Read our stories from Nelson Lakes about nature, recreation and community engagement. No Images? Click here BirdsongYou are receiving this newsletter because you signed up for updates from us in the past or have indicated you are interested in hearing from us. If this is no longer the case you can click unsubscribe at the bottom of this email. Welcome to the fourth edition of the new Nelson Lakes Newsletter. This quarterly publication aims to provide readers with an insight into the work undertaken by Department of Conservation staff and volunteers at the Nelson Lakes Office. Project updates, facilities developments, research results, community engagement and plans for the future will feature in regular updates bringing you closer to the daily work of the dedicated local staff and illustrating how our work contributes to wider national outcomes and objectives of the Department. Biodiversity & RecreationIn search of yellow flowers... The Nelson Lakes Weeds Team took to a raft this summer, to access tree lupin weed sites on the Wairau River. On a very hot December day, Ultimate Descents senior guide Sonny took 6 staff on a 10 km journey down the upper reaches, in search of yellow flowers. The team are all expert river-forders but always find the far side of the Wairau a challenge to get to. The raft proved to be a very efficient and safe way of travelling between tree lupin sites. So, we think we’ll need to do this again next year. Tree lupin is a very persistent weed that forms solid colonies over the river gravel islands, making them unsuitable as nesting sites for our threatened river-nesting birds - black-fronted terns and black billed gulls. We are holding a line at around Bull Paddock Creek confluence - upstream of here we are doing our best to banish all tree lupin. Using a raft to get to the remote weed sites may sound very glamorous but most of the day was actually spent like the scene on the second photo. Rafting the Wairau, in search of yellow flowers Graeme Andrews taking out a 2-year old tree lupin Blake Ambassador ProgrammeOne positive to come from the sad and untimely loss of New Zealand icon, Sir Peter Blake, is the Blake Ambassador Programme. This programme is run annually as a partnership between Antarctica New Zealand, the Antarctic Heritage Trust, NIWA and the Department of Conservation to provide opportunities for exceptional young people to work alongside teams of scientists, conservationists, engineers and conservators on environmental and heritage restoration projects that advance our understanding and address some of the big environmental questions and challenges facing society. The Nelson Lakes Office has been fortunate to provide opportunities for Blake Ambassadors for the last two years. Sian Moffitt (Victoria University of Wellington) wrote this overview of her opportunity: A big thank you to DOC and The Sir Peter Blake Trust for this opportunity." Read the blogs of Sian & Marie here The staff at Nelson Lakes really enjoyed hosting Sian and Marie as they were very enthusiastic and worked hard. We all wish them the best for their studies and future opportunities. Sian and Marie on the top of the St Arnaud Range Sian checking tracking tunnels Marie and Emma W preparing for wasp operation Sian re-setting a stoat trap Sabine – Speargrass RouteThe Sabine – Speargrass route close to lake Rotoroa suffered significant damage during cyclone Eta in April 2014. Many hundreds of trees fell which opened up the forest significantly in areas. This has resulted in some rapid regeneration of the surrounding bush. The Visitor Asset team have begun to clear this regeneration which in places has fully closed in on the track as well as making a wider path by clearing more of the windfall trees by the track left by cyclone Eta. Rapid beech regeneration After track clearance D’Urville ValleyThe Visitor Assets team spent week in early March in the D’Urville Valley clearing windfall trees from the track between George Lyon Hut and Bull Paddock. The Department had received numerous reports of significant areas of windfall in the valley but found the situation less grave than expected. They were therefore able to clear a greater length of track than was planned as well as enabling some excellent training opportunities for the younger team members. The team worked late into the evenings to achieve the result at times in heavy rain. The D’Urville River has changed its course in a number of parts of the valley and in parts now the river has cut a new channel through areas of mature beech trees. E Williams, J Rice, M Gillies, P Dulieu and A Santamaria at Morgan Hut The D’Urville River now channelled through the forest Matakitaki ValleyThe Matakitaki Valley has received some much needed attention in the past month with further work planned in the area. The vegetation in both the Matakitaki East and West Branch as well as from Downies Hut to the forks has been cleared and the track remarked. In April the two three-wire bridges at the Matakitaki Forks will be re-positioned. The current structures are beginning to cut into the supporting trees and so will be re-strung and anchored in a far more comprehensive fashion to ensure damage to the trees is avoided. Matakitaki Valley track cleared Kerr Bay pondingThe Department will soon begin works to reinstate the waterlogged areas in Kerr Bay back to their recreational / amenity function. Geotechnical advice has been sought which confirmed that the best course of action would be to bring in fill as a means of creating an even slope such that the rain can drain off the area and stop the water pooling in the lower lying areas. Fulton Hogan have been looking for a solution for the fill that they have created in undertaking the culvert replacements on SH63 between the village and the Nelson turnoff and a mutually beneficial solution, with savings to the taxpayer, has been agreed. Fulton Hogan will empty the pond by either natural drainage or pump and then truck in material, shaping and rolling it to create an even, gently sloping surface. This material will then be left over the winter months to settle. In the early spring the Department will then cover the fill material with approved topsoil and re-sow the area in grass. The area on the eastern side of the road will also receive topsoil to reshape the surface to eliminate ponding and assist with drainage, followed by reseeding with grass. Works will ensure that the site of the Red Whare is left undisturbed and low sediment cloth fences will be installed to prevent any run off of silt into the lake prior to the grass cover being established. The confusing road pattern at the lakeshore will also be improved with the central section, between the two small raised islands being filled. This was originally intended to allow for bus parking but has not been useful for that purpose. This again, will be given a layer of topsoil and grassed in the spring. Revive RotoitiBlack billed gulls are offered a helping handA small colony of black billed gulls nested in the Nelson Lakes area – beginning nesting in September 2017 and abandoning the site on Christmas Eve. Forty two nests were counted after the birds left. The nesting site was on a small gravel island and river water flowed on both sides of the island for the duration of nesting. Friends of Rotoiti volunteers placed predator traps along both river banks. Black backed gulls were seen in the area occasionally – they are a significant predator of eggs and chicks and can cause the colony to be abandoned. Black billed gulls nested in the same area in 2014 and the colony was approximately 100 nests. In that season the colony was abandoned on New Year’s Eve – just as a significant flood occurred. Black billed gulls New Zealand's only endemic gull and received a “nationally critical” rating in 2013. They are the most threatened gull species in the world. Read more about the black billed gull/tarāpuka on the DOC website. Black billed gulls nesting, photo Russell Chilton Black billed gulls with a chick, photo Russell Chilton Community & EducationThe education of a camp hostOur youngest ever camp host finished her duty recently. Helena Bieleski is six years old and she delighted in her week of learning as a camp host at West Bay along with her mother, Anne. Helena is already a keen camper and tramper. In fact, she had a great adventure walking to Angelus Hut for her fifth birthday with family. Biking at Teetotal was a real highlight for Helena, as was filling in the orange booking cards for campers, taking long walks in the forest, calculating camp fees, and swimming in the lake. They observed the behaviour of a ‘pet’ South Island robin/toutouwai who kept them company while they relaxed in the camp host cabin. Anne and Helena took the opportunity to find the plants the West Bay campsites are named after, and they learnt about the birds of the national park. Helena improved her maths by playing number plate games and giving change to campers. The learning didn’t stop there. Anne and Helena learned about the recent Census as they distributed and collected the campers’ forms. Anne enjoyed seeing her daughter play with children from around the world and gain confidence by having some duties to do. DOC provides a small, well-equipped cabin and tent shelter for people who would like to be camp hosts but don’t have a campervan or caravan. Contact the Nelson Lakes volunteer coordinator for more information: Helena thinks families would have lots of fun being camp hosts at Nelson Lakes over the summer. There’s heaps to learn - and do! Volunteer applications for the 2018/19 summer season will open in July. All available options will be advertised on the DOC website and in the Volunteer Newsletter. Snippets from the ManagerWith the start of March summer is officially over, though for now the temperatures are yet to get too autumnal. At Nelson Lakes we have been lucky to escape the worst of the effects of the ex-tropical cyclones with the heavy rains, high winds and smashing seas closing tracks, roads and eating away at coastal campsites around Tasman and Golden Bay. The visitor centre rangers however have been very busy especially with additional tourists and trampers fleeing the weather events. The summer months saw lots of field trips undertaken and tons of good work done. I have been fortunate to be able to join overnight trips with both the visitor assets and biodiversity teams through the summer. These really help me further understand and appreciate the work as well as being great opportunities to spend more time with my fantastic field ranger staff… and the trips are good fun! The trip I would like to highlight was to the southern end of Lake Rotoroa doing the rodent tracking tunnels with the biodiversity team in February. We stayed at the Misery Hut, built in the early 70s to support the now defunct Department of Science and Industrial Research (DSIR) science programme. The hut log books make fascinating reading. What really struck me was the sense of history, integrity and continuity of science effort and learning from the DSIR through Landcare and our now own mainland island rangers collecting important science data at Rotoroa. The rodent tracking tunnel lines are clearly randomised across the very steep landscape rather than placed with any thought of choosing easy places to get to from lake level. The staff are generally required to ascend 1000m or more to put out the tracking cards and then climbing back up to retrieve them the next day to see which animals have left their inky footprints. A big thanks to the Friends of Rotoiti who, on top of their ‘own’ work, also helped us this year with putting out the wasp baits in the Travers, Sabine and Speargrass Valleys. Also to our wonderful volunteers in the camps, huts and helping with the biodiversity work and last but not least the rangers. John Wotherspoon |