"This is significant competition. There are only so many hours in a day. During Covid, especially during lockdown, many further developed that habit."
He added that the competition from social media started long before Covid but got a boost last year. There were also those who could not volunteer for that period and found other things to do with their spare time and were yet to return from their "substitute" activities.
However, although numbers were still lower than pre-Covid they were on the rise, with Northland topping New Zealand with 37 per cent of the adult (18-plus) population volunteering four hours a week on average. This equated to around 50,000 people volunteering about 10 million hours a year.
"At $25 per hour, that adds up to $250 million."
Charities Services data shows that there are around 5000 people as trustees at one or more charities operating in Northland. The four Northland Hospices alone engage well over 1000 volunteers, Fire and Emergencies' 42 stations have around 1000.
Volunteers serve the SPCA, Salvation Army, St John, sports clubs, schools, marae, community gardens and land-care groups, to name a few.
Whangārei Heads' iconic Bream Head Scenic Reserve was in line for a predator-free 2050 thanks to its 70-strong volunteer crew.
A plan to tempt the return of native birds to their former habitat after being driven out to nearby islands by predators had been a success.
Over the last 20 years, volunteers had steadfastly worked the 800ha rugged terrain, returning the pest-ridden peninsula to its pre-European state of pristine forest with abundant birdlife.
Trust chairman Greg Innes said: "Predators had made Bream Head inhospitable to the birds that once filled the trees and the dawn with their chorus. Surrounded on three sides by sea, the peninsula presented an ideal opportunity for pest control programmes, and with the nearby offshore islands being a sanctuary for the birds that once lived here, we wanted to see if we could tempt them back again."
Pest control started in the core area and included a strategically mapped grid of bait stations and traps targeting possums, rats, stoats and the odd weasel. Over the years, work progressed outwards toward the boundary line. Today 600 traps are laid at one time along with 1200 toxin stations, with a network along the fenceline to deter predators from entering.
Trapping had evolved to smart traps, whereby the ranger receives a radio signal notification, and battery-operated lures which can automatically dispense enticing bait such as mayonnaise, peanut butter, cinnamon or white chocolate buttons.
The first of two successful translocations took place in 2016 with the return of the North Island robin (toutouwai), followed by the whitehead (popokatea) in 2017.
Along with robins and whiteheads, Bream Head Conservation Trust (BHCT) volunteer co-ordinator Jenny Lawrence said today's population was thriving with the likes of bellbirds, kaka and seabirds, which had also been helped by the planting of around 1000 native trees and shrubs annually over the last decade.
Innes said the reserve's recolonisation by iconic native bird species would never have happened had it not been for the contribution of its wide community of supporters.
He said, "From our noted patrons to the locals who are the muscle behind the spades on planting days and who service trap lines, count lizards and snails and maintain tracks, everyone has made a difference and contributed to the outcomes of which we are so proud."
