A little known fact about the Denniston Plateau is that it’s one of the top places to see some of New Zealand’s bizarre native carnivorous plants growing wild.
(Left to right) Drosera spatulata, Utricularia dichotoma flower, Peter Elhardt. Drosera binata, Noah Elhardt. Photos licensed under Creative Commons
New Zealand has twelve native carnivorous plants: four types reside on this alpine sandstone plateau which is under threat from coal mining.
For many people, carnivorous plants hold a certain fascination – these seemingly benign, stationary plants turn the tables on insects, trapping them in goo, or nifty traps, so they can devour them at their leisure.
Carnivorous plants use these insect-snacks to supplement their nutrient-load because they live in water-logged, peaty nutrient-poor soil, such as bogs and mountaintops.
And although NZ may not have large tropical pitcher plants, that can harbour communities of frogs and spiders, or the Venus Flytrap with its snap traps, we have a number of fascinating predatory plants.
TAG Oil is very excited. It wants to turn the East Coast of the North Island – “literally leaking oil and gas”!! – into the “Texas of the south”, hosting thousands of oil wells.
A graphic showing the various legislative zones
If you thought that the EEZ Bill, currently before select committee, would be a major weapon in the government’s armoury to protect this unique and extensive environment – if you believed what responsible Minister Dr Nick Smith has said – you were wrong.
Each country’s EEZ stretches from its coast to out to 200 nautical miles. New Zealand’s marine environment, which also includes the continental shelf, is 23 times bigger than our land environment.
Although a National government has been returned, in a way Kiwis did “vote for nature” as our election campaign asked. The prospects for Nature in the next three years are not all quite as bleak as you might imagine.
Although the new Associate Conservation Minister, Peter Dunne has strong conservation policies on freshwater, wild rivers and the Mokihinui hydro proposal in particular, he opposes 1080 and supports a move to restructure DOC to seperate conservation and recreation activities. He also has no policy on the mining of Denniston (pictured).
It is a very interesting Parliament and there are some reasons to hope that Forest & Bird’s hand is, in fact, a little stronger than it was in the 49th Parliament.
The new National-led government has 64 confidence votes, with support from the ACT party, the United Future party, and the Maori party. It has 59 seats of its own. John Banks and Peter Dunne make 61.
Mr Dunne will be the Associate Conservation Minister, outside of Cabinet. Hon Kate Wilkinson continues with the Conservation portfolio, ranked at number 17 from 20 Ministers.
In a 121-seat Parliament, Mr Key needs 61 votes to govern, and pass Bills.
Analogies have been drawn between Mr Key and Mr Muldoon, including by the Prime Minister himself.
He will not want to risk a Marilyn Waring crossing the floor, or a Christine Fletcher exercising leverage on environmental issues in a narrowly divided House. (In 1997 Mrs Fletcher played an important role in ensuring Coromandel Peninsula’s inclusion in Schedule 4 to the Crown Minerals Act.)
This election year Forest & Bird is asking all Kiwis to be kiwisavers, and when they vote, to Vote for Nature.
We hope you’ll have seen our posters. We asked all Parliamentary parties contesting the 2011 general election to tell us their policies on environmental threats and Forest & Bird’s main conservation goals.
The full list included questions about whether they would save our landscapes and precious places - such as the Mackenzie, protecting the Denniston Plateau from open cast coal mining and the Mokihinui River from hydro damming.
There were questions about threatened species (their biodiversity and conservation policies), our threatened planet (their fossil fuel and carbon emissions policies), and many more.
Seabirds – as a general rule – are rather large. Large wings designed to sail the wind’s currents; a long beak equipped with a salt-extracting unit and a large pair of paddle-like feet are de rigueur in seabirds.
Diving petrel chick
Unlike most seabirds though, the common diving petrel (kuaka) has few of these attributes. It’s fitted out with a pair of stumpy wings and a small sparrow-sized body that makes it look like it has taken a wrong turn. Unlike our soaring albatross, the diving petrel has to flap franticly to keep airborne.
However if you spend enough time watching these nifty little seabirds, you’ll learn that they’re very much home at sea. They can even navigate through air and water almost seamlessly. I have even seen one charge into a huge wave, burst on through to the other side, and just keep on flying.
Blogger: Brazilian Unitec journalism student and Forest & Bird intern, Diego Mandarino.
I had barely just touched down in New Zealand and I was given the opportunity to meet and greet 20 of its most endangered species.
This is the first time that our endangered Blue Duck has been held in captivity. Photo: Rod Morris.
In fact, as I wandered around Auckland Zoo’s new enclosure - Te Wao Nui - I was unsure whether I was taking part in what is described as ‘extinction’ tourism, or whether I was peering into a more hopeful future.
The $16 million dollar area will be home to about 60 animal species, some of them rare and critically endangered like the Campbell Island teal.
The area is comprised of six habitat areas - coast, islands, wetlands, day forest, night (caves and forest) and high country – and contains a handful of threatened citizens in each.
Blogger: Campaign Manager for the kakapo and Forest & Bird’s fundraiser, Jolene Molloy
Kakapos. They may not sing as hauntingly as the kokako or be as brightly coloured as the kakariki or swoop as majestically as the kaka but I think the kakapo is most deserving of crowning title of Bird of the Year.
A kakapo male. Photo: Don Merton
They’re some of our most entertaining birds however their nightly performances are done under a curtain of darkness.
In fact they are the world’s only nocturnal parrot. They’re also the only parrots to use a lek system for breeding. It’s a bit like the bird equivalent of X Factor or American Idol.
The mating process involves the males finding the best position where they make a track and bowl system. This is their version of a stage. They are diligent stagekeepers, and they fuss over it so that it looks its best.
Every night they place themselves centre stage, they inflate their thoracic sac which is situated in their chest, and let out an almighty boom to attract the ladies.
I encourage you to vote for one of our most energetic and friendly native birds – the fantail (piwakawaka). It is one of our most common and widely distributed native birds on the New Zealand mainland, adapting so well to an environment greatly altered by humans.
Our flirty flighty fantail. Photo: Craig Mckenzie
The fantail is one of our most recognisable native birds having a long tail which opens into a fan. It has a small head and bill and has two colour forms – pied (yellow-brown with white and black chest bands) and melanistic or black.
They are amazing fliers – they use their broad tails to change direction quickly when hunting for insects. They sometimes hop around upside-down amongst tree ferns and foliage to pick insects from the underside of leaves. Fantails love to eat moths, flies, spiders, wasps and beetles.
