july 2008 horowhenua, royal forest and bird protecton society newsletter

8/8/2019 July 2008 Horowhenua, Royal Forest and Bird Protecton Society Newsletter

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"Nature has been for me, as long as I

remember, a source of solace, inspiration,

adventure, and delight; a home, a teacher, a

companion."

Lorraine Anderson

July 2008 Newsletter

Prior to the Horowhenua Section local Forest

and Bird members were under the auspices of

the Manawatu Section.

In 1964 I received a letter, dated 11 August,

from Pam Lewis Hon Secretary for theManawatu Section informing me that on 19

August 1964 there would be a meeting in

Otaki to form a Horowhenua Section. The

letter pointed out that a Horowhenua Section

would better serve local members.

At this meeting, held in the supper room Otaki

Memorial Hall, the Horowhenua Section was

formed. Despite appointing interim office

holders (Chair J. Hill-Motion and Secretary

R.J. Hay) it was nearly 12 months before

permanent office holders were elected. The

first chairman was Eric Johns, long time

Waitohu Valley resident and the Hon

Secretary his eldest daughter Pat.

It didnt take long for the section to get

attention as a notice sent to Horowhenua

members calling a meeting for 2 December1964 contained information that caused

disquiet at Forest and Bird Head Office. Roy

Nelson, Forest and Bird President at the time,

attended the December meeting and from my

recollection gave an eloquent talk on the

virtues of the Society and its executive.

Trips I remember going on were to the

Mangaone Valley (prior to it becoming a

walkway) and to Bushy Park.The section lost its Chair and Secretary in

1967 and the section seems to have eventually

languished. (I had left the area, in January

1968, and hence lost touch with the section.)

In July 1969 the section was resurrected

when N.E. Dalmer (Norman) convened a

meeting in Levin. I had several discussions

with Norm over the years but, bless him, henever really accepted the section (later to be

a branch in 1974) started at Otaki in 1964.

For many years an annual meeting was held in

Otaki possibly a reflection of the branches

many Otaki members. I believe it originally

reflected that the Branch had its beginnings

in Otaki but cant substantiate that.

I wish the branch all the best for the future.

Ian Cooksley: Manakau.

50th Anniversary Edition

Horowhenua Branch Beginnings


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WAIKANAE RIVER WALK

Winter showed its face on May 3, with a brisk southerly and

a sprinkling of snow on Kapakapanui and Mount Hector. Nev-

ertheless, a dozen walkers gathered at the Waikane River

Estuary for an amble round the lagoons and up the river as

far as the impressive new foot bridge. There we crossed to

admire planting by the Waikanae River group on the south-

ern side, then stopped in the picnic area to enjoy our lunch

and a short burst of sunlight, before heading back the way

we came.

A highlight in the early part of the walk was the sight of

the old macrocarpa by the northern-most lagoon, festooned

with black and pied shags, some nesting, with a few royal

spoonbills sitting on very the top of the tree. We also saw

spoonbills feeding both in the estuary and the lagoons, and

plenty more shags keeping a look-out from rocks and

branches. We heard tuis in the pohutukawas near the la-

goons

Among the many waterbirds on the lagoon were New Zea-

land shovelers (keeping as far away from us as they could),

scaup and dabchicks. We sighted Henry, Henrietta and

Thomas, the famous trio of two swans and a goose, swim-

ming in the northern pond with some of their offspring. As

we returned we had a good view of a white-fronted heron

and two spoonbills feeding on the edge of the river.

It was a treat to see so much bird-life and to see the great

effort that has gone into planting the area. The consensus

of our group seemed to be that it was a very enjoyable and

informative walk. Belinda McLean

AN IMPORTANT EVENT FOR OTAKI

One Saturday afternoon, late in May, 150 interested people assembled at

Chrystalls Bend to participate in the official opening of the Walkway to

Chrystalls Bend and the stopbank. This stopbank will give protection to

Otaki township from flooding.

Hira Royal, from Rangiatea Church, led us in a blessing and a song of praise

and then after the official speeches we were able to cross the new Waimana

Bridge to view the lagoon and the picnic area.1000 plants were laid out, holes already dug, and the people present got

these planted in record time and were then able to enjoy a sausage or two

provided by the Otaki Fishing Club.

Many Forest & Bird members were present at this celebration and some of

these people are part of FOTOR ( Friends of the Otaki River) group that has

been very active over the last few years growing and planting in this area.

Nearly 5000 plants have been put in already and 4000 more are to be

planted before the end of the year. Congratulations to these people

for their achievements so far and I know we will be hearing more on this

project in the future.

I would recommend this walkway to our members. It is only 2 Kms of level

walking East alongside the Otaki River and it is open to walkers and cyclists

on weekendsafter 12.00 on a Saturdayand after 5.00PM on weekdays.

Parking is available at the entrance to the Highway to the Sea walkway on

Highway One just before Otaki Bridge. Margarette

Grace Hunts granddaughter Lauren

The Royal Spoonbill


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BUSHY PARK RE-VISITED

14 of us set off from Levin on Saturday 14th of June and when we arrived we were fortunate to

find that Allan Anderson, chairman of the Bushy Park Trust, was there and he was able to tell us

the homestead history, the latest developments and what to look out for along the tracks.

After Devonshire tea/coffee we set off along the Ratanui track listening to the birdlife, identi-

fying the lush plant life and finding an abundance of fungi. Our photographers had great fun en-

ticing Robin onto the track so that they could get good shots of them.Back in front of the homestead for lunch and then off towards the wetland area. In front of the

homestead a great number of tree Lucerne have been planted and to our delight there were

flocks of up to 50 pigeons feeding on them and then taking off towards a stand of native trees

in the distance. What an amazing and inspiring sight! Lots of saddleback on the trees to the side

of the wetland and once again our photographers attempted to get shots of them. Finally along

the Twin Punga track and back to our cars to return home after a very pleasant dayMargarette

Lovely Stained Glass window at the back of the

grand homestead.The happy group

Just a sample of what we saw on this enjoyable outing to Bushy Park


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COMMITTEE NEWS

The recent AGM saw the addition of two new members

to our existing team.

Julie Curran re-joined us after taking time out to build

and move into her new house. We are pleased to have

her back with us because of her knowledge of the local

area and her extensive experience in the outdoors.

Lena Berger is another addition. For some time now she

has been assisting Margarette with formatting the

newsletter and the printing as well. You will have noticed

the colour in our photos recently. This makes the news-

letter a very attractive publication to receive. Lenas

willingness to help and her expert skills are very wel-

come.

In addition and from the beginning of June, Belinda

McLean has taken over the duties of correspondence

secretary. This will free Joan up to concentrate on the

demands of local Resource Applications and hearings

which are extremely time consuming. Belinda will deal

with correspondence, communications from head office

and communications of all types.

A big welcome to these new people and if anyone else

would like to join us we would be pleased to have them

as well. Barbara

Forest & Bird AGM-2008

What a great experience! It was a real buzz to

meet so many like-minded people who are passionate

about caring for our natural environment-yes!

Meeting so many enthusiastic people has given me

even more motivation to pursue our causes. I would

recommend these meetings to all members of

Forest & Bird.

After Fridays evening meal we listened to four of

our politicians speak about what

their party will do for us and the

interests of our causes. Of course

Trevor Mallard (Labour, Minister

for the Environment) told us of all

the wonderful things HIS

government did for us such as the

move to save Hectors and Mauis dolphins, DOCpartnerships with councils, pest control in

Whanganui Regional Park, Te Papanui tussock land

north of Dunedin becoming a conservation area and

many more. The four politicians spoke convincingly

of all the things their party will do if elected, but

Dr. Russel Norman of the Green party got the

strongest applause from the audience with his

uncompromising passion for conservation and in his

words I refuse to let this country use our

waterways as drainage ditches!. Everyone agreed!

A highlight of the weekend would have to be our

own conservation advocate Joan Leckie being

elected to the Forest and Bird Executive. Well

done Joan! She is one of only 13 members of the

executive who make decisions for our society, so we

are lucky to have her expertise in our branch.

Another highlight was the 20th anniversary of Kiwi

Conservation Club which was celebrated with a cake

and singing by some of the children. Several long-

serving KCC teachers were also awarded "Old Blue"

awards for their service to Forest and Bird.

Remits that passed at the AGM were: # 1-that F &

B send communications via e-mail rather than send

paper (those not on e-mail can request paper

copies), # 3 (re-worded remit carried) that the

Society survey youth and target specific F & B

memberships for the 13-20 and 20-40 age group, #

4 Vehicles off Beaches, # 5 that DOC and

appropriate authorities stringently monitor the

numbers of introduced browsing animals and other

pest species in our indigenous forests, and # 6

new membership prices.

I will report the exact wording

of these remits at our next

meeting.

Hot topics at the weekend

meeting were pest destruction,

clean rivers and waterways, ban

on set nets for fishing, marine reserves,greenhouse gases, carbon credits, DOC funding,

sustainable fishing, damming of rivers and

specifically the Mohikinui River, wind-generated

power and the location of wind farms. There were

some lively debates and some well informed people

who were interesting to hear! I hope to be able to

attend many more of these meetings.Debbie Waldin

A highlight of the weekend would

have to be our own conservation

advocate Joan Leckie being

elected to the Forest and Bird

Executive

The newly elected executive of Forest &Bird with our Joan Leckie in the front second

from left.


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Rare fish thriving near Lake

HorowhenuaMon 23 Jun 08

Giant kokopu. a type of rare and threatened native fish,have been found in good numbers near Lake Horow-henua where Horizons Regional Council has beenworking with landowners to improve streambank vege-tation. Horizons Research Associate Carol Nicholson

said 27 giant kokopu were found during a recent surveyof fish in a small section of the stream near Levin be-tween Kawiu Road and Lake Horowhenua, which ispart of a Horizons restoration project.

"We were astounded to count so many of these fish,which are listed as rare and threatened nationally, insuch a short section of the Lake Horowhenua tributarystream," said Ms Nicholson.

A similar survey two years ago revealed only a coupleof the fish, so we were delighted to see that they seemto be thriving now. Its great news for landowners, who

with Horizons' assistance, have fenced and planted thestream banks between Kawiu Road and Lake Horow-henua," said Ms Nicholson. "We cannot be sure thatthe increase in numbers is directly due to the revegeta-tion work on the stream, but it certainly helps provide amuch better habitat for the fish."

The giant kokopu was among several species of nativefish found by Horizons and Department of Conservationstaff during recent surveys of fish communities instreams and wetland areas in Horowhenua district.Ms Nicholson said individual giant kokopu recorded inthe survey ranged in length from about 70mm 200mm,indicating the population was sustaining itself. Because

only a small section of the stream was surveyed, shecouldnt rule out the possibility of larger fish living andbreeding in other areas.

Horizons Policy Monitoring Officer Barry Gilliland saidgiant kokopu were "like very chubby torpedoes"."They are pretty special fish," said Mr Gilliland. "Theirscientific name is Galaxias argenteus because themarkings are reminiscent of a galaxy. They can live aslong as 20 years, grow as big as 580mm, weigh asmuch as 2.8kg and live in streams so small they canhardly turn around."

He said giant kokopu were as shy as they were spec-tacular. "They hide under overhanging vegetation,woody debris and undercut stream banks, and onlycome out to feed at night. It is one reason people oftenhave no idea they are in a stream."

Awapuni Recycling Centre

On Monday 7 July 12 of us visited the Awapuni

Recycling Centre in Palmerston North.

When we arrived in Palmerston we started by

having an enjoyable lunch in the Esplanade

where there were a lot of Tuis in a big gum tree.

The sparrows enjoyed our crumbs too.

Once at the Recycling Plant Xxxxxx who

worked for the Strategic Planning Unit of the

PN City Council gave us a very informative talk,

describing where all the different type of

containers were sent once they had been baled.

She also described how we should treat the

plastic bottles and things before recycling

them, reminding us to clean and squash

everything. We were also told that all the glass

was ground and used as a base course for

roading. Methane gas was harvested from theold landfill and turned into electricity via a

cogeneration plant.

We were then taken out into the factory where

we saw the masses of paper being baled, and

preparation being done to sort recyclables. The

paper and cardboard part of the recycling is

handled by Full Circle whose majority

shareholder is Carter Holt.

Lena Berger


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Return Address

Horowhenua Forest & Bird

C/- J. Leckie

Makahika Rd RD 1

LEVIN

DID YOU KNOW?New Zealand Shoveller

This endemic duck has a broad flattened bill, which is specialised for filtering food

from surface water and ooze

The shoveller drake is brightly

coloured in the breedingseason with chestnut

underparts and pale blue wing

flashes. They are rather

smaller than the mallard and

quite secretive during

breeding. Found in our local

streams and waterways they

often return to the same

nesting site.

HERE IS A THOUGHT

How long do you think rubbish remains in the marine environment?

Orange peel - 2 years

Cigarette butts 1-5 year

Plastic Bags 20-50 years

Tin cans - 50 years

Aluminium cans 80 100 years

Plastic Bottles 250 years

Glass 1 million years

Well, we know that Forest & Birders do not drop rubbish but please try and persuadeothers to do the same.

july 2008 horowhenua, royal forest and bird protecton society newsletter

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