In the Waitangi Tribunal Wai 1040 Te Paparahi o Te Raki Inquiry District Wai 1661
In the Matter of the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975
And
In the Matter of Te Paparahi o Te Raki Inquiry District (Wai 1040)
And
In the Matter of a claim by Moana Nui A Kiwa Wood, Terry Smith and Waitangi Wood on behalf of themselves and the descendants of Ngati Rua ki Whangaroa (Wai 1661)
Brief of Evidence of Dean Andrew Baigent-Mercer Dated 31 October 2016
Morrison Kent Lawyers Wellington and Auckland
Wellington Office Persons Acting : Dr B D Gilling / S P Gunatunga Telephone : (04) 472-0020 Facsimile : (04) 472-0517 Box : 10-035 DX : SP20203
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May it please the Tribunal
Ko Whariti te maunga
Ko Manawatu te awa
Ko SS Corinthic te waka
Ko Ngati Pakeha te iwi
Ko Dean Baigent-Mercer ahau
E noho ana ahau ki Otangaroa iaianei.
1. I have been an environmental activist, researcher and writer for 20 years nationally and internationally with a range of organisations (including Greenpeace, Forest & Bird and Native Forest Action). These decades have seen the mahi continue if it was paid or not.
2. My current role as the Northland Conservation Advocate for Te Reo o te Taiao/Forest & Bird has allowed me to delve deep into this kaupapa.
3. I have a love of the natural world, the history of these islands and a passion for social justice.
4. It is through my experiences, observations and many, many conversations with kaumatua, scientists, friends, history buffs, hunters and people who love and care about the natural world, Te Taiao, that we are all part of, that I have distilled and compiled the information in this brief. My intention is that this leads to the actions outlined in the recommendations.
5. For this, I acknowledge nga Kaumatua of Ngāpuhi-nui-tonu, Richard McIntosh (who compiled the essential information of mustelid and possum introductions and encouraged me to study Te Pipitanga in Rawene), Brad Windust, Craig Salmon and Alan Tennyson who have contributed to me and therefore this evidence. These four have visible and invisible contributions throughout the brief.
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6. This phase of evidence wouldn’t have come about without encouragement and research assistance from te Whangaroa Papa Hapu, nga mihinui ki Aunty Pat Tauroa, Robyn Tauroa, Hinemoa Pourewa and Waitangi Wood. The Papa Hapu o Whangaroa and the late Uncle Sonny George of Te Kapotai gave permission to film northern Whangaroa and Russell State Forest from a drone. Thanks must also go to Kevin Hackwell from Forest & Bird and Hone McGregor who have supported this mahi, and the late Jacqui Barrington and Diane Robb.
7. Nga mihi aroha ki toku whanau (Mercer whanau, Harwood whanau – especially my Nana Baigent and Nana Mercer who taught me joys of gardening as a tamaiti), my encouraging high school history teacher Rod Holm, nga tangata o Ngāpuhi-nui-tonu, Te Whanau-a-Apanui ma, all of whom have contributed to me and my world views and understanding of what has gone before; and to kaumatua Bruce Stewart and whanau of Tapu te Ranga Marae, Island Bay, Wellington who opened up opportunities to me many years ago that not many Pakeha have had.
8. And thank you too, to whoever is reading this feeling unacknowledged. You are in my heart.
9. This brief must have a life beyond being submitted to the esteemed attention of the Waitangi Tribunal to turn around the various disasters outlined.
10. A very different kind of future must be carved and woven to right so many wrongs.
11. I am looking forward to it. But firstly, the evidence:
Nga Tamariki oTane Mahuta
Issues/Grievances
12. From 1840 the New Zealand Government has consented to and encouraged the introduction of invasive species (stoats and weasels) or sanctioned the release of species by Acclimatisation Societies (including possums, mynahs, deer and hedgehogs) which have increased rapidly in numbers and degraded native forests, dunelands and other ecosystems.
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13. The many diverse impacts of these animals has reduced native wildlife and plants and their abilities to multiply and regenerate, and in some cases pushed species to extinction in Te Tai Tokerau. These introductions have impacted Ngapuhi hapū in many different ways, including being able to make the initial informed decisions over these introductions that might affect their rohe, and from the disappearance of rongoa to the lack of native birds for food to eat and feathers to use in korowai, to the current collapse of native forests, and much more as evidenced in this brief.
Introduction of Stoats and Weasels
14. Rabbits were introduced around Aotearoa by European settlers for food and sport shooting from the 1830s. Because of rabbits’ successful and plentiful reproductive abilities and lack of natural predators, in some regions rabbit populations exploded. This heavily impacted early attempts at pastoral farming.
15. In the 1870s there was widespread panic from farmers over rabbit plagues in Otago and Southland and investigations into solutions began.
16. In determining if stoats and weasels should be introduced as a measure to deal with the rabbit plague, the Government acted against many experts of the time including the expert advice from Professor of Zoology, Alfred Newton, of Cambridge University to both the Agent General in 1876, and the issues he outlined in letters to the Otago Daily Times.
17. The following except is taken from one such letter to the Otago Daily Times, published 18 October 1876:
18. He warned, should mustelids (stoats, ferrets and weasels) be released ‘…you may bid goodbye for ever to all your brevi-pinnate [flightless or short-winged] birds, as well as to others of your native species, which, of course, have no instincts to protect themselves against such blood-thirsty enemies...”.
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19. “In New Zealand… [ferrets] would doubtless, if once let loose, obtain a mastery over everything living, and it is ridiculous to suppose they would confine their destructive powers to rabbits...”1
20. Sir William Tyrone Power was a veteran of the Northern War and the conflicts around Wellington and Whanganui from 1845 to 1848. He was appointed Agent-General in 1876. Sir William "Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of his Excellency" and therefore had access to expert advice tabled in Parliament, prior to the mustelid introductions.
21. He also had correspondence with Professor Newton in 1876 concerning the introduction of mustelids. Professor Newton encouraged other methods of rabbit control “...without having recourse to the expedient of letting loose ferrets, stoats, or other predatory beasts, which cannot fail eventually to produce far greater mischief than that which they are intended to remedy”.
I know that the Colony of New Zealand has been at a very considerable expense in introducing pheasants, partridges, and various other birds, but all this will have been incurred to no purpose if they are to be followed by their enemies, for ferrets and stoats are every bit as destructive to them – especially such birds as have their nests on the ground – as to rabbits. In proof of which is the fact that these Mustelidae have been almost extirpated in every game preserve in England, and there is no gamekeeper in this country who does not wage incessant war against them. The native birds of New Zealand also are still more certain to fall a prey to them than the introduced kinds...2
22. Despite this being the best advice of the time, it appears not to have been taken into account in the final decisions that resulted in the Rabbit Nuisance Act which allowed the introduction of mustelids.
1 http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=ODT18761018.2.20. 2 http://atojs.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/atojs?a=d&d=AJHR1877-I.1.1540&e=------100--1------0Professor+Newton--.
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23. Mr William Smith of Kaikoura was interviewed by the select committee in 1876 and was recorded in the ‘Report of the Rabbit Nuisance Committee’ as saying:
From my own knowledge of weasels and stoats, I believe they would merely go into the bush after the small birds and leave the rabbits alone.3
24. Despite widely-known expert opinion, the Rabbit Nuisance Act was passed allowing the introduction of the mustelids and the Government of the day spent a lot of time making sure the stoats and weasels methodically brought from the other side of the world would survive.
25. There had been enormous political pressure from farmers to introduce these animals.
No Maori were noted as being part of this decision-making process.
26. Biologist Dr Bob Brockie describes the devastating impact of the introduction of stoats4:
Large numbers of stoats (Mustela erminea) were brought from Britain in the 1870s to control ‘verminous rabbits’. They immediately spread to the bush, where they preyed on native animals. Stoats are energetic, bold and versatile hunters, foraging in every hole, under any cover and up the tallest trees. They are also good swimmers.
By 1910, many native birds had disappeared. Together with rats and cats, stoats have contributed to the extinction of huia, bush wrens, native thrushes, laughing owls and quails. They also exterminated stitchbirds, saddlebacks, kākāpō and little spotted kiwi from the mainland.
Today, stoats live from North Cape to Bluff, on mountains, in farmland, scrub and bush. In the bush, they eat more birds than
3 https://atojs.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/atojs?a=d&cl=search&d=AJHR1876-I.2.2.5.6&srpos=1&e=------100--1------0william+smith+weasels+stoats--. 4 http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/introduced-animal-pests/page-4.
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any other food. Rats and mice, rabbits, possums, hares, lizards and insects form the rest of their diet. In one study, stoats were recorded as robbing just over half of 149 birds’ nests in bush near Kaikōura. They make off with most bush pigeon and kākā eggs and nestlings. Stoats have short lives and highly variable birth and death rates – their population can rapidly increase when food becomes abundant.
27. Many native birds have scents related to their nesting area or the birds themselves, for example, kakapo smell strongly like musty peaches. Before human arrival in these islands the main large predators were birds that hunted by sight rather than smell. But when predatory animals that hunted by smell, sight and sound arrived on these shores, the natural odours of native birds attracted these new predators to them.
The Introduction of Possums
28. Acclimatisation societies were specifically set up across the country to introduce animals to Aotearoa from around the world. These groups would lead determined efforts to import and breed Australian brush-tailed possums from 1870 to 1921 for wide scale release in efforts to create a fur trade.
29. But initially possum introductions were carried out by private settlers. These attempts to introduce possums ended in both failure and successes from 1830s onwards. But advocates within acclimatisation societies wanted to accelerate possum importation, breeding and release throughout the country.5
30. It was the Protection of Animals Act 1867 and the amendments that followed, that was key to the Government empowering local acclimatisation societies to introduce species from other countries.
31. To summarise:
The Protection of Animals Act 1867 had set out rules for acclimatisation societies concerning the need to be registered
5 Introduction and Liberation of the Opossum (Trichosurus vulpecula Kerr) into New Zealand, New Zealand Forest Service Series Information No. 43, second edition 1974.
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with the Colonial Secretary of New Zealand, which later became the Department of Internal Affairs. By registering, the acclimatisation societies were given full authority under law to undertake acclimatisation work in New Zealand. Although this authority had been granted, it did not necessarily mean full autonomy, as it was also stipulated that any regulations that the acclimatisation societies wanted to pass for their districts had to be submitted to the Colonial Secretary’s office for scrutiny before being published in the Gazette.6
32. There is no evidence of Maori input into the decision to introduce possums to these islands. This undermined the provision in the Treaty of Waitangi which English speakers described as the “full exclusive and undisturbed possession of their [hapū] Lands and Estates and Forests”.
33. There is also no evidence of any official attempt to anticipate negative effects of these introductions at the time, nationally and in Te Tai Tokerau in particular.
New impacts, a ban and bounty on possums
34. European settlers initially viewed the introduction and spread of possums as a great addition to the country’s economy by creating a fur industry with possums eating ‘free’ foliage. But it was soon clear that possums were a big problem. As evidence grew of possum impacts in orchards and in horticulture, the Government prohibited acclimatisation societies and individuals from moving and releasing possums from the 1920s onwards.
35. By this time, possum populations were well established south of Auckland.
36. Various attempts were made to control the spread of possums. The first large-scale attempt to control possums was a bounty scheme which ran from 1951 to 1961. Eight million bounties of two shillings and sixpence were paid out for ‘possum tokens’ – the ears and a strip of fur. However,
6 Page 96, Freshwater Colonists: The Wellington Acclimatisation Society and the Introduction of Trout, 1871- 1914, by Alexandra Dekker (2014): http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10063/3577/thesis.pdf?sequence=2.
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more than 75% of these animals were taken from near farms, picked off roads or caught in other easily accessible places. In the native forests, possum numbers continued to grow.7
37. But what was an incentive in areas south of Auckland to kill possums, was an incentive for some individuals to introduce possums to Te Tai Tokerau to make money from the bounty scheme.8
Possums arrive in Te Tai Tokerau
38. Tony Schluter, who has farmed near Kaitaia since the mid-1950s, has recalled to me how a neighbour would spend his winters ‘possuming’ (hunting possums for fur) in the King Country. Each year he would return and bring back joeys to release from female possums he had killed.
39. Due to events like this the spread of possums across Te Tai Tokerau was erratic and varied from place to place. Whangaroa hapū did not see possums until the late 1970s and early 1980s.
40. However, during the late 1950s and early 1960s the arrival of possums in Te Tai Tokerau were recorded with great interest. In 1962, the Northland Age under the headline Opossums are here now, reported:
“There seems no doubt that opossums are now established north of Mangamuka.
Some months ago one was reported in a fruit tree at Larmers Road, and at the weekend there was the squashed carcass of a black and silver opossum on the Double Crossing bridge.
Last night Mr. Bill Gardiner saw a big black-grey one between Mr. Wallace Garton’s place and the Paranui Junction. He backed up and caught it again in his headlights and saw it plainly before it shuffled away into the scrub, and he has no doubts of its identity.
7 http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/possums/page-2. 8 http://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/pests-and-threats/animal-pests/methods-of-control/possum-fur-recovery-and- bounties.
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A few weeks past there was a report of a strange animal at Te Kao in a watermelon patch. From Kaitaia to Te Kao is a big bound for an opossum, but there is plenty of traffic from forested areas in the south of the province and an opossum could quite easily arrive on or under a truck.”9
41. Kaumatua Paul Hemi vividly recalls seeing his first possum run across the road at the Kerikeri intersection. He was a taxi driver and used to drive regularly between Whangarei and Dargaville. Up until that time, he remembers kiwi running across the road but by the end of that year, the same road at night was alive with possums.
Science records devastation of possums on native forests
42. Four scientific research papers published in 1949, 1958, 1967 and 1976, described the wide number of native tree species that possums were eating and Pinus radiata was also recorded in possums’ diet.10
43. The New Zealand Government finally declared possums unprotected by removing their status as game animals and placing them in schedule 5 of the Wildlife Act 1953.
44. “Catastrophic dieback[s]” of native forest canopies were recorded across the country due to long term possum damage.11
45. But it wasn’t until 1993 when time-lapse night vision video footage caught possums eating chicks and eggs of the endangered kokako that it became clear that possum’s appetite included native wildlife.
“Since then, possums have been caught on film eating the eggs, chicks and even adults of other native bird species, including kererū, kiwi, harrier hawk, fantail, muttonbird, and tūī. This predatory behaviour has driven some species into decline.
In areas where possums are not controlled, few kōkako and kererū fledglings survive to adulthood.”.12
9 Opossums are here now, 17 April 1962, Northern Age, [reprinted 3 April 2012, Northland Age]. 10 http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Vic74Zool-t1-body-d3-d2.html. 11 https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/42000/possum_native_vege.pdf.
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“Possums have also been seen killing or eating eggs, chicks, or adults of at least five other native birds including kukupa (native pigeon). During 1996 and 1997, three more sequences of possums threatening adult kukupa and eating their eggs were filmed by night time video cameras.”13 14
46. Kaka and kakariki, both of which nest in the dry holes in trees, in stumps or the ground, were already severely reduced by rats, cats and mustelids. Historically seen in large flocks, these parrots and parakeets had disappeared altogether north of Kawakawa by the early 1980s. By this time possums had saturated the northern forests. The last kokako (before recent re-introduction) sang in Puketi Forest around the same time along with the last Puketi pateke/brown teal.15
47. Threatened pekapeka/native bats and pupurangi/kauri snails have also been recorded being eaten by mustelids and possums.
48. In 1996, a research project between Ngati Hine at Motatau, the Department of Conservation and Manaaki Whenua/Landcare Research into what was killing kukupa showed that “both possums and rats must be at very low levels for most kukupa nests to succeed… For possums, this means a trap catch of less than 5% - in other words, for possums to be caught in fewer than five of every 100 traps set”.16
49. During the 1990s the Department of Conservation commissioned ecologists to carry out field research into all remaining native ecosystems on private (including Maori) and Crown land as part of their Protected Natural Areas Programme across Te Tai Tokerau. The final reports
12 http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/possums/page-4. 13 http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/42001/possum_effects_on_native_animals.pdf. 14 Department of Conservation research confirmed that for kukupa “Egg predation by rats, possums and stoats seems to be the most common cause of nest failure”, pg 14: http://www.conservation.govt.nz/Documents/science-and-technical/docts15.pdf. 15 Pers comm., Ian Wilson who has farmed on the edge of Puketi Forest during his adult life, remembers the time before possums and observed many changes since. Ian is also a key driver and pest animal killer of the Puketi Forest Trust, 2015. 16 https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/36320/DiscoveryIssue2.pdf.
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document a snapshot of the habitats and species and concerns of the time.17
Crown takes action against possum plague: Ngāpuhi responds to Crown actions
50. In response to the mounting evidence of how bad things were getting and knowing things would get much worse, during the 1980s and more particularly the 1990s, the Department of Conservation carried out large scale operations to knock down possum numbers as low as possible to protect the native forests on Crown managed conservation land across Te Tai Tokerau. Baits which contained 1080 poison were dispersed over the last large native forests within Ngāpuhi rohe as follows:18
• Puketi - March 1992
• Whangaroa – September 1993
• Bream Head - September 1993
• Mt Manaia - September 1993
• Kauri Mountain - September 1993
• Mataraua - November 1993
• Puketi – February 1994
• Waima – November 1994
• Raetea/Maungataniwha – November/December 1994
• Russell State Forest – November 1995.
51. In the 1990s these baits contained 0.5% 1080 by weight per bait and 4- 5kgs of bait were distributed per hectare from helicopter ro fixed wing plane.
17 http://www.doc.govt.nz/about-us/science-publications/conservation-publications/land-and- freshwater/land/northland-conservancy-ecological-districts-survey-reports. 18 “Summary of Northland Aerial Pesticide Operations from September 1990 [til 2000]”, Northland Regional Council, file: NORCO-13834.
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52. These events met very strong and sometimes hostile opposition by many Ngāpuhi hapū. DOC/Crown actions were seen as an affront and disrespectful to hapū rangatiratanga in many different ways:
(a) Some hapu felt any consultation was a foregone conclusion;
(b) There were genuine and deep concerns that 1080 would ‘poison the whenua’ and negatively impact the wairua of the ngahere, including concerns about what this would mean for native forest wildlife, rongoa, people’s health, tuna, pigs, wai and waahi tapu;
(c) Deep offense was taken in the course of DOC’s 1990s aerial 1080 operations when people were arrested who believed they were protecting the whenua;
(d) There were concerns that using a helicopter based pest control technique undermined ground-based pest control and local employment opportunities;
(e) There were accusations that no notice was given of when an aerial 1080 operation was about to occur;
(f) Some cattle, dogs and other non-target animals died;
(g) The lack of accurate mapping technology (GPS) meant in Russell State Forest and possibly elsewhere, a flight overflew an agreed boundary and continued dropping poison baits.
53. Underpinning all this was the fact that the whenua in question were the same whenua cloaked in ngahere managed by DOC and under claim by Ngāpuhi hapu.
54. These events occurred in a context of frustration and anger over historic land theft, feelings of exclusion from traditional tribal land, contemporary withdrawal of many Government services, unemployment, and offense and anger at how the Crown treated the key decision making roles of hapu as kaitiaki and mana whenua.
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55. At the time there were also many unanswered questions regarding the potential impacts of 1080 on waterways, rongoa and kai (most or all of which can now be answered).
56. The use of 1080 baits successfully knocked down populations of possums but also rats. In the hours it took the poisoned possums and rats to die, stoats, ferrets, weasels and feral cats attacked eat these dying animals and consumed undigested baits in the gut of their prey and also died. Native forests of Te Tai Tokerau where 1080 was used had a burst of recovery before being re-invaded by the pests.
57. Continued multi-species pest control would have meant these forests could have started coming back to life.
58. However, protests against the use of aerial 1080 came to a head in 1997 at Mangamuka. It appears that aerial 1080 has not been a welcome pest control tool across most of Ngāpuhi rohe since that time. In 2010 a Department of Conservation factsheet entitled ‘1080 in Northland’ acknowledges some of the problems:
“Many of the stories about 1080 problems relate to earlier days, when less was known about quantities and techniques and where controls were less stringent. Often stories have grown through concern and fear. And mistakes were made. For example, applying 20kg per hectare instead of 2kg per hectare or not screening the fine chaff in carrot baits, or prefeeding, or pilots overflying boundaries using sight and rough maps. These kinds of old ways and the problems they caused have been addressed through ongoing studies, learning and new technology.”19
The Crown gives up on Ngahere within Ngāpuhi rohe
59. I think the conflict over aerial 1080 was a turning point that resulted in a political stand-off where the Crown walked away from the native forests and many people of Te Tai Tokerau. The whole situation was put in the ‘too hard’ basket, even though the Crown knew from decades of scientific evidence from around the country the dire consequences of uncontrolled
19 1080 in Northland, Department of Conservation Factsheet, May 2010.
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possums and other introduced animals, and the native forests were by and large left to die.
60. However, there are exceptions at Waipoua, Mataraua and Waima where the Department of Conservation prevented the extinction of the last kokako of Te Tai Tokerau and turned around forest collapse.
61. Compounding the problem, this century has seen a constant downsizing of Department of Conservation staff both nationally and across Te Tai Tokerau. This has been obvious in the Bay of Islands Office whose areas of responsibilities are within the Ngāpuhi rohe.
62. Particularly over the past ten years, the Department of Conservation has seen rolling restructures, changing priorities, downsizing and underfunding, from the Government of the day. This has resulted in reduced capacity and meant that DOC has not had a hope of bringing these ngahere back to life – on top of what was already a complex political situation.
63. However, the Crown does have immense legal and financial power. I find it very hard to believe that over twenty years it has been impossible for Crown representatives to meet with hapū and come to agreed solutions to the protection of these precious native forests.
The Next Wave of Ancient Forests Collapse
64. Declining native forest health has been recorded from 1991 until the present (2016) by the Bay of Islands Office of the Department of Conservation which has kept photographic records of specific trees taken at intervals years apart, mainly of coastal pohutukawa in Whangaroa and also trees in Puketi Forest. These images document the gradual deaths of these often ancient trees.20
65. The following native forests under Department of Conservation management have been allowed to collapse due to lack of multi-species pest control for twenty years or more:
20 Pers comm. Rolien Elliot, Operations Manager, Bay of Islands Office, Department of Conservation, 25 August 2016.
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North Whangaroa (aka Mangonui Forest, Ranfurley Bay and Kowhairoa/Western Arm)
Te Karoa/Otangaroa
Raetea/Maungataniwha/Mangamuka Gorge
Mimiwhangata/Kaiikanui
Opua State Forest
Waikino Forest
Russell State Forest
Mangakahia Forest/Nga Kiekie Whawhanui a Uenuku Scenic Reserve
As well as many other smaller reserves.
66. At Mimiwhangata and Whangaroa there has been ongoing trapping around particular fringes of conservation reserves while the rest has been left without pest control. At Mimiwhangata ongoing mustelid trapping has allowed endangered pateke to build into the largest population in the country.
67. The Department of Conservation has instigated pest control in parts of Puketi and Omahuta Forests targeted at possums and goats in places. But over Te Tai Tokerau as a whole, pest control has been fragmented and there has not been enough work or targeting the whole range of pests to a low enough level to allow substantial and ongoing recovery.
68. Even the native forests under the Department of Conservation’s care which have the highest priority ranking under the Department’s new Natural Heritage Management System (Puketi/Omahuta and Mangonui Forest of northern Whangaroa) have not been given sufficient resourcing for appropriate care.
Local Groups Take Action to Save the Ngahere
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69. Out of sheer desperation, local pest control groups with local hapū and community involvement have created charitable trusts to take on this huge work. The Puketi Forest Trust21 and Bay Bush Action Trust22 have been raising money to look after as much of Puketi and Opua State Forests as possible in year round multi-species pest control. For Puketi/Omahuta Forest this totals 650 hectares out of 16,000 hectares and for Opua State Forest, 450 hectares out of over 4000 hectares. In addition, Puketi Forest Trust is trialing lower density trapping over 5000 hectares to reduce invasive pests. They have raised their own money to reintroduce native birds that had gone extinct from the forest (toutouwai/North Island robins and endangered North Island kokako).
Recent Evidence
70. The death of rakau tuakana in Whangaroa – particularly pohutukawa - around Lane Cove, Okahumoko, Kaiarara and Waimahana/Motukahakaha was highlighted to the Department of Conservation by a Forest & Bird magazine article in 2010.23
71. What is unseen from photos in this article is the lack of regeneration of the pohutukawa and other trees possums prefer to eat. With most flowers eaten, very little seed is produced. Even if a seedling begins to grow it is usually killed by possums before it makes it to knee height.
72. In May 2015, Toby Ricketts and I, on behalf of Forest & Bird, and with the permission of the Papa Hapu o Whangaroa, flew a drone across the native forest between Taupo Bay, Akatere and Whangaroa to film the impacts of possums.24
73. The first half of the resulting video shows the collapse of native forest around Kowhairoa, Lanes Cove, Kaiarara and Ohakumoko. The second half of the footage is of the inland part of the forest closest to State Highway 10 and Akatere.
21 puketi.org.nz. 22 baybushaction.org.nz. 23 “Seeing Red” by Dean Baigent-Mercer, p.42-45, Forest & Bird magazine, Issue 336, May 2010. 24 Whangaroa Drone Footage: https://youtu.be/jE3qNhuUv4g.
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74. The aerial views reveal the extent to which the remaining native forest has been ravaged by possums, showing dying and dead pohutukawa, kowhai, puriri, kohekohe, totara, northern rata and rewarewa. There are also patches of tree ferns where ancient trees have already fallen, now unseen. Drone footage revealed similar damage in Russell State Forest.25
75. Once bird-raucous places by day and night, native forests of Ngāpuhi have become very, very quiet.
Interconnected Impacts: possums, leaf litter, kiwi, drought
76. But there are bigger picture environmental impacts which are interconnected.
77. It is worth joining the dots between collapsing native forests, possum density, thinning leaf litter, topsoil loss, dehydrated kiwi, and what this means in the context of the growing climate change emergency.
78. Northland’s summer of 2010 was a scorcher. A cruel drought that saw strange local news articles warning about skinny kiwi staggering around Northland during the daytime suffering from severe dehydration and hunger. It was explained that the ground had become so dry and hard that kiwi couldn’t poke their beaks beneath surface to feed. There were suggestions of putting out bowls of milk, water and even pet food on back doorsteps to keep desperate kiwi alive.
79. 2010 was the summer friends and I started to see a change. We saw different species of native trees in the bush, in paddocks and on stream sides pass a tipping point and die.
80. Initially I thought it was the drought only, but trees within the great native forests north of Auckland that had survived waves of human colonisation, rampant native forest logging and being burnt for farmland or bowled for conversion into pine plantations were passing a tipping point.
25 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xvag20RsV4.
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81. Trees that have had their leaves repeatedly scoffed by possums are under severe stress. They often have some leaf buds in reserve beneath the bark (epicormic shoots) but after these sprout and are eaten there are not a lot of options. As the canopy vegetation gets thinner, branches die and the whole tree’s health goes downhill. Throw in a drought and some gales and down they come.
82. I call it “native forest collapse”.26
83. Decomposing leaf litter is an insulating layer on the forest floor which has a massive surface area that holds moisture. It’s a habitat full of bugs, fungi, seed and much more. Within this rotting leaf litter kiwi find the many species that wriggle and crawl that make up much of their diet.
84. High possum densities mean that the marsupials turn the trees’ canopy leaves into possum pooh instead of those leaves naturally falling to the ground to form leaf litter. Over many decades in areas of little or no consistent pest control, the important leaf litter layer has become thinner and thinner. Over time, forest top soils are more exposed and dry out in summer and become significantly more prone to erosion, compacting and washing away.
85. Ultimately more sunlight hits the forest floor and dries it out, and the resulting lack of moisture hits weakened trees hard.
86. Currently across Te Tai Tokerau people are urged to restrain dogs and kill stoats, possums and feral cats because all these animals kill kiwi.
87. Sometimes kiwi eggs are also taken to be incubated, hatched and chicks live and grow for a year in a predator-free environment like an island before being released back where they came from. All these actions are being taken to increase kiwi survival.
88. But when we have severe droughts, kiwi feeding habitat shrinks to the areas that remain moist.
26 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=857OkIw0e0s
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89. The situation is much more extreme in areas where there is little pest control. There the leaf litter is thin, much less moisture retained and kiwi are forced to feed along pond edges, mangroves and stream sides. These are the only moist places left and are also where predators of kiwi are drawn to drink and hunt.27
90. I think of kiwi as the ‘canary in the mine shaft’. What is happening to kiwi is a tohu of the waiora of northern native forests. So too are kukupa, kohekohe and kotukutuku.
91. If these birds and trees are thriving, so too will everything else be.
92. In the summer of 2010, I saw many māmaku tree ferns die along with swathes of taraire and other native trees across Te Tai Tokerau. Regardless who owns or manages the land, the most obvious die-offs were trees in areas of high possum density and without sustained long term pest control.
Add Climate Change
93. As the native forests of Te Tai Tokerau have been falling apart, what impact has this had on the climate? The Washington Post reported these words in 2015 following a study of climate change impacts on the Amazon rainforest that neatly sums it up:
Trees store large amounts of carbon while they’re alive — but when they die, they release all that carbon back into the atmosphere… The release of carbon from forests has the potential to contribute to a kind of climate feedback loop: Warming temperatures cause drought, which kills trees and releases carbon into the atmosphere, which contributes to greater warming, which brings about more drought — and so on.28
27 The Magic of Leaf Litter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKnSV7-Z2DM. 28 http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/10/12/climate-change-could-triple-amazon- drought-study-finds.
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Lessons from the Ngahere
94. I live at Otangaroa and have taken on the responsibility of bringing 65 hectares of native forest back to life over the past ten years. When I arrived the forest canopy was dominated by grey skeletons covered in lichen. The forest had been browsed heavily for a long time and it was so uncommon to see a tui or fantail that I would note it down in my diary. There were very few native birds in an ancient forest.
95. It’s an ongoing huge learning curve through the moods of different years, seasons and observing pest behaviour (well as much as you can when most are nocturnal) and what works, to turn around the collapse.
96. As a friend Stella Kake (Ngati Awa/Ngati Kawa) who carries out pest control in Opua State Forest puts it, “too many of the big old totara and ancient puriri look like cobwebs. They shouldn’t look like that. They should have big lush green canopies. But when the night comes they have no chance standing there still and defenceless while the possums eat away at their face and head. Imagine what that’s like, to be eaten alive and not be able to do anything about it”.
97. In my experience, after decades of abuse by possums, it takes 5-8 years for a single rewarewa tree to be kept free of possums for that tree to begin growing enough new leaves past the dead crowns and for flower buds to increase where they would otherwise be eaten. This is just the beginning of recovery. Totara and puriri send up new growth more quickly but it really depends on how damaged a tree is and for how long it has been under sustained attack as to the recovery time – or if it has been pushed past the point of no return.
98. A study in different native forests by Manaaki Whenua/Landcare Research has shown it is taking 20 years for full native forest canopy recovery while possums are kept at very low densities.29
Possum’s Diverse Diet
29 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aec.12343/full.
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99. Baby possums hang on to their mothers for many months. Before the baby becomes independent, its weight becomes a heavy burden for the mother so she will spend more time eating seedlings on the forest floor. This is where possums can have another impact that completely changes the kind of forest that will grow in the future.
100. Kohekohe is a priority possum food. The leaves, buds and flowers of kohekohe trees get eaten and seedlings are consumed by possums on the forest floor. So over decades kohekohe disappears from native forests. This happens with other plants too - faster if possums find them tasty, slower if they do not.30
101. In Te Tai Tokerau possums are known to target many species of native trees including rata species, towai, ti kouka, hinau, toru, mamaku, pate, mahoe, tupakihi, miro, kowhai, toropapa, wharawhara, tawa, tawapou, taraire, rewarewa, totara, kotukutuku, heketara, akipiro, makomako, titoki, houpara, tanekaha, swamp maire, maire tāiki, totara, puriri, pate, five finger, horoeka, nikau flower buds and flowers and a wide variety of introduced fruit trees (peaches, plums, white sapote, pears, apples and citrus).
102. Some targeted plants are important for rongoa, including kowhai, tupakihi, kawakawa, makomako and kohekohe.
103. Other plants possums eat are endemic, that is, naturally found only in Te Tai Tokerau and nowhere else in the world. This includes the shrub called koru (Lobelia physaloides) which was already severely reduced across the region due to cattle grazing before possums arrived31 and trees threatened with extinction such as Olearia crebra,32 Ackama nubicola33 and Coprosma waima,34 all only from the Waima Range.
104. Flowers of rewarewa, nikau and fruit of many native plants including kiekie (wharawhara), kahikatea and totara are also eaten by possums
30 Totara and Kohekohe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ3ypl-abjM. 31 Koru: http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=156. 32 Olearia crebra: http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=79. 33 Ackama nubicola: http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=46. 34 Coprosma waima: http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=60.
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which deprive native birds of food and the ability of those trees to reproduce.
105. Over time, what survive to grow as a forest are the plants of little food interest to possums like rimu and kauri, with the others stripped out.
106. A lot of the damage to native forests has happened fairly slowly, mostly at night and away from most people’s everyday lives. So when the next generation of people is born they already have expectations that few birds, dying trees and less diverse native forests is normal. But what is normal now, is different from the ‘normal’ before possums arrived and this was different to the ‘normal’ before mustelids ripped through the north. And the ‘normal’ was different again before the accidental introduction of ship rats and Norway rats which would have plagued on arrival with the abundant food and wiped out North Island piopio/native thrush, matuhi/bush wren and koreke/native quail, all helped to extinction also by the arrival of cats.35
What Kukupa Tell Us
107. Pigeons are flocking birds. Now you’re lucky to see two kukupa together. This is the ‘normal’ of today in 2016.
108. But nga kuia o te Papa Hapu o Whangaroa, Ihapera Baker, Deborah Hill and Mere Muka-Smith, who are between 75 and 85 years old, remember flocks of 40-60 kukupa during their childhood. All around Whangaroa it was common to hear these kukupa flocks flying and cooing. When in fruit, puriri trees would have six to ten kukupa per tree 'chatting away' to each other. Nga kuia remember the 'thunderous noise' they made when they all flew up and away together. They talk about that 'thunderous noise' of flight when the little seagull outboard engines were started to go fishing on the harbour.
109. But the ‘normal’ of seventy years in Te Tai Tokerau was different again to the ‘normal’ of the 1860s where flocks of over 1000 kukupa could be seen.
35 Extinct Birds of New Zealand by Alan Tennyson and Paul Martinson, Te Papa Press, 2006.
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110. Here Mr Rod McDonald, describes a striking scene from Lake Horowhenua in the 1860s:
Straight and tall the timber grew to the water’s edge, fringed with flax and nodding Manuka and over the bush, flashing their white breasts as they circled and wheeled in the sunshine, pigeons flew literally in thousands, drifting from tree to tree, rising in flocks of half a hundred or so, with a whirring of wings plainly to be heard across the calm waters; circling round in a wide sweep with characteristic rise and dip of flight, skimming the lake… to rise and sweep back over the bush and settle on some other tree…36
111. Similar scenes would have been experiences across Te Tai Tokerau at that time and i nga ra o mua.
112. Kukupa are fairly slow breeding and generally have one chick each year, but sometimes more in the north if there’s lots of food, like when taraire has a very heavy fruiting period.
113. But the speed that kukupa can disappear is astounding. A stark example is from Russell State Forest where the kukupa population declined approximately 80% between 1979 and 1993.37
A Hakari for Who?
114. Each year brings different seasonal weather patterns. Sometimes summer droughts, sometimes a late heavy wintery blast. Some years, like the spring, summer and autumn of 2015/2016 trigger weather patterns that produce very heavy fruiting of native trees in sequence for many months. In this case flax, kahikatea, hinau, ti kouka, rewarewa, mahoe and horoeka/lancewood had extraordinary flowering and fruiting season.
115. This rich abundance of food once fed enormous flocks of birds (kukupa, kaka, kakariki and many others), bats, lizards and bugs and allowed populations to recover from natural predation and calamities.
36 Pg 25, Te Hekenga, Mr. Rod McDonald: https://archive.org/details/tehekengaearlyda00mcdoiala. 37 Pg 13: http://www.doc.govt.nz/documents/conservation/land-and-freshwater/land/whangaruru-ecological- district/whangaruru-ecological-district-level1-sites-p05-057-q05-004.pdf.
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116. Unfortunately because introduced mammals have been given open slather and not controlled, the food abundance created by this natural cycle that used to be in the favour of native wildlife, in areas without pest control, now fuels the breeding cycle of introduced mammals that progressively diminishes many native wildlife populations and native forest regeneration.38
117. Contemporary scientists single out mustelids as a key agent in the extinction of huia, whekau/laughing owl and kaoriki/New Zealand bittern which have, in combination with other introduced mammals like Norway and ship rats and cats, contributed to the severe reduction or extinction of many other native bird, lizard, invertebrate, bat and plant species.
118. Large steps down in native bird populations towards extinction were fuelled by these years of food abundance.
119. The previous existence of some now-missing or depleted native species are shown in place names around Whangaroa and Te Tai Tokerau such as Pekapeka Bay, Te Huia, Takapuwahia, Weka, Kororareka, Kukuparere, Pukehuia, Motukokako, Whangaruru, Te Umukiwi, Ruapekapeka and Taheketiti.
Insights from Kaumatua
120. Kaumatua memories give a glimpse of abundant native birdlife before the depletion caused by possums and mustelids: more kiwi, substantially more kukupa and also oi nesting on the mainland.
121. In 1953 Kaumatua Paul Hemi was a 7 year old boy working as a “kaitonotono” in Puketi Forest with his Dad and Uncles. He remembers seeing hundreds of kukupa on a daily basis.
122. “My Mum, Ilet Hemi (nee Hoori), was a cook for the men in the bush and frequently saw huia, tui and kereru in the bush. She had twin girls born 2/9/1939 and she called them her "bush babies" and named them Huia and Tui. With regards to my memories, the huia birds used to hang around our camps, allowing us to get quite close to them. I used to see
38 Mast years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq2s7H9xIdo.
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them in pairs, not sure whether they were the same pair or different pairs (usually one pair at a time). I vividly remember their white tipped tails, colouring and the shape of their beaks”.
123. Matua Paul farms in Whangaroa and had kiwi in all of the “native stands” on his farm. He remembers hearing the calls of kiwi every night. But kiwi began declining from 1963 onwards when he first saw possums. He has not heard them at all for probably 20 years.
124. Kuia Deborah Hill recalls seeing huia regularly in what they called the Wainui bush, but is known more commonly as the Kohumaru Range and Forest. She and her whanau lived off the ngahere and harvested berries, fungus, and manu according to the maramataka and season. She recalls seeing huia regularly throughout the 50s and up until the early 60s. The latest sighting she could verify would be 1963.
125. In native forest on whanau land at Waiotu between Whakapara and Hukerenui, kaumatua Dr Benjamin Pittman of Ngati Hau remembers that between 1949-59 “flocks of [native] birds were seen… Flocks of kukupa were very common in those days along with kakariki. Kaka we would see frequently, not usually in flocks but more likely as pairs or alone. Also, kiwi were there in the 1950s and until I went away to boarding school in 1963. They could be heard calling at night in and around the bush areas. I believe we had around 6-8 resident in our bush areas. We would see them foraging at night with the aid of a torch or while walking back from the top farm through the Big Bush.”39
126. But by the late 1970s and early 1980s the last mainland breeding kaka and red-crowned kakariki had become extinct on mainland Te Tai Tokerau north of Kawakawa (yellow crowned kakariki had disappeared earlier and possibly orange-fronted parakeet existed too but went unrecorded and probably disappeared with earlier rat invasions).
127. Occasionally kaka and kakariki fly over from safe pest-free offshore islands but can’t successfully breed on the mainland due to the saturation of predatory mammals.
39 Pers comm Dr Benjamin Pittman, Ngati Hau.
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128. For context, in the late 1800s kakariki were so common their feathers were used to stuff mattresses.40
129. In other northern areas some birds were reduced to a last population eg kokako only remained at Waipoua/Mataraua/Waima Forests and titi pounamu/rifleman only survived at Warawara. Previously they had been common birds. Possums and mustelids have played a key role in their demise.
Seabirds – Ghosts of Once Was
130. Native seabirds, birds that spend most of their lives on the sea and come to land to sleep and nest during parts of the year, sometimes migrate vast distances.
131. On the ocean waves not far out from Whangaroa you can see birds that have spent part of the year in the Arctic and Antarctic.41 Seabirds once had millions of burrows beneath the ngahere of Te Tai Tokerau. After a day feeding at sea, as dusk fell, vast flocks of tens or hundreds of thousands of well-fed birds would come crashing through the forest canopy aiming in the vicinity of their nesting burrows.
132. This was one of the great seasonal fertilizing cycles on Earth. As the adult seabirds came in to feed their chicks from the fish and plankton they had eaten during the day, the resulting guano generated an amazing amount of plant growth and in turn, wildlife.
133. But now on the main islands of Aotearoa there are only tiny remnants of this natural phenomenon. It is no longer safe for parent seabirds to leave chicks in a burrow all day because since human arrival, they are vulnerable to predation by mammals. Their populations have dwindled and disappeared.
134. Yet historically Polynesian navigators would have used these mass seabird movements across the Pacific as navigation tohu.
40 http://halo.org.nz/a-love-affair-with-kakariki. 41 Pers. comm Carol Davies, who records bird sightings and carries out bird surveys in Te Tai Tokerau for Birds New Zealand, http://www.osnz.org.nz.
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135. Seabird species that were once very common now mostly, or only, nest on the safety of offshore islands. Pycroft’s petrel (probably called oi) currently nest in burrows on Mercury, Hen and Chickens, Poor Knights and Mahinapua/Stephenson Islands off Whangaroa and it’s not unlikely that they used to be on mainland Te Tai Tokerau with oi/grey-faced petrels and many other seabird species like taiko.
136. Rotomonoao, Tangitu and Mangehorehore along with other areas in the Hokianga and near Whangaroa are remembered for being seabird colony sites.42
137. Uncle Pouri Harris names Maungahorehore in Puketiti Forest as being where the titi nested.
138. Auntie Pat Tauroa says, “I understand that oi were found along most of the coastal areas of Whangaroa. Titi is the inland mutton bird, oi are the coastal ones, so named I believe because ‘oi’ is their call.”
139. Mustelids and possums now inhabit anywhere there is food in Te Tai Tokerau from the tops of the mountains to the high tide line. These mammals can also swim. I have even had complaints from people who have slept overnight at anchor in Lanes Cove, Whangaroa, being woken up as a swimming possum has tried to climb aboard their boat. Both rats and a cat have swum from vessels and elsewhere and appeared on pest- free Urupukapuka Island in recent years.43 44
Ka Ahei te Hoki Mai O A Tatou Hoa Ngaro/We Can Bring Back Our Lost Friends
140. Native seabirds and birds of the dunes and seashore, estuaries, stream sides and the heart of the ngahere, all now live a precarious existence.
141. Below is a list of native bird species and bats45 that have completely disappeared from mainland Te Tai Tokerau or their populations are
42 Pers comm Dan O’Halloran, Bay of Islands, Department of Conservation. 43 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11479024. 44 http://www.doc.govt.nz/news/media-releases/2016/rats-found-on-pest-free-islands-in-northland. 45 List compiled with advice from Alan Tennyson, Curator of Fossil Vertebrates, Te Papa Tongarewa/Museum of New Zealand.
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greatly reduced due to the mix of introduced predators including mustelids and possums alongside habitat destruction:
Pakaha/Fluttering Shearwater Puffinus gavia
Little Spotted Kiwi Apteryx owenii
North Island Brown Kiwi Apteryx mantellii
Karearea/New Zealand falcon Falco novaeseelandiae
North Island Kaka Nestor meridionalis
Kakariki/Yellow-crowned Parakeet Cyanoramphus auriceps
Kakariki/ Red-crowned Parakeet Cyanoramphus novaeseelandiae
Popokatea/Whitehead Mohoua albicilla
Kukupa Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae
North Island Kokako Callaeas wilsoni
North Island Weka Gallirallus australis greyi
Hihi/Stitchbird Notiomystis cincta
Korimako/Bellbird Anthornis melanura obscura/oneho
Weweia/New Zealand Dabchick Poliocephalus rufopectus
Pateke/Brown Teal Anas chlorotis
Pekapeka-tou-poto/Lesser Short-tailed Bat Mystacina tuberculata
Pekapeka-tou-roa/New Zealand Long-tailed Bat Chalinolobus tuberculata.
142. The native bird species listed below currently lack the physical scientific evidence of their previous populations. But from knowing where these birds survive now and what predates them, these species have probably
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completely disappeared from mainland Te Tai Tokerau or their populations are greatly reduced due to the mix of introduced predators including mustelids and possums alongside with habitat destruction:
Black Petrel Procellaria parkinsoni
Pycroft’s Petrel Pterodroma pycrofti
Flesh-footed Shearwater Puffinus carneipes
Korora/Little Blue Penguin Eudyptula minor
Tuturuatu/Shore Plover Thinornis novaeseelandiae
Kakariki/Orange-fronted Parakeet Cyanoramphus malherbi
Koekoea/Long-tailed Cuckoo Chrysococcyx ludicus
Titipounamu/Rifleman Acanthisitta chloris
Miromiro/North Island Tomtit Petroica macrocephala toitoi
Tieke/North Island Saddleback Philesturnus rufusater
Toutouwai/North Island Robin Petroica longipes
Mohu-pereru/Banded Rail Gallirallus phillippensis assimilis
Fairy Tern Sternula nereis davisae
Tuturiwhatu/New Zealand Dotterel Charadrius obscurus
Matuku Moana/Reef Heron Egretta sacra
Papango/New Zealand Scaup Aythya novaeseelandiae
Matata/Fernbird Bowdleria punctata
Kaki/Black Stilt Himantopus novaezelandiae.
143. These bird species are indicative (and may change with future research) of what should be returned to healthy populations within the rohe of Ngāpuhi.
144. Many other birds have been wiped off mainland Te Tai Tokerau or are now completely extinct due to the predation by rat species or humans alone so have been left off this list.
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145. All these bird species require ongoing multi-species pest control targeting possums, mustelids, rats and cats to survive and build populations once more.
146. Possums, mustelids and other introduced invasive pests do not know nor care about human land boundaries. Up until now I have generally pointed out the impacts and collapse of native forests Crown managed conservation land but this is an illusion. The brutal impacts of these animals occur and will continue to occur across all of Te Tai Tokerau regardless of who is responsible for that whenua. The collapse of native forests in hapū hands and other landowners can also be seen across Ngāpuhi rohe.
Other invaders:
147. In the 1700s and 1800s rats were common on ships coming and going from Te Tai Tokerau. The ships also had cats to catch the rats.
148. Norway rats first established in the 1830s and ships rats, which are much better climbers, around 30 years later. Rats can have ten offspring every two months in good climates with abundant food. The rodents plagued and continue to plague when food supply is good in Te Tai Tokerau.
149. These large rats have nests in the hollow spaces in trees and among kahakaha or anywhere that is dry. Now rats are present from the tops of the trees, all the way to the ground and can burrow below. They eat everything they can, buds, seed, fruit, eggs, chicks, adult birds, lizards, bats even shooting seedlings on the forest floor and dig for fallen seed, worms and other bugs.
150. Cats live from the mountain tops of Te Tai Tokerau to the high tide line. . Feral cats tend to be solitary and territorial, with measured home ranges of more than 200 hectares. No New Zealand Government law sanctioned the introduction of cat or rat nor the earliest attempts to introduce possums and ferrets. However, these arrivals were clearly the result of European colonisation.
151. And beyond possums and mustelids, there are a whole host of introduced species like aggressive Indian mynah birds that attack and take over the
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place of native birds, deer, hedgehogs and plants that have become invasive that the Government did gave approval to release via acclimatisation societies and the horticulture trade.
152. The combined and ongoing impacts carry through time. The natural web of life, every day and night are under attack and these animals, birds and plants then occupy gaps left from what has gone.
153. I have focused specifically on possums and mustelids but there are many other species whose introduction was sanctioned by the Crown which are invading and creating huge problems.
Opportunities lost
154. Ngāpuhi hapū are left with the debt – ecological, cultural, spiritual and economic - of lost opportunities and experience from the Government- sanctioned introduction of species that have become rampant. The following examples highlight impacts from possums and mustelids directly on current and future choices of Ngāpuhi:
Future Ngāpuhi Forestry
155. Dr Manuka Henare has outlined a future where Ngāpuhi whenua will transition from a current monoculture of Pinus radiata plantations to growing high value exotic and native tree species that’s “better aligned with Māori values and needs”. Future forestry and restoration nurseries and plantations would aspire to “innovative modes of manufacturing wood and biomaterials to minimise waste, and deliver high-value wood products and, potentially, pharmaceuticals”.46
156. Any plantations will need ongoing possum control because totara, for example, are targeted by possums (see drone footage) which can affect the form of straight trunks and can kill trees. Where possums aren’t controlled they will ‘flat-top’ trees slowing their growth and have a habit of breaking or eating the central leader out of some, usually the taller trees. This would disadvantage future Ngāpuhi forestry.
46 http://www.business.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/news-and-media/news-stories/uabs-monthly-newsletter/uabs- monthly-newsletter-2014/02/18/maori-iwi-signal-end-to-pine-plantations.html.
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Honey Production
157. I have found that rewarewa trees around 50 year old in areas without pest control can have 30-40 flower spikes in spring. Rewarewa nectar is used by bees to make an outstanding and rich honey.
158. In areas with at least 6 years of pest control that has kept possum numbers as close to zero as possible and prevented possums from breaking shoots, eating leaves, flower buds and the flower spikes themselves, rewarewa are rebounding and can have hundreds of flower spikes producing nectar.
159. Rewarewa of the same age in areas without pest control may have 30-40 flower spike in contrast.
160. Many other native trees also produce nectar and pollen used by honey bees throughout the maramataka which also have their flower buds and flowers eaten by possums.
161. The impact of possums on honey production from native forests has not been calculated but the simple example given above gives an insight into the colossal lost opportunity for beekeeping employment, rental of hive sites and honey production for Ngāpuhi hapu.
162. It is also indicates an ongoing impact that possums are having on the food supply of nectar-feeding birds like tui and korimako/bellbirds. Korimako are returning to the mainland from northern offshore islands after becoming extinct in Te Tai Tokerau in the 1860s. Without adequate food and low pest numbers they won’t be able to re-populate across the mainland.
163. Research cited earlier shows it takes severely damaged native forests twenty years to return to healthy natural state by keeping possums less than 5% residual trap catch/RTC.
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Korowai, Pou Whenua, Waka and other taonga
164. Feathers of kaka, tui, kiwi, kukupa and other native birds were and are used in making korowai and other taonga. The severe depletion of these birds from possums and mustelid predation has deprived those making these taonga of the materials they need.
165. Totara is a key rakau used for pou whenua and traditional small waka. Whangaroa drone footage gives an indication of what happens to tall totara when there are high possum numbers for long periods.
Rongoa
166. Disappearance of many plant species which used to be common and used in rongoa and ceremony is often a result of cattle or horses being allowed to eat out plants from bush margins. But in parallel, rongoa species like kohekohe, makomako, pate and puriri are under attack by possums.
Eco-Tourism
167. Possums and mustelids have depleted te Taiao of the natural abundance of plants and birds. This has taken away the opportunity for Ngāpuhi tourist ventures for example to watch seabirds return to the whenua at dusk, kiwi night walks in many areas or forest canopy zip lines through healthy native forest full of birds.
He Manu Kai
168. Natural populations of native birds can sustainably replace themselves in healthy native forests and withstand an ecologically responsible level of human hunting. When bird populations crash due to predation by introduced animals the impacts of human hunting are magnified. The option of sustainable hunting is removed from Ngāpuhi unless comprehensive pest control allows bird populations the opportunity over time to replenish and some missing species are re-introduced.
Hua-Rakau and Maara Kai/Orchards and Vegetable Gardens
169. The citrus, subtropical fruit trees and pipfruit (apple, peaches, pears, plums) that Ngāpuhi accepted, grew and established around papakainga
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and in hua-rakau/orchards for many decades (Hongi Hika is said to have bought plums and other trees with him from his time in England) are also attractive to possums. Possums strip trees of fruit and break branches. They can also plunder a good vegetable garden overnight. Possums love tomatoes, lettuces and just about everything else, so home and papakainga gardens came under constant attack after possums arrived.
170. The extra effort and measures to keep fruit trees and vegetable gardens safe and providing over time can be considerably hard work when competing with possums. This has affected people’s food production independence. Some people have just given up and find it easier just to buy vegetables at the supermarket rather than the eternal vigilance, frustrations or structures or dogs needed to keep possums off trees and around gardens. Again the costs are born by Ngāpuhi and others living in the rohe.
Carbon Sinks and Financial Instruments to Mitigate Climate Change
171. In other countries forest carbon sinks need agreement with landowners to be left to grow naturally to earn revenue from carbon credits. But across Te Tai Tokerau the native forests are collapsing and not locking in maximum carbon. Instead, native forests are currently contributing to climate change by releasing carbon into the atmosphere, as outlined earlier.
172. This puts Ngāpuhi at a huge disadvantage. For Ngāpuhi to earn income from carbon credits (or any future national or international financial incentives) to lock carbon in permanent forest sinks or other initiatives, multi-species pest control will be essential for forests to be at their maximum ability to lock in carbon above and below ground.
173. This ongoing cost of pest control to turn collapsing native forests into natural carbon sinks should not fall on the Crown, not Ngāpuhi.
174. A 2012 report from Manaaki Whenua/Landcare Research scientists point out that, “…significant carbon gains may occur in certain situations such as when herbivore control promotes the establishment of high-biomass woody species… there is potential in certain areas of New Zealand’s
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indigenous vegetation for both conservation benefits and carbon gains to go hand in hand”.47
175. This description applies to many currently collapsing native forests of Te Tai Tokerau.
Tohu/Maramataka Indicators
176. The flowering of puawhanga and te tangi a te pipiwharauroa both herald the arrival of spring and the duties needed from this time on like planting tipu kumara. In Whangaroa and elsewhere the flowering of pohutukawa is the tohu that kina are ready to harvest.
177. Robyn Tauroa of Whangaroa says, “Kawau moving and appearing inland (up Te Awaroa, Waiare Rivers for instance) indicate that inanga are available for harvest”.
178. Tohu can be interpreted from plants, birds and lizards – Te Taiao. But many species which act as tohu are under constant attack by being eaten and killed - or have been wiped out on the mainland like the various seabirds which were tohu for marine navigators - by possums and mustelids as well as rats and cats.
179. For example, common Ngāpuhi manu tohu, ruru and piwakawaka are attacked on the nest by possums and mustelids which eat their eggs and chicks. Tohu are depleted. This is the tip of the iceberg of native species that act as tohu that are also targeted by possums and mustelids.
Whakatauki and Place Names
180. Whakatauki are at the heart of Ngāpuhi expression and history.
181. When whakatauki and place names refer to species that are rare or gone, they lose their essence and meaning. For example, what would Kaikohekohe be if kohekohe has been wiped out by possums?
New Crown-sanctioned invaders
47 Robert Holdaway, Larry Burrows, Fiona Carswell, Anna Marburg “Potential for invasive mammalian herbivore control to result in measurable carbon gains” (2012) 36 NZJE, 252.
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182. Unfortunately history tells us what happens when there is not serious consideration given to introducing species and trials to see if they will become invasive in different latitudes of our islands nor breed with species that are already invasive to worsen the situation.
183. A good example of the latter is the recent Government-approved introduction of the Bengal cat:
The Bengal was developed in the States by crossing the forest dwelling Asian Leopard cats, (Felis Bengalensis) to domestic cats resulting in a medium to large breed that resembles in miniature the mesmerising, exotic looks, and attraction of the wild's big cats… Bengals are intelligent, active, energetic cats. Due to their ALC [Asian Leopard cat] ancestry many Bengals have a love of water. They are agile, love to climb and can be vocal with a distinctive voice. They get along well with other pets and people. Bengals enjoy high places and are enthusiastic climbers.48
184. The potential for further disaster to native wildlife if Bengal cats breed with feral cats is obvious. Bengal cats are now in Kaitaia.
185. Many plant introductions which have become invasive have been Crown- approved. These have impacts for plantation forestry and native forest and riparian recovery.
186. Wild ginger49 in particular can grow aggressively under forestry plantations which becomes a huge problem when it is time to replant. Wild ginger invades native forests and grows upon its own roots and prevents native seedlings' growth. Birds spread wild ginger seed high in the canopy where wild ginger can grow as an epiphyte (which is very hard to remove).
187. Within Ngāpuhi at this point in time the following plants are invasive: tree privet,50 Chinese privet,51 jasmine,52 Bangalow palm,53 Phoenix palm,54
48 http://bengals.co.nz/about/bengals. 49 Wild Ginger: http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=4063. 50 Tree privet: http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=3419. 51 Chinese privet: http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=3420. 52 Jasmine: http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=3324.
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Monkey apple/Lilly-pilly,55 Taiwan Cherry,56 moth plant57 and tradescantia.58
188. Like mustelids, possums, cats and the European rats, some plants were sanctioned by the Crown, some were not. Regardless, Ngāpuhi through no fault of their own are expected to live with the costs.
Ngahere Waiora – Returning what has been lost
189. Bringing native forests back to life requires a lot of capacity building and ongoing pest control work regardless of what methods are used.
190. Returning missing bird species that have been wiped out by introduced animals can occur on the mainland. But initially it requires monitoring that proves that pest animal populations have been continually kept below 5% (Residual Trap Catch/RTC) for a few years and that this can be sustained (with the ongoing financial security to back it up).
191. Project Island Song spent years ridding introduced pest animals from Urupukapuka Island and other islands in Ipipiri and still have to manage expensive incursions every year to keep the islands pest free with the Department of Conservation. But in recent years the project has reached the stage where reintroducing species long gone from the island is possible.
192. The cost of translocations is very much location and species specific. For a bird reintroduction (costs of reptile or invertebrate re-introduction are different) this can range from $15,000 to $80,000 (this cost range includes the multiple transfers/translocations of one species necessary to establish successfully).
193. The financial costs include travel to whakawhanaungatanga with hapu of the missing species’ origin, planning, permitting, testing (disease screening, sexing, genetics), capture, translocating, releasing and
53 Bangalow Palm: http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=4375. 54 Phoenix palm: http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=4381. 55 Taiwan cherry: http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=2850. 56 Monkey apple/Lilly-pilly: http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=2437. 57 Moth plant: http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=2542. 58 Tradescantia: http://nzpcn.org.nz/flora_details.aspx?ID=2558.
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monitoring a single bird species are significant. Long term monitoring may also be required to determine the genetic viability and sustainability of a reintroduced population.
194. The Puketi Forest Trust has a secure ongoing multi-species pest control operation over 650 hectares and have re-introduced toutouwai/North Island robins and Northland kokako. On top of substantial amounts of volunteer work, this cost $14,000 for toutouwai and $22,000 for kokako to be returned.
Expressions of kaitiakitanga
195. Pat Tauroa emphasises that “Care of our ngahere using matauranga Maori processes” is key to returning native forests to good health. The use of this knowledge under tikanga Maori in management would return holistic thinking and action that will restore the mauri of Ngāpuhi whenua.
What Kind of Future Lies Ahead?
196. Ina mate mai he tetekura, Ara mai ano he tetekura/Wwhen a fern frond dies, another rises to take its place.
197. When a tree dies because of possums or a bird species becomes extinct what comes to take its place?
198. With no animal and plant pest control the decision of nature is automatically made: possums, rats, mustelids, cats and weeds take over. The ngahere that was once full of feathers becomes now full of fur. And weeds like wild ginger, privet, monkey apple and bangalow palm will take the place of diverse native species.
199. The forest wants to live. Multi-species pest control is what gives nga tamariki o Tane Mahuta the freedom to be normal and free again. Not repressed. Not under constant attack. Not eaten alive.
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Summary
200. The Crown acted negligently by making decisions about the introductions of possums and mustelids and other species without Ngāpuhi participation.
201. The Crown acted negligently by ignoring clear expert evidence against the introduction of mustelids to these islands.
202. The Crown acted negligently by approving, empowering and encouraging acclimatisation societies to import, breed and release mustelids and possums and sanctioning the introduction of other species including invasive plants.
203. The Crown acted negligently by allowing native forests to collapse in their delegated care to the Department of Conservation, which are currently under claim.
204. Through no fault of their own Ngapuhi have had to live with the multi- dimensional and detrimental impacts of possums and mustelids and other introduced invasive species. These are felt within Whangaroa and across the rohe of Ngāpuhi-nui-tonu and are compounded every day, week and year without multi-species pest control.
205. Examples of the damage suffered by Ngapuhi to their ways of life and future aspirations are in respect, but not limited to:
Future forestry
Honey production
Creation of Korowai and other taonga
Rongoa
Eco-tourism potential
Hua-Rakau and Maara Kai/Orchards and Vege Gardens
Carbon credits and other actions to protect native forests to mitigate climate change
Tohu/Natural Indicators
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Whakatauki and Place Names
New Crown-sanctioned invaders
Ngahere Waiora/Restoring what has been lost.
206. He Wakaputanga makes it very clear that hapū will be the decision makers over their whenua.
207. There are responsibilities on both side of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and The Treaty of Waitangi for native forests, acknowledged as ‘wenua’ and ‘forests’ in the second Article of Te Tiriti O Waitangi and The Treaty of Waitangi respectively.
208. Mustelids and possums are key to the demise of a wide range of native birds, bats, lizards and invertebrates. Possums have caused native forest trees to continually collapse across Te Tai Tokerau since their arrival.
209. When the evidence was clear that these possums were having a very negative impact on native forests, orchards and threatened species, successive Governments responded in various ways on a national and local level over the last 94 years. But these efforts did not prevent possums spreading to Te Tai Tokerau.
210. While expressing their tino rangatiratanga and obligation of care for nga tamariki o Tane Mahuta, the partnership to tackle these problems has been one of dominance of the Crown rather than working together or allowing hapū to take the lead.
211. Because the Crown allowed the introduction of mustelids, possums and other species that have become invasive and destructive, the responsibility of redress of this key issues rests with the Crown. It is also the responsibility of hapū with mana whenua to work constructively on their own independent terms to care for nga rakau tuakana, nga manu tuakana, he ngahere, nga tamariki o Tane Mahuta.
212. But the ultimate price of the disrespect of hapū decision-making processes, bloody-mindedness, political stand-offs, unsettled claims and the financial crippling of the Department of Conservation has been paid by nga tamariki o Tane Mahuta, the inheritance of future generations.
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213. The bottom line is that if and when whenua currently managed by the Department of Conservation is returned to Ngāpuhi by the Crown it should ideally be in the condition it was in 1840.
214. Because this is not possible, Ngapuhi hapu deserve redress within settlements that embeds multi-species pest control that would allow native ecology to return, as close as possible to 1840 population levels.
215. Because the continued impacts are larger than the whenua currently managed by the Department of Conservation. multi-species pest control is essential across all Ngāpuhi whenua (with the most appropriate methods determined by hapū) to redress the burdens otherwise faced by Ngāpuhi.
216. Possums and mustelids do not care what we think.
217. To bring these taonga ngahere back to life takes co-operation.
Recommendations to the Tribunal
218. To redress the collapse of native forests within Ngāpuhi rohe, and the loss of native wildlife caused by the introduction of pest species, and to ensure the ongoing cultural and material opportunities for Ngāpuhi hapū, the Crown should remedy the historical and continuing impacts on Ngāpuhi hapū by funding comprehensive and enduring best practice pest control aimed at eliminating mustelids and possums and other invasive introduced species across Maori land and Crown managed or co- managed lands in perpetuity.
219. That, at the request of hapū, the Crown shall finance the re-introduction and monitoring of native species whose absence resulted in part or whole from introduction of possums and mustelids. These areas must have proven low pest populations that are sufficiently secure to allow re- introduced native species to survive and thrive.
220. Because the Crown can’t return these native ecosystems to their 1840 state, comprehensive multi-species pest control should be embedded within all Ngapuhi-wide settlements, with hapu to decide how this work is carried out and appropriate capacity building funded by the Crown.
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