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Ten years ago, kokako living in the Kaharoa Forest near Rotorua didn’t have much chance of survival. There were just 22 birds there, and research showed numbers were steadily dropping.

Now, thanks to the efforts of a group of mainly local residents, there are an estimated 150 and rising. The group is the Kaharoa Kokako Trust which, after being formed in 1997, established a working partnership with the Department of Conservation and the community and set about saving the rare native birds.

Funding is often an issue for groups doing environmental work, so the trust made the most of the opportunity when Environment Bay of Plenty set up its Environmental Enhancement Fund in 2001. They became one of the fund’s first recipients, using the money for animal pest control that protects nestlings from predators.

Over the years, the fund has continued to support the trust’s good work. As well as pest control, it has helped to pay for bird surveys and a series of interpretation panels. The trust received a group award at last year’s Bay of Plenty Conservation Awards.

Trust chairman Peter Davey says it would not have been successful without its dedicated members, who travel from all over the Bay of Plenty to attend work days.

$34,000 grant clears way for students to restore wetland

Bay of Plenty Polytechnic tutors Daniel Sharp (left) and Debasihis Dutta celebrate with students. Photograph courtesy Vision Media.

And that's what dozens of students at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic will be getting next year, thanks to Environment Bay of Plenty's Environmental Enhancement Fund.

The fund has granted the Tauranga-based institution nearly $34,000 to restore a 1.8ha wetland and stream alongside the Windermere campus. The work includes removing weeds and pest animals and re-planting the area with native species to attract birds and create a better habitat for freshwater fish.

It also involves building a walking track and putting up interpretation panels.

It sounds great. But it gets even better - much of the project will be planned and carried out by students as part of their normal class work. The Environment Studies students will draw up the restoration plan.

Students in Marine Studies will use the project to learn about freshwater monitoring and ecology. Landscape students will sort out the planting side of things. Budding builders will construct the boardwalk. Even some of the weed spraying can be carried out as part of a Grow Safe course.

Local residents will also be invited to take part in some of the planting days. Polytechnics emphasise practical experience, says marine studies tutor Daniel Sharp. But it's not always easy to find suitable learning projects for them within the industry, he adds.

“Now we have a great practical learning environment right on our doorstep. It's perfect, because so many students can be involved in it. We plan to involve as many departments within the polytechnic community as possible and integrate the project into our course work.”

New bird hide adds to attractions of Lake Okareka

With the new bird hide behind them, the Landcare Okareka team takes a break from weeding and planting. They are (from left) Steffen Lotzmann, Elizabeth Walter, Morley West, Sandra Goodwin and Rod Stace.

Beautiful Lake Okareka now has a few new attractions - including a bird hide and an upgraded walkway to make it even easier to get around the lake.

Nearly three years ago, the local community celebrated the opening of a 2.5-kilometre walkway around the shoreline. Environment Bay of Plenty's Environmental Enhancement Fund supported the project, which was carried out by Rotorua District Council.

Last month, a crowd gathered again, this time to mark the completion of the second major phase of the project. This involved building a bird hide near the beginning of the walkway, a shade structure along the way, and composting toilets towards the end. It also included upgrading the walkway, which is now suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs most of the way.

Lake Okareka residents, and many from further afield, are also part of it. They meet regularly to weed, plant out and generally take care of the lake's shoreline. This year, the group has planted about 7,000 plants, mostly wetland species. “We live here so we can't expect the district council to do it all for us,” says Landcare Okareka volunteer Sandra Goodwin.

Kawerau locals give Tarawera River banks a spruce-up

Keen employees of an international company with a factory in Kawerau are working to restore a section of the Tarawera River. About 30 staff from SCA Hygiene Australasia took part in a major planting exercise recently.

Helped by local people, including iwi, and Environment Bay of Plenty and Wildlands Consultants staff, they planted around 3,000 native shrubs and trees along the river bank.

"It was great to have such an enthusiastic group working together for this important cause," says Kirstine Hulse, the company's manager environment, health and safety. "Everyone put in a fantastic effort - we were really delighted with the response and what we were able to achieve."

The initiative is part of a project supported by the Environmental Enhancement Fund for the last two years. Its goal is to enhance and restore a section of the Tarawera River near the company site. Down the track it is hoped to link up with other areas of the river bank planted with Environmental Enhancement Fund funding by groups such as Keep Kawerau Beautiful, Kawerau District Council, Conservation Corps and Norske Skog.

Birds set in stone

Kirsten Syme of Melbourne checks out the pottery Pukeko.

Many people enjoy bird watching – but are not that good at identifying what they see. At Ohiwa Harbour, the Nukuhou Marshlands Care Group has found a novel way to get around this problem.

Stuart Slade, one of the group’s members and a local potter, has created three-dimensional pottery tiles of birds that visit the area, as well as tiles of their life-size footprints. These are now set in large rocks and on pathways at a new lookout on the corner of Burkes Rd.

The Opotiki District Council created the reserve, with help from the Environmental Enhancement Fund, to complement the care group’s dedicated work in the marshland.

New roof for historic Opotiki store

Builder Graham Gerrard (right) discusses the re-roofing of Opotiki’s historic Shalfoon and Francis shop with the Opotiki Heritage and Agricultural Society’s Doug Wheeler.

Antony, George and Steve Shalfoon started the Shalfoon Brothers general store in Opotiki around 1899. It began an era for the town which lasted more than a century - the Church St hardware and grocery store was run by Antony’s son George right up to his gradual retirement about four years ago.

Today, the old Shalfoon and Francis shop remains as George left it, with the original shelving and kauri counters – and the “rollercoaster” Matai floors caused by rotting woodpiles. Considered a nationally significant heritage icon by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, the shop and its contents are now in the care of the Opotiki Heritage and Agricultural Society.

The society’s first priority has been to replace the old iron-hipped roof, which was leaking and causing further damage to the building’s structure. An Environmental Enhancement Fund grant of $30,000 has funded this initial work which has now been completed – but it’s only the start. The society will now need to develop a conservation plan and then find the money to carry it out.

It’s a major undertaking but well worth it, says society’s Doug Wheeler – the shop is too special to let fall to pieces.

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