Events

Forest & Bird January Field Trip to Eastern Southland

A visit to the Matauara Mataitai area, followed by lunch and a visit to the Gore Landfill Site restoration project. Mataura Mataitai area - Rewi Anglem, Hokonui Runanga, will update us on progress with this project, then on to their wetlands. Lunch at Gore Landfill Site Restoration project, followed by weeding/ maintenance with Don Lamont and other members. BRING tools and gloves.  10.15am meet at Mataitai area carpark (just north after crossing Mataura River Bridge in Mataura.)

SERN Spring Field Day 2012 - Restoration of Riverton Environs

Visit to Men of the Trees Pourakino restoration site, then Karyn Owen’s wetland property near Lake George for lunch. After visit to Colac Bay wetland and Takutai o te Titi Marae. Saturday 10th November the bus full of enthusiastic folk headed for Pourakino Reserve for an hour of broom control, assisting the Men of the Trees in their restoration project there. Broom was pulled or cut and pasted with picloram gel. The Men of the Trees have made great progress with getting the broom under control here, however getting the restoration plantings going is problematic in this exposed site that also has stock and pest animal (deer, rabbits) issues. Lynne Huggins, DOC Weed control expert, then gave a display of basal bark spraying, which has become a popular technique for control of woody species, in this instance elderberry. Lynne explained that they were seeing good results from this technique for the wilding pine control on Mid Dome.

The next stop for lunch was at Karyn Owen’s restoration project on the south west side of Lake George. After a delicious feed of cob oven baked pizza, we explored Karyn’s property. She has formed an excellent track system which has allowed a very good animal pest trapping programme to be established. Using several different styles of traps, she is seeing good results, commenting that in the evening she has a moorpork that follows her around the rat traps making the most of any catch available. The visit ended with the group having another session of broom pulling in the area outside Karyn’s hut.

We moved on to Colac Bay where Lynne Huggins spoke to us about the wetland restoration project there. Dealing with the old rubbish tip has made the task challenging, however the area has been landscaped and planted out in tussock, toe toe and hardy woody native species. A large part of the area is still in good natural condition with jointed rush (oi oi), Coprosma species and flax, however gorse is on ongoing problem, as is the rubbish that has been dropped into the open water areas.

The final stop was the Takutai o te Titi Marae, where the Oraka Aparima runaka have established a very good nursery. This site provides plants for both the wetland restoration area and also for the Rarotoka (Centre Island) project.

Many thanks to those whose projects we visited and enjoyed hearing about, also to Environment Southland for sponsoring the bus trip.

Bushy Point Living Legends Planting Day

Otatara Landcare Group is hosting the second year of restoration plantings at Bushy Point under the Living Legends project.

SERN - Wetland Restoration Tour

A chance to see and hear about wetland restoration on private land. (Field trips to follow on from the Wetlands Symposium).

Saturday 24th March
Bus to leave Invercargill at 9.30am.
10.00am - Southern Wetland Trust - Big Lagoon. At Taramoa, west of Invercargill, Tony Reiger has restored this once large coastal lake almost back to it’s original size after having been virtually drained for decades. His interest in waterfowl and wildlife has lead to the formation of several other associated open water areas and he has seen an increase in numbers and species visiting the area. For those interested in hunting, he has one of the largest decoy collections in NZ. Lunch will be hosted here.
2.00pm - Manuka Mire Wetlands - Ron & Gay Munro have protected 64ha of peatbog on their sheepfarm at Mokotua, east of Invercargill. Using moats as the QEII covenanted wetland boundary has provided additional habitat for koura, eels and kokopu. View the several dams created, which have good numbers of waterfowl and a resident breeding population of the threatened giant kokopu. Along the Armstrong Creek, a tributary of the Waituna Creek, the main stream feeding the Waituna Lagoon, there has been riparian plantings undertaken under the Arawai Kakariki programme, as well as experimental work by an Otago University student on fish friendly drain management.
Return Invercargill approx. 5.00pm.
Cost per person $30, includes bus, light lunch and afternoon tea.

Sunday 25th March
Mini buses will leave Invercargill on the hour from 10.00am to noon.
Field trip to Brian and Chris Rance’s Southland Community Nursery and wetland restoration site. Also visit to Ian & Jenny Gamble’s where you can walk through an ecological sequence from Kahikatea forest to manuka shrubland to jointed rush on the estuary edge. The rush area has a resident population of fernbird and Ian has undertaken extensive pest control to ensure their wellbeing.
Buses will return visitors to the airport if required, or back to Invercargill by early afternoon.
Cost per person $10 for the bus ride and a light lunch will be available from noon to 1.00pm.

Registrations essential. Please email Gay Munro, [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]

National Wetland Restoration Symposium

The theme for this year’s National Wetlands Symposium in March is ‘Are we getting it right?’ Field trips are planned to Awarua/Waituna Wetlands and Rakatu, Western Southland. The National Wetland Trust, in conjunction with the Southland Wetland Working Party, are running a three day symposium in Invercargill focussing on wetland restoration. Day 1 has Guy Salmon as a keynote speaker, followed by an overview of the Awarua Waituna Wetlands Arawai Kakariki programme. A field trip is planned to Awarua Wetlands that afternoon. Day 2 - speakers from throughout NZ will cover various topics of wetland restoration. Day 3 - a field trip to Western Southland will look at the work of the Waiau Trust in wetland creation and habitat protection. Check the programme out and register at www.wetlandtrust.org.nz