"We always kept a species list," says Bill. "And back in 2000, we were noting many birds would be missing for the list, which should be on it. No whio. Things were so dire that we set up a meeting with DOC with our plan for predator control - and they said, DOC hasn't got resources for this. And it's a huge task for a volunteer group to take on. But, let's start small."
Maryann continues the story: "We couldn't get off the ground with funding. So that year DOC gave us the whole lot of their conservation for communities funding for this region."
To give a sense of scale - the "whole lot" was enough for them to buy the timber to make their first traps, built by volunteers from the local community. It proved to be a wise investment - from starting small they're now a fully-fledged conservation operation.
Former prime minister Helen Clark accepted Maryann's invitation to become their patron in 2010. The major sponsor of their kiwi programme is the Lottery Grants Board, and they partnered with DOC, WWF and the Tindall Foundation for their successful translocation of kiwi to the region.
The local community has also funded a significant part of their work - though they've received funding for specific projects, they rely on donations for day-to-day running costs.
Now Maryann and Bill are trying to step back a bit, by handing over some of the leadership to others: "We're weaning ourselves off... Stepping back from decision making, stepping down from the committee, but not from the group."
So far, it's taken three years. And Bill and Maryann's passion for protecting this part of the world is clearly undiminished: "The natural biota of New Zealand is unique. It's too important not to save," says Maryann.
"We've got about 70 to 75 volunteers on our books, and a good dozen or so are regularly on the mountain. What we need now is people who are prepared to take on line leadership."
This is work for which you'll need to be fit, comfortable walking off-track, and prepared to handle dead animals. "It's hard work. We're working in the wilderness area - the elevation of our project runs form 650 meters to something like 1600 meters about the bush line."
And, like most national parks: "It's away from built-up areas, so there's only a small pool of volunteers to draw from."
If ever there were people who demonstrate the power of local volunteer groups, it's those behind Friends of Flora. Yet Maryann and Bill firmly believe volunteers alone aren't the answer to NZ's biodiversity crisis.
Many are around retirement age: "You could say we're a dying breed. The young ones come and go. From our general number of volunteers the average age is 60, and you've got people up into their 70s doing the work."
They're concerned that the changes at DOC will mean the department's core work will be left to volunteer groups like theirs, to the detriment of native wildlife.
The need for the Department of Conservation's work is brought into sharp focus by this being a mast year - a natural overabundance of beech seed, set to bring about a plague of rats and stoats. Once the seed is gone, the plague of pests will turn to feast on endangered native birds.
It could lay waste to all their efforts: "We've put 13-and-a-half years of very hard work to build up this project to what it is now in - to have it taken out in a single summer would be devastating. I don't know where it would leave our volunteers."
They're delighted that DOC's Battle for Our Birds campaign will see the area receive 1080 drops to combat the pest plague, and they'd like to see more of it.
"We look at our trapping project as a high-level maintenance programme - we believe what's required is a 1080 programme throughout the area. Unless we can have this help from the 1080, no amount of trapping is going to stop the stoats and rats taking out the birds, especially in a mast year," Maryann says.
They're dismayed at the amount of DOC funding that goes into recreation. "We think it's round the wrong way. It would be really good if volunteers were brought in to seek funding and to look after tracks and huts under DOC's guidance. The conservation side should be fully funded by DOC, and volunteers like our groups should be coming in and helping them with it - not setting up their own groups, but doing it under DOC's umbrella."
For a successful volunteer conservation group that may seem surprising - until you remember that their focus isn't the volunteering, but the conservation.
To find out about volunteering at Friends of Flora, go to fof.org.nz. Or find a conservation group near you supported by WWF and The Tindall Foundation and run by volunteers at: www.wwf.org.nz/what_we_do/community_funding/.
This article is published as a partnership between WWF and Element. Like what you see? Sign up to our newsletter. We're also on Facebook and Twitter.
