THE PAPAROA WILDLIFE TRUST NEWSLETTER | Issue 1
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The
Paparoa
Wildlife
Trust
Newsletter
QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF THE PAPAROA WILDLIFE TRUST
The Paparoa Wildlife Trust (PWT) consists
of a small and dedicated team of
committed individuals working
collaboratively with DOC to establish and
maintain effective conservation projects in
the South Eastern Paparoa Range, near
Greymouth on the West Coast of the South
Island.
We have been in operation since 2006 when
we started running a relatively low key
trapping project to protect a small and
dwindling population of whio in the
Moonlight Creek. This effort was soon
expanded to include a relatively ambitious
(at the time) project with great spotted kiwi /
roroa. The PWT’s efforts with roroa were
focused on monitoring adult kiwi and using
the Bank of New Zealand Operation Nest
Egg (BNZONE) program as a means to
ensure some recruitment of juvenile kiwi
back into the Paparoa Range. Our aim being
to return 20-25 juvenile roroa produced
through ONE back to the unprotected
Paparoa Range and monitor long term.
Once this project was under way we quickly
got on to the next thing we deemed
necessary for the success of our projects and
IN THIS ISSUE
Dec 15
that was a predator proof enclosure aptly
named ‘Bois Gentil’ meaning friendly forest
in which to use as a crèche to raise the
juvenile kiwi produced through BNZONE.
This crèche located at Atarau, near Blackball
and at the base of the Paparoa Range was
built by Luc Bohyn and opened in January
2010. So far it has been home to 32 chicks.
Now five years down the track, we are still
monitoring 20 kiwi in the wild that started
life in the crèche. The information we are
interested in finding out is; What portion of
ONE bred kiwi go on to form breeding pairs,
whether they mate with fellow ONE birds or
wild born kiwi and whether they are capable
of producing chicks of their own that are
recruited back into the wild kiwi population.
With the intensive stage of this kiwi project
nearing completion we have moved on to the
next stage which is sustained and integrated
pest control across 3600ha of the Paparoa
Ranges – the Roaring Meg Ecological Area
(RMEA) in order to offer protection to the
ecosystem as a whole, through a large scale
predator trapping program.
Crèche Update
It’s been a busy year in the crèche – read more about the
volunteers, visitors and of course the kiwi chicks
Page 4
Happenings in the Wild
Find out more about our extensive predator trapping
project and kiwi monitoring
Page 5
THE PAPAROA WILDLIFE TRUST NEWSLETTER | Issue 1
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Meet the Trustee’s
The Paparoa Wildlife Trust has five Trustees’
– all who are passionate about conservation,
and all who live locally in the Blackball /
Moonlight / Atarau area.
Paul Berry is the Chairperson for the Trust –
he has lived all his life on his farm at Atarau.
He is also a retired Grey District Councillor,
and still active on various, mostly rural,
committees and boards.
Gary Glasson is a 4th generation beekeeper
born and bred in Blackball who started with
the Trust back in 2007 as a volunteer
maintaining trap lines and doing kiwi
surveys.
Trevor Johnston is a founding member of the
Trust and has had a lifelong affinity with the
Paparoas. He works as a Partnerships Ranger
for DOC and lives adjacent to the kiwi crèche
in Moonlight.
Lee Keown is a
retired pharmacist,
originally from
Blackball. Lee has
had a lifelong
interest in
conservation, and
is currently
managing 200ha
of lowland beech
forest on his back
doorstep in
Atarau, which
includes running a
successful
predator control program for a population of
endangered powelliphanta snails.
Alan Berry is a share milker on the family
dairy farm at Atarau where he lives with his
Lee Keown, Paul Berry, Gary Glasson,
Trevor Johnston & Alan Berry
wife and 5 children. Alan is a keen outdoors
person and joined the Trust in 2013 – keen to
help stop the decline of local populations of
endangered species.
Chairman’s Report
It has been a busy year for the Trust. I would
firstly like to thank the Trustee’s for a great
job. Also huge thanks to all of our
contractors, advisors and volunteers who are
such a great group of people and who work
hard to get the job done with no fuss.
I would also like to acknowledge and thank
the groups that fund and support us. Without
them there is no way we could continue our
projects. The main ones are Roa Mining
Company Ltd, Department of Conservation,
WWF, Kiwis for Kiwi, Willowbank Wildlife
Reserve and CVNZ. There are also many
other groups whose help we also appreciate.
We are still building traps and increasing the
size of our protected area, as well as regularly
checking the existing lines and recording
catches. The terrain is incredibly rugged, but
our contractors are a tough bunch.
The trap building has been a huge
undertaking … mostly by local volunteers –
and is an ongoing project as we continue to
expand our controlled area.
A Highlight for me this year was meeting
with some government officials, senior DOC
personal & walking a part of the Croesus
Track with them – they were impressed with
our program and are keen to follow our
progress.
As 2015 draws to a close we are looking
forward to a busy new year and hoping for
lots of healthy kiwi chicks and lots of dead
rats & stoats!
THE PAPAROA WILDLIFE TRUST NEWSLETTER | Issue 1
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PWT meeting in Blackball
November 2015
OUR TEAM AT WORK
Hutchy & Suzy
Meet Our Awesome Team of
Contractors, Advisors &
Volunteers
by [Article Author]
Paul Noble
The Paparoa Wildlife Trust is lucky to have a
large group of skilled and dedicated
contractors and advisors who are available to
help when required.
Hutchy is an old time bushman whose
knowledge of the Paparoa Ranges would be
hard to beat. He has cut many kilometres of
trap lines through some pretty inhospitable
country. He has battled the elements on
many occasions to get the job done. He now
has Suzy as an off sider – together they are
finishing getting the last lines set up, and are
regularly checking and rebaiting the lines
that are complete.
Glen & Bex
Jo Halley
Paul Noble is a local farmer. He has trap lines
at the back of his property which he regularly
checks and maintains. He also maintains the
Croesus Track trap line. And as if that isn’t
enough he also volunteers his time to help
build traps and do maintenance at the
crèche.
Jo Halley is our kiwi ranger and field officer.
Jo has been contracting to the Trust since
2008. Her work involves all aspects of the
kiwi project, including monitoring the adult
wild kiwi for breeding activity throughout the
year, as well as the chicks in the crèche, and
all the juveniles that we have released back
into the wild.
Glen Newton & Bex Jackson both work for
Department of Conservation in Greymouth.
They work closely with the Trust and their
knowledge and advice are greatly
appreciated.
Sally Gallant joined the Trust in January this
year in the role of Administrator.
This year we have also said goodbye to one
of the founding members of the Trust – Jo
Tilson set up and ran ONE for the Trust and
has been one of the driving forces behind
getting the predator trapping project off the
ground. She was also instrumental in getting
the crèche built. More recently she has also
spent many hours writing funding reports
and securing new funding for the Trust. Her
knowledge of kiwi and the Paparoa’s has
been invaluable to the Trust and we would
like to thank her for her vision, passion and
hard work.
THE PAPAROA WILDLIFE TRUST NEWSLETTER | Issue 1
Bois Gentil
Crèche Update
We started the year with a successful crèche
open day in February, attended by approx.
90 people. The two adolescent chicks Jessie
and Fern were given their health check prior
to a private release in the hills behind
Blackball.
One of Jo’s jobs at the crèche is coordinating
various groups of volunteers who give
generously of their time to help plant trees
and shrubs, clear gorse, weed between
plantings and paint the capping rail on the
predator fence. CVNZ are regular
contributors, coming as often as once a week
in summer. We have also had the ladies from
BNZ bank as part of their ‘Closed for Good’
initiative. And staff of ANZ Greymouth also
spent a day fence painting back in March.
There are also lots of locals who are
passionate about the crèche who help out
with various jobs – including spraying the
gorse around the perimeter and painting the
fence. So far this year we have recorded a
total of 625 hours of volunteer labour which
is an awesome achievement from all
involved.
Jo also does a fantastic job in her advocacy
role – showing groups of visitors through the
crèche and always trying to tie their visit in
with a kiwi health check. We have had 257
visitors to the crèche so far this year. These
have included local school children,
University students from America, girl
guides, fire fighters, and tourists.
Chick numbers in the crèche have been
around 4 or 5. We started the year with Fern
& Jessie, and 2 chicks from the Stockton
Mine that we crèche for them – Mangatini
and Te Atarangi. Then once Fern and Jessie
were released we received two young chicks
that were incubated at Willowbank from
eggs that Jo collected in the Paparoas – Piki
and Pino. Pino has done really well in the
crèche – now weighing over one kilogram.
Piki has struggled since day one – and is
currently back at Willowbank getting some
testing and TLC. Managtini and Te Atarangi
are due to be released in the Rotoiti area in
the next month.
We also currently have a brand new chick at
Willowbank - it has hatched from an egg
which was collected from Tawhai – one of
our ONE birds. There are also two more wild
pairs sitting on eggs, which will be collected
if they are viable. This will ensure new chicks
for the crèche next year.
Finally planning is underway for our next
open day – to be held in January. Keep an
eye on our Facebook page and local
newspapers for the date.
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THE PAPAROA WILDLIFE TRUST NEWSLETTER | Issue 1
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OUT AND ABOUTIN THE PAPAROA’S
In the Wild
Large Scale Trapping:
Kiwi Stuff:
The Roaring Meg Ecological Area Predator
Control Plan is an ambitious project that the
Trust has implemented for large scale
trapping of stoats, rats and weasels in the
Paparoa Ranges with the main aim of
protecting a local population of Great
spotted Kiwi (Roroa).
As always, Jo has been busy with the kiwi in
the wild.
This year has seen the building of over 400
predator tunnels, mainly by utilising local
volunteer labour. The tunnels are
constructed of H4 treated timber with
stainless steel traps (DOC 150) and 2 mm 316
grade stainless mesh, screws and nails for a
long life span. The traps are individually
numbered and GPS’d so accurate trap catch
data can be recorded.
The traps have been put out in the ranges
using some volunteers, and by Hutchy, Suzy
and Paul Noble who all contract to the Trust.
There have been quite a few teething
problems with the traps – including
vandalism by keas trying to eat the egg bait –
this has been overcome by staking the traps
into the ground, which means our contractor
needs to retrofit the stake to each trap in the
areas that Kea are present. Vandalism by
humans is not so easy to overcome – some
traps have been tipped over off the tracks,
and some have been shot at. This means that
time and money is wasted replacing traps
which we find hugely disappointing.
Our project is running behind our original
time scale due to several factors – building
the traps ourselves has saved a huge amount
of money, but has taken longer than
anticipated. The weather over autumn and
winter has been typically cold and snowy on
the mountain tops’, meaning it is unsafe for
our contractors to be working in. It has also
meant that the opportunities for helicopters
flying traps in are reduced. We will be taking
advantage of the warmer settled weather
over summer to get the existing trap lines
complete and continue cutting new lines.
Late autumn early winter is the time for
annual transmitter changes on our
monitored kiwi. The transmitters we use only
last for one year. This means Jo needs to
track each kiwi to find its burrow, then reach
in and pull the kiwi out gently by its legs. Of
course, it’s not usually as easy as it sounds –
mostly a hole needs to be dug and Jo ends up
crawling many metres to get to them –
enduring lots of scratches from sharp claws!
The kiwi is weighed and examined for health
and condition, then the new transmitter is
attached to the thigh and they are put back
in their burrow.
Coming into summer is breeding season for
great spotted kiwi. Jo checks all the
transmitter data every fortnight now, as they
put out a data stream every 10 minutes.
Monitoring this lets Jo know how active the
males have been, and when activity drops for
a period the kiwi is likely to be incubating an
egg.
Jo Halley & Poppy
Here Jo is using a receiver and aerial to track kiwi in the
Paparoa’s
Cheeky Kea
Keas are incredibly strong and persistent – they roll the
traps over to get the egg bait out … it’s a yummy snack
for them
.Jo will take some suitable eggs for ONE they will be incubated at Willowbank Wildlife
Reserve, then the chicks will be bought to the
crèche before eventually being returned into
the Paparoa’s.
We are using cameras for the first time this
season to monitor activity around the nests
once we know that a pair is incubating an
egg. This is an effective way of seeing what is
happening without any disturbance to the
birds.
We are hoping for a good breeding season
and have our fingers crossed for lots of
healthy chicks.
Jo Halley – Mining for Kiwi
This is a typical day’s work for Jo – crawling for metres
inside a muddy hole to catch a kiwi for a transmitter
change
THE PAPAROA WILDLIFE TRUST NEWSLETTER | Issue 1
Get Involved
Donations:
Corporate Sponsors:
Please make a donation to support our work.
Donations of $5 or more are tax
deductible. Any amount you give will help
ensure the continued existence of great
spotted kiwi and whio in the Paparoa Range.
We are in need of annual funding to cover
our running costs and are currently seeking
additional corporate sponsorship. Please
contact us if you are interested in becoming a
corporate sponsor.
By Online Banking
BNZ 02-0844-0108863-000
Please include the word “donation” and your
name as reference.
Trap Sponsors:
Contact Us
Chairperson – Paul Berry
Phone 03 732 3856
Administrator – Sally Gallant
Phone 03 732 3101
[email protected]
www.pwt.org.nz
Like us on Facebook
For a one off donation of $100 you can ‘buy’ a
numbered predator trap that is set as part of
our large scale predator control program in
the Paparoa Ranges. You will receive an
annual update on our program as well as
details of what pests your trap has caught.
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THE PAPAROA WILDLIFE TRUST NEWSLETTER | Issue 1
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