Lou Sanson1, Tane Davis2, and Pete
McClelland3
Title: "Co-management of New Zealand's Nature Reserves - the Whenua Hou and ex Crown Tïtï Islands examples"1Conservator,
Southland Conservancy, Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 743, Invercargill 2Oraka-Aparima
Runaka, 115 Palmerston St., Riverton 3Programme
Manager, BioDiversity, Southern Islands, Southland Conservancy, Department of
Conservation, P.O. Box 743, Invercargill Email:
lsanson@doc.govt.nz,
PMcclelland@doc.govt.nz |
|
Talk
Tane Davis, Oraka-Aparima Runaka.
Lou Sanson is Conservator for the Department of Conservation's Southland
Conservancy and is responsible for New Zealand's Subantarctic islands,
Fiordland National Park and Stewart Island.
Lou, who trained as an environmental ecologist, has worked in conservation
management and research for the New Zealand Forest Research Institute, the
New Zealand Forest Service and the Department of Conservation for the last
twenty years.
Lou's role is working day to day with issues relating to Tangata Whenua
and he has particular interest in this area.
****************** Pete McClelland is Programme Manager of Southern Islands which includes working closely with iwi on the co-management of Whenua Hou and providing advice and assistance on eradications / translocations etc on the Tïtï Islands. He has worked on islands and species management for 15 years and has worked on eradications for the past 5 years. He particularly enjoys removing introduced species from an island and watching the natural balance re-establish itself, sometimes with the added help of reintroducing species which have been lost in the past. |
Abstract Southland Conservancy of DOC has put a particularly strong focus into the development of iwi partnerships to achieve mutual conservation outcomes. This has been done using a range of iwi networks and nowhere are the gains greater than some of the island conservation management programme being carried out by both iwi and DOC staff on the Rakiura-Mäori-owned Tïtï Islands and some of New Zealand’s premier Nature Reserve islands. The nature of the partnership is discussed along with three case studies. The
iwi of Murihiku and DOC have for a long time worked closely
on conservation projects of regional and national
importance. Dating back to the 1960's, projects that were
ambitious for their time, but are now considered relatively easy to
accomplish, such as saddleback transfers were the start of this
partnership. As technology, and the
shared vision have developed it has built up to projects such as the rat
eradications and restoration on Putauhinu, Raratoka and most
recently Whenua Hou. This partnership will continue to develop with the
aim of restoring the islands as closely to their natural state while
protecting the cultural and spiritual heritage of the iwi of
Murihiku. |
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Talk
Murihiku has good working
examples of how co-management can work on both Crown and iwi land when the two
parties want to work together. Whenua Hou
is a Nature Reserve for the protection of flora and fauna and has special
significance to many whänau who whakapapa to the island. In recent times appropriate whänau have had
improved access to the island, largely in the form of day visits to the site of
the Kaika (old settlement). There has
also been an increasing involvement of local whänau in DOC programmes on the
island along with other iwi on projects such as the kakapo and Campbell Island
Teal.
Formerly there were no
formal guidelines on whänau entry to Whenua Hou. This changed with the Ngäi Tahu Settlement Act which set up a
management advisory committee, known as the Whenua Hou Committee, to work as a
subcommittee of the Southland Conservation Board. This committee consists of four Conservation Board members, as
well as a representative of each of the four Murihiku papatipu runaka. It is serviced by DOC and has an initial
role to establish a policy for access to the island, not only for iwi visits
but for management and research as well.
The form of this policy is yet to be set but DOC is working alongside
the Whenua Hou Committee to develop a workable policy that will protect the
island while allowing necessary work to carry on.
The Tïtï Islands will
continue to be managed by iwi of Rakiura Mäori descent, but soon will also be
owned by them. This return of the Crown
Tïtï Islands ownership will come about under the Ngäi Tahu Settlement Act,
pending the finalisation of a ‘constitution’, that
is the management plan being developed by the Rakiura Tïtï Islands
Administrating Body.
The islands are of great
conservation value because of their diverse range of habitats and a mix of
species found nowhere else. This
conservation importance is reflected in section 325 of the Ngäi Tahu Settlement
Act, which requires all the ex Crown Tïtï Islands to have management plans in
place by 2001. This is not to say that
the islands have not been managed by the tangata whenua of those islands in the
past. What it does mean is that the
management will now be formalised in document
form.
The large number of people
who have rights to the islands often makes consensus difficult to reach and
there is still a lot of suspicion about
DoC’s
motives from some people. “Why do they
want to help?” “What’s in it for
them?” These suspicions are slowly
being overcome, largely through a number of Whänau
recognising the potential benefits from using DoC’s expertise and resources and by
“taking the gamble”. Some of these
people have had a long history of working along side Crown agencies on
conservation projects such as tiekie (saddleback)
transfers, while others have only got involved in the last few years.
A lot of this growing trust
is based on getting to know and gaining confidence in individual people within
DOC. More recently partnership has
grown from the realisation that the mana from owning the islands brings with it
big responsibilities both to their mokopuna and to Aotearoa. There was considerable resistance from some
quarters of the general public to the Crown handing back the Crown Tïtï Islands
and there is now a certain amount of “we’ll show them we can manage the
islands” from the Tangata Whenua side.
Even before the handing back of the islands, DOC had realised its
responsibility to the birding whänau. Unlike some of its predecessors, DOC worked with the Tïtï
Committee to gain permission for access to the islands.
Some recent benefits of this
close relationship between Tangata Whenua and DOC include the eradication of
kiore from Putauhinu Island. Eradication
in turn has allowed the reintroduction of fernbirds and robins from neighbouring islands, as well as the natural restoration of flora and fauna on the
island. There have been significant
increases in the saddlebacks, kakariki, invertebrates and lizards. Natural regeneration of the island’s plants
had been largely stopped by the rats and has now restarted. We now plan to reintroduce the snipe,
believed to be the mythical Haukawai, back to Putauhinu once suitable
techniques have been developed and resources are available. There have been
several other bird transfers carried out by DOC/ iwi teams involving
saddlebacks, meaweka and fernbirds, and many more are proposed. A number of further rat eradications have
also been proposed, but these require a commitment from all the birders on the
islands, not only to ensure that the current rats are eradicated, but also to
instigate improved quarantine measures to ensure that rodents don’t return to
the islands in the future.
Species such as robins are
“in demand” for transfers. But it is
important to realise that, while it is
physically possible to keep moving birds around, the goal is to restore islands
and protect species. While it used to
be acceptable to just move birds around anywhere we wanted, it is now important
to look at the ecological consequences of introducing a species to an island
where it has never been before.
The Whenua Hou kiore
eradication is probably the most complex rat eradication project carried out in
the world to date. It would not have
been possible without the support of the four Murihiku papatipu runaka first
approving and then participating in various aspects of the project. The
benefits of the eradication to Whenua Hou are immense, with an increase in
invertebrates and lizards and regeneration of the palatable plants on the
island. Where previously you found a
pile of rat-eaten miro seeds, now there are many small seedlings growing. The runaka also accepted that there would be
an initial decline in some taonga species such as kakariki but that the numbers
would rapidly build up to greater than before the eradication. This prediction has come true.
Rarotoka Island is also a
success story coming from the partnership.
It was handed back as part of the Treaty Settlement as Mäori freehold
land. That led to the eradication of
the rats and now the development of a restoration plan which will take in both
the conservation values and the iwi desires for the island. The rat eradication came about following an
approach from Oraka Aparima runaka and was funded from DoC’s Tikanga Atawahi
budget, which funds conservation projects of high significance to iwi. This fund is also paying for the development
of the Raratoka restoration plan, which is nearly completed. DoC’s Southland Conservancy has won a high
percentage of the Tikanga Atawhai budget in recent years because it is seen as
being able to produce high value projects from both an iwi and conservation
point of view.
With both Putauhinu and
Rarotoka, DOC and iwi of Murihiku discussed the potential of the islands and
have worked together towards agreed goals, including re-introductions and
restoration of natural vegetation. DoC
also have advised on the quarantine required to be in place to ensure that
rodents don’t return back to the islands.
These islands are now available as a source of seedlings and/ or birds
for the restoration of other islands.
The future brings with it huge challenges for both partners. There is a lot of work to be done but the
gains for both iwi and DOC are immense.
It is truly a win/win situation.
Runaka involvement from each of the four Murihiku Papatipu Runaka -
Waihopai, Oraka/Aparima, Awarua and Hokonui - and involvement of individual
whänau of all the Tïtï Islands alongside the management teams and workers from
DOC has been crucial to the success of the partnership to date. The same team work will be needed for the
future.
Discussion
Question/Comment
(Norman York, Tïtï harvester from Taukihepa)
Kia
ora katou. E tu ahau ki te mihi ki a
tatou mate ratou kua hoki pai rau. Ki te kahurangi. Haere koutou, haere koutou, haere. First thing Tane, you said “Give them back the islands.” But we never gave them away - they’re still
ours. But I really wanted to get up and
ask a request from the Department of Conservation (DoC). They talk about eradicating rats and stoats
off other islands. However, we do not
know if we can get help to eradicate them from Taukihepa. The rats are plentiful there, and they are
big. They are getting bigger than my
dog! I fear for my dog!
[laughter]. Like Tane told me the other
day, “If you want help from DoC to eradicate the rats, you have got to ask
them”. So I’m asking them now - please
help get rid of the rats on Taukihepa.
The main problem I see is the cost of getting poison. It costs $120 a bucket. All I could afford this year was a $2 packet
from a supermarket. I think people
can’t afford it now. So maybe there is
some way we can get funding from the Tïtï Committee or DoC to help people who
are on the dole to eradicate the rats themselves.
LS - Kia ora Norman. That’s exactly how Jane and Tane got their
island done. They just got up and
asked. With the new money that Sandra
Lee has won in the biodiversity funding it may be possible to eradicate rats
from Taukihepa if iwi are keen to do it.
We are certainly keen to be a conservation advisor and help you as much
as we possibly can. In my 20-year
visions I had more islands being managed by iwi. I also mentioned I would like to see more conservation work on
private land. I would like to think we
can move on as a country in 10 years time so we are not having an argument
about who owns the land. It wouldn’t
matter if it was a Rakiura Island or not.
Currently it has mattered but in 10 years time it may not matter to New
Zealand society.
Question/Comment
(Eric Roy)
Thank
you Tane. I really enjoyed the
presentation. We heard a lot today
about the wonderful strides that have been made on the island sanctuaries and
they are sanctuaries because they are
minor islands. Lou talked about a
10-year vision. Are the key elements of
conservation in terms of both flora and fauna only going to be on the arks,
those offshore islands, or is there something we should be doing now in a
co-management way to protect biodiversity on the mainland?
TD - Kia ora Eric. Well we have got one big island which is
known as Rakiura just across the strait of Te Moana a Kiwa. We could start there. Rakiura is potentially a classic
example. It is a beautiful island -
there’s a lot to be done with it. But I
think we could all start at our backdoors.
I believe we have got to start with tamariki. We have got to drill it into them what we’ve had drilled into us
for generations now and that they haven’t learnt. We have all been guilty of throwing that piece of chewing gum out
the window of the car as we get along the road. And ‘hello’ it’s still there 10 years later, but now the rubbish
pile is higher as we have gone through a new generation. This is the way I feel about it personally
Eric. We have got a generation of
people now that have developed bad habits.
I’m one of them too and I won’t deny it. We have all got to start getting our tamariki into the habit of
looking after our flora and fauna, of picking up our rubbish and putting it
away.
LS - Look at the work that the Te
Anau staff are doing with stoats in the Eglinton Valley. If you are driving to Milford Sound, stop in
the Eglinton Valley and listen to a yellowhead or kakariki or the kaka. At low cost, those guys are developing quite
incredible techniques to deal with stoats over a large areas. The technology is improving and getting more
and more exciting. I guess the really
exciting thing is to be working with iwi on that technology for us.
Question/Comment
(Lesley Shand)
I
would like to say thank you very much to what DoC’s been doing in
Southland. DoC in North Canterbury is
also doing wonderful things on their mainland island in the South Hurinui. They’ve got 6000 hectares over which a very
few people are controlling predators and it has enormous benefits for
wildlife. There are kaka, there are parakeets,
there are yellowhead, there are great spotted kiwi and the only viable
population of the orange fronted parakeet, as well as ordinary parakeets. These wonderful techniques are being applied
on the mainland. Congratulations DoC on
what you are doing.
Question/Comment
(Michael Skerrett, Rakiura Tïtï Islands Committee)
I think the best thing is what’s happening now: namely the eradications that are happening on those islands, because there is a real learning curve and techniques are developing all the time there. They are going to do the Campbell Islands shortly which are massive compared to what’s been done so far, but they have learned to do them far more economically. The next step from there is Rakiura. It looked too hard a few years ago. But the way things are going, in a few years it is going to be feasible to eradicated rodents from Rakiura. But we need to do other things first. For example, all cats should be neutered on that island. I do not believe in people owning cats anywhere. They do not control them. It is an absolute disgrace that cats wander around uncontrolled. But that will take an enormous mind shift. So I think the path we are going down now, is the right way to go. Kia ora tatou.