Kia ora koutou

Since the last newsletter I have officially taken over as Chair and  I would like to thank Greg for his nine years of service as Chair.  Greg has led the trust with dedication and humility and the whole of the board are very grateful for the work he has put in promoting the Trust. 

Each year in September the trustees get together for an in-person meeting.  Our numbers were down  this year, largely due to Covid, but those of us who were able to make it took the opportunity to celebrate Greg's time as Chair as well as a significant birthday milestone!  Our talented Trustee Alison Waru presented Greg with a beautiful taonga she had created especially for the occasion on behalf of the Trust.  Thankfully Greg is staying on as a trustee so thank you Greg!

The year is moving on very quickly and it is only a few months till our next conference.  As you'll see below registrations are now open so get in quick as capacity is limited and the early birds get a discounted price!  A massive thanks to AUT Environmental Science Department for hosting and organizing the conference and providing sponsorship. 

In line with conference theme of measuring progress, just a reminder that one of the tools that the Coastal Restoration Trust has developed is the coastal monitoring database: https://monitoring.coastalrestorationtrust.org.nz.  This site provides a quick and simple method of measuring and monitoring dune health as well as collecting the data and allowing for easy comparison between sites and transects.  So if you haven't used this site yet try giving it a go over the summer and if you have – is it time to remeasure your transects?

Season's greetings to you all and I look forward to seeing many of you at the conference in March.

Noho ora mai

Laura Shaft – Chair

Join us and other coasties for our next conference on 16-18 March 2022 at AUT, City Campus. We will be hosted by the AUT Department of Environmental Science. Fieldtrips on 17-18 March will be held around the Auckland Region.

The theme is:

Coastal Restoration: Measuring our Progress.

An optional weekend fieldtrip is being planned for 19-20 March. The location is yet to be finalised, but offshore islands are being considered.

Check our Auckland conference page for a draft programme, a way to download the poster and more. Details will be posted there as they become available. It is also possible to go straight to the registration form here: https://auckland-2022.lilregie.com

The art work is on raw canvas layered with 5 acrylic washes and fine line work.

It incorporates the mighty Rakaia and Waimakariri water ways, as well as the original name of the first known inhabitants of this rohe -  Ngati Maamoe.

The line work pays tribute to toi whakairo - carved etchings found on many wharenui within the realm of Te Wai Pounamu - South Island.

It was definitely a labour of aroha for me and a tribute to Greg for all the work he does for his beautiful piece of paradise and for Aotearoa as a member of Tahuna Ora.

Some avid bird lovers have banded together in Hawkes Bay and would like to start work on protecting shore birds by doing coastal restoration work in the Bayview/ Clive/ Awatoto/ Haumoana/Pourerere region. There are New Zealand Dotterels nesting in the Clive and Pourerere region which they would like to give priority. Currently, there is limited signage and virtually no cordoned off areas to protect these birds.  Mostly it is volunteers who are all randomly monitoring, putting up signs that they make themselves and taking various actions on their own and they are not aware of any coordinated approach from the local councils or DOC.  They have created a local Facebook group which anyone can join, “Save the Dotterels Hawkes Bay”

Hawkes Bay is under-represented on our Coast Care group map and so it would be great to support them. If you would like to help with this and don't do Facebook, please contact us and we'll pass on your contact details.

An update from Graham & Lyn Pearson from Castlecliff Coastcare, Whanganui.

• They've secured funding to pay for an extra 5000 spinifex plants for the Morgan Street plantings, which were started this year
• A stall at the local market to promote coast care and sell some fundraising items
• Working bees with help from schools and other volunteers are continuing
• A trapping programme is being developed
• A small greenhouse is being built to care for donated plants until they can be planted - help is needed from some green-fingered locals
• Following suggestions from local weavers, ten varieties of harakeke have been located and secured for the next planting season
• Input was provided to Te Pūwaha, the Whanganui port revitalisation project
• Graham and Lyn Pearson were invited to speak about CCC's projects to the Foxton Beach coastal group's AGM
• Keep an eye on their Facebook page for more

Photo: one of four new signs erected this year.

The purpose of this scholarship is to provide funds to assist with an individual’s post-graduate level research to improve knowledge in the field of coastal restoration. The scholarship is usually $2,000 plus expenses to travel and present at our conference.

Go to the scholarship page to read more and download the information and application form.

Applications must be received by us by 31 January 2022.

The Coastal Restoration Award recognises 'on the ground' results achieved through team work and tenacity. The award is generously sponsored by Coastlands Plant Nursery.

If you are involved with a coastal restoration group that you think is doing great work, or want to nominate a group or project that is, go to our restoration award webpage to download the form, fill it in and send it to us by 31 January 2022.

Cassandra's research has been affected by Covid-19, although she has been able to process lots of the data gathered so far while stuck inside. It is hoped that a final surveying trip can be made to Southland when travel restrictions ease for Auckland on 15 December. This trip is very important as the results of one of her trips proved to be unusable.

She has found that the Mataura River mouth has a strong influence on the Fortrose site, and that there is a distinct erosion/accretion cycle occurring every 10 years at Porpoise Bay.

Cassandra is learning lots about technology and problem solving when things don't go as planned.

To read the full story and see more pictures go to our news site.

Photo: some of the data being analysed

As part of her PhD in Environmental Management at Massey University, Charlotte Sextus is inviting readers from the Manawatū to participate in a survey exploring environmental volunteering.

Community-based environmental groups make a significant contribution to biodiversity conservation in New Zealand. This survey aims to help us understand why people volunteer for environmental groups. These findings will be useful for groups seeking to recruit more volunteers to help protect our local environment.

The survey should take about 10 minutes to complete. Participation is completely voluntary, and all responses will remain completely anonymous. To participate please use this link

If you would prefer a printed version of the survey please just email her or you can pick one up from the ENM office on 145 Cube St, Palmerston North.

In response to an email sent by one of our coast care groups re hunting waste found on their beach (photo), we got this response from Allen Stancliff, Tarananki Fish & Game Council:

There has been a lot of work on hunting wads since 2016 and manufacturers have now come up with a fully biodegradable wad for steel shot shotgun ammunition.

Previously, they were only available for lead shot because they couldn’t prevent damage to shotgun barrels from the harder steel shot that waterfowl hunters must use.

The following link is to an article in the 2020 Fish & Game Magazine

It is not known yet whether fully biodegradable wads will become mandatory for waterfowl hunting, but Fish & Game will certainly be making a push for gamebird hunters to adopt the more environmentally friendly ammunition.

Hopefully this will lead to a reduction in plastic shotgun wads turning up on beaches and lakeshores.

Our database continues to grow and improve, not only in numbers but also by adding previously unobtainable pdf versions of documents.

Some new documents added recently are:

RBNZ climate change report 2021 by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

Submission from the Coastal Restoration Trust of NZ in response to the Climate Change Commission 2021 Draft Advice for Consultation

A new list of vascular plants for Whenua Hou/Codfish Island with notes on that island's flora by John Barkla

If you come across any NZ coastal documents that are not in our database please email us.
 

Another year almost gone already. I hope it was a good one for you all despite the obvious complications.

Have a wonderful Christmas holiday with whānau and friends and a good start to the new year! And then we hope to see you in Auckland for our conference...

Remember also to order your plants for the 2022 season and use our planting calculator and other resources.

Wishing us all a wet-enough summer to make those plants grow!

Lyneke Onderwater

Administrator