Professional Documents
Culture Documents
NEWSLETTER
ISSUE 17
AUGUST 2006
details inside
www.aeff.org.nz
Issue 17 Page 3
Manawatu Forest & Bird
a bit about us
Committee Contacts ‘06/’07 Discovery, enjoyment, and protection
Chairperson: Brent Barrett 357 6962 of the natural wonders of New Zealand is
Secretary: Jo McVeagh 356 6054 the primary aim of Manawatu Branch of
Forest & Bird. Our branch has over 450
Treasurer: Leonora Pearson 354 6103 members, from Himitangi to Woodville;
Programme Coordinator: Viv McGlynn 353 2305 and is affiliated to the national Society
with head offices in Wellington.
Advocacy Coordinator: Donald Kerr 952 7001 x70836
All members and the public are invited
Tertiary Coordinator: Emily Weeks 326 9217
to all branch activities, work parties and
Feilding Contact: Alan Hawkins 323 0583 meetings. Branch nights are the 2nd Tues-
Feilding Contact: Chris Thomasen 323 0583 day of the month from 7:30 p.m. at Te Ma-
nawa~ everyone is welcome, your gold coin
Tararua Contact: Val Cleghorn 376 5570
donation is appreciated!
General Committee: Kheng Lim 354 8272
You can always reach us with an email
Kiwi Conservation Club: Caroline Percy 021 264 2789 to forestbirdmanawatu@hotmail.com.
Also have a look at the Forest and Bird
Ideas or Questions ~ get in touch! website www.forestandbird.org.nz and
Manawatu Branch of Forest & Bird the great local branch website kindly
hosted by Adie Leng of ENM within
PO Box 961, Palmerston North www.environmentnetwork.org.nz
You are most welcome to ring the Soci-
E: forestbirdmanawatu@hotmail.com ety’s national office on 04 385 7374 with
queries during normal business hours.
W: www.forestandbird.org.nz
Conservation (with all the ad- οThere is no revenue policy. streams above the lakes – where
vice of the Department of Conser- Under the Reserves Act, income one could re-introduce blue duck
vation) veto power over the pro- from reserves can be amalga- and galaxids.
ject. PNCC are avoiding this over- mated and spent on any council
sight of their activities in its pro- An alternative model is a
reserve. The suggested $1 million
posal. Reject the current proposal. mainland island like Ark in the
revenue could (would?) be si-
Park – Waitakere Branch of For-
phoned off for other council re-
Changes to the Management est and Bird are using volunteers
serves (including sports’ stadia
Plan. to create a pest free area of over
and swimming pools). One major
1000 hectares. If you would help a
οAllowing bulldozed tracks, benefit proposed by council is in-
similar local project, tell council. A
windmills and transmission lines tensive possum control. However,
mainland island restoring kiwi and
within 60% of the reserve is unac- Horizons and PNCC are already kokako to our city is possible with-
ceptable. (cont’d page 4) undertaking possum control within
out a windfarm.
the reserve. It is possible that little
οSuggestion of altering the extra biodiversity benefit would Also support Forest and Bird’s
height of the dams, hence flood- occur if council are short of funds submission. The current proposal
ing more forest, is unacceptable. elsewhere. is fundamentally flawed and
should be rejected outright.
οBiodiversity gains are not PNCC is likely to be tougher on
linked to the windfarm develop- preventing erosion than conserva- Thank you for your time, and
ment. The ecopark concept is not tionists – to protect the water sup- commitment to local biodiversity.
developed within the management ply. But PNCC is interested in the
water quality after the lakes, after ~ Donald Kerr
plan. For example, there is to be
no control of mustelids (stoats filtration. We want protection of Manawatu Forest & Bird
etc). This is unacceptable. the water quality in the small
Issue 17 Page 4
Manawatu
Forest & Bird
proudly presents
Jack Register
Landscape Artist of NZ
“Everyone’s invited”
your gold coin donation to cover hall hire is appreciated
Issue 17 Page 5
Festival Selections 2006
Title Date Country
A Stake in Our Future 2006 New Zealand
Saturday 7 pm Mad Mac and the Flat Ugly 2006 New Zealand
Snail
Sunday Matinee
Paving Shangri-La 2005 Bermuda
Issue 17 Page 6
Palmy to Host 2006 edition of
Aotearoa Environmental Film Festival
14—
14—17 September, The Globe Theatre
Issue 17 Page 7
An eyes-wide-open experience in the tropics
Local members Chris and Peggy A look at the plastic rubbish safely on a remote beach in the
Hawaiian Islands. The much more real danger are the plastics
Mercer visited Kauai Island, Hawaii, floating at sea, waiting to snare passing marine wildlife.
in June for a conference and holiday. Photo :: Chris Mercer
In the first hour of arriving they
walked along the windward-side
beach and were shocked to see how
much plastic debris was spoiling the
sand. The pollution was of two forms
– fishing gear and small debris. The
walkers saw five tangles of nets and
ropes over 2 km, each was an accu-
mulation of fine- and coarse-mesh
nets, floats and ropes, clearly from
the fishing industry. In contrast, the
line of small debris at the high-water
mark comprised whole or pieces of
many domestic and industrial objects
from cigarette lighters to insulation.
Coincidentally, the newspapers that
day were lauding the establishment of
the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
National Monument – the world’s
largest marine refuge. The reserve
will cover over 220,000 square kilo- must still face up to the challenge of The debris could have widespread
metres of the atolls, reefs and land the small plastic flotsam – small origins but the USA Dept of Com-
masses that extend 1900 km NW of enough to be confused with food by merce who will administer the new
Kauai. TV commentators said that sea birds. Most plastic jetsam the reserve, should look to local sources
Pres. Bush had used his powers to Mercers saw had a terrestrial origin of rubbish putting sea life at risk.
bypass the sanctuary establishment and they wondered if this came from
process currently underway, after poorly sited dumps perhaps subject
being shown a documentary made by to flooding. The source could have ~ Chris Mercer
Jean-Michel Cousteau. Presidents been local on Kauai or from the large
are able to establish reserves without settlements on Oahu, only 130 km
upwind. Of course the North Pacific Further reading
approval from Congress.
Subtropical Gyre (a vortex of ocean www.wikipedia.com
All fishing in the reserve will be currents) traps floating debris and search on flotsam.
phased out with consequent direct sometimes spreads plastic over Ha-
and indirect (pollution) benefits for the waiian beaches. www.honoluluadvertiser.com
islands’ fauna. However, Hawaii search on the park name.
Issue 17 Page 9
Book Now for your Visit to Billets
the National Aquarium of Required
New Zealand for those from out of town attending the
~~ Thank You ~~
Deer oh Dear oh My
Dave Hamilton has recently at- (aren't they all?!) from Sri Lanka As the picture shows, these crit-
tended the latest round of consul- naturalized throughout much of ters make quick work of some
tation on the management of the the North Island, and centred in trees, and are known to create a
Sambar Deer, an exotic deer the Manawatu / Rangitikei areas. fair browse impact in native forest
and weland reserves as well, such
as Round Bush.
Issue 17 Page 10
Staying in Touch with DoC
Our local Department of 2. The Gorge track is being counting Paryphanta snails.
Conservation people held a continually upgraded (the Pictures were shown of Pitto-
public meeting recently giving whole stream on this side has sporum turneri and the ex-
an overview of the work and now been bridged and they clusion fence around some to
projects they are involved are benching and metaling a
with at present, and also lot of the track mainly on the Dactylanthus bloom
some plans for the future. The western side).
main focus for the evening
was Ruahine Forest Park.
3. DoC is reviewing access
1. Recreational facilities to the Ruahine Forest Park
DoC looks after 28 huts, 218 and is asking for feedback of
km tracks, 25 km roads and peoples experiences. Farm
99 structures which includes ownerships change and diffi-
bridges etc. The new Purity protect them from possums
culties can arise.
hut is finished and will be of- and Dactylanthus being pro-
ficially opened in August. It tected with frames that have
looks like Rangi hut will be 4. There is approval to re- to have openings large
either moved or rebuilt which place Zeke's hut (Hihitahi enough to allow bats to visit.
ever is the cheaper to some- Forest Sanctuary). They are banding trees to pro-
where on the Dead Man's tect mistletoe from possums
Track. They will be progres- and have also banded some of
5. Weeds & Pests - possums the larger P. turneri to see if
are controlled at Ruahine that works for them.
WHIO Corner only. Judas goats are
DoC is would like visitors to
being fazed out and contract
the Ruahine Forest Park to
hunters are being used to con-
report sightings of whio, bats
trol goats. Old Man's Beard
or any other rare species that
and Pinus contorta are the
they might see.
main weed species being re-
moved. They are 'plugging'
away at the fencing with not 7. Jo Grieg talked about
enough funding for that. ideas for volunteers to work
with DoC, the News Letter
sively doing more poled
they are putting out and an
routes and putting more signs 6. Biodiversity Rebecca
Information/Feedback form
on the tops and will be using Lewis talked about whio and
they want us to fill in.
navy blue covers on the poles determining the distribution
because that is supposed to be in the North west Ruahines,
the best colour to show up. also surveying kiwi numbers. ~ Chris Thomasen
(those that are painted or- Monitoring Long-tailed bats
Feilding Rep
ange on top tend to disappear to gain an idea of numbers
into the tussock). and areas, this is a continuing Manawatu Committee
project. Looking for and
Issue 17 Page 11
August WordSearch Contest
Prize: $25 Voucher for Café Domain in Ashhurst
A S B R Z W A U U A I U P V T
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T V U W V A W M R B H K R O Q
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K S T A A R I D K Y O N P R D
I O M B A K T A A U K U I T M
H X R T H O R O P I T O R O P
A T A O T I K U M U R U I E M
K T I A M A Y H U A N I H T L
G O R T G I C U N R I M U O J
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E P O I G O I G A P B Y S O K
M J X M R N B Q Q Z U Y D F D
G P G A B P K M T N Y G N D Q
Issue 17 Page 12