Michelle Howard

Camping in the back yard was a popular weekend activity and, when old enough, Michelle took herself off to tramp the local hills.

With qualifications as a registered nurse in her pocket, she returned to New Zealand to live and work in 1991.

Encounters with wildlife while tramping led Michelle to an ecology degree at Victoria University, followed by various contracts monitoring species for the Department of Conservation. Today she combines both nursing and conservation in her working life, but the job she really loves is kiwi monitoring for the Whakatane Kiwi Project. In this role, Michelle works mainly with private landowners, monitoring kiwi on their property, using BNZ Operation Nest Egg™ and encouraging the community to become involved.

Why kiwi?

In 2004, Michelle and her partner, Greg, bought a property in the Wanui Hills near Ohope Beach, 20 kilometres east of Whakatane. One night, on a possum shooting excursion, they heard the unmistakable call of a male kiwi. ‘We just stood and looked at each other in disbelief that we had kiwi in our backyard in a farmland–lifestyle block area.’

Talking with other locals revealed quite a few kiwi lived there, and the question became: ‘What can we do to help keep them part of our community?’ That led her to the Whakatane Kiwi Project – first to do predator trapping, and then kiwi monitoring, including BNZ Operation Nest Egg™ work in the Ohope Scenic Reserve. Since then the project has expanded and now includes monitoring birds in the Wainui area. ‘I have twelve known birds, eight with transmitters on, within one-to-two kilometres of my house. It’s fantastic.’

High point

Michelle’s high points include hearing kiwi call from her bedroom window, and holding birds, knowing they are a special treasure.

Another high point is releasing kiwi onto Whale Island/Moutohora, free of transmitter gear, knowing they have a high chance of survival, then hearing their calls in the night and seeing their footprints in the sand in the morning.

Low point

Her low point is when kiwi are killed by dogs. ‘In my area alone we have investigated five kiwi killed by local dogs in the past three years. It’s very sad and in most cases distressing for the dog owner too.’ Michelle says they work with the owners to try to prevent the same thing happening.

Thoughts for the future

‘I want kiwi to remain in the Whakatane district, and for there to be a self-sustaining population which no longer requires ONE (BNZ Operation Nest Egg™) to rescue it,’ she says. A planned increase in predator control work may bring that a step closer, with kiwi in the Ohope Scenic Reserve left to raise their young in the wild.

Michelle says the Whakatane Kiwi Project shows that a successful conservation project can operate within the complexities of having multiple parties involved – Environment Bay of Plenty, the Department of Conservation, BNZ Save the Kiwi trust and Te Runanga Ngati Awa. ‘It is also great to know that kiwi are surviving at the backdoors of the thousands of people living in Whakatane. All these people have the potential to walk from their homes into a kiwi management reserve, twenty-four hours a day. It’s right on the edge of town, bordering their backyards – that has got to be a unique aspect of this project.’