• /
    • Archives /
  • 30/11/1999

Archives For 30/11/1999

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

“Golly” — A jolly good goat story

Department of Conservation —  17/08/2012

by Kim Dawick

“Golly—that’s one huge chunk of Forest!’’ (Well, truth be told, I may have used a slightly different adjective, but you get the idea).

My view from the helicopter was daunting, but the idea of hunting this block entirely on foot was starting to hurt my knees just thinking about it. Luckily I knew I had a good team behind me willing to do their fair share…. You know that old saying “many hands make light work?’’ or something like that. I had to now convince myself the task was achievable and not let on to the hunters that we were in for a big job given the timeframe available.

Whareorino forest – view from main Herangi Range looking west

Whareorino Forest lies 30 kilometres southwest of Te Kuiti and is the largest and one of the most significant forested areas in the western King Country. When you see it from the air it’s hard not to be overwhelmed by its size. It is dominated by the Herangi Range, a bluff system that would make most people produce an evil taste in their own mouth if faced with the challenge of climbing its sheer walls of loose flaky vertical rock and deceptive trees that give way as you use them to try to haul yourself up. 

Goats will even climb trees to get food – there are two goats in this photo,
one is asleep

Whareorino features tawa, hinau, kamahi, rewarewa as well as podocarps and is particularly special for its range of vegetation—from coastal and lowland vegetation types to subalpine and montane. And it had a large number of goats eating everything they could!

To succeed in reducing goat numbers, over the past years various innovations have been progressively introduced by the PMs to gain any edge possible, enlisting technology not often associated with primal activities like hunting. Tools like GPS and GIS mapping allow the tracking and recording of the hunters and their kills, and when overlaid on a map it’s a very powerful tool which can show trends, check for gaps and identify hot spots to focus on more intently. But unfortunately, no matter how high-tech we get inside the office, the goats aren’t going to remove themselves from the forest. To do this we enlist our DOC rangers and contractors to ground hunt the area with dogs.

Staff hunters and their dogs – nothing like wet boots to start your morning!

The hunters operate in the remote back country, often staying out there for 10 days at a time in order to get right back to those hard to reach places. If you want to catch a mountain goat, you’ve gotta be fitter than one! And our hunting team/s sure know how to do the hard yards!

Typical hunters camp (Awakino River – Whareorino). Flown in by Helicopter
and home for the next 20 days

So why are goats such a problem? Early on, European sailors chose to release small numbers of goats onto islands within the Pacific and this included New Zealand. This was done as a future food source for sailors in case they became ship wrecked, or decided to relocate there, as many of these islands had no mammals to eat. You could say that their thinking was quite ahead of its time (you could use a buzz word like “future proofing” or something like that to describe it), but in those days it was all about survival. There was no regard given for environmental effects and as you can see from the below photos of the same area before and after goat control, there certainly is an environmental cost to pay when there are goats in a forest.

Before and after goat control – Moeatoa/Whareorino

But why did the sailors release goats—why not dairy cows or sheep? If you focus on the reason why goats were chosen, then you’ll soon start to understand the problem we face when trying to get rid of them. Goats are hardy, intelligent animals that can adapt to any extreme (deserts, jungles, mountains or islands). Goats are prolific breeders and will do so at an alarming rate—approximately a 40% net increase in population per year i.e. 20 goats will become 107 goats in the space of just five years if left uncontrolled!

If we were to look at Whareorino (one of six blocks hunted in 2012 by our Waikato staff hunters), 3,420 goats were shot. If no control was done, those 3,420 goats could have potentially become 18,393 goats after just five years! You can now see why the sailors released the small handfuls of goats they did eh? But food (native plants in our forests) is the governing factor, so it’s more likely that we’d end up with about half that number of goats as food starts to run out—but it would come at the cost of an absolutely denuded forest.

Jake – A veteran goat dog bailing a billy (goat) in a creek

So you can clearly see that when it comes to goat control, doing nothing isn’t an option, but thankfully the Department of Conservation has several teams throughout New Zealand keeping things under control. After all there wouldn’t be much point carrying out any other conservation activities if there isn’t a forest for our icon species to inhabit.

In Animal pests, Hunting, Waikato , , , ,
permalink

Hunters join with DOC to save huts

Pete Huggins —  16/04/2012
Hunters and DOC Rangers at Motutapere Hut.

Hunters and DOC Rangers at Motutapere Hut

By Pete Huggins

Backcountry hut maintenance is being done by local hunting clubs in the Tauranga area through an agreement with DOC. This is great because it means we can do more, using skills that come from outside the Department.

About seven years ago we were planning on removing some of the old Forest Service goat cullers’ huts from the southern Kaimai ranges between Tauranga and Katikati. There are several of these basic huts along the North South Track. No longer in use by DOC staff, these huts were in bad shape and the plan was to simply remove them.

One of the local Deerstalkers’ Associations really wanted the huts to stay. So DOC embarked on a relationship that has culminated in several hut upgrades and a community partnership to maintain access to the backcountry Kaimai forests. Deerstalkers love these huts and want to protect them.

Motutapere Hut makeover

At the beginning of March this year a working bee was held to make Motutapere Hut weather-tight and improve the facilities for hunters. Members of Thames Valley and Bay of Plenty Deerstalkers Associations worked alongside DOC rangers for three days, removing the old iron cladding and replacing it with treated plywood boards, plus a new roof, porch and chimney. Merlin Rohan (17) and Jordan Ogilvie (18) joined Matt Gyde and Kody Williams from DOC to get the work done.

Montage showing the hut and people working.

Iron cladding was removed, a new porch was built and new cladding fixed

What the boys said

Merlin is from Thames and has worked with DOC before, laying traps in the Kauaeranga Valley. His father is a carpenter so Merlin brings his skills and experience to the job. He told me his favourite part of the trip was the good kai provided by Jordan, who cooked for the lads on the trip.

Jordan took leave from his engineering job to help with the working bee and is passionate about backcountry hunting. He told me it makes sense because access to the bush is free, in a world where most things are getting dearer. He said that the feeling of walking all day and finding the hut at the end is a great, great, feeling. He also said that everyone needs to pitch in.  Jordan’s worst moment on the trip was waiting for the chopper to arrive, but I think he was pretty stoked when it did arrive to ferry him up to the hut!

View of the inside of Motutapere Hut

The hut is now cosier and has an extra bunk space

Job well done

This is the fourth and final local hut maintenance job in recent times, all of which have been joint operations between DOC and local hunters. Just last year the Kauritatahi Hut (with the finest view from any hut in the district) got a makeover including a new deck, roof and cladding. In addition to helping with refurbishment of the hut, hunters are now helping to maintain the track to and from the hut, and are doing regular hut inspections. Kauritatahi Hut is now getting much more use from trampers, who are taking overnight trips just to sit on the deck and enjoy the view. The hut book was full of entries showing that the hut gets good use despite its ageing character. From now on both hunters and trampers will find these huts much more comfortable.

Do you have a favourite DOC hut? What do you like about it?

Steel ladder on the way to Motutapere Hut.

The area around the hut is steep with amazing views of Tauranga Harbour and the Waikato, this steel ladder at the summit is quite a thrill!

Thames Valley Deerstalkers are big on community involvement and DOC is better off for working alongside them on this project. Their President Maureen Coleman told me she has nothing but praise for the way DOC staff have responded to them, saying we are fantastic to work with. She reckons the project has built bridges between hunters and DOC, overcoming some of the “communication problems” in the past.

Are you a hunter? What do you think about DOC huts?

Postscript: Trivia about the hut

Built as a goat culling hut in the 1970s, Motutapere Hut has been moved several times during its lifetime. It was sited at Whakamarama and then on the Te Tuhi track to assist with eradication of goats, before finishing at Sentinel Rock which was a hotspot for goats in the mid 1980s. In those days the NZ Forest Service had a full time team of goat cullers for the Kaimai Ranges. How times have changed!

The hut has four bunk spaces and a rainwater tank. It also has mobile phone reception!

In Bay of Plenty, Coromandel, Hunting, Huts, Volunteers, Waikato , , , , ,
permalink

Jobs at DOC: Hunter, Kim Dawick

Department of Conservation —  22/08/2011

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 DOC hunter, Kim Dawick:

Kim (left), with his dogs Jake, Fleur and Jesse, and Joe Gurnick (right), with his dogs Girl and Storm. Te Mata Hut

At work…

Name: Kim Dawick

Position: Ranger – Hunter Supervisor, Waikato hunting team

What kind of things do you do in your role?

I work as part of a seven person hunting team. We hunt the remote back country culling goats; occasionally we also control pigs and deer if they are causing problems to other work programmes. We camp together in huts, tents or bivies for ten day runs and then we come out for a four day rest period.

My main role is to support the hunters. It’s a very strategic position where I try to have everything organised in advance, accommodating the individual needs of six others who will all be away from home for ten days without communication. If I’m doing my job properly I should have pre-empted all the possible contingencies and the hunters should think that I’ve done nothing at all. But if I’m failing in my role… all hell breaks loose and nothing goes to plan with seven people on “hurry up and wait’’ or worst case we are stuck in isolation with inadequate equipment.

Two of Kim's favourite former goat dogs, Jimmy and Jesse, holding hands

In our team we collectively own 21 dogs. To maintain high standards we put all newly recruited dogs through a rigorous selection and training process, but unfortunately only about 20% of the dogs we trial ever eventuate into anything special. Those dogs in the upper percentile that do make the cut are worth their weight in gold and no dollar value can be put on them, as by this time at least two years of intensive hunting/training has been invested in them. Our dogs are part of the family and we really look after them—they are the real hunters and we just follow them around in the bush to take their glory.

What is the best part about your job?

We work off track, and go to places so remote that very few people will ever venture. I get to work with real characters; it takes a special person to be able to do this job. But one thing they all have in common is that they are all honest, tough people who measure the value of a person by their loyalty and the amount of work they can do in a day.

What is the hardest part about your job?

It’s a tough job, period.

Gentle Annie in Te Mata. Dogs are Beau, Jimmy, Jesse and Jake and the ‘’Where’s Wally’’ hiding near the waterfall is Joe Gurnick

Where we work there is no cell phone reception, no internet, no heaters, no electricity, no refrigeration, no toilets, no corner store or supermarkets. We have to be successful at our job or we would go hungry because we rely on getting some of the meat from the animals we hunt due to lack of refrigeration. Often the only way out is a pre-scheduled helicopter ride in ten days time. We walk for eight hours a day, all completely off track without a break for ten days in a row, and often team members will hunt in excess of 12-hour a days in the summer months and they never collect TOIL. But when it’s your passion it never quite feels like work (in the conventional way).

We spend ten days away from our families—this means that the hunters only see their wives and children for 26, four-day periods a year! Our families are stuck in the real world paying the bills, getting kids to school, working in their own jobs and dealing with all the issues of raising a family by themselves, while we are away completely out of contact. It’s very hard on relationships and many marriages don’t survive. But, given the high risk nature of hunting, we try to look after each other as much as we can and because of this there is a comradery amongst the hunters that I’ve never witnessed in any other career.

What led you to your role in DOC?

After high school I qualified as a mechanical engineer, then did a post graduate Diploma in Teaching. I worked for a couple of years in both roles however, I was never happy in these careers. Whilst on my OE (teaching in London) my wife stumbled onto a job advertising for a couple wanted for work in Scotland. We had no idea what we were getting into and just hoped that it wasn’t a dodgy b-grade porn film! It turned out that they needed a nanny and someone to work the ‘farm’. It was quite fortuitous—the ‘farm’ turned out to be a castle game estate that ran driven pheasant shoots and deer stalking. I worked in this role for about 18 months and decided that I could never go back to teaching or engineering again… I was hooked on hunting for a living, so it was a natural progression for me to end up securing a job within a DOC hunting team upon my return to New Zealand in 2004.

After 18 days hunting in gorse in the Coromandel with zero goats for a four man team, Kim struck the jackpot and shot 19 in one mob. Dogs are Jake, Jimmy, Fleur and Jesse

What was the highlight of your month just gone?

This month I’ve been doing my planning for the year ahead, organising logistics, landowner permissions and putting out tenders for goat control. I wouldn’t call it an exciting month.

The rule of three…

Three loves

  1. Family
  2. Dogs
  3. The ease at which we can experience so many interesting things in New Zealand

Three pet peeves

  1. Laziness
  2. Quitters 
  3. Liars

Three foods

  1. Banana Swiss Maid dairy food
  2. Goody goody gumdrops ice cream
  3. Meat

Three favourite places in New Zealand

  1. Coromandel
  2. Marlborough Sounds
  3. Matawai

Favourite movie, album, book

  1. Donnie Darko
  2. Anything ‘’unplugged’’
  3. More of a magazine reader than a novel reader… it suits my short attention span.

Jake (the Muss) and Xena bailing a nanny goat, Whareorino

Deep and meaningful

What piece of advice would you tell your 18 year old self?

Relax, you’ll find a job that you enjoy doing.

Who or what inspires you and why?

People who stand up for what they truly believe in, even if it’s unpopular.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Umm tall and good looking? Oh you mean: an engineer, a pilot or a hunter… two out of three isn’t too bad eh?

And now, if you weren’t working at DOC, what would you want to be?

Stay at home dad? Although this is most likely a bit like hunting for a living… everyone wants to do it, until they actually try it.

If you could be any New Zealand native species for a day, what would you be and why?

As a goat hunter we tend to defend our honour a lot by denying any involvement between man and beast. However, if you want me to play this game I may as well be at the top of the food chain and choose to be a falcon. I guess it combines two out of three from that other question before about what I wanted to be when I grew up!

What piece of advice or message would you want to give to New Zealanders when it comes to conservation?

Get out there and do it. It’s a sad indictment, but I hardly ever meet New Zealanders in the bush. Probably 85% of the people I meet in the bush are tourists using our walking tracks, 5% would be New Zealand tramping clubs made up of senior citizens (good on you, you’re much tougher than our PS3 playing teenage couch potatoes) and 10% would be hunters. Pretty sad really that we pay for all these huts and walking tracks with our taxes and the average New Zealander doesn’t even know they exist, or choose to go there.

In Animal pests, Hunting, Jobs at DOC, Waikato , , , ,
permalink