From the Chief Executive Officer
by Phil Lyons
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Kia ora Koutou
He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata
Here at Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, we often refer to those inspired Kaitiaki who have gone before us.
These are the people whose contribution has enabled the maunga to become the world class conservation story it is today.
October is the one-year anniversary of the passing of one such person, Lance Rangimauku (Moke) Tauroa.
Lance’s first formal job description went back to October 2011, when he was employed by MEIT as a Fence and Track Construction Assistant.
In 2018 Lance became a Ranger, responsible for the fence and track maintenance. Lance was dedicated and totally committed to the maunga, attending to breaches day or night, rain, wind, or shine.
Lance had high standards, looked after his mates, and would do everything he could to get the job done. His passing is a huge loss for our whanau, our sanctuary, our community and for all sanctuaries in Aotearoa.
In honour of Lance, we are establishing a scholarship, incorporating both part-time Ranger work and part-time study in Conservation. Whilst we will never fill Lance’s shoes, it is our aim to inspire future kaitiaki, those who will continue Lance’s mahi and build on his amazing legacy.
Rest in Peace Moke.
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Species Update:
By Janelle Ward, Species Co-ordinator
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The newest species to join our menagerie of forest species at Maungatautari is the mighty but tiny North Island titipounamu (rifleman) Acanthisitta chloris. Eighty of these insectivorous birds were released in May and June of 2021. Since their release staff, volunteers and visitors have reported seeing and hearing them throughout the Te Tui a Tane Southern Enclosure and OTM track near where they were released and even further afield.
The release was only the fifth translocation of titipounamu and one of the most successful transfers, with 100% survival to the time of release. Whilst this is a fantastic result, the translocation is not considered a true success until we know that enough birds have survived and reproduced. The translocation process is extremely stressful for birds and especially for small birds with such high metabolic rates. The stress occurs during initial capture and processing, but also the transport, release, and having to establish new territories in their new home.
The first translocation of (South Island) titipounamu to Ulva Island in 2003 resulted in a 52% survival rate to release, but with an excellent survival post release (Leech et al., 2007). The authors gave several recommendations for subsequent transfers including reduced holding times, giving birds time to feed naturally outside of the transfer timing and individual holding boxes for each bird. A research report by Withers et al (2019) showed that despite a much-improved success rate for translocation to Cape Sanctuary (Hawke’s Bay) with 92% surviving to release. However, they had a poorer post release survival with only 22% remaining in the reserve by the next breeding season - which may have been due to dispersal or death.
This is a concern in that small surviving populations may not be genetically diverse and require further top-up translocations. For this reason, we are keeping a close eye on our new residents and hoping that the diverse, mature forest and limited dispersal routes for titipounamu at Maungatautari will give the birds a chance to establish successfully. As part of our monitoring we will be conducting pre- and post-breeding surveys and we are currently negotiating for a summer research intern to conduct more detailed work into their survival, dispersal and breeding. The pre-breeding survey was delayed due to Covid19 restrictions but is about to start imminently. We look forward to sharing the results in due course and have our fingers crossed that the titipounamu are thriving in their new home.
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Up Front and Behind the Scenes on the Maunga!
By Freeman Ehu
With changing alert levels, many of our own tours and programmes were affected. Thankfully we were able to pivot our approach and still let our supporters know what we've been up to!
Essentially, everything has been postponed!
We were thankfully nominated for a few awards for our work in the community and conservation. The Waikato Business Awards and New Zealand Tourism awards have both been delayed until early 2022 and we can't wait to showcase all of our hard work!
Thankfully this month our Annual General Meeting will be happening October 26 2022 at 6.30pm. The AGM will be helped virtually this year and you can watch the livestream on our Facebook page. A recorded version will later be put onto our website, but check out the AGM live to take part in the Q&A portion at the end.
It's been a busy year and we can't wait to show you all of our hard work!
You can register for the event here
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Telemetry Training Opportunity
By Craig Montgomerie
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In the past few weeks, I have been sketching up a plan to achieve an annual kiwi muster for our translocations that will take place in the not too distant future. We are brainstorming what tools and resources we will require to undertake as we are still a distance away from implementing this proposed plan. One skill that has been identified and will be required are a team of experienced individuals that can track kiwi using telemetry equipment.
I have in past Maunga Matters asked if anyone would like to get involved to get in contact with me. A list was formed and on one sunny Sunday in September a group of us met up in Leamington domain for some telemetry 101. Earlier in the day I walked around the park and hid functioning kiwi transmitters in the domain to symbolise ‘sleeping kiwi’. Once the team had assembled after lunch, I handed the telemetry equipment out and gave them a brief introduction on how to use the gear. We then split into two groups and went on the search.
Now I must say, I thought putting transmitters in a flat and open park setting it would be too easy for everyone to find. As it turns out it was slightly challenging but a great way to teach and learn without having to deal with hills, trees, and supplejack! I affectionately called this location ‘Kindergarten’. After the group had had some practice, we stepped it up a notch and went to ‘Primary school’. This new location was the soldiers track on the Waikato River. Like the domain, I had hidden some transmitters in and amongst the trees on the riverbank earlier in the day. This made it more of a real-life scenario without having to access the maunga itself.
Everyone had a go at locating all the transmitters and all had success with finding the ‘treasure’, as telemetry work is just treasure hunting for adults with technology!
The two sites we used were only chosen as they are close to where I live, but surprisingly provided a great training ground as a signal can do funny things in varying terrain or in the domains case buildings and at the river site the signal sometimes bounced of the opposite side of the river throwing a bit of confusion into the mix. All simple mistakes that you can only learn from but using the equipment regularly.
As this afternoon was so successful we will host more days like this before the end of the year and may look to using Lake te ko utu in Cambridge as a training ground as it has good elevation and terrain. Once the group are feeling confidant, I will introduce them to the southern enclosure and set them up with some much more hidden transmitters to find.
If you would like to join in the telemetry team or just give it a go to see if you like it, please get in contact with me at kiwi@maungatrust.org
On a brief side note, the first kiwi eggs have been delivered to Pukaha Mount Bruce incubation centre and the Kiwi Burrow incubation facility at Wairakei. I estimate the new season’s chicks will begin arriving about mid-October kicking off our fourth season of releases that are a part of our Kiwis for kiwi kohanga strategy.
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Community Links
WaiPAC visit to the Sanctuary!
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Recently a short ‘cheque‘ handover ceremony was held at the Visitor Centre in the midst of the Covid 19 Level 2 restrictions. Waikato Pesticides Awareness (WaiPAC) had recently wound up because the work it was established to do had been achieved, with much now taken over by regional and national organisations. Some funding was left over from the organisation and a vote was made to donate it to Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari.
CEO Phil Lyons spoke to some of the WaiPAC representatives about the Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari project, and especially the volunteer contributions. He expressed thanks and appreciation for the donation which will go to continuing the work of the SMM project.
WaiPAC chairperson Graham McBride handed over the ‘cheque’ then reminded us all about the WaiPAC achievements and the ongoing nation-wide outcomes from the activities.
Although Robert Brodnax, a previous SMM Trustee was not present, his summary of WaiPAC accomplishments as one of the most highly successful collaborative multi stakeholder groups he had ever been part of, were read out. In particular he wrote that, “the secret sauce was the environment that you created Graham, your leadership, enthusiasm and commitment to listening constructively even if you completely disagreed with someone all while running a dairy farm, being a farmer politician and looking after your family are an inspiration - and I feel genuinely honoured to have had the opportunity to work with you and learn from you”.
After a few more words of thanks to Graham for his outstanding leadership of WaiPAC, the group headed off to explore the Southern Enclosure to see what the forest was like after no pest species for nearly 20 years, and where the kaka turned on some entertainment for all. Many of the group members had not been to SMM previously and were keen to bring their families back for a longer visit in the future.
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From the Volunteer Co-ordinator
By Lian Buckett
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As you can imagine, lockdown impacts the amount of volunteer work that gets done regularly on, and around, the maunga, in rather adverse ways. There is an air of stillness, and a void that hangs like a bad end to a favourite movie. The level of interaction, not only between volunteer and the maunga, volunteer to volunteer, and volunteer to staff takes an obvious fall.
To get the news that all volunteers could return to the maunga on Friday October the 1st, provided us all with an iridescent rainbow after a storm. We are looking forward to engaging new volunteers who are undertaking additional roles that have been created out of the need to attend to ever increasing areas that require attention.
Each volunteer brings me a little ray of sunlight, so to have them all back on board means we all have days filled with sunshine, no matter what the weather brings us.
If you feel you can bring a little sunshine as a volunteer to our wonderful team here at Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, please contact Lian on volunteer@maungatrust.org
Ngā manaakitanga
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Ngā mihi maioha
(with thanks and appreciation)
The team at Sanctuary Mountain® Maungatautari
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Copyright © 2018 Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, All rights reserved.
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