I love trees and forests. There is so much value in trees - as shelter, as food sources but mainly as themselves - a vital and perfect part of our world. We have cut a lot of trees down here - I cannot stand seeing the pictures of the loggers standing beside a massive kauri that they have just killed - yuck. When the opportunity to plant native forest comes along the lure of quicker money entices some larger groups away - But there are many conservation, activists, trusts, maori and community groups who work very hard to plant and pest-proof areas to save. Thank you to all people involved in this. This report (see correction below) however shows how bad it really is
In figures released by Conservation International, New Zealand's forests are placed only behind Indo-Burma as the most at-risk forest ecosystem in the world.The world's 10 most threatened forest regions have all lost at least 90 percent of their original habitat, and are home to at least 1500 plants which are not found anywhere else. New Zealand's forests were home to 5 percent of its endemic species, Conservation International said, and invasive species, such as rats, stoats and possums, posed the most serious threat to the flora and fauna of New Zealand.
It is shameful but we must get over that and get on with the solutions. Those solution must be holistic and see the wider, interconnected view, otherwise it will just create other, sometimes worse, problems. How do you come up with solutions that haven't been thought of and discarded many times? Well Charlotte Squire at Happyzine had the same dilemna with how to save the Mokihinui River. She conceived of an idea called Wild Energy. She got judges, she got the concept sorted and then launched the competition to come up with alternative ideas of how to generate the power that they expect to get from the dam damn they want to build. The competition ended with 14 ideas - from all around the world. Go and read the entries and add your vote to the hundreds of other votes already cast. Good ideas? Bad ideas? who can say - at least they are ideas.
The greens have come out with these good points
National's $54 million cut to the Department of Conservation's budget was a reckless gamble with the conservation estate, given the extreme level of threats our plants and animals face," Green Party conservation spokesman Kevin Hague said. "If we love our unique spaces and the plants and animals that live there, we'll need to re-prioritise the way we spend our money." He said he planned to introduce a Member's Bill into the House to place complete protection over native plants and animals, since many species still remained unprotected.
A Bill is a start but we need a change in consciousness as kevin says - got any good ideas?
Correction - Kiwiblog has a link to a good article by David Young at Pundit which looks into why this survey and the claims about this country's placing are incorrect and an error. That is good news - sort-of.
Rats found on Ulva Island are very bad news. This is now an emergency situation where the authorities have to go into overdrive. They still haven't caught the stoat/s on Kapiti Island.
From The Southland Times - Stuff
Endangered birds in one of New Zealand's leading wildlife reserves are under threat again after a small population of rats was found on "rat-free" Ulva Island. Twelve rats have been found in traps on the island in the past fortnight. A juvenile rat was found, which means a breeding population has been established on the island. The island had been rat free for 12 years. If the island was not cleared of rats within six months then the protected birds that had been released there, including the mohua and saddleback, would disappear.
This is very serious and the likely way these rats got to the islands is via boats. This island is open to the public and this will need to change. The island is a window to our past and our future if we want it. As Busted Blonde says on Roarprawn in a very good post on the issue
If they have caught 12 in a fortnight then there is a strong possiblity that there are hundreds already established on the sanctuary. Ulva is a window on what Stewart Island once was -alive with the haunting melody of a myriad of nativel birds and lush rich flora.
I have just sat outside taking photos of a pair of kereru in the tree. Whilst they were sitting there eyeing up hopefully their new home, a pair of piwakawaka flitted around them and the tui looked on from above. I want my son to be able to experience the cooing of kereru and the mad antics of tui. Let's plant great swathes of new bush and get serious about eradicating pests - it could be done if we had the will and the heart.
Hat tip - Roarprawn
