Category Archives: Conservation- Native bird specie- Indigenous project-Habitat restoration- Pest control

Te Mahia School environmental programme

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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.  helping hands IMG_4929 IMG_4934 IMG_4946 IMG_4949 IMG_4956 IMG_4964 IMG_4984 forestry presentationnorthern rata

Pre planting inspection along the Whangawehi stream

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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.IMG_4874

Bird monitoring programme along the Whangawehi stream

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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 :

– 5minutesbirdcount

– Birdmonitoringdatasheet

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First trap line inspection along the Whangawehi stream

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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!

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2 successfull Community days at the Mahia Market

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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).

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Te Mahia School Environmental Programme

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On Thursday 11th December, Te Mahia school teachers and Principal, Kathleen, Rae, Jenni, Malcom and Nic gathered to disscuss the Whangawehi environmental programme for 2015. Dates were set around a already busy school year for 10 workshops ranging from planting projects; bugs in stream and fish monitoring; coastal birds (e.g. blue pegiun); catchment trips and the return of the the very popular carving and weaving workshop!!!

Jack’s & D’Magio Blog: Portland Island Trip

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Jack and D’Magio  from Te Mahia school have uploaded amazing photos and a summary of thier trip to Waikawa (Portland Island) to help with conservation work on the island to Room 1s Blog:

http://temahia.blogspot.com/2014/12/waikawa-jack-dmagio.html

This was a fantatic opportunity and one that was throughly enjoyed by both Jack and D’Magio and many thanks go to Helen Jonas from DOC to make it all possible.

 

Community Engagement Officer

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The WCMG is seeking to engage a part time contractor (500 hours) to assist the group in engaging and building relationship/partnerships with the Mahia community. The role is for a fixed twelve month period with options for extension.
To obtain a Job Description  or to forward a full CV and a covering letter (by the 29th of January) contact:
Rae Te Nahu (Secretary) 720 East Coast Road Mahia RD 8 Nuhaka 4198 Hawkes Bay
Email : rae.tenahu@xtra.co.nz (81 words).

For a job description, please follow the link :Community Engagement Officer

Pongaroa Station restoration project

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Shane Mildenhall, Arthur Bowen, Edward Hammond and Nic Caviale gathered today along the Whangawehi stream to talk about the new fence that will be built in January as part of the Whangawehi Catchment restoration programme.

The cultural report drafted by Mana Cracknel was used in order to identify and protect Wahi Tapu sites.

A big thank you to Shane for embracing our vision and to Arthur and Edward for sharing their knowledge of the area.

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