• /
    • Archives /
  • 30/11/1999

Archives For 30/11/1999

Icons of Tuatapere

Department of Conservation —  28/01/2014
Des Williams.

Des Williams

By Des Williams, DOC Communications Advisor

I was especially proud of my old home town—Tuatapere, in Western Southland—when I returned for a rare visit on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

A little glade through the Tuatapere Scenic Reserve was resplendent with several large flowerings of Peraxilla colensoi which is more commonly known as scarlet mistletoe.

SONY DSC

Scarlet mistletoe at Tuatapere Scenic Reserve

I have never seen such brilliant colour in the reserve before—mind you I am never there at this time of year.

DOC’s Invercargill-based botanist/ecologist, Brian Rance, told me that this part of the reserve is a noted site (and so close to the road), as are other parts of the reserve around the Tuatapere Domain.

So, I now add scarlet mistletoe to the broad sweep of Te Waewae Bay, the Hump Ridge and Fiordland mountains, the Longwoods silver beech forest and Takitimu Mountains as icons of my birth place!

Longwoods silver beech forest at Tuatapere. Photo: Alastair Morrison.

Longwoods silver beech forest at Tuatapere

In Native plants , , , , , ,
permalink

Photo of the week: Merry Christmas

Department of Conservation —  25/12/2013

Ngā mihi mō te Kirihimete! Wishing you a very Happy Christmas!

Pohutakawa tree in foreground. Beach and surf in background. Photo: Bill Harrison (CC BY 2.0)

Pohutukawa, New Zealand’s Christmas tree, is today’s Photo of the Week — a quintessential kiwi summer shot for Christmas Day.

This photo was taken by Bill Harrison | CC BY 2.0

In Native plants, Photo of the week , , ,
permalink

Protecting rata’s red and green

Department of Conservation —  23/12/2013

By Elizabeth Besley, Volunteer

The rich red and green colours of New Zealand’s pohutakawa and rata trees are an iconic part of the kiwi summer and holiday season, but our native “Christmas trees” are facing various threats, including the insatiable appetite of introduced possums.

Rata tree in flower. Photo: Lance Andrews (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).

Rata tree in flower. Photo: Lance Andrews

In April, a group of Pohangina Valley residents, DOC staff, and rata experts, began a seed collecting expedition to help preserve the local populations of Northern rata.

Pohangina Base rata tree.

Pohangina Base rata tree

A rata tree opposite the Pohangina Base, belonging to a local farmer, had been seen flowering in the previous year and was the perfect candidate to start the expedition. We simply had to phone the farmer with a request to collect seed and then stand on the cliff edge and pick bunches of mature seed capsules.

The second source of seed came from massive rata trees along the Kahikatea Walk. The logistics necessitated collection using a different method – in this case spreading matting over the soil surface at the base of the trees and collecting seed as they fell over the coming months.

Rata experts Chris Thomasen and Viv McGlynn demonstrated how to prepare the collected seed for germination. Containers were half filled with potting seed mix, followed by a layer of ‘duff’ – a name given to the nutrient rich soil that builds up at the base of rata trees. The rata seed were then thickly sprinkled over the top. Watering needed to be gentle but regular, using a fine mist, as the seed can be prone to pathogens.

Pohangina Valley volunteers preparing rata seed.

Pohangina Valley volunteers preparing rata seed

The team came together again in November to carefully transfer the thirty odd small seedlings to individual planter bags where they will grow on for another season.

The ultimate aim is to grow plentiful rata plants from locally sourced seed, thereby ensuring it is genetically suitable for using at various sites in the Pohangina Valley. The vision is of a corridor of red flowering rata trees in summer, leading up the valley and into the Ruahines.

crimson-logoInterested in protecting the native pohutukawa and rata trees in your area? Find out about the work that is being done by the Project Crimson Trust on the DOC website.

In Native plants , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

Te Karaka kids send Waihirere Reserve pests packing

Department of Conservation —  19/12/2013

By Awhina White, DOC Conservation Partnership Manager, East Coast

It’s great to see the kids of Te Karaka Area School doing their bit to ensure native species are safe by keeping stoat numbers down at Waihirere Domain, in Gisborne.

DOC Ranger, Joe Waikari, shows Te Karaka students how to GPS their trap location, so that when they come back to check the trap-line they can find the trap again.

DOC Ranger, Joe Waikari, shows Te Karaka students how to GPS
their trap location, so that when they come back to check
the trap-line they can find it again

“Kids have been finding out about the importance of protecting our natural heritage; planting native trees at Te Wherowhero Lagoon; learning about the pest control programme in the Whinray Scenic Reserve; and doing the stoat trapping in Waihirere Domain. It’s a win-win: the native species thrive and the kids get to learn new skills,” says Ms Ranier Davie, a teacher at the school.

At a recent ‘bio blitz’, which surveyed native species in Waihirere Domain, it was great to discover taonga species like longfin eel, inanga and pekapeka (native bat) that are very rare and disappearing. It is really impressive how the school has turned awareness into action.

Te Karaka student, Courtney Fleming, hammers a pink triangle, indicating the trap number location, onto a nearby tree on the main track

Te Karaka student, Courtney Fleming, hammers a pink triangle, indicating the trap number location, onto a nearby tree on the main track

The kids each built and named their own box for a stoat trap, baited it with an egg, and put it out on the reserve.

What the kids are doing is very inspiring and I hope it encourages other schools to get involved in similar projects.

Pests such as stoats, ferrets and rodents are a major threat to native species. Control programmes to manage and remove pests are essential if we want our natural treasures to live alongside us in the forests and around the places we live.

Visitors to the reserve are asked to support the trapping programme by not disturbing these traps.

In Animal pests, East Coast, Native animals, Native plants, Volunteers , , , ,
permalink

Bruce’s Dream; Te Pahu’s Mission

Department of Conservation —  17/09/2013

By DOC’s Des Williams, based in Hamilton

What used to be a relatively uninspiring walk from Te Pahu’s Limeworks Loop Road to the Kaniwhaniwha campsite in Pirongia Forest Park is being transformed into a tunnel of green.

The walkway now planted with native plants.

The tunnel of green

Thanks to the efforts of the Te Pahu Landcare Group over the past 12 years, many thousands of native trees are flourishing and the track is now suitable for family groups, casual strollers, pushchair pushers and mountain bikers, as well as the more serious trampers.

It has always been DOC Ranger Bruce Postill’s dream to see the area planted up with native trees around the Kaniwhaniwha Stream and local residents regard it as part of their mission to make that come true.

DOC workers and volunteers reflect on their work.

Ed Brodnax, Bruce Postill and DOC ranger Stuart Wind reflect on their work

At the beginning of the project the track was nothing more than a walk through grazed pasture, with the adjoining farmer’s stock having free access to the stream banks and waterway. DOC’s Waikato Area staff members Bruce Postill and Dave Matthews started on a plan to change this little part of their world.

They went to the local council with their plans and the council agreed to turn it into recreation reserve and let DOC take control of it as an access-way to the park boundary.

The next task was to fence the boundary. For the first two or three years Bruce and Dave were making progress at the rate of about 100 metres a year. A hundred metres fenced, a hundred metres planted. Then Bruce looked at Dave: “Mate, we are not going to get this done in our lifetime at the rate we are going.”

The Kaniwhaniwha Stream.

Kaniwhaniwha Stream

Then the project got a kick-start, with the Lotteries Commission provided funding and with the Te Pahu Landcare Group keen to get involved.

Though present membership comprises less than a dozen people, they have all taken this project to heart and are starting to see results with some of their initial plantings now several metres high in places.

A kowhai flower on a branch.

Solitary kowhai heralding the new spring

So, year by year, the walk through pasture land is becoming a walk through an avenue of trees, with each flourishing native carrying the pride of the local community that has helped put it there.

In Native plants, Volunteers, Waikato , , , , ,
permalink