forests had the administration and finances in place behind them, Gerry McSweeney says. She was also involved in the campaigns; writing letters, lobbying politicians and going on all the field trips and gatherings, and was very supportive of the new regional conservation officers. In particular Gerry McSweeney recalls how Joan worked very closely with Kevin Smith to help him set up his office in remote Hari Hari to become Forest & Bird’s first West Coast Conservation Officer. It was Forest & Bird’s push to stop logging in the 1970s that first got Joan involved with the organisation. “Save Manapouri Campaign firmed my resolve to work for our environment. It was a time when we really got swinging. We had so many members and so many activities around the country,” Joan says. She recalls a time when three busloads of “greenies” headed to Whirinaki to protest the logging of native timbers in

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Joan Leckie and Stan Butcher receiving their awards at Investiture in April from the Hon. Dame Silvia Cartwright, Governor-General and Patron of Forest & Bird.

Whirinaki Forest and were stopped by local citizens who had set-up a human road-block. “After talking to the people there we decided it was best to turn around that day, but it’s a fight we won in the end.” More recently Joan has applied similar tenacity to fighting for international status for the Manawatu Estuary under the prestigious Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Conservation Minister Chris Carter acknowledged that the hard work of Forest & Bird’s Horowhenua Branch and the Manawatu Estuary Trust, and Joan in particular as its chairwoman, were pivotal in obtaining international designation. “She is a champion for conservation and it was due to her vision and leadership that the case for Ramsar status was so successful. Mrs Leckie’s efforts from conception to completion have lead to the Manawatu Estuary being recognised worldwide,” the minister said.

Stan Butcher QSM

tan admits he’s got a reputation as a “bit of a weed man” within Forest & Bird. He was always the one on the track stopping to pluck non-natives from the side of the track before they could do more harm. At 83, Stan isn’t able to take strenuous hikes into the high country any more, but he’s still doing his part to keep weeds out of our wild places. In a typical week he might be planting natives on Matiu/Somes Island in Wellington Harbour one day and working on a restoration project at the Pauatahanui Inlet the next. Stan has served as a councillor for the Lower Hutt Branch of Forest & Bird numerous times and has been branch chair for the past seven years. He’s also served on the Pauatahanui Wildlife Reserve Committee with reforestation his main contribution. Stan’s 22 year devotion to Bushy Park – where he still goes three times a month – is legendary.

“Matiu/Somes Island is what it is today in large part due to the dedication and the vision of the Lower Hutt Branch,” Department of Conservation (DOC) Poneke area manager Peter Simpson says. “I remember Stan saying to me once that he has never been busier since retiring.  The native restoration work that Stan has been involved in since he ‘retired’ has become a living legacy for all New Zealanders.”  On Matiu/Somes Island the Lower Hutt Branch has been instrumental in transforming a rat-infested island that had served as a quarantine station – and served as an island prison during World War II – into a wildlife sanctuary. Alongside other committed volunteers, Stan has been involved in nearly every aspect of the restoration including planting, weeding and rat eradication. After 25 years, 90,000 natives have been planted and 2006 will see the last substantial planting. Peter Simpson says that when the primary planting of Matiu/Somes Island was completed and the kakariki were introduced there was a fear expressed that the birds would chew the bush plants. “Stan’s response was ‘that’s exactly why we put the plants there!’.” A similar story is told at Pauatahanui Inlet, where Stan and other Forest & Bird members have worked to restore the estuary. The Wildlife Service offered Forest & Bird the opportunity to manage the gorse covered head of the inlet in 1982. The answer was “yes” and since then local branches have been involved in a largescale restoration project. In a speech to Forest & Bird’s Annual General Meeting in 2000, then Minister of Conservation Sandra Lee singled Stan out as “advocating for tough ‘biosecurity’ long before the word was even coined.” Others have since followed, and the term has become common currency, but it took someone like Stan to lead the way – pausing only to pull out weeds as he went. Shelly Biswell w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Michael Szabo

L-R: DOC Director-General Hugh Logan, Forest & Bird General Manager Mike Britton, Ministry of Fisheries Chief Executive John Glaister, Seaweek National Coordinator Shelly Biswell at Island Bay.

Seaweek makes a splash

Hugh Logan, Ministry of Fisheries Chief Executive Dr John Glaister, and National Seaweek Coordinator Shelly Biswell to launch Seaweek at a public open day at Victoria University Marine Lab in Wellington. The event attracted 450 visitors and featured Forest & Bird’s new Save the Albatross survival game. Wellington KCC kids also took up a special invitation to join behind-the-scenes tours of the marine lab.

Michael Szabo

HILDREN around New Zealand got the chance to get in touch with the sea with the Kiwi Conservation Club (KCC) during Seaweek in March. KCC joined the NZ Association for Environmental Education (NZAEE) as a partner for the annual event, which was the most successful yet, with more than 130 events held around the country. Forest & Bird General Manager Mike Britton joined Department of Conservation (DOC) Director-General

Three of the new Forest & Bird staff based at Wellington central office: (L-R) Laura Richards, Kirstie Knowles and Helen Bain.

New staff appointments

IVE new staff have started working for Forest & Bird recently.

KIRSTIE KNOWLES is the Society’s new Conservation Advocate, based at our Wellington central office. Kirstie has a wealth of experience in conservation having previously worked in the UK, Cameroon, the Bahamas, the Philippines and New Zealand. She is a marine ecologist with a wide variety of experience advocating for marine protection. Most recently she worked in the Bahamas coordinating a marine research project and stakeholder integration into the management of marine protected areas. She can be contacted at central office or via email at: k.knowles@forestandbird.org.nz DR JAMES GRIFFITHS is the Society’s new Lower North Island Field Officer, based at our Wellington central office. He is an entomologist with specialised knowledge of katipo spiders and coastal w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

ecology. He recently returned from the UK where he worked for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). Prior to that he was a Technical Support Officer with the Department of Conservation in Gisborne and leader of the Weka Recovery Group. His area of responsibility covers Hawkes Bay, Taranaki and south of Taupo to Wellington. He can be contacted at central office or via email at: j.griffiths@forestandbird.org.nz JONATHAN MIDWINTER is the Society’s new Central North Island Field Officer, based in our Auckland office. He has worked as an agricultural technical officer and with the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service, and is currently completing a postgraduate diploma in Environmental Science. Jonathan’s area of responsibility covers the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Gisborne regions. He can be contacted on 09 631 7145 or via email: j.midwinter@forestandbird.org.nz

The winner is . . . THE winner of the draw for two pairs of Leica binoculars advertised in the February issue is Horowhenua Branch member Peter Robson of Te Horo Beach. He gave a gift membership to Katherine and Deanna Wake of Te Horo Beach. Peter and the recipients of the gift membership will both receive a pair of Leica Trinovid binoculars (8x25 or 10x25) worth $749.

HELEN BAIN is the Society’s new Communications Officer – Media Relations and Journalist, based at our Wellington central office. Helen was previously Political Editor at the SundayStar Times and an award-winning journalist at the Dominion-Post, most recently as a features and motoring writer. She has also worked as a ministerial press secretary at the Beehive, and comes to the job with extensive contacts. She can be contacted at central office or via email at: h.bain@forestandbird.org.nz LAURA RICHARDS is the Society’s new Communications Officer – Marketing & Promotions, based at our Wellington central office. Laura has a strong track record in marketing and advertising. She was Advertising Manager at Kirkaldie & Stains in Wellington and has previously worked for the advertising agencies Young & Rubicam, J. Walter Thomson, and Ogilvy & Mather in New Zealand, Australia and the UK. She can be contacted at central office or via email at: l.richards@forestandbird.org.nz GABRIELLE WILSON is the Society’s new Administration Officer, based at our Wellington central office. After moving to New Zealand from the UK she joined the Kiwi Conservation Club and then Forest & Bird. She has a keen interest in conservation having been a supporter of Mount Bruce and the Campbell Island Teal Recovery Programme at Wellington Zoo. She can be contacted at central office or via email at: g.wilson@forestandbird.org.nz F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

Judith Tyler

Michael Szabo

branchingout

Forest & Bird National President Dr Peter Maddison at Manawatu Estuary.

KCC coordinators at the predator-proof fence at Maungatautari.

Farewell to the birds

KCC coordinators gather

OREST & Bird National President Peter Maddison and Horowhenua Branch Chair Joan Leckie QSM joined members and supporters at the Manawatu Estuary on 4th March for the annual “Farewell to the Birds” event marking the seasonal departure of Arctic migrant waders on their way to Alaska and Siberia. Joan Leckie explained the importance of the estuary to visitors and Peter Maddison congratulated those involved in having the site listed under the Ramsar Convention for their successful efforts. Joan Leckie, who is also Chair of the Manawatu Estuary Trust, reported that the trust has raised funds and obtained resource consents to establish a new wetland visitor centre at an existing recreational area adjacent to the estuary to be built hopefully next year. The first snow of the year

was visible on the Tararua Range from the beach as the birds assembled on the sandspit at high tide with some of the bar-tailed godwits and knots already in their rusty-red breeding finery. During the guided walk to the sandspit participants enjoyed watching the birds close-up, which also included white-fronted, black-fronted and Caspian terns, and a rare migrant Hudsonian godwit bound for Alaska. There was also a group of wrybills newly arrived from their South Island braided river breeding grounds. These birds use the site as a wintering and migration stopover en-route to northern harbours and estuaries. It is the presence of these globally threatened birds that is one of the criteria that qualifies the site as internationally important under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

HE Kiwi Conservation Club (KCC) coordinators’ annual gathering took place at Lake Karapiro in January. Waikato KCC Coordinator Dr Chris Eames and Mary Loveless gave presentations on the theme of Environmental Education which were both challenging and reassuring. The 28 coordinators in attendance visited the predator-proof fence at

Maungatautari to see the impressive plant growth, no longer stunted by rats, possums and deer. Nelson KCC Coordinator Peter Kortegast and Trevor Thompson of Masterton also led the coordinators on a twilight kayak trip along a fern-laden gorge to see glow worms at a site nearby. Ann Graeme

Victory on the Kaipara the natural character, amenity and recreational values of the area. Kaipara Forest & Bird Chair Suzi Phillips said the decision sets a precedent. “It is an important victory for all the Kaipara communities because it not only protects the natural heritage values of the harbour, but also acknowledges the significant recreational values of the area.” Helen Bain

FOREST & Bird’s Kaipara Branch has won an Environment Court appeal against a 30-hectare mussel farm proposed on the Kaipara Harbour. The decision reverses the approval granted for a mussel farm between Te Kawau Point and Omokoiti Bay at South Head. The Court concluded that benefits from the proposal would be outweighed by significant adverse effects on

Notice of 83rd Annual General Meeting THE 83rd annual general meeting of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand Inc will be held in Wellington on Saturday 24th June 2006 at 8.30am in the Mecure Hotel and Conference Centre at 355 Willis Street. The business to be transacted will include the receipt of the annual accounts and annual report to members. All members are welcome. The meeting will be followed by the Society’s council meeting which is conducted by branch representatives.

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Small change helps kiwi and tuatara

HE 5c coin featuring the tuatara is due to be decommissioned from 31st July and the 20c coin which features a kiwi is being redesigned without a kiwi. Given both are threatened species that Forest & Bird is working to protect,

any members that would like to collect and donate these coins to help fund our conservation work can send in their cheque to: Sarah Crawford, Forest & Bird Central Office, PO Box 631, Wellington.

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BirdLife International

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Trinovids put through their paces Leica Trinovid 8 x 42 Field of view: 130m @ 1000m Close focusing: 3.1 metres Weight: 890 grams Guarantee: 30 years

HETHER it is to get a better view of a distant mountain or a bird that’s just too far away to see well enough with the naked eye, its always a pleasure to get out ‘in the field’ with a pair of binoculars. With so many outstanding binocular products now available the question arises: which pair to buy? When it comes to top of the range binoculars, there are only a few brands that really deliver the goods and Leica is one of them. Recent visits to Campbell Island and Stewart Island offered the opportunity to put a pair of Leica Trinovid 8 x 42 binoculars through their paces in a wide range of habitats and light conditions, not to mention weather. My first impression was of a sturdy, well-built pair of binoculars that are comfortable in the hand. The eye cups fit well and the ease of focusing was soon apparent. This model has two settings for focusing which allow the user either to focus and set

both eye pieces together or individually. Viewing a tui at Enderby Island I could very clearly see the green-blue sheen of the feathers as it sang from a bough, even though the natural light was rather dim at the time. A tricky one was identifying Campbell albatrosses from very similar black-browed albatrosses. This isn’t an easy task at the best of times, but the challenge was heightened by the movements of the ship, so I was pleased to be able to identify the Campbell birds by their pale, almost silvery eye colouring. It was similarly tricky to identify a Gibson’s wandering albatross from the two species of royal albatross that occur at sea. The dark edging to the upper tail feathers of the Gibson’s albatross and slight shadowing around the head, allowed for field identification. But with the movement of the ship and rapid swooping of the birds themselves this was by no means easy. Harder still was separating mottled petrels from Cook’s petrels, especially on a misty afternoon off the southern coast of Stewart Island. In the end it was the more striking contrast in the markings on the upper wings of the mottled petrels that gave them away in comparison to the paler and more uniformly shaded Cook’s petrels.

Friends of Galapagos New Zealand

ARWIN’S finches are just some of the species the Galapagos Islands are famed for. As is the case with New Zealand species, many endemic Galapagos species are threatened by introduced animals and invasive plants. Friends of Galapagos New Zealand has been set up by Julian Fitter, author of a book on Galapagos wildlife and a Vice-President of the UK-

based Galapagos Conservation Trust, to help conserve species such as Darwin’s finches. The steering committee includes Forest & Bird General Manager Mike Britton and Don Merton, formerly of DOC. If you would like more information on the society, please write to: Julian Fitter, PO Box 161, Takaka, or email julian@rovingtortoise.co.nz

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The dark eye of the black-browed albatross contrasts with the ‘honey’ eye of the Campbell albatross and is a distinguishing feature in the field – see page 19 for comparison.

The toughest test of all was watching Stewart Island kiwi by torchlight around midnight. The fact that details such as the barbed edging to the feathers and the distinctive brown colouring were discernible in very low light at night was, to my mind, the clincher. Binoculars capable of passing such a test are undoubtedly ‘first class’. What really stood out was the optical quality. Every time I put these binoculars to my eyes and surveyed the scene the image was extremely sharp and crisp, somehow managing to be bright enough even in relatively low light. They handled very well, although this could be a reflection of my own preference. They felt robust and substantial, and not too bulky, although this may be because I have comparatively large hands. At 890 grams they might be a little on the weighty side for some people, but then Leica will tell you they have the lighter Ultravid range to try. But that’s another story. If the $2099 price tag puts you off, it’s worth considering this is around $1.30 a week over the 30 year guarantee. As always, do go out and test them for yourself to see if they meet your own needs. Michael Szabo

Youth in conservation

EENAGERS are digging in and learning about conservation by getting involved with native plantings in the Upper Clutha Basin. In 2005 Forest & Bird’s Upper Clutha Branch created a Youth in Conservation group to encourage teenagers to learn about conservation by helping with planting projects. For the first two plantings Mount Aspiring College students, Forest & Bird members and the public planted native species on the

Millennium Walkway near Lake Wanaka. Two more plantings in the same location are planned for later this year. One student is now involved on a weekly basis in putting rabbit protection around the young plants, and other students have agreed to help check stoat traps. The Upper Clutha Branch has awarded Forest & Bird memberships to 10 people who have shown a strong commitment to the project. Shelly Biswell F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

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Michael Szabo

Winter getaways at Ruapehu Lodge

Forest & Bird thanks the following for their support: National Support

Auckland and Ark in the Park Lake Karioi

FOREST & BIRD members and their guests can experience the best of New Zealand’s natural heritage at our members’ lodge at Tongariro National Park. Nestled between a mountain stream and beech forest, the lodge commands an outstanding view of Mt Ruapehu, and is 600 metres from Whakapapa Visitor Centre. The lodge is within easy reach of several of the area’s most diverse and spectacular landscapes, including alpine herbfields, native forests, lakes and the dramatic volcanic panorama of Mt Tongariro, Mt Ruapehu and Mt Ngauruhoe. The area is renowned for a wide variety of outdoor activities to suit all interests and ages. Bird species in the area include blue duck, falcon, kaka, dabchick and scaup. Lodge guests can also enjoy walking, scenic chairlift rides, skiing, fishing, caving, horse riding, golf, garden tours, relaxing in thermal pools or exploring the park’s unique flora and fauna, and can dine in style at the nearby Grand Chateau – or in the lodge’s own well-equipped kitchen. The Lodge accommodates 32 people in four bunkrooms (BYO bedding), is electrically heated and also has a large wood burner in the living area. It is equipped with drying rooms, hot water, showers, toilets and a telephone (local calls only). Use of the Lodge is available to Forest & Bird members and their guests at heavily discounted rates. At only $22.00 for adult members ($26.00 for adult guests) and $16.00 for student members ($20.00 for student guests), it is an affordable getaway not to be missed. Reservations must be made through Forest & Bird’s Central Office, PO Box 631, Wellington, Phone (04) 385 7374, Fax (04) 385 7373 or Email at: office@forestandbird.org.nz Book early to avoid disappointment!

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Caretaker for Ruapehu Lodge A caretaker is required for Forest & Bird’s Ruapehu lodge during the winter of 2006. Free accommodation (own bedroom) is offered in return for cleaning and supervision of maintenance. For further information contact Tracy Hinton: t.hinton@forestandbird.org.nz or phone 04 385 7374

JS Watson Conservation Trust Applications are invited from individuals or conservation groups for financial assistance for conservation projects for the 2006-2007 year. For further information email office@forestandbird.org.nz or write to: JS Watson Conservation Trust Forest and Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington Preliminary applications close Tuesday 6 June 2006

4 4 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

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Freephone: 0800 111 466•Web: www.nopests.co.nz

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NEWS Conservation PUBLISHED FOR FOREST & BIRD MEMBERS

No. 142 MAY 06

Jigging would reduce sealion death toll, Government told New2000 Zealand pup, Auckland Islands. Newsealion Zealandandsealions have been

drowned in squid nets since 1980.

Rod Morris

The annual killing of protected New Zealand sealions in the southern squid fishery could be dramatically reduced closer to zero by applying alternative methods of fishing such as jigging, Forest & Bird has told the Government following its announcement of a 55% mid-season increase in the allowable number of New Zealand sealions killed by the southern squid fishery. “There is no new scientific evidence to justify Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton’s April decision to increase the annual New Zealand sealion kill quota from 97 to 150 animals,” Forest & Bird General Manager Mike Britton says.  The theoretical population model being used by Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton to justify the increase is also flawed. It has, for example, failed to predict the documented decline in sealion pup productivity recorded in recent years. Forest & Bird understands the Minister received more than 1,200 submissions opposing any increase in the New Zealand sea lion ‘kill quota’. In contrast, very few are likely to have been made in support of increasing the ‘kill quota.’ Forest & Bird is deeply concerned that Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton has set a precedent. This gives the squid fishing industry the message that threatened New Zealand sealions are expendable if there are more squid to be caught. On this basis there is no incentive for the squid fishers

to improve their techniques or use different fishing methods which avoid killing sea lions. In fact it does quite the opposite. Jigging offers a safer alternative and is used successfully in the Falkland Islands. It would also result in better quality squid being brought to market because trawling does more damage to the squid caught. A big ‘thank you’ goes to the 1,200 members and supporters who made submissions opposing the increase in the kill quota.  Forest & Bird is now determined

to campaign for the adoption of squid fishing methods that do not kill the world’s most threatened sealion species and will redouble efforts to persuade the minister to reduce the number the southern squid fishery is allowed to kill closer to zero when he sets it for 2007 later this year.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Write expressing your concern to Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton at Parliament Buildings (Freepost), Wellington, or by email: janderton@ministers.govt.nz

Crucial Wairau River hearings start in June

▲ Endangered black-fronted terns are at risk from the proposed hydroelectric scheme.

Public attention will be focused on hearings due to start in Nelson on 12th June into TrustPower’s controversial application for resource consents to build a hydroelectric scheme on the Wairau River.  These will be substantial hearings with the exchange of evidence now well underway. Forest & Bird is coordinating closely with other submitters that seek to protect the river from the proposed hydro scheme, including Fish & Game and Save the Wairau River Incorporated. The Wairau River is important habitat for many specialist bird, fish, invertebrate and plant species. Of particular importance is the black-fronted tern, an endangered endemic species facing population decline.

Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand, PO Box 631, Wellington w(04) w w385 . f o 7374 r e s t •a Fax n d (04) b i r d385 . o r7373 g . n •z Email: Phone office@forestandbird.org.nz

Their numbers have decreased rapidly over the past decade. The greatest risk to them comes from introduced predators, with predation rates increasing as river flows fall and camouflaged nesting sites are exposed. The Ornithological Society (OSNZ) reported a 25% decline in black-fronted terns last year during a survey carried out at the Wairau River. The Wairau River is considered to hold the largest breeding population of black-fronted tern in the world.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Contact Top of the South Field Officer Debs Martin on (03) 545 8222 for more information or visit: www.forestandbird.org.nz

Join us at www.forestandbird.org.nz F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY

2 0 04 6 54 5

Forest & Bird has applauded the decision by Conservation Minister Chris Carter to decline an application for a new marina at Whangamata, on the Coromandel Peninsula. The original application included the proposed destruction of a significant area of saltmarsh habitat to make way for a car park. The subsequent Environment Court decision approving the application was flawed because it failed to consider vital ecological evidence – such as the importance of the site as habitat for the threatened banded rail (moho-pereru). The Minister was well within his rights to decline the marina application, as he has discretion to approve a coastal permit for this type of activity, and the Environment Court decision was not considered to outweigh the negative impacts of the marina. It is not the first time controversy has arisen over management of the estuary. In October last year a small group of residents illegally cleared an area of mangroves next to the main causeway into town. Since then more mangroves have been cleared, and a resident driving a tractor and mower through the mudflats has damaged seagrass beds. The Whangamata Harbour Care community group has applied for

David Pattemore

Whangamata marina decision applauded

▲ This saltmarsh, which is habitat for natioanlly threatened banded rail (inset), was the site of a proposed car park. permission to clear mangrove seedlings that establish on the edges of mature stands. Forest & Bird is concerned about some of the details in this proposal, but supports the general concept as it will help to allay community fears over unchecked mangrove growth. Forest & Bird looks forward to working with the community to ensure the

Whangamata Harbour Management plan will address the key threats to the harbour and determine priorities for future action. An estuaries seminar day will also be held in Hamilton, where experts will talk about the threats facing northern New Zealand harbours and estuaries, and what needs to be done.

Rare snails’ future hangs by a thread Just before Easter Conservation Minister Chris Carter and Associate Energy Minister Harry Duynhoven gave consent for Stateowned enterprise Solid Energy to move 250 endangered giant carnivorous snails so it can dig an open cast coalmine at Mt Augustus on the West Coast. Forest & Bird has expressed its disappointment at the ministerial decision, particularly because the ministers failed to follow DOC’s own expert advice, along with that of other experts, including the Royal Society, that the snails should have been left alone and no mining allowed. In August 2005, when Solid Energy applied for a permit from the local conservancy to hand transfer around 100 of the Powelliphanta “Augustus” snails, they considered that they did not need permission to mechanically move other snails with their habitat or to kill the remaining snails when clearing the site for the mine.  However, in December Forest & Bird succeeded in getting a High Court declaration that the Wildlife Act actually required the permission of both the Minister of Conservation and the Minister of Energy 4 6 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

for all of these activities.  DNA studies by Massey University have confirmed that P. “Augustus” is a separate species which diverged from its closest relative more than 1.5 million years ago. The Department of Conservation advised the Ministers that the destruction of over 90% of the snails’ only known habitat and the moving of some snails to an area which they have not previously occupied risked the giant land snails’ extinction.  The Ministers considered that the social and economic benefits of mining the coal outweighed the risks of the snails’ extinction. However, the economic justifications do not appear to have been well tested.  For example Solid Energy’s publicly stated figure that $400 million would be at risk if the permits were not granted is a worst case scenario. The value of the coal beneath the crucial five hectares of prime snail habitat would be just a fraction of that figure. Pulling back the mining boundary on this small portion of the Mt Augustus ridge would avoid the need to move nearly all the snails.    In making their decision the Ministers

set conditions which increased the number of snails to be transferred to 250 and required significant predator control and predator-proof fencing at the transfer sites. Solid Energy will also fund a captive rearing programme.  As this decision represents the first time that a Government has knowingly risked the avoidable extinction of a unique New Zealand species Forest & Bird is now considering its options including whether how the Ministers arrived at their decision is open to a Judicial Review.

Writing or sending emails to Ministers and MPs

The postal address is Parliament Buildings,

Wellington (no stamp required). Email addresses are firstname.lastname@parliament.govt.nz

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

Tenure review short changing conservation

▲ Lake Heron is a key breeding and feeding area for the nationally endangered Australasian crested grebe.

Offroad threat at Lake Heron DOC Canterbury’s enthusiasm to provide vehicle access around the southern shores of Lake Heron is threatening lakeshore wetlands, tussock grasslands, and peaceful enjoyment of the area’s spectacular landscapes. Lake Heron is the largest of the Hakatere/Ashburton Lakes and is a nature reserve and wildlife refuge. The land around it is central to Forest & Bird and Federated Mountain Clubs’ proposed Upper Rangitata/ Arrowsmith Range/Lake Heron Conservation Park and is home to high numbers of New Zealand scaup and a key breeding and feeding area for the nationally endangered Australasian crested grebe. Lake Heron’s southern shores are one of the few places in the Hakatere/Ashburton Lakes where walkers can escape vehicle noise and pollution. Yet DOC has recently carved a wide gravel road along 1.5 km of lakeshore, causing major landscape scarring, and against the advice of the Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board and Forest & Bird. Pressure from anglers means

the department is now likely to consider allowing vehicles even further along the lakeshore to Harrison’s Bight. Offroad vehicles have driven through red tussock wetlands, damaged glacial moraines and turned sections of the Swin riverbed, mouth and lake margins into a gravel road. DOC also proposes to remove nature reserve status from Lake Heron and nearby Maori Lakes to promote greater recreational use. Legislative change is needed so that nature and scenic reserves such as Lake Heron can be included in a conservation park, while retaining the greater protection of their Reserves Act status.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Email DOC South Island Operations Manager John Cumberpatch (jcumberpatch@doc.govt.nz) seeking protection of Lake Heron from further vehicle access and opposing the removal of nature reserve status. See www.forestandbird.org.nz for our submission.

Ruataniwha Conservation Park proposed DOC is seeking submissions on its proposed 37,000 ha Ruataniwha Conservation Park west of Twizel. The proposal involves 10 separate conservation areas comprising existing conservation land and lands previously part of three pastoral leases between Lakes Ohau and Pukaki. The Ohau skifield and conservation land next to Lake Ohau should also be included as an accessible public entrance to the park. The proposed park includes one of the few remnants of dryland Hall’s totara woodland that once covered drier slopes in Canterbury and North Otago, glacially w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

smoothed landscapes, the 1,522 metre Ben Ohau peak, beech forests rich in native mistletoe and habitat of the endemic Mackenzie Basin ground beetle. The Ruataniwha area was transfered to DOC in 1992 after a Forest & Bird campaign to stop Electricorp transferring it to Landcorp.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Support the proposed Ruataniwha Conservation

David Parker was appointed as Minister of Land Information in May. While acknowledging Pete Hodgson’s achievements as minister in improving the Government’s policy objectives for the high country, and supporting the establishment of a network of parks and reserves, Forest & Bird looks forward to working constructively with the new minister. A major challenge for David Parker will be ensuring there is better advocacy for and protection of the Crown’s interests during tenure review. For example, new research by Fulbright scholar Dr Ann Brower has confirmed Forest & Bird’s concerns about high country leaseholders being the major beneficiaries of tenure review. Dr Brower’s work also highlights Land Information New Zealand’s (LINZ) failure to adequately protect the public interest in the South Island high country. Tenure review is a process in which high country farmers have parts of their leasehold land freeholded, while other parts are put into the conservation estate. Of the 64 pastoral leases which completed tenure review from 1998-February 2005, the split has been 61% to 39% in favour of land becoming freehold against land being protected in the conservation estate. While 178, 288 hectares have been freeholded, just 114,013 ha have been protected. The Crown has also paid farmers $15.5 million in compensation for leasehold land. LINZ officials confirmed at a briefing to a parliamentary select committee in April that the freehold/ conservation split was “about 60/40”. The Government’s initial stated intention was a 50/50 split. Threatened indigenous vegetation, especially shrublands and wetlands, and significant lowland landscapes still go unprotected in tenure review proposals, and LINZ continues to allow lessees to burn, cultivate and clear tussock and shrublands in areas that DOC has recommended for protection.

Park in a submission to DOC, Private Bag 4715, Christchurch or email dforrester@doc.govt.nz F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

Stephens Island tuatara sharing a burrow with a fairy prion. This sometimes results in the tuatara eating prion chicks.

Give sharks a fair go  Forest & Bird made a submission in May on the Government’s proposed changes to both the Wildlife and Fisheries Acts Schedules, supporting proposed protection for great white sharks within the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and urging it be extended to include seahorses, rays, whale sharks and basking sharks.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Write Freepost in support of Forest & Bird’s submission to Conservation Rod Morris

Minister Chris Carter at Parliament Buildings, Wellington or email him at: ccarter@ministers.govt.nz

DOC urged to safeguard tuatara Forest & Bird has told a Department of Conservation (DOC) hearing in Nelson that a proposal to fly tourists on to Stephens Island/ Takapourewa poses an unacceptable threat to tuatara on the island nature reserve. Forest & Bird Top of the South Field Officer Debs Martin told the hearing that the proposal by Tuatara Maori Ltd to helicopter clients on to the island to see and touch tuatara in the wild poses the threat of the introduction of pests and diseases, poaching and damage to the environment that would put at risk the 90% of New

Zealand’s tuatara population which live on Stephens Island/Takapourewa. Concerns were also raised at the hearing by Victoria University tuatara experts, Biosecurity Ltd, the Ornithological Society of NZ and past caretakers on the island. Thanks to the many members who wrote in support of Forest & Bird’s submission – a decision is expected shortly. Until then you can voice your views by writing Freepost to Conservation Minister Chris Carter at Parliament Buildings, Wellington, or by email to ccarter@ministers.govt.nz

Marine protection mooted The fishing industry announced a new initiative in February to close approximately 30% of New Zealand’s waters to bottom trawling and dredging, although still allowing other types of commercial fishing. The move represents a considerable gain for conservation and a recognition by the fishing industry that bottom trawling is a problem, something which it denied until recently. The proposals, however, are not for a full set of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Instead the industry is proposing “Benthic Protected Areas” (BPAs) where bottom trawling – but not other fishing – will be banned. The industry is also proposing the Government sign an accord agreeing to restrictions which will make it difficult to pursue a more comprehensive and representative Marine Protected Areas programme.  The fishing industry proposals lack any shallow coastal habitats and they do not protect any significant areas of fished habitat. A comprehensive MPA proposal 4 8 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

would need to include the protection of a representative sample of these areas which could be protected either in their entirety or at different times of the year. Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton has called for feedback on the proposals by 9th June. Forest & Bird encourages members to write Freepost to the Minister of Fisheries at Parliament Buildings in Wellington, to welcome the idea of properly protecting 30% of our EEZ.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Ask him to consider: • Protecting the proposed areas from other forms of commercial fishing. • Proposing a representative network of MPAs that includes the full diversity of marine habitats present in the NZ EEZ, from open ocean to coastal marine habitats and areas presently fished. • Protecting core areas that are important feeding and breeding grounds for protected species such as marine mammals and seabirds.

Sustainable Water Programme of Action a step forward Forest & Bird has welcomed the Government’s new Sustainable Water Programme of Action as a step forward which acknowledges the limited nature and threatened state of freshwater resources in New Zealand. Forest & Bird General Manager Mike Britton said the Society particularly supports the development of National Policy Statements and National Environmental Standards as part of the new Programme of Action. “The litmus test will be whether it leads to greater protection for threatened native species such as black-fronted tern and banded kokupu, and restores the natural character of our degraded freshwater ecosystems,” he says. “If it is to be effective, the programme will need the commitment of all government agencies involved to achieve greater protection of rivers and lakes as natural habitats for native species.” New Zealand is one of only three places in the world with extensive braided river systems. New Zealand’s braided rivers have the highest rate of endemism. For example, the Wairau River has over 20 native freshwater fish species and specialised river birds including the endangered black-fronted tern, black-billed gull and wrybill. For more information go to: www.mfe.govt.nz

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

2006

REPORT TO MEMBERS For the year ended 28 February 2006

It has been a remarkable year of conservation success and innovation for Forest & Bird.

Tui – Bird of the Year 2005 Rod Morris

HE year had an auspicious start in March 2005 with the visit of Prince Charles to the Taiaroa Head royal albatross colony in Otago where he met our Executive Members, made a heartfelt speech on the plight of the world’s great albatrosses, and dined with conservation and fishing industry leaders to help forge progress. This was followed by two major conservation achievements that Forest & Bird can take pride in – the opening of the 49,000 hectare Ahuriri Conservation Park in the South Island High Country and the announcement by the Government of the Horoirangi Marine Reserve near Nelson, both of which were proposed by Forest & Bird some 20 years ago. In April, Conservation Minister Chris Carter announced a $24.6 million funding boost to the Department of Conservation over the next four years. Forest & Bird welcomed these additional funds having campaigned for them.

These events helped set the themes for the rest of the year. The Save the Albatross campaign went on to celebrate landmark achievements here at home and overseas, our High Country Six Pack of Parks campaign was launched in June on the eve of the opening of the 65,000 hectare Eyre Mountains/ Taka Ra Haka Conservation Park in Southland, and four more marine reserves were announced at Waiheke Island, Whangarei Harbour, Volkner Rocks in the Bay of Plenty, and at Parihinihi in North Taranaki. The year ended on a high note with the six skippers of the world’s premier ocean yacht racing teams pledging their support to Forest & Bird’s Save the Albatross campaign at a Volvo Ocean Race event in Wellington hosted by Conservation Minister Chris Carter and Forest & Bird General Manager Mike Britton.

2006 Report to Members Forest & Bird has been responsible for a number of conservation successes over the past year. This was in large part because the Society – which is you, our members – is out there every day doing the important work of restoring the dawn chorus and speaking up for conservation. Forest & Bird is the only independent New Zealand-based conservation society doing this across the country and has a proud track record of conservation success that spans nine decades. Delivering that success is Forest & Bird’s unique national network of tens of thousands of members, 55 branches and 40 Kiwi Conservation Clubs, highly effective Executive Members and Branch Committees, and a professional staff of conservation advocates, field officers, communicators and lawyers based in five regional offices. As in all walks of life, there is always room for improvement. To this end there has been a refocusing of the Society’s structure which has already produced positive results. The process for change evolved over the past several years in response to feedback and concerns raised by branches and members about the Society’s focus and performance. The Executive has promoted these changes and put in place a staff structure that is more responsive to the needs of members and branches. We have decentralised to provide better staff coverage in the regions and more capacity to support branches. General Manager Mike Britton has appointed a senior management team of Communications Manager Michael Szabo, Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell, Services Manager Julie Watson, North Island Field Coordinator David Pattemore and South Island Field Coordinator Eugenie Sage. North Island and South Island Field Coordinators now organise our field w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

operations and oversee resource management work. We have increased our capacity in the North Island with two new field officer positions to balance the number in the South Island, and we have an Ark in the Park Project Manager, bringing the complement to 10. There are three staff groups based at Wellington Central Office which are organised into communications, advocacy and services teams comprising 12 staff. We have also established new communication systems, particularly to allow for feedback from branch committees. An annual cycle of programme development and feedback has been implemented: * AGM/Council Meeting (June) – policies are adopted, remits voted on and branches have input into the priorities for the next three years. * November Council Meeting – inputs to the priorities for the next year. * End of February – Conservation Plan and Budget are adopted by the Executive. * AGM Council Meeting (June) – a report on the previous year’s activities is provided (sent in April). Branches and members provide feedback at the AGM/Council Meeting and review again the three year priorities. This, together with current branch involvement in the development of the Strategic Plan, will allow branches to become more active participants in the Society’s work programme. These reforms will put us in far better shape to address conservation issues into the future. This year brought increased hope for our native species in the form of the kiwi, kokako, blue duck (whio), kakariki and robin (toutouwai) chicks and ducklings that hatched at sites including the Ark in the Park in the Waitakere Ranges, Tiritiri Matangi Island, Boundary Stream, Kapiti Island, Matiu/Somes FFOORREESSTT && BBI IRRDD •• MMAAYY 22000066 4499

Island, Mt Taranaki and the Maunganui-o-te-ao River – all places where Forest & Bird has had major involvement through our branches and with threatened species recovery programmes. There was sorrow at the passing of past president Keith Chapple in March 2005, former Conservation Director Kevin Smith in August, former Tauranga Branch Chair and Distinguished Life Member Reg Janes in July, and Hauraki Islands Branch Committee Member Don Chapple in August. Kevin Smith, whose life ended relatively young, is a particularly tragic loss to conservation. And there was cause for celebration when Queen’s Service Medals were awarded to Lower Hutt Branch Chair Stan Butcher and Horowhenua Branch Chair Joan Leckie in the 2006 New Years Honours’ List. At the national level Forest & Bird helped ensure that conservation and the environment were key issues in the General Election through the Vote for the Environment campaign.

Park in the Waitakere Ranges went on hold in February after birds due for transfer from Tiritiri Matangi were hit by disease. Generous funding for the transfer was obtained from the ASB Trusts in December 2005 and it is now planned for 2007. Forest & Bird applauded the Government for investing $2 million in Project Hauraki for conservation related work at seven Hauraki Gulf islands in the April 2005 Budget. General Manager Mike Britton joined with the many Auckland branch members that attended the opening of Kaikoura Island as a scenic reserve and restoration project in May. Forest & Bird also welcomed the adoption by DOC of large-scale aerial treatment of priority conservation areas to remove rats, stoats and possums using carefully applied 1080 bait. This work has been spearheaded by DOC West Coast over much of their section of the South West New Zealand World Heritage Area. At around $8 a hectare a year it is economically sustainable and ecologically very successful. The programme is restoring blue duck (whio), kaka, yellowhead (mohua), native mistletoe, fuchsia and rata over hundreds of thousands of hectares. It now needs more funding so it can be extended to more areas of the conservation estate throughout the country.

Restoring the Dawn Chorus

5 0 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

Forest & Bird continued to play an active role in the Living Rivers campaign alongside Fish & Game, Federated Mountain Clubs and the New Zealand Canoeing Association. The Society helped successfully defend the Gowan River from a proposed hydroelectric scheme in November; an application being declined by a Special Tribunal in February. The decision was an important test for maintaining the integrity of Water Conservation Orders on New Zealand’s nationally important waterways. Blue duck (whio) We successfully advocated for improvements to the flow regime of the Onekaka River hydroelectric scheme and made submissions to the Special Tribunal which considered the Waitaki Catchment Water Allocation Plan, resulting in improvements to the plan. We campaigned and made submissions to protect the natural character of Marlborough’s Wairau River from a hydroelectric scheme which would reduce flows over a 50 km stretch and threaten the most important population in the world of the endangered black-fronted tern. In September Joan Leckie and the Horowhenua Branch’s successful advocacy for the Manawatu Estuary to be recognised as a wetland of international importance under the prestigious Ramsar Convention paid off with formal listing as a Ramsar site. The Society has advocated for protection of the Waimakariri and Rakaia Rivers where a major new irrigation scheme is proposed, and for the South Branch of the Hakatere/Ashburton River which is an important habitat for braided river birds including the endangered wrybill, and is the subject of a proposed hydroelectric and irrigation scheme.

Resource Management Act Forest & Bird played a leading role in the campaign to defend the Resource Management Act (RMA). Society lawyer Kate Mitcalfe served on a ministerial reference group that considered reforms to the Act. Most but not all of the changes Forest & Bird opposed were moderated. Branches and Society staff continued to make submissions and appeals on district and regional plans and resource consents to protect native species and habitats. Kaipara Branch successfully opposed a large-scale oyster farm proposal close to the shores of South Kaipara harbour, which would have compromised feeding habitat for rare coastal birds. Forest & Bird and DOC succeeded in protecting wetlands on the South Island West Coast, winning an Environment Court appeal in December against the regional council’s decision to withdraw almost all provisions protecting wetlands and controlling wetland drainage from its regional plan. w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Rod Morris

Living Rivers

Rod Morris

The Society’s efforts to Restore the Dawn Chorus were rewarded with success in several ways this year. After more than a 100 year absence, North Island robins were returned to the Waitakere Ranges in April. Fifty-three birds were transferred to the Ark in the Park in Cascades Kauri Park, a partnership between the Waitakere Branch and Auckland Regional Council (ARC). The first breeding of robins occurred there in over a century in October when dozens of North Island Brown kiwi chicks fledged. Forest & Bird helped breathe new life into the dawn chorus through the involvement of branches and members with long-term ecological restoration projects across the land, including Karori Wildlife Sanctuary and Mana Island in Wellington, Maungatautari in the Waikato, Puketi Forest in Northland, and Otainewainuku Forest in Bay of Plenty, to name but a few. The predator-proof fence at Forest & Bird’s Bushy Park reserve was officially ‘opened’ in August by Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright. This fence has improved the survival chances of robins transferred there. Through Forest & Bird’s membership of the Kokako Recovery Programme and the efforts of members in Auckland and the Hawke’s Bay, the Society has helped restore this threatened species at Tiritiri Matangi Island and Boundary Stream where nine pairs produced nine chicks over the summer. Red-crowned parakeets (kakariki) had a very successful breeding season on Matiu/Somes Island over summer with 30 chicks fledging. This has boosted the population to 60 birds at a site which has been a long-term ecological restoration project for the Lower Hutt Branch and DOC. Blue Duck (whio) bred at Mt Taranaki and on the Maunganui-o-te-ao River over the summer, in part helped by the North Island Blue Duck Trust on which Forest & Bird has been represented by Keith Beautrais who took over Keith Chapple’s place on the Trust. The Kakapo Recovery Programme, which is a long standing partnership between Forest & Bird, DOC and Comalco New Zealand, is now in its fifteenth year. This year’s Hatch a Name competition winners were announced in September and the young winners rewarded with a trip to Codfish Island (Whenua Hou) to meet the kakapo chicks they named. Early in 2006 we advocated for tuatara and other threatened species on Stephen’s Island (Takapourewa) Nature Reserve and the dramatic Hokitika Gorge Scenic Reserve, both sites having been the target of commercial tourism proposals. It has since emerged that Hokitika Gorge will not be developed for this purpose. Forest & Bird signed the North-West Wildlink Accord in Auckland in February, a groundbreaking new regional initiative to provide more natural habitat for native species and increase community participation in conservation. The Accord was also signed by the Mayors of Waitakere, North Shore and Rodney District, and representatives from ARC and DOC. The Society’s plans to transfer endangered hihi (stitchbirds) to the Ark in the

The Society also won a landmark case in the High Court later in the month on the interpretation of the Wildlife Act which meant Solid Energy had to obtain the consent of the Conservation and Energy Ministers before mining the habitat of the giant carnivorous land snail Powelliphanta “Augustus”. While the Ministers have since allowed coal mining to go ahead, better conditions have been set. We organised a series of well-attended community RMA workshops to help increase skills among branch members and community groups in six main centres with funding assistance from the Ministry for the Environment.

mammals – New Zealand sealions and Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins – and the creation of new marine mammal sanctuaries to better protect them. And consumer power was harnessed with the distribution of 100,000 of our second Best Fish Guide in November. After initially reducing the permitted bycatch of New Zealand sealions in the southern squid fishery by 20% in December 2005, the Minister of Fisheries has since allowed a 55% mid-season increase, despite the lack of any scientific data to support the decision. Forest & Bird is determined to keep campaigning for the adoption of squid fishing methods that avoid killing the world’s most threatened species of sealion over the coming year.

High Country

Membership and Promotions

Thanks to the vital support of members it was, in many ways, the year the Save the Albatross campaign started to make a real difference. Prince Charles praised Forest & Bird as a “beacon of hope” for its leading role in the global Mike Britton, General Manager campaign to Save the Albatross during his speech in Dunedin. In May, Forest & Bird advocacy helped persuade the Government to recall the southern squid fishing fleet back to port after some vessels failed to implement their own code of conduct and use the simple methods that help reduce seabird bycatch. Later, in September, the Government introduced new rules requiring seabird bycatch mitigation methods in all longline fisheries. A new international treaty – the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) – came into force in November. Forest & Bird was instrumental in promoting the creation of the treaty along with our BirdLife International partners. The international Save the Albatross campaign launched its Albatross Task Force in September which trains fisherman in Brazil and South Africa how to reduce seabird bycatch. These are countries where New Zealand breeding albatross are killed on longlines. The year ended on a high note with the skippers of the Volvo Ocean Race teams – including New Zealander Mike Sanderson – pledging their support for Forest & Bird’s Save the Albatross campaign during their Wellington stopover in February 2006. Early in 2006 the Government unveiled a new Marine Protected Areas policy which we welcomed as a step in the right direction and for the promise it holds to help protect albatrosses and other threatened marine wildlife. After approving the Horoirangi Marine Reserve in March 2005, the Government opened Te Matuku Marine Reserve at Waiheke Island in August and approved three more at Whangarei Harbour in Northland, Volkner Rocks in the Bay of Plenty and Parininihi in North Taranaki in December. The Society continued its long-term advocacy for our unique ‘kiwi’ marine w w w. f o r e s t a n d b i r d . o r g . n z

Dave Hansford

Marine and Coastal

It is the passion and commitment of you, the members, that makes a world of difference to the effectiveness of Forest & Bird. If we are to strengthen our membership and branches in every community we first need to invest more in building up the capacity of the Society. One way we are doing this is by increasing communications with members Kakapo Hatch a Name winner Jade Cassidy and branches. We launched a new email newsletter, e-News, in October 2005, and a new email alert early in 2006. We revised our website in May 2005 to make it more user-friendly. And we organised the first Bird of the Year poll which was won by the tui in October. Improvements in our website and banking service mean more new members are joining via our website than any other way, and more members pay their subscriptions by direct debit than ever before. I am also pleased to say that more new members joined Forest & Bird in 2005 than in the previous year, a sign that the Society has entered a new phase with a renewed focus on attracting members. The Kiwi Conservation Club (KCC) – Forest & Bird’s club for children – continues to thrive. In June, National Coordinator Ann Graeme was recognised by Ministry for the Environment with a Green Ribbon Award. The KCC magazine goes to more than 18,000 children, with a promotion to teachers early this year attracting 100 new schools to join.

DOC/Naia Strachan

Rod Morris

In June, the Society joined Federated Mountain Clubs to launch a High Country Six Pack of Parks campaign and was represented at celebrations to mark the creation of the Eyre Mountains/Taka Ra Haka Conservation Park in Southland by my predecessor, Dr Gerry McSweeney. In 1986, Forest & Bird led the campaign to reverse government decisions to transfer much of the core of these mountains to Landcorp. Then in 1987 our scientific survey led by Dr Alan Mark found this Range to be a biodiversity ‘hotspot.’ The creation of this conservation park some 20 years later, protecting Large mountain daisy its suite of endemic plants, is a testament to the wisdom of that campaign. The Government has since proposed the establishment of another High Country Conservation Park at Ruataniwha near Twizel, which the Society also supports. Forest & Bird continued to play an active role in the pastoral lease tenure review process, inspecting leases, making submissions, and advocating for better conservation outcomes.

Finances The Society is funded primarily from the subscriptions of its members and the generosity of those who make donations during the year. Over recent years we have relied on the many bequests made and this has enabled the Society to remain in a secure financial position. This year the level of bequests fell below that of the previous year and there have been some one-off costs associated with the structure review. An emphasis of this was to allow integration of the Society’s conservation work with promoting membership and fundraising and this will continue to be a priority for the coming year. The Society sold its Central Office building. This was a wrench but faced with potential earthquake and upgrading costs running into hundreds of thousands of dollars, seeking more appropriate accommodation was a necessary step. This has freed up capital to be reinvested and will result in a significant reduction in the cost of the Central Office operation. I am also grateful to our many donors without whom much of our conservation work could not be done. I am particularly appreciative of the generous sponsorship of our Top of the South Field Officer by two members. Thanks also to all those who have donated to the Society’s Save the Albatross and Restore the Dawn Chorus appeals. These raised more than appeals in the previous year. I am also grateful to the two generous donors who gave more than $200,000 to the Save the Albatross campaign in October 2005.

Appreciation Thank you all once again for your inspiring support of Forest & Bird. My heartfelt thanks go to the array of volunteers who do everything from cutting bait lines (and getting stung by wasps) to planting trees and combating weeds. FFOORREESSTT && BBI IRRDD •• MMAAYY 22000066 5511

It is great to hear that volunteers have even travelled from oversees to join the “Abort-a-Contorta” (pine seedling removal) project. And thanks to those staff that have moved on in the past year, especially Geoff Keey, Hellen Thornton and Barry Weeber. Barry’s move to ECO rounded off 15 years as a staff member of the Society. At the same time I would like to warmly welcome the new staff that have joined our ranks. Special thanks also go to all those hard working branch committees – particularly the secretaries and treasurers – who spend hours taking on the essential jobs. And to all those who maintain a constant vigil on resource consents and planning issues. And finally, thanks to the Executive and to all the families that help support those who are most active in Forest & Bird. Here’s hoping the year ahead holds even more conservation success.

Net Expenditure 2005 – 2006

Kia kaha.

Dr Peter Maddison National President STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE for the year ended 28 February 2006

$ $ 507,136 566,759 81,438 79,960 152,280 168,012 157,686 110,385 168,905 116,689 0 236 8,919 13,117 11,576 16,750 113,279 171,216 424,313 1,640,940 1,625,532 2,884,065

Members Funds Opening Balance Surplus / (Deficit) Closing Balance Current Liabilities Accounts Payable Bank Overdraft Deferred Income Other Liabilities Restricted Funds Total Members Funds & Liabilities

Current Assets Cash Expenditure Deposits (On Call) Conservation Projects and Expenses 173,170 200,860 Deposits (Fixed Term) Journal Cost (net) – Communications 128,730 192,190 Accounts Receivable Other Publications 22,861 11,446 Inventory Appeals – Fundraising 33,219 12,807 Kiwi Conservation Club 57,368 58,494 Investments Marketing Activities – Promotions 58,799 39,459 Shares and Other Securities Branch Capitation and Council Meetings 42,776 66,513 Bushy Park Trust Loan Governance 46,202 Executive Expenses 39,448 45,715 Fixed Assets Overhead 376,790 221,222 Audit 9,709 9,778 Other Assets Depreciation 34,996 33,840 Restricted Funds Salaries & ACC Levy 1,024,098 854,667 TOTAL ASSETS TOTAL EXPENDITURE 2,048,167 1,746,992 Surplus/(Deficit) for the year ended 28 February 2006

$(422,635)*

1,137,073

*The $200,000 Save the Albatross campaign donation is not included in the accounts as it has been kept as a restricted fund.

2006 2005 $ $ 3,660,333 2,523,260 (422,635) 1,137,073 3,237,698 3,660,333 253,700 164,862 – – 229,601 233,804 483,301 398,666 1,555,017 1,337,623 $5,276,016 $5,396,622 26,478 79,027 158,834 514,032 2,137,175 2,063,334 53,337 41,379 32,442 40,595 2,408,266 2,738,367 4,975 4,975 5,000 5,000 9,975 9,975 1,302,758 1,310,657 1,555,017 1,337,623 $5,276,016 $5,396,622

S McPhail, Treasurer For and on behalf of the Executive, 5 May 2006

Please note these financial statements have not been audited. Once they are available a full set of audited statements, including the auditor's opinion, will be made available by Forest & Bird.

Income Subscriptions - Forest & Bird - Kiwi Conservation Club General Donations Appeals Interest Received Dividends Received Grants Lodge Income (net) Other Income Bequests TOTAL INCOME

2005-2006 2004-2005

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION as at 28 February 2006

LEGACIES: D G Baker $3,000; L C Bell $1,512; W Blackie $50,000; G M Burgess $500; V Bycroft $4,449; M E Carter $7,100; P H Connor $902; Est Davis $1,600; T E Gerrand $180,420; F M Gray $10,000; C R Greenwood $50,000; M E Hill $561; I S Jacoby $1,913; B I Key $1,000; J M Lane $3,330; J G Mitchell $500; A Nesbit $1,000; L S Phillips $16,802; R M Readman $5,000; N L Riddell $5,000; C H Rollison $5,339; G G Royal $1,000; B B Stoker $8,300; M J Templeton $500; Est Traynor Hazel Charitable Trust $26,775; C L Turner $500; A D Whitcombe $1,000; M Williams $20,400; T Wood $10,000; O L Zeinert $5,910 DONORS: R W R Archibald $500; T F & D Ashcroft $1,000; M Baker $600; B Barrett $600; The David and Genevieve Becroft Foundation $3,000; J Berks $500; D Binney $1,000; J Braithwaite $500; C S Butler $550; Forest & Bird – Central Auckland $ 1,000; R F Cooper $1,000; CP Ships (UK) Ltd $1,500; B Davidson $500; P Dean $500; B Duffy $2,000; P & V Friedlander $1,300; M R Haase – Friends of Nature $500; R M Greenwood $2,400; Forest & Bird – Hastings/Havelock North Branch $1,000; D Haynes $539; S James $598; G B Johnston $761; S Keach $500; D Kelly $1,000; J & P Lammerink $540; J Leckie $1,000; L N McFarlane $5,000; B Milne $850; B F Morrissey $1,800; H Norriss $1,000; J C Olsen $1,000; P & V Osborne $802; A Pearson $500; R Pugh $1,205; Ron Greenwood Environmental Trust $2,000; A P Ryan $600; D Stanley & G L Purdie $700; G W & G M Streat $500; T Tasman Smith $500; Tenob Wholesale Marine Ltd $540; E A Tomchin $721; D Underwood $500; Forest and Bird – Waitakere Branch $700; R H Warr $600; A & M Williams $1,000; S Bisset – Words Count Ltd $507; D J Wright $1,450 5 2 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

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Treks and peaks

Albatross Encounter

PAKISTAN PERU PATAGONIA

22 countries worldwide

96 Esplanade KAIKOURA

Pelagic tours by boat to view at close range an exciting number of sea birds including albatross, petrels, shearwaters and more. Tours daily at 6.00am, 9.00am and (duration 2.5 hours, 4 hour Imagine... a huge1.00pm Royal Albatross with a threetours by arrangement) metre wing-span sharing your space... Open 364 Phone 0800 733 365 for days, the Visitors Centre complete w i t h g i f t s h o p a n d information cafe. and reservations Reservations: ph 03-478 0499 email:reservations@albatross.org.nz Adults $75.00 web www.albatross.org.nz Children $35.00 Website with latest sightings at Imagine. . . a huge Royal Albatross with a three metre Imagine... a huge Royal www.oceanwings.co.nz Albatross with a .threewing-span sharing your space. . Open 364 days, metre wing-span sharing Email info@ Visitor Centre complete withOpen gift 364 shop and cafe. your space... days, the Centre complete oceanwings.co.nz Reservations: phVisitors 03 478 0499 An Otago Peninsula Trust Enterprise

UNIQUE

DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND

An Otago Peninsula Trust Enterprise

with

gift

shop

and

cafe.

email: reservations@albatross.org.nz Reservations: ph 03-478 0499 email:reservations@albatross.org.nz web: albatross.org.nz web www.albatross.org.nz

DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND

AFRICAN Wildlife Mark & Jean Caulton, guiding Australians in Africa for the past 13 years. NAMIBIA 16 days, 2 to 17 Aug. Namib Desert, Coast, Etosha Park. 250+ birds. 30+ mammals. From NZ$4200. SOUTH AFRICA 16 days. 9 to 24 Sept. Kruger Park, Zululand & Drakensberg. 340+ birds. 40+ mammals. From NZ$4500. Pelican Safaris NZ, Box 1552, Taupo. Tel: 07 378 2225 pelicansaf@xtra.co.nz www.pelicansafaris.com

treks highplaces.co.nz 0800 305 306

www.highplaces.co.nz Pohatu Penguins & Marine Reserve Banks Peninsula Scenic nature tours with local volunteers conserving Banks Peninsula’s biodiversity. • Coastal Retreat • Sea Kayaking Bookings through Akaroa Information Centre. ph 03 304 8600 www.pohatu.co.nz

• A background in the natural sciences • Experience and confidence in dealing with people • An exceptional enthusiasm for and in-depth knowledge of NZ’s natural environment • Current First Aid certification and current driver’s license with a passenger service endorsement Are you interested in contract work? Contact Mark Hanger naturequest@compuserve.com www.naturequest.co.nz Nature Quest New Zealand Ltd. PO Box 6314 Dunedin • Ph (03) 489 8444

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

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

Fiordland Ecology Holidays

BIORESEARCHES CONSULTING BIOLOGISTS AND ARCHAEOLOGISTS ESTABLISHED 1972

Environmental Impact Studies, Surveys of Marine, Freshwater & Terrestrial Habitats, Pollution Investigations, Resource Consent procedures, Archaeological; Historic Places Appraisal bioresearches@bioresearches.co.nz www.bioresearches.co.nz P.O Box 2828 Auckland PH: AUCKLAND 379 9417 Fax (09) 307 6409

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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

Patagonia end of the world… Chile & Argentina –

and plore orld x e W to ique ance A c h y t h i s u ne P a r k ta g e n j o H e r i ta www.lordhoweisland.info/index.html Contact Wendy John wendyjohn@pl.net or 09-815-3101

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

Guided Trekking

Kahurangi National Park

Lord Howe Island

Bush Regeneration/Weeding Eco Tour 19-26 August, 2006

TOUR NATURALISTS REQUIRED Do you have?

Bush & Beyond

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. Summer and Autumn 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

remote and stunning 26 days ex Auckland – Small Group Call or email for your FREE 2006 Brochure and full itinerary – departs 26 October 2006

Call the South America specialists Latin Link Adventure – 0800 528 465 email: marg@latinlink.co.nz www.latinlink.co.nz

"Specialist Nature tours"

Australia & Beyond

Join us as we explore some of the last remote, diverse and spectacular wilderness areas left in the world. Let our professional naturalist guides share their love of nature with you. Experience the natural history highlights of the Kimberley in northen Western Australia and the South Wests magnificent wildflower display and diverse birdlife. Explore Queenslands Cape York, Lord Howe and Christmas Islands plus the Galapagos Islands and Ecuadorian jungle. For your 2006 brochure and full tour details: E-MAIL: coates@iinet.net.au WEBSITE: www.coateswildlifetours.com.au TEL: (61 8) 9330 6066 FAX: (61 8) 9330 6077 Suite B8 550 Canning Highway Attadale, Western Australia 6156 GSA Coates Tours Licence no 9ta1135/36

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

F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

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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If you are an existing member this authority will operate from the next date your membership becomes due for renewal. If you join part way through the year a partial payment by direct debit may be required. Should the membership fee be increased Forest and Bird are authorised to automatically increase this amount.

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I/We authorise you, until further notice, to debit my/our account with all amounts which ROYAL FOREST AND BIRD PROTECTION SOCIETY OF NEW ZEALAND INC. (hereinafter refered to as the Initiator) the registered Initiator of the above Authorisation Code, may initiate by Direct Debit. I/We acknowledge and accept that the bank accepts this authority only upon the conditions listed below. Information to appear on my/our bank statement

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(b) In any event this Authority is subject to any arrangement now or hereafter existing between me/us and the Bank in relation to my/our account. (c) Any dispute as to the correctness or validity of an amount debited to my/our account shall not be the concern of the Bank except in so far as the direct debit has not been paid in accordance with this Authority. Any other disputes lie between me/us and the Initiator. (d) Where the Bank has used reasonable care and skill in acting in accordance with this authority, the Bank accepts no responsibility or liability in respect of:

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The Customer may: (a) At any time, terminate this Authority as to future payments by giving written notice of termination to the Bank and to the Initiator.

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(b) Stop payment of any direct debit to be initiated under this authority by the Initiator by giving written notice to the Bank prior to the direct debit being paid by the Bank.

The Bank may: (a) In its absolute discretion conclusively determine the order of priority of payment by it of any monies pursuant to this or any other authority, cheque or draft properly executed by me/us and given to or drawn on the Bank.

The Customer acknowledges that: (a) This Authority will remain in full force and effect in respect of all direct debits made from my/our account in good faith notwithstanding my/our death, bankruptcy or other revocation of this Authority until actual notice of such event is received by the bank.

5 4 F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

(b) At any time terminate this authority as to future payments by notice in writing to me/us. (c) Charge its current fees for this service in force from time-to-time.

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FOREST BIRD

FOREST BIRD Forest & Bird Membership

Join Forest & Bird and you will receive Forest & Bird magazine, including Conservation News, and our email newletter, e-News, four times a year. You will have free entry to more than 30 Forest & Bird reserves around the country and discounted entry to the Society’s seven lodges at Ruapehu, Piha and other scenic locations. You can also take part in conservation projects and enjoy talks and field trips through our 55 branches around the country.

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 award-winning 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

Join online: www.forestandbird.org.nz

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Forest & Bird Memberships (Prices include GST). Please print clearly. Family (# in family ____) $52

Student/School $35 Overseas NZ$95

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KCC single $12

KCC family (# of children ____) $20

See www.forestandbird.org.nz for further categories

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F O R E S T & B I R D • M AY 2 0 0 6

FOREST BIRD

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

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branchdirectory Upper North Island Central Auckland: Chair, Anne Fenn; Secretary, Isabel Still, PO Box 1118, Shortland St, Auckland. Tel: (09) 5283986. 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, Pauline Smith; Secretary: vacant, PO 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) 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, Rosemary Tully; Secretary, Sandee Malloch, c/- 260 Ohiwa Harbour Rd, RD2, Opotiki 3092. Tel: (07) 315-4989. Gisborne: Chair, Dick McMurray; Secretary, Grant Vincent, 1 Dominey Street, Gisborne, Tel: (06) 868-8236. King Country: Secretary, Steve Poelman, 37 Rangaroa Road, Taumarunui 2006; Secretary, Dori Porteous, Tel: (07) 8967649. Rotorua: Chair, Chris Ecroyd; Secretary, Herb Madgwick, PO Box 1489, 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, Ian Noble; 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 Mana: 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. Tel: (06) 357-6962. Napier: Chair, Isabel Morgan; Secretary, Margaret Gwynn, 23 Clyde Rd, Napier. Tel: (06) 8 35 2122. North Taranaki: Chair, Margaret Molloy; Secretary, Murray Duke, 28 Hurford Rd, RD4, New Plymouth 4621. Tel: (06) 751 2759. Rangitikei: Chair, Tony Simpson; 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, Dr Barry Wards; Secretary, Pauline Baty; PO 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, Merrin Pearse; Secretary, Louise Taylor, PO Box 4183, Wellington. Tel: (04) 971-1770.

South Island Ashburton: Chair, Bill Hood; Secretary, Val Clemens, PO Box 460, Ashburton, Tel: (03) 308-5620. 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, Bill Sinclair, 280 Hampden St East, Nelson 7001. Tel: (03) 545-7270. North Canterbury: Chair, Bruce StuartMenteath; Secretary, Maria StokerFarrell, PO Box 2389, Christchurch. 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: vacant, PO Box 1155, Invercargill. Tel: (03) 213-0732. South Otago: Chair, Carol Botting; Secretary, Verna Gardner, Romahapa Rd, Balclutha. Tel: (03) 418-1819. Upper Clutha: Chair, Barbara Chinn; Secretary, Angela Brown, 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, 168 Romilly St, Westport 7601. 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: Bill Draper, PO Box 31-194, Lower Hutt. (04) 569-2542.

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 m from Whakapapa Village, at the foot of Mount Ruapehu, this lodge is available for members and their friends. It may also be hired out to other compatible groups by special arrangement. It is an ideal base for tramping, skiing, botanising or visiting the hotpools at Tokaanu. The lodge holds 32 people in four bunkrooms and provides all facilities except food and bedding. Bookings and inquiries to Forest and Bird, PO Box 631, Wellington. Tel: (04) 385-7374,

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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. Tel: (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

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