So the newly hatched Environment, Conservation and Outdoor Education Trust (ECOED), sprung into action. This Trust provides funding to make sure Hawke’s Bay school kids can experience a wide range of adventurous outdoor education, coupled with learning about environmental issues through community conservation programmes.  “Our first project was Save our Kiwi Hawke’s Bay, with the support of Bank of New Zealand Save the Kiwi and the Department of Conservation (DOC),” says ECOED’s General Manager, Alastair Bramley.  “We were determined to prevent further decline in kiwi in Kaweka Forest Park.”

One of the Environment, Conservation and Outdoor Education Trust’s first wins was a $13,540 grant from Bank of New Zealand Save the Kiwi.  It paid for catching and tagging wild kiwi, so that local people could begin managing them back from the brink.

Just over two years later, ECOED and DOC commissioned kiwi expert, Dr John McLennan, to prepare a Hawke’s Bay/East Coast Kiwi Management Plan.  John’s plan identified two main things:

• That in Kaweka Forest Park, because the kiwi population was not dense enough, predator control was less economic than gathering eggs, incubating them off-site and then releasing chicks at a stoat-proof age
• That predator-proof fenced areas were needed, with preferred sites being Opouahi (inland from Tutira), Cape Kidnappers and Mahia Peninsula

So today, ECOED’s kiwi work is focused on three areas – growing a core population of kiwi in Kaweka Forest Park, a $680,000 crèche for Bank of New Zealand Save the Kiwi Operation Nest Egg kiwi chicks at Opouahi Scenic Reserve, and exploring a proposal to make the whole of Mahia Peninsula predator-free.

“We’re interested in Mahia Peninsula because it has been identified as an ideal site for raising kiwi and other endangered wildlife.  It would only need a relatively short five-kilometre fence and would be relatively easy to defend against invading predators, as it’s surrounded by sea on three sides,” Alastair says.  “If we can help the local community to make it happen, it will be the largest predator-free area on the New Zealand mainland.”

“Thanks to all our major supporters, we are now actively managing our delicate Brown Kiwi population. And thanks to the combined efforts of our team, we have released a significant number of “stoat proof “ juveniles back into Kaweka Forest Park since we began in 2002,” Alastair says.

Size of Area under Protection

At present, the Environment, Conservation and Outdoor Education Trust is constructing a facility that will provide direct protection for kiwi – the Opouahi Kiwi Crèche, in the Opouahi Scenic Reserve.  The crèche will provide 40 hectares surrounded by a 3.3 kilometre fence.

If Mahia Peninsula goes ahead, the local community and the Trust will make 20,000 hectares predator-free, creating the largest predator-free area on New Zealand’s mainland.

Biggest Challenges

Alastair says the biggest threat facing kiwi, and the biggest challenge facing his Trust, is minimising the threat posed by domestic dogs and cats.  “It’s very important to raise people’s awareness of what their family pet can do, and how dangerous they can be for kiwi, so that we can get them to change the way they manage these animals,” Alastair says.  “We need them to keep dogs on the leash, and tied up at night.  And we need cats to be kept indoors at night.  The survival of kiwi depends on it.”

Biggest Successes

For Alastair, the success of Save our Kiwi Hawke’s Bay is simple to identify.  “We have returned 46 juvenile kiwi to the wild, with no known losses to predators to date.  And 54 juvenile and adult kiwi are currently monitored.”

In 2005, the project was also the testing ground for the development of the new “Egg Timer” transmitter, which can detect whether a kiwi is incubating an egg and calculate the egg’s age.  This helps kiwi workers identify the best time to remove the egg for artificial incubation as part of Operation Nest Egg.  Alastair says the Egg Timer will significantly reduce the labour required, and therefore the cost of Operation Nest Egg, because it helps identify the best time to gather the egg – not too soon, not too late.

Funding

Save our Kiwi Hawke’s Bay is fortunate to have a huge and active volunteer kiwi team, as well as funding from a wide range of sponsors and supporters, including:

• Bank of New Zealand Save the Kiwi Trust
• Heretaunga Community Trust
• Century Foundation Ltd
• Kiwi Encounter Rainbow Springs
• Eastern and Central Community Trust
• Hawke’s Bay Regional Council
• Millennium Sports Foundation
• Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society
• Hill Country Pastoral
• Department of Conservation
• Hastings District Council
• Hawke’s Bay Proteins
• Waipawa Timber
• Farmlands

The One Most Important Thing

The key to ECOED’s success is the make-up of our Trust Board.  Our Trustees are well respected and well connected, which has been most beneficial to gaining the financial support of our sponsors.

Contact Details

If you would like to help with the work of the Environment, Conservation and Outdoor Education Trust (ECOED), or would like further information, contact Alastair Bramley, at: 
Email: info@ecoed.org.nz
Phone: 06 835 1200
Postal address: P O Box 12 185, Napier