Father and daughter duo, John and Liberty Jones run the Whio Awheo - Wainui River Project near Katikati.
Father and daughter duo, John and Liberty Jones run the Whio Awheo - Wainui River Project near Katikati.
A father/daughter team has set up Whio Āwheo - Wainui River Project with the aim to raise awareness and increase involvement in the protection and restoration of land and waterways for the benefit of both community, and native flora and fauna.
Based on Work Road north of Katikati Whio Āwheo - Wainui River Project is a small care group run by Liberty and John Jones.
"Our name Whio - Āwheo Wainui River Project was created with a group of close conservationist friends, 'Whio' (blue duck) and 'Āwheo' meaning halo, as we like to visualise a halo of protection around the ngahere and awa while we work."
The dream is to get whio (blue ducks) like these introduced to the Wainui river.
It all started when they met a man called Barry Pethybridge in September 2020.
Barry was volunteering and operating a few pest trap lines on Tim Road at Pahoia along the Wainui River. Once he found out that their property backed on to the adjacent side of the Wainui River, he was eager to help them set up their first bait station lines.
Since then the Jones' have spread their control area covering the entire 4.5 hectare property, plus their neighbours, now covering 600m of the river's edge.
"It's been a long time coming and it feels so good knowing our halo is growing. "One small step at a time!"
"One of Barry's dreams, now ours too, is to get the whio (endemic blue duck) introduced into the Wainui River. We realise this might take years and years to come to fruition, but we feel it's necessary to have a goal to work towards."
"The Wainui River is one of the cleanest rivers in the Kaimai ranges, with fast-flowing, clean water, and overhanging flora along the river's edge — it's the perfect candidate for whio."
The Wainui river is an ideal environment for whio - blue ducks.
Their first step towards this goal is to have the pest numbers down to a minimum, under strict control, and to make sure they have a substantial amount of the river covered on both sides.
Over the past year, the Jones' have conducted pest monitoring operations and have seen a considerable drop in pests, and are also noticing that the understory of the forest is starting to grow back - all signs confirming that what they are doing is working.
"This breeding season we will be running bird surveys as we start to monitor who we're doing this for."
The Jones' come across some colourful fungus finds along the way.
Their fiery passion for conservation has always existed but after Liberty took part in the first intake of the Bay Conservation Alliance Cadetship Program, she gained years worth of knowledge in just 12 weeks that they are utilising now with Whio - Āwheo.
"We are also continuously learning as we go - the ngahere is our greatest teacher".
In time John and Liberty say they would love to see the space evolve into a place of learning where the community can visit, gently interact with and learn about the forest and who lives there.
Another facet of their project comes from being volunteer fosterers for ARRC Wildlife in Tauranga, for the past three years.
Tui fledglngs that had been blown out of a tree due to strong winds, in the Jones' aviary learning how to find nectar.
The pair have been rehabilitating and releasing native/common birdlife and would like to incorporate this into Whio - Āwheo by creating a protected space for these native birds to be released and monitored.
The Jones' are also in the process of creating their own pest control business, to provide rat control services around the community.
