New Zealand leads the world in clearing pests, however until now DOC has talked gingerly about the obvious next hurdle:  clearing pests from inhabited islands. Until now…. For fifteen years people have talked about getting pests off Stewart island (popn = 380), and five years ago a feasibility study was done to determine whether this is […]

**Newsflash** Duncan was caught and happily returned to his home yesterday afternoon (May 15th). To go to the TV One news report – see here – http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/story-duncan-kokako-comes-close-video-5437943  In 2011, Duncan – our endangered kokako – disappeared from our pest controlled sanctuary in the Waitakeres and two years later he has turned up in suburban Glendowie. […]

New Zealand has joined a worldwide club – a club of countries battling serious forest pathogens.  From ash dieback in the UK to the deaths of chestnut trees in North America, elms in Europe and North America, cedar in Oregon, plantation pines in Chile, up to 40% of the native flora of Australia and then […]

Good Afternoon to the Hon. Dr Nick Smith, How do you place a price on lives that have been saved from tragedy Dr Smith? By taking away the “seat belts in the conservation estate vehicle“. The area and programme managers are the “seatbelts”. The steering wheel may be your mandate, your perception of the “best […]

Cast you mind back to summer 2011-12 and if you lived in Auckland you will probably be saying “what summer”? It felt like we emerged from winter into perpetual spring. The rain was constant and the sun fleeting. This summer is the polar opposite. It may have started off with a few hit and misses. […]

Recently, I got the chance to head down to the Denniston plateau – a piece of land that is currently being eyed up by coal-miners – to marvel at the ‘Persian carpet of biodiversity’ that the famed photographer Rod Morris talks so fondly about. I’ve been a macro-photographer for four years now, and as you […]

The furore sparked by Gareth Morgan over New Zealanders’ somewhat careless attitude to the way in which we let our cats stalk our neighbourhoods to pick off native birds is best evidenced in the suburbs surrounding Wellington’s much prized fenced sanctuary Zealandia. In neighbouring Kelburn – where my parents live – whiskered faces can be […]

For many of us, the summer break probably consisted of sun, swimming, perhaps a little family drama … and just getting away from work for a while. It was an opportunity to get away from work for Debs Martin, Forest & Bird’s Top of the South Field Officer, too … but only so she could […]

It is the beginning of tadpole season and if there are frogs in your neighbourhood you should starting to hear their raucous calling. The frogs you will be hearing though are all Aussies brought here in the latter half of the 19th century. The endemic Leiopelma species do not use calls to attract mates – […]