Southland Board Members at Te Rau Aroha Marae.  Photo: Donna Shephard.

Welcome to the Conservation Boards' Newsletter

Issue 14 : September 2019

Kia ora anō,

This month we’ve celebrated the 50th anniversary of Conservation Week. Since its inception by the Scouts in 1969, we’ve come a long way. Some of our biggest conservation triumphs include the remarkable turnarounds for species that were on the verge of extinction.

This year’s theme “Nature needs us” highlighted how much more we need to do to secure the future of more than 4,000 threatened or at risk species and the places where they live. There are long term challenges, but with your help, we’re making progress.

Scouts New Zealand Chief Executive Josh Tabor and Minister of Conservation, Hon Eugenie Sage awarding the winner of the Scouts Conservation Week badge design competition Josh Bluck. Photo: Mark Tantrum. 

I enjoyed attending Conservation Week events around the country and the opportunity to meet with local groups achieving great results. I visited Bushy Park Tarapuruhi near Whanganui to join the celebration of the restoration of the Bushy Park Homestead and a new visitor centre in the restored stable. Tarapuruhi is well worth a visit. Thanks to the huge commitment of volunteers, checking tracking tunnels, maintaining buildings and monitoring threatened birds, the forest is thriving and their local heritage is being bought back to life.

In front of Rātānui, New Zealand’s oldest rata at Tarapuruhi Bushy Park with Keith Beatrais and Kevin Ross from the Bushy Park Trust, Forest and Bird CEO, Kevin Hague and Trust Manager Mandy Brooke. Photo: Rick Zwaan

A highlight during Conservation Week was learning that, following the record breeding season, the kākāpō population is the highest it has been in more than 70 years. I am in awe of the expertise and dedicated work of everyone involved. DOC staff, Ngāi Tahu, partners like Auckland Zoo, Wellington Zoo and Dunedin’s Wildlife Hospital and many volunteers. Decades of work has gone into achieving this. Thanks also to the overseas wildlife experts who have responded to the aspergillosis outbreak this season.

A big thank you must go out to the volunteers involved in the massive clean-up effort at the Fox and Cook Rivers and along the coastline after a heavy storm eroded the closed Fox River landfill. It was incredible to see the massive effort put into Operation Tidy Fox to clean up the equivalent of 14,000 household bags of rubbish. Almost 1,000 volunteers from all around New Zealand, and the world, contributed nearly 20,000 hours to the effort. The work of DOC staff, especially the Fox Glacier office team in co-ordinating the operation and support from the NZ Defence Force and local businesses and the Fox community was impressive.

Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis and I recently announced the first funds from the International Visitor Levy to be invested into projects to protect and enhance the natural environment and indigenous biodiversity. There is a strong desire from the government, industry and the public for tourism to be a part of the solution for the substantial conservation challenges we face. Details on the projects benefiting from International Visitor Levy funding can be found here.

The Government is committed to restoring the dawn chorus and giving nature more of a helping hand. The formal consultation process for a new Biodiversity Strategy started in August with the launch of Te Koiroa o te Koiora. Thanks to all those who submitted through this process. We heard from New Zealanders from all walks of life and the feedback will help shape our biodiversity strategy for the next 20 years.

Ngā mihi nui,

Hon. Eugenie Sage
Minister of Conservation

Updates from the Conservation Boards

Northland

Sunrise at Mangawhai Heads. Photo: Chris Gin.

The Northland Conservation Board has a watching brief over the following:

1. Bottlenose Dolphin Marine Mammal Permit Renewal Decision

The Bottlenose dolphin in the Bay due to the decline in numbers. On 19 June 2019, a decision was made in regard to the Bottlenose Dolphin Marine Mammal Permit Renewal decision

2. Kauri Die-back – update for Waipoua and Puketi

On 20 May 2019 the (DOC) and Te Roroa (kaitiaki over Waipoua Forest) announced that the Four Sisters Walk within Waipoua Forest has temporarily closed due to the discovery of the kauri dieback pathogen in the near vicinity.

3. Access to Taronui Beach

The Taronui Recreation Reserve is an 18.5ha Crown-owned recreation reserve, managed by DOC. The reserve is located on the open coast side of the Purerua Peninsula between Tapuaetahi and Elliot’s Beach. Access to the reserve is over Crown land, and the use is shared by several adjoining landowners.

Over the last 10 years, access to many of the beaches in this area have gone into private ownership and leaving only Taronui Beach with public access and available for the local community to access

The local hapu is Ngati Rehia - Woolshed Bay, Purerua Peninsula, Wiroa Station, Paoneone Farm, and Mataka Station beaches were once accessible. Some of these are now in private ownership.

Media Strategy

• The Northland Conservation Board is currently developing a video for visitors coming into Te Taitokerau.
• The Northland Conservation Board (NCB) has a Facebook page.

Auckland

Auckland Conservation Board hui hosted at Auckland Zoo. Photo: Joanne Ah Young

Auckland Conservation Board Meeting at Auckland Zoo

14 August 2019

Auckland Zoo Director Richard Gibson gave the Board and its guests a presentation about how the Zoo supports conservation, with particular reference to the New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine, where a team of vets and volunteers are working on vital conservation projects including treating kākāpō who are suffering from aspergillosis. 

The Board also welcomed the Hon Eugenie Sage, Minister of Conservation to join the hui to discuss our work programme and priorities.

Board members receiving a lesson on threatened plant species. Photo: Joanne Ah Young.

Auckland Conservation Board Meeting at Auckland Botanic Gardens

15 May 2019

As part of the Board’s education about threatened species in our rohe, the May hui was held at the Auckland Botanic Gardens, followed by a site tour of the threatened species gardens. The tour demonstrated the impact of urban life on our plant species and the challenge of how to educate the population about their role.

Advocacy

Mayor Phil Goff has written to the Board in relation to our letter seeking action to address the sediment discharge into The Long Bay – Okura Marine Reserve. The Chair attended a meeting with Councillor Penny Hulse, her policy team and representatives from Okura Great Park Society to discuss the Council’s strategic approach to Sediment.

The Board continues to advocate that the EPA’s decision to grant CRL a consent to dump up to 250,000 cubic metres of dredged materials per year on the continental shelf beyond Aotea presents a significant and clear threat to the marine ecosystem in the park, especially the marine mammals.  This has been followed by consent granted to Parks of Auckland to dump harbor dredgings at an existing dump east of Cuvier Island. The Board has raised its concerns with the Minister and the Mayor.

The Board has met with the NZTA to discuss the long-term planning for a new road between Warkworth and Te Hana prior to consents being lodged.

Submissions

The Board has submitted to Auckland Council on the notified resource consent for Huia Replacement Water Treatment Plant that it is concerned that the significant earthworks associated with the WTP poses a risk of spreading Kauri dieback.

The ecological impact of Kauri dieback in the Auckland region is a major biosecurity threat. The Board has asked that Auckland Council ensure that consultation with the Auckland Conservation Board as a key stakeholder is a project requirement.

The Board’s 2018-2019 Annual Report is now available – read now.

The Auckland Conservation Board has an active Facebook page – click here.

Bay of Plenty

The CMS continues to be the number one priority for the BOP Conservation Board, as well as the importance of Treaty Partnerships, Treaty Settlements, and ensuring we give proper effect in this area. Work is also vastly increasing in the Marine space.

Trout Pool Road.  Photo: Nicole Portner

Meeting Highlights - Rotorua

21 August 2019

• The Board had guest speaker Amanda Peterson present her work on the Biodiversity Strategy.
• The Board received an update on the progress of the Stewardship Land review, and where to from here in terms of engagement with Treaty partners in the BOP.
• The Board received an update on Te Whānau-a-Apanui Agreement in Principle
• The Board discussed Conservation Week and how they can actively participate
• The Board is also focussed on Treaty Partners/relationships resulting from Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki decision.

Nelson Marlborough

Winter highlights included a two-day field trip through the Molesworth in April and a morning at sea, south of the Kaikōura Peninsula in May.

Board priorities were marine and coastal protection, management planning, and a sense of urgency to begin the Conservation Management Strategy review.

Whale watch trip in Kaikoura, May. Photo: Jacqui Irwin.

Meeting Highlights - Molesworth and Renwick

12 April 2019

• The Board combined a two-day field trip through Molesworth, including an overnight stay, with their regular meeting in Renwick on the third day. The field trip informed the combined meeting with the Molesworth Steering Committee on the morning of 12 April, before the Board’s meeting after lunch.
• The Board discussed the proposed review of the Molesworth Management Plan, including its role in relation to the steering committee.
• A highlight for board members was two previous Board chairs, Liz Davison and Susan King, who spoke at the public forum, giving a lively presentation about some of the issues from the 1990s.
• Bill O’Leary spoke to the Board, on behalf of the NZ Deerstalkers Association, describing some of the animal control and hut work done by their members.
• The Board decided to write to the Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board to clarify its involvement in the proposed Molesworth Management Plan review and how we can collaborate in this process.

Meeting Highlights - Kaikōura

23 May 2019

• The Board’s meeting was held at the Kaikōura District Council on Thursday 23 May, with a field trip the following day.
• The Board received an update on the draft Te Pokohiwi Boulder Bank Management Plan – an area at the mouth of the Wairau River near Blenheim.
• The impact of tourism and freedom camping on public conservation land was a theme at this meeting.
• The Board also established a committee to work on the reclassification of stewardship land, and reviewed a report on mountain bike monitoring on the Heaphy Track.
• The meeting ended on a sad note with a warm farewell to Board member Amelia Taylor, whose term on the Board ended in June 2019.

Meeting Highlights - Ūkaipō, Blenheim

25 July 2019

• New Board member and Ngāi Tahu nominee Lorraine Hawke from Kaikōura was warmly welcomed to the Board whanau.
• The one-day meeting in the beautiful Rangitāne venue at Ūkaipō had a strong marine theme, with Te Pokohiwi, the East Coast Protection Group presentation, and the Hector’s and Maui Dolphin Threat Management Plan consultation on the agenda.
• A presentation by Tina Porou, who is leading the management planning process for Te Pokohiwi, led to a lengthy discussion on the importance of the site.
• The Board decided to express its increasing concern at the continuing delay in reviewing the region’s Conservation Management Strategy.

The Board was concerned to see the spread of wilding conifers but encouraged to see wind rows following control work the previous summer. After a stop at Red Gate, we drove on through Isolated Flat to stay in guest accommodation near the recently renovated Molesworth homestead. Farm managers Jim and Tracey Ward hosted the stay and led a discussion of the farming operation and ecological issues with Graeme Mulligan.

Kaikōura, 24 May 2019

After a postponed field trip with Whale Watch in October 2018, the weather was perfect for a boat trip with guests from a range of organisations, followed by a short field trip to a closed freedom camping site, led by Matt Hoggard from the Council.

Guests for the boat trip included representatives of Ngāti Kuri, Kaikōura Marine Guardians, Te Korowai o Te Tai o Marokura, Kaikōura District Council, Environment Canterbury, Forest and Bird, and the North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery (NCTIR) team. It provided an opportunity to experience a concessionaire in action, marine mammals, learn about Ngāti Kuri whakapapa from Tā Mark Solomon, and to engage with local conservation groups and our key local contacts.

• The Oparara Basin working group met via teleconference to discuss proposals for the area funded through the Provincial Growth Fund. The working group now includes Coraleen White and Neil Silverwood, representing the West Coast Tai Poutini Conservation Board.
• Ian Alach represented the Board at the unveiling of the new pou whenua for the Kahurangi National Park Mokihinui addition near Seddonville in early July.
• The Board commented on the Hector’s and Maui Dolphin Threat Management Plan review in August, seeking increased protection for these taonga species.

The Nelson Marlborough Boards' Annual Report 2018-2019 is here - read now.

Canterbury Aoraki

Pou, Lake Ohau. Photo: Marie-Louise Grandiek.

Meeting Highlights - Twizel

10 April 2019

Key issues discussed included the pause of the Aoraki Mount Cook National Park Management Plan Review, and support for a drylands’ heritage area in the Mackenzie Basin.

Other highlights from the meeting include:

•  Presentation on the Te Manahua Aoraki Project (Jan Hania, Environmental Director, NEXT Foundation)
• Presentation on the Mackenzie Basin Agency Alignment Programme (Karina Morrow, Group Manager Regulations, Mackenzie District Council)
• Presentation of paper on Te Nohonga Kaitiki Genomics Aotearoa (Te Awhina Arahanga, Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board member)

Meeting Highlights - Christchurch

21 June 2019

Key issues discussed included the St James Reclassification Project and the proposed Molesworth Management Plan Review, the concept of a mahinga kai park, and the Board’s annual Conservation Awards.

Other highlights from the meeting include:

• Community Engaged Research: Year 3 University of Canterbury student research project on braided rivers.  The students have been tasked with coming up with a ranking of the Canterbury regions braided rivers, as to their suitability for either World Heritage status or Wetland of International Importance.
• Future field trips to comprehensively engage with representation from kaitiaki rōpū and mana whenua.  Field trip briefings to include contemporary and historical culture.

Meeting Highlights - Christchurch

27 August 2019

Key issues discussed included the alignment of the St James Conservation Area and the Molesworth Scenic Reserve, updates from the Conservation Board Chairs Conference and the Board’s Annual Report for 2018/19.

Other highlights from the meeting include:

• Alignment of Board submissions with Ngāi Tahu

• Presentation on Genomic Research and Taonga Species including context on the genomics research community linked with Maori traditional knowledge (Maui Hudson, University of Waikato)

The field trip included:

• Kakī Aviary.  Introduction to kakī and an overview of the captive breeding programme
• Cultural Storytelling.  Site visit to Lake Ohau where a Pou has been erected to celebrate the Waitaha story
• Mackenzie Basin introduction.  Power-point presentation at DOC Twizel office on the ecology of the Mackenzie Basin, the drylands park project and general discussion
• Wilding Conifer Management.  Site visit to Stilling Basin with overview to Pukaki Downs.  Discussion with Mackenzie Wilding Trees Trust on the challenges of wilding tree control
• Mackenzie Country Trust.  Shared lunch at Braemar Station with trustees of the Mackenzie Country Trust.  Discussion on the background of the Trust and support of the creation of a Dryland Heritage Area
• Te Manahuna Aoraki Project.  Site visit to Forks Stream with briefing on the current situation with native fish.  Site visit to Patterson’s Terrace with briefing on the ecology and habitat of the robust grasshopper (Brachaspis robustus)

Other Activities

The Board held two workshops, June and August 2019. 

Key issues discussed were the Board’s Annual Report for 2018/19 and the preparation of the Board’s Annual Work Programme for 2019/20.

Other highlights from these workshops included presentations from:

• Tahr Management Programme update (James Holborow, Programme Lead Tahr, Department of Conservation)
• The new face of FENZ and the Department of Conservation National Fire Team (Scott Bowie, National Fire Advisor, Department of Conservation)
• Climate Change (Jenny Christie, Science Advisor Threats, Department of Conservation)
• South East Marine Protected Area Network (Philip Duffey, Planner, Operations and Rebecca Bird, Project Manager, Department of Conservation)

The Canterbury Aoriaki Boards' Annual Report 2018-2019 is here - read now.

Southland

The Southland Conservation Board has not stopped since the start of 2019, as Board continues to prepare for the upcoming Fiordland National Park Management Plan.

Kākāpō chick in hand-rearing unit in Invercargill. Photo: Vaughn Filmer.

Meeting Highlights - Murihiku

11 April 2019

• Shona Sangster, a Southland Conservation Board member gave an in-depth and passionate report on her recent trip to the Antipodes Islands.
• Rachael Egerton of the Department of Conservation presented to the Board about the development of a Historic strategy for the wider Subantarctic Islands.
• Colin Bishop of the Department of Conservation gave a very informative talk on Tiakina Ngā Manu and the 2019 operations.
• The Board was visited by Pat Garden, the outgoing chair of the neighboring Otago Conservation Board. 

The Board was privileged to have an opportunity to visit the Kākāpō hand-rearing facility during the lunch break and meet some of the kākāpō chicks from the extremely successful 2019 breeding season.

Meeting Highlights - Murihiku

6 June 2019

The Board expressed their delight in Tāne Davis and Joyce Rewa-Kolk receiving Queen's Birthday Honours in recognition of their work for conservation.

• OMV presented to the Board on their proposed exploration for oil and gas in the Great South Basin. This resulted in the Board writing to OMV, and a subsequent media release from the Board, expressing their concern and urging the diverting of resources to more sustainable methods of energy development and supply.
• The Board met with Southland District Council towards building a strong relationship with the council.
• Daryl Eason of the Department of Conservation gave an inspiring presentation to the Board on the 2019/20 Kākāpō Breeding season and the aspergillosis crisis which followed.

Meeting Highlights - Te Rau Aroha Marae, Bluff

22 August 2019

Rose Hanley-Nickolls of the Department of Conservation gave a very interesting presentation on Maukahuka (Auckland Islands) and gave each Board member a memory stick full of resources regarding the project.

• The Board stayed overnight on Te Rau Aroha Marae, to further strengthen their relationship with Ngāi Tahu.
• Maurice Rodway was farewelled from the Board after a three-year term, and the Board welcomed Chantelle Subritzky to the Board.
• The Board acknowledged that the Whenua Hou Book Launch, hosted by the Whenua Hou Committee a subcommittee of the Southland Conservation Board, along with Ngāi Tahu and DOC, was a great success.
• The Board acknowledged the significance of the recent signing of the Predator-Free Rakiura MOU.

The main hut on the Antipodes. Photo: Shona Sangster.

Antipodes trip report from Shona Sangster

"I was lucky enough to get to go along on a DOC trip to Antipodes Island in February of this year.  The purpose of the trip was to pick up Graeme Elliot and Kath Walker, who had been researching albatrosses, and to retrieve some gear left by the Million Dollar Mouse eradication project.

We got very lucky with the weather and were able to get all the gear aboard the Evohe, our transport. I was introduced to the Antipodes albatross research and had a great tour of the natural treasures and heritage sites as well as a good introduction to the management issues and challenges for the seabird species.

Personal highlights included encountering the endemic flora (often face-first due to difficult terrain) and fauna, (having my leg sneezed on by a large elephant seal) and seeing the incredibly well-preserved heritage. "

- Shona Sangster

The Southland Boards' Annual Report 2018-2019 is here - read now.

Consultations open for your comment

Proposal for name and classification of Motu Kānuka Scientific Reserve
Have your say on a proposal for the name and classification of Motu Kānuka Scientific Reserve in North Canterbury.Submissions close 9 October 2019.​

Conservation General Policy and General Policy for National Parks partial reviews  DOC is undertaking partial reviews of these general policies focussing on considerations associated with section 4 of the Conservation Act 1987.

Proposal for New Zealand's next biodiversity strategy
DOC is leading the development of a new biodiversity strategy. Have your say on how we should safeguard the future of our nature. Submissions close Sunday 5 pm 22 September 2019.

Keep up to date with public consultations here.