Yesterday, Graham Douglas Forest Manager for Grandy Lake Forest set up DOC 200 traps along the Whangawehi river and chew cards in order to target pest control effort. Graham set up a project on trap.org.nz and will be reporting to the committee on a monthly basis. Traps will be monitored every 2 weeks in the summer and monthly in the winter. Thank you for this collaboration.
On the 17th of February, Te Mahia students put their tramping shoes on for a walk in the head waters of the Whangawehi Catchment. Graham Douglas, Forest Manager for Grandy lake Forest explained the multiple roles a commercial forestry plays as well as some information around sylviculture and tree biology. The students learnt how to find out the age of a tree.
Malcolm Smith took the students for a bush walk in the Mahia scenic reserve where we all learnt lots of amazing things on our very special native forest.
A big thank you to the school team, Malcolm, Graham, Jenny, Rae and all the parents for their help during this amazing day. 
Impact Forestry Manager, Hoseah Batisaresave came to assess the different planting sites along the Whangawehi stream and do the pre operation Health and Safety inspection. He is looking forward to starting the plantings later on this winter.
The Whangawehi Catchment Management Group is developing a small scale community based bird monitoring programme with local support from bird watchers enthusiasts Dave and Marg Fraser (members of the Ornithologic Society). 5 sites have been identified in different parts of the farm (Taharoa Trust) in order to better understand the birdlife already present and measure the impact of the conservation initiatives over time (habitat restoration and pest control). The traditional 5 minutes count method is used and will be implemented by local bird watchers on a monthly basis with support from DOC and local volunteers. This monitoring programme will expand as the restoration of the Whangawehi progresses.
If you want to learn more about the 5 minute bird count please follow the link :
Pat and Sue O’Brien in partnership with Grandy Lake Forest have retired 10 ha of riparian margins along the Whangawehi stream. A total of 30000 native trees will be planted at completion of the restoration initiative. Both landowners are thrilled to see the bird life coming back to the site. A small scale predator control plan was put in place on the Taharoa Trust just before Christmas with technical support from HBRC. 10 DOC 200 and 6 Timm traps have been donated by HBRC to the group in order to support landowner’s aspirations. These traps target Mustellids, possums and rats. When successful, this community based pest control programme will expand on the other side of the river on Grandy Lake Forest in order to completely protect 1.5 km of retired habitat and create the beginning of a buffer.
In the meantime, landowners and the Whangawehi Community have to demonstrate their ability to maintain and service the traps while reporting on a monthly basis to the group.Trap maintenance will be done by the landowners and volunteers fortnighly from October to April and monthly from May to September. Traps are located along high traffic tracks for easy and regular maintenance. Reporting is currently done via an online application trap.org.nz. Each landowner is able to login and report via a very user friendly interface. Unfortunatelythe traps haven’t caught anything so far. We will keep you posted!
The Whangawhi Catchment Management Group / DOC tent was a hive of activity on Sunday the 5th and 12th of January at the Mahia market. The team received a lot of positive feedback from many tourists visiting the Mahia region over the Christmas holidays and that’s quite encouraging.
Thank you to the team, you have done a fantastic job : Rae Te Nahu (Secretary), Kathleen Mato (Leader), Arthur Bowen (Water monitoring team), Pat and Sue O’Brien (Land owner), Malcolm Smith (DOC Ranger), Jennifer Scothern (Enviro school Coordinator).
The Whangawehi catchment management group wishes you a fantastic new year full of fantastic conservation projects.
If you want to consult the latest press release, please follow the link :
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,200 times in 2014. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.
Please find attached the amazing story of Bill Kerrison, an inspiring journey to save a national Taonga. NZRiverawardwinner
Enjoy the reading.
As you probably know, every week during summer (1 November – 30 March) HBRC’s science team monitors 37 popular swimming and recreation spots – rivers, coastal beaches and Lake Tutira. All results are available on the HBRC website.
This extract is just to update you on the latest data and results available for the Mahia region.
Rule of Toe! If it’s been raining heavily, HBRCs’ best advice is to stay out of the water for at least 3 days. A handy guideline is that if you can’t see your toes when standing knee-deep in the water, then water quality is not the best for a swim.
Whangawehi Catchment Management Group 