The late Greame Weld (left), then Western Bay of Plenty mayor, Dave Wills of DoC, and Otanewainuku Kiwi Trust patron Carole Long at the first release of kiwi into the forest in 2007. Photo / Moana Bianchin
The late Greame Weld (left), then Western Bay of Plenty mayor, Dave Wills of DoC, and Otanewainuku Kiwi Trust patron Carole Long at the first release of kiwi into the forest in 2007. Photo / Moana Bianchin
In 20 years, the Ōtānewainuku Kiwi Trust has created a population of 30 kiwi .
But that is a long way from being its only achievement and belies a massive community effort and a huge amount of passion.
Trustee Hans Pendergrast, whose late father Jim was trust founder, says the trust’s work highlights the difference enthusiastic people can make.
“It is a classic example of where a group of passionate people got together and work together as a community and have made a difference. And that has changed Ōtānewainuku,” he says.
Te Puke Forest and Bird was instrumental in establishing the trust.
In 1984 there had been an estimated 50 kiwi in the area.
“Then in 2001, the survey showed up five - which was a radical drop and that really galvanised them into action,” says Moana.
Otanewainuku Kiwi Trust volunteer and co-ordinator for trapping Neale Blaymires with rats collected from traps in the forest in 2005.
Neale Blaymires and Carole Long were both part of Te Puke’s Forest and Bird branch at the time.
“They were thinking about having a public meeting to form some sort of group to look after the forest.”
That was around the time of Moana’s first involvement. She had raised about $600 from people using her patterns to make fabric birds and selling them.
“The money was burning a hole in my pocket and didn’t know what to do with it. I spoke to Neale who said ‘I know what you can do with it - you can put it into the trust we are hoping to form for Ōtānewainuku’.”
A meeting was called for August 8, 2002, at Oropi School.
There were more than 100 people at the meeting, “an amazing turnout”.
When asked for a show of hands from those willing to be trustees, Moana was among those to put her hand up.
Others were Sharon Seager from Comvita and Mark Dean from Naturally Native Plants, which would become a hub for the trust’s work. Mark would be the first chairman.
“We also needed a kaumātua, so we asked Dan Heke.”
Department of Conservation project manager Dave Wills releases Maui in Otanewainuku Forest in 2007.
Forest and Bird’s national body made a financial contribution.
“That was a significant amount of funding and that’s what kicked it all off.”
There were many people willing to be involved in various roles.
“We had amazing support and we had such a high level of expertise,” says Moana.
“There was Dave Wills and Carole, who were working for DoC, Dave Edwards who was an entrepreneurial engineer, Glenn Ayo who was at Western Bay of Plenty District Council.
“Mark Dean, he provided a lot of leadership and excitement and glue.”
Hans says: “On the other side there were people like my dad and a few others who were really technically knowledgeable about the forest itself and the task in front of them - and it wasn’t huge to those guys because they knew the forest well - it wasn’t going to be an issue they would do what needs to be done.”
“What was really marked for me was the energy and focus of this group of people. We are all proactive and wanted to do something and that was the exciting energy that was there.”
The trust was aided by the fact there were already 650 trap lines cut into the bush by DoC in the 1990s.
“So because that was already there the money that came from Forest and Bird was used to put all those traps into the bush,” says Moana.
It was October 2002 when the first stoats were caught - before the trust was legally constituted in 2003.
In 2004 the trust’s strapline was adopted: To ensure the long-term survival of kiwi in Ōtānewainuku Forest and to preserve our taonga of native flora and fauna and bird life for generations to come.
However, it wasn’t until 2007 that it was felt that predator numbers were low enough for the first kiwi to be released. Despite the 2001 survey counting five birds, it was unlikely they were still around so in effect the trust was starting from scratch.
DOC project manager Dave Wills prepares to get Maui out of the box.
Mauri and Whetu, reared in captivity in the South Island, were released in March.
“They have had lots of dud eggs, but they have been very stable and in the same place all that time and that’s why we’ve been able to anchor other birds around them as we’ve brought them in,” says Hans. “And they are still there.”
In 2013 Mauri and Whetu did produce one offspring - Pistachio.
“That was the very first [egg] we were able to bring in and we had bred so that was a real thrill,” says Hans.
It wasn’t the case initially, but now chicks are initially hatched and raised at Kiwi Encounter in Rotorua before being moved to Warrenheip Creche sanctuary in the Waikato giving them extra time to grow before being released.
“When they went in too young they would wander,” says Moana.
“And also they are susceptible to accidents and injury, but Warrenheip gets them up to nearly 2kg and they are much more robust. They still travel a lot but they are a lot more robust,” says Hans.
There have been plenty of setbacks over the years.
“It’s a tough game,” says Hans. “Because of the fact that they run and have accidents, when you have a very small population, a loss of one is actually very significant.
“We’ve had them predated - we lost two, two years ago to ferrets, one last year to a ferret and we’ve just lost one to a dog.
“The worst loss of all is when you lose an adult because that’s your breeding stock.
One was also hit by a car and killed.
“A random thing like that, for us at the time, it really cuts the numbers down. It destroys a pair and then the one left has to go and find another and it can be a year or two before that gets going. That’s a real tough part.”
Hans, who now leads the trust’s kōkako recovery project, says the recovery of the forest as a result of the predator control has been incredible and another measure of the trust’s success.
Kiwi monitoring group member Sheryl Petersen checking kiwi.
“There’s a whole raft of indicator species we haven’t properly monitored, but because I’ve lived in and around the forest all of my life, I have these stories about how the forest has recovered, it’s flora, invertebrates - once you get the stoats down and the rats down, all that stuff really starts to change and recover and most people don’t see it, but one of the great stories of Otanewainuku is the recovery of the forest.”
And as the forest has flourished, so have the people involved in the trust’s work.
“People feel good about it, contribute more and they actually flourish - because they are better people they are more skilful more knowledgeable, whatever it happens to be and as a result, they are able to increase the flourishing of the forest and I’ve just seen that repeated time and time again.”
Various initiatives have been aimed at raising funds and awareness and that is another success story - the number of people who have become involved as a result and also the recognition of the brand.
While statistics on predator numbers killed are kept as far as possible, Hans says that isn’t the be-all and end-all.
“Kill figures - people like to know the numbers, but the real story is the recovery story.
“We have the most intensive stoat network in New Zealand, we have an incredibly intensive possum trapping network keeping numbers very low and a ferret network around the perimeter with 250 ferret traps - it’s seriously intensive.`
Ferrets are becoming a significant problem as they can kill adult kiwi - so the trust’s next big project is likely to be a buffer zone around the forest.
