This statement is untrue. Frogs were bred successfully at the University of Canterbury facility. DoC shut down the programme just as froglets were being produced. These were transported to Auckland Zoo where they died.

And the frogs are very good and figuring out males and females themselves - they really don’t need our help to find a mate!

And certainly it is possible that 1080 is taking a toll on this species. Nobody knows, but it has been suggested that frogs are suffering from immunosuppression in the wild that could play a role in causing them to become susceptible to disease.

Yes, there is a range of political opinion amongst Forest & Birders, which is exactly as it should be - conservation for all parties should be a bottom line in New Zealand politics, not politicised. I am sure you are right about some of Forest & Bird’s most active and effective members being National party supporters and voters. And yes, we need to remain open-minded, and continue to engage constructively with parties across the political spectrum to achieve whatever conservation wins we can.

However, it is also true that at the present time, the current government is pursuing policies that appear to be ignorant of and are highly damaging to conservation interests - both in general, and in particular cases.

Most recently, the Conservation Minister Mrs Wilkinson has broken a promise made to the public in July 2010, and in person to our President and General Manager in August. She had said that significant mining applications on public land should be publicly notified, and that this would happen prior to access decision-making for open cast coal mining on the Denniston Plateau. The day after the election, a letter arrived saying that this would now not occur.

National omitted to participate in our Vote for Nature poll before the election despite repeated invitations to do so. If you go to their policy page, you will find that conservation did not appear at all on their “wall” of “building blocks” of policies to promote a brighter New Zealand future. This is reflected in the low priority that has been given to funding DOC and pest control. I could point you to many other instances where the superficial appearance of a win for conservation is far outweighed by the effect of other current government policies.

Where any political party’s policy - not the politics, per se - is bad, then Forest & Bird needs to staunchly stand up and say so. There will be areas where we can continue to work with the National party and its allies in the next three years. However, the fact remains that recent attempts to do so have been rebuffed, and the overall effect of current government policy (despite some individual good policies) is a significant risk.