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Archives For 30/11/1999

Jobs at DOC: Kiwi ranger and rodent dog handler, Miriam Ritchie

Department of Conservation —  15/08/2011

Every Monday Jobs at DOC will take you behind the scenes and into the jobs, the challenges, the highlights, and the personalities of the people who work at the Department of Conservation.

This week we look at kiwi ranger and rodent dog handler, Miriam Ritchie:

At work:

Miriam Ritchie holding a kiwi

Name:  Miriam Robin Deans Ritchie

Job:  Kiwi ranger and rodent dog handler, Whangarei Area Office

Describe your role

I have two part-time roles: I monitor kiwi in the Whangarei Kiwi Sanctuary to gather data for a long-term study of Northern North Island Brown Kiwi, and do some predator trapping within the sanctuary. I also do surveillance and monitoring of New Zealand’s offshore islands and rodent-free mainland sites with my certified rodent dog, Occi. 

Miriam with rodent dog, Occi

What kind of work /projects are you currently involved in?

I am currently removing transmitters from most of our adult kiwi sample as our project is undergoing a major change from intensive kiwi monitoring to a community relations/kiwi vs. dog advocacy campaign. I am also spending a bit of time with my dogs in the Bay of Islands working on Project Island Song, hunting down a trickle of invading rats that are threatening the potential rat-free status of the islands.

What led you to your current role in DOC?

Hard work, Raoul Island, persistence and taking opportunities.

Taking a helicopter ride to Three Kings Island

The rule of three…

Three loves

  1. Bush
  2. Coast 
  3. Freedom

Three pet peeves

  1. Injuries
  2. Being late
  3. People trying to run me over on my bike

Miriam and Occi

Getting personal:

What three things do you always have in your refrigerator?

  1. Some greenery
  2. Cooked rice
  3. A half-eaten avocado

What was your favourite birthday present as a kid?

My first pony—her name was Kindy, and I had her ’til she died at 27 years old.

Tell us about your 15 minutes of fame

Hah, I think that’s yet to come.

Miriam with 'rodent dog'

What is your dream holiday location or activity?

A chunk of swimmable coast, some hills to sweat up and some dogs to chase.

What do you like to do when you’re not at work?

Plant things, garden, ride my bike and explore with my dogs.  

What was the most useful thing that somebody once told you?

I don’t think anyone told me this but with hard work and the will, you can do anything.

Name a book and movie you would recommend: 

Wouldn’t presume to be able to do that, people vary too much in what they like! Although…

Occi staying safe in his high visibility outfit

Book: John Salmon’s Native Trees of New Zealand, despite being a bit out of date now, is a great reference book for anyone who loves the bush. Movie: The Flying Scotsman. 

If there was a competition for best place in New Zealand where would get your vote?

North Cape, Cape Reinga, Cape Maria Van Diemen—the tippy top of Northland.

And if there was one native species that ruled them all, what would be your pick?

Maybe the Kauri, being from Northland and all. They are pretty awesome in every sense!

In Animal pests, Jobs at DOC, Kiwi, Northland , , , , , ,
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All quiet on the stoat front

Tessa Rain —  01/07/2011

Mustelid detective hound, Crete, and handler Scott Theobold, will be back on Kapiti Island this week. For the next half a year they’ll be there regularly, for up to a week at a time, to scope the joint for any more signs of stoat action. 

Kapiti Island and the Marine Reserve, as seen from the lookout Paekakariki Hill.

I myself, being an urban DOC-ette, have only seen a stoat once – it ran across the road in front of the family car on a Fiordland camping holiday. But I didn’t like the look of its face and am thrilled that, so far, no more signs of his kin have been found on Kapiti.  Have any of you guys seen stoats in the wild before?  

As for the famous stoat caught on Kapiti last year: We’ve found some scat since his capture, but DNA analysis has shown up inconclusive – we don’t know if it’s from our original guy or a  different one. We’ll have to wait and see whether Scott and Crete track down anything more on their future visits. 

Hamish Farrell with the dead stoat he found on Kapiti Island

So, while  all  may seem quiet on the stoat front at present, bio-security work continues. Along with checking traps and tracking tunnels every fortnight, and sniffer dogs and handlers doing their thing, there’s also track maintenance happening all over the island.

North Island Kaka, Kapiti Island

So, thanks to all involved in the work on Kapiti Island. Providing a threat free sanctuary for our treasured wildlife is wonderful – but it isn’t easy.

In Animal pests, Wellington/Kapiti
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Ulva Island Eradication Update: 21 April 2011

Brent Beaven —  21/04/2011

 
The DOC website has the latest updates on the Ulva Island rat eradication.
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The work on Ulva Island continues to progress, with the work focussed on planning for an eradication option and obtaining the resource consent for this work.

Operational planning

Planning work is progressing well, key decisions have been made about bait storage, loading site, re-fuelling site etc and organisation of these and other aspects of the operation is well on track.

Documentation such as contracts (bait supply, aerial bait spread), operational plan etc are either completed or in final draft phase.

The operational plan has been sent to the Islands Eradication Advisory Group for feedback, (including questions raised by the community such as merits of pre-feeding and best practice for sowing the coast).

IEAG is a team of DOC experts who provide worldwide technical support for island eradication operations. New Zealand leads the world in this field and the meeting was attended by people from far flung places such as French Polynesia, California and the UK, all seeking advice on how to go about eradicating rats from islands.
Calibration of the helicopter buckets has been organised for the last week of April (April 27th). Bucket Calibration is an important step in the eradication process and is carried out in a flat mowed paddock where all bait can be seen and counted. Non-toxic bait is sown through the bucket that is to be used in the operation and the machinery is tweaked to ensure that bait is sown to the correct swath width (i.e. width of strip sown with bait on each pass) and that the correct number of pellets per hectare are sown. Once the correct bait application spread and rate has been achieved the bucket settings are noted so that the toxic bait can be spread correctly on the day.

Biosecurity meeting

As mentioned in the last update, a public meeting will be held at 7.30pm on 28th of April in the Stewart Island Community Centre. This meeting will discuss any and all ideas about possible ways to improve the biosecurity on Ulva Island to further reduce the chances of rats establishing in the future. If you have any ideas, or are simply interested to hear what might be proposed, please come along.

Monitoring

The University of Otago’s bird research group (who monitor robins on Ulva Island every summer) have offered to monitor the effects of the baiting operation and the effects that the rats have had on the birds on Ulva Island. It will be great to have this independent monitoring of the operation.

Trapping stopped

Some confusion seems to have arisen around the reasons as to why we have stopped trapping on Ulva Island.

The long term exisiting biosecurity measures on the island are aimed at preventing a rat population becoming established. In this case, they have failed and a rat population has established. Continuing to run these traps and bait stations will not even now slow the rat population expansion and is therefore considered to be a waste of time. Servicing them has stopped so we can focus efforts on a proper eradication attempt. This has been misinterpreted by some as DOC giving up. The fact is that we are well down the planning track for an aerial eradication attempt.

Regards

Brent

In Animal pests, Southland, Ulva Island , ,
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Ulva Island eradication update: 25 March 2011

Brent Beaven —  30/03/2011

 
The DOC website has the latest updates on the Ulva Island rat eradication.
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FAQs

A list of Frequently Asked Questions about the situation on Ulva Island has been compiled and placed on the Department of Conservation website.

This list of questions covers what is happening with the rats on Ulva Island as well as information about the proposed eradication operation. If you have another question that isn’t covered by this list, please let me know and I’ll see if I can add it in so that the information is available for everyone.

Biosecurity

A date has been set for the meeting to discuss biosecurity. The meeting is planned for the 7.30pm, Thursday 28th April at the Community Centre.

Biosecurity is the term that we give to all of the actions that we take to keep an island pest free. On Ulva Island it consisted of traps and bait stations on the island, traps on people’s boats, quarantine procedures for gear going to Ulva, signage and regular publicity. While the biosecurity network on the island was effective at preventing a rat population establishing for 15 years, it has failed this time round. This has prompted lots of people to have ideas on how it could be improved to further reduce the chances of this situation occurring again. We would like to capture all of these ideas, so please bring them along to the meeting.

Fundraising

Kamahi and ferns, Ulva Island, Stewart Island

The eradication operation isn’t going to be cheap and DOC doesn’t have the funding to pay the full cost of the operation. The Department has reprioritised its work and has found about 50% of the costs.

Thankfully we are starting to get some good community support behind what needs to be done on Ulva Island. This started with The Birdlife International Community Conservation Fund pledging $5000 toward the costs. The Les Hutchins Conservation Foundation has also shown strong support with a promised substantial donation toward the operation. On top of this, the University of Otago has offered to monitor the impact of the rats and the eradication operation on the saddleback and robin populations.

If you think you can help, the Ulva Island Trust is co-ordinating donations. Further details of how to give can be found on their website www.ulvaisland.org.

Resource consent lodged

The Department has lodged a resource consent application with Environment Southland. Environment Southland has notified this consent allowing anyone to make a submission. This notification was in this past Saturday’s newspaper as well as the ES website.

Environment Southland run a good process and we think they will be a good independent evaluator of our proposed methods and controls. We encourage you to make a submission (in support or expressing your concerns), so that ES can fully evaluate this application.

In Animal pests, Ulva Island
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Stoat on a plate

Tessa Rain —  16/03/2011

The elusive Kapiti Island stoat has been caught. And it’s a… boy! While we can’t be sure this is the only stoat on the island yet, our man at the scene – DOC contractor Hamish Farrell – did do a dance of joy at the discovery.

Hamish Farrell with the dead stoat he found on Kapiti Island

The stoat had spent three months at large, and there were concerns that it would turn out to be a she – which, if pregnant, could have had even more dire implications for the wildlife on the magical island sanctuary. 

A most inventive method was used to lure the two-year-old stoat to its demise: bedding material from a female stoat was put in some of the 160 traps covering the island, sending a message of the possibility of luurve and resulting in the capture. 

DNA testing has confirmed its age and gender, and will hopefully soon tell us whether it’s the same varmint that left faeces behind for our stoat detection dogs to find last year. 

While we will continue monitoring and trapping work for some time yet, with $75,000 spent on the control programme to date, the discovery comes as a great relief to all who love the iconic nature reserve off our coast – and the endangered birds it protects. Stoats beware!

In Animal pests, Wellington/Kapiti , , , ,
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