Managed to get on "Breakfast" a couple of weeks ago - talking about our endangered species. Did you know how bad our conservation story is getting? New Zealand used to be a world-leader, and looked up to for it's conservation prowess. Now our Department of Conservation has a budget the same size as the Hamilton City Council to manage ONE THIRD of our land mass, which includes all our national parks, the huts, tracks, bridges, culverts, the pest control (stoats, possums, rats, ferrets, weasels, wilding pines, weeds...), not to mention the marine reserves, marine mammals - and we haven't even gotten to the protection of all of our threatened species... does this sound right to you?
Showing posts with label conservation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conservation. Show all posts
Friday, February 24, 2012
Monday, June 27, 2011
On blogging torpor, freshwater for life and DOC job cuts...
It's been far too long between posts. Plenty of KapaiLife stuff to chat about... but life's been keeping me busy in the 'real world'
Just returned to the shaky city after a three day Forest & Bird conference in Wellington... it was a great weekend, we hosted a political panel on conservation issues, then the rest of the conference was themed "Freshwater for Life" - pretty timely in NZ right now as our water quality declines and our intensification of agriculture and urban developments increases. It was my job to organise the conference program, so I invited Dr Mike Joy, Rod Oram, photographer & presenter Craig Potton, Professor Ken Hughey, Alistair Bisley (chair of Land and Water Forum) and Morgan Williams (former Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment), as well as speakers from Fish & Game and Fonterra. We finished with a screening of the excellent "River Dog". Make sure you see this film. The conference was a lively, inspiring affair.
Meanwhile, the Govt has decided to cut another 100 DOC jobs... now DOC's being run on a budget of a city council to manage a third of the country. i had a fair bit to say about that here. It's busy work trying to stick up for nature in NZ!!!
Just returned to the shaky city after a three day Forest & Bird conference in Wellington... it was a great weekend, we hosted a political panel on conservation issues, then the rest of the conference was themed "Freshwater for Life" - pretty timely in NZ right now as our water quality declines and our intensification of agriculture and urban developments increases. It was my job to organise the conference program, so I invited Dr Mike Joy, Rod Oram, photographer & presenter Craig Potton, Professor Ken Hughey, Alistair Bisley (chair of Land and Water Forum) and Morgan Williams (former Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment), as well as speakers from Fish & Game and Fonterra. We finished with a screening of the excellent "River Dog". Make sure you see this film. The conference was a lively, inspiring affair.
Meanwhile, the Govt has decided to cut another 100 DOC jobs... now DOC's being run on a budget of a city council to manage a third of the country. i had a fair bit to say about that here. It's busy work trying to stick up for nature in NZ!!!
 |
| hmmm, this cartoon seems rather relevant for the current biodiversity crisis. |
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Choice words from a choice man...
From the New Zealand Listener, April 23-29, 2005. Said by renowned conservationist Don Merton, who died today.
“They are our national monuments. They are our Tower of London, our Arc de Triomphe, our pyramids. We don’t have this ancient architecture that we can be proud of and swoon over in wonder, but what we do have is something that is far, far older than that. No one else has kiwi, no one else has kakapo. They have been around for millions of years, if not thousands of millions of years. And once they are gone, they are gone forever. And it’s up to us to make sure they never die out.”Never a truer word was spoken.
Goodbye to a legend...
Renowned conservationist, Don Merton died today. As we tend to say in New Zealand, a mighty totara has fallen.
Someone recently described Don Merton as New Zealand conservation's answer to Sir Edmund Hillary. Not a bad little comparison. What Don was able to achieve for some of our native species was nothing short of staggering.
I got to meet Don while traveling through the Subantarctic Islands in 2004. We had a great old time pointing out wildlife and going into raptures over sea lions, albatross and penguins. Then, while filming "Meet the Locals" with TVNZ, we met with him and asked him to tell the story of the black robin.
If you don't know the story, it goes like this. The black robin, one of NZ's most endangered birds, dropped to just 5 individuals when Don and the Wildlife Service team got to Little Mangere Island in the Chathams. In that 5 birds, was just one viable female, an older robin Don named "Old Blue". Thanks to some nifty nest-swapping and unlimited perserverance, the team got Old Blue breeding again, and saved the entire species.
After the black robin work, Don went on to lead the kakapo recovery programme, and again contributed to saving the species from certain extinction, due to nifty nest-minding techniques and total tenacity. He has since gone on to advise on conservation projects around the world.
In a strangely synchronous event, Don's kakapo-contemporary, the elderly kakapo Richard Henry (named for New Zealand's other legendary conservationist) died on Christmas Eve last year, after an enviable life-span of up to 100 years. Richard Henry was the last remaining Fiordland kakapo, rediscovered by Don and his team in the 1970s. Shortly after Richard Henry and the Fiordland kakapo were discovered (all males), a remnant population of kakapo were found on Stewart Island (including the crucial females), and the opportunity to save the species began. Richard Henry's genes (because he came from a separate population) were very important for kakapo conservation, and he was certainly the 'elder statesman' of the kakapo clan.
Don and Richard Henry crossed paths many times over the following years, most recently when Don and his wife went to visit Richard Henry late last year. Don told me that he was very glad to have had that opportunity. In correspondence I've had from Don this year, he seemed quite matter-of-fact about his illness, his one regret that he did not quite have enough time to finish all the conservation projects he was involved with.
I remember watching Don and his workmates on wildlife documentaries, when I was a kid, their work inspiring me to take up the career I have now. If Don has one lasting legacy among people, it was his unswerving dedication to the conservation of our most precious wildlife. I wish to help carry that torch, and I know I'm not the only one.
 |
| Don and his old mate "Richard Henry" the kakapo |
Someone recently described Don Merton as New Zealand conservation's answer to Sir Edmund Hillary. Not a bad little comparison. What Don was able to achieve for some of our native species was nothing short of staggering.
I got to meet Don while traveling through the Subantarctic Islands in 2004. We had a great old time pointing out wildlife and going into raptures over sea lions, albatross and penguins. Then, while filming "Meet the Locals" with TVNZ, we met with him and asked him to tell the story of the black robin.
If you don't know the story, it goes like this. The black robin, one of NZ's most endangered birds, dropped to just 5 individuals when Don and the Wildlife Service team got to Little Mangere Island in the Chathams. In that 5 birds, was just one viable female, an older robin Don named "Old Blue". Thanks to some nifty nest-swapping and unlimited perserverance, the team got Old Blue breeding again, and saved the entire species.
After the black robin work, Don went on to lead the kakapo recovery programme, and again contributed to saving the species from certain extinction, due to nifty nest-minding techniques and total tenacity. He has since gone on to advise on conservation projects around the world.
In a strangely synchronous event, Don's kakapo-contemporary, the elderly kakapo Richard Henry (named for New Zealand's other legendary conservationist) died on Christmas Eve last year, after an enviable life-span of up to 100 years. Richard Henry was the last remaining Fiordland kakapo, rediscovered by Don and his team in the 1970s. Shortly after Richard Henry and the Fiordland kakapo were discovered (all males), a remnant population of kakapo were found on Stewart Island (including the crucial females), and the opportunity to save the species began. Richard Henry's genes (because he came from a separate population) were very important for kakapo conservation, and he was certainly the 'elder statesman' of the kakapo clan.
Don and Richard Henry crossed paths many times over the following years, most recently when Don and his wife went to visit Richard Henry late last year. Don told me that he was very glad to have had that opportunity. In correspondence I've had from Don this year, he seemed quite matter-of-fact about his illness, his one regret that he did not quite have enough time to finish all the conservation projects he was involved with.
I remember watching Don and his workmates on wildlife documentaries, when I was a kid, their work inspiring me to take up the career I have now. If Don has one lasting legacy among people, it was his unswerving dedication to the conservation of our most precious wildlife. I wish to help carry that torch, and I know I'm not the only one.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)