Brent Barrett's Home Planet: Massive boost for southern Ruahines

Whio are a wonder to see, surfing whitewater rapids in their steely gray coats. Photo / Supplied

OPINION:

Good things take time.

When I first arrived in Palmy, I connected with a nature conservation group called Forest & Bird Manawatū. An enthusiastic advocate named Donald Kerr was organising. I vividly recall him banging on about forest canopy collapse in our southern Ruahine Ranges. All down to an oversupply of feral deer, pigs and possums doing what they do best - destroying rainforests.

For reasons still mysterious to me, after a few years I found myself organising Forest & Bird Manawatū. Like those before us, we leaned into making the urgent case for investment to restore the health of threatened forests, rivers and wetlands. All well and good having bird sanctuaries on offshore islands, but our natural heritage in and around the Ruahines was crumbling under huge pressures, and without the benefit of widespread pest and predator control.

Time passed, and practical sorts like the amazing Ruahine Whio Protectors formed. Its mission is running trap lines to protect nesting whio. These amazing ducks are at home in the Ruahine's tumbling mountain cascades, provided they don't get taken out by predators. They're a wonder to see, surfing whitewater rapids in their steely gray coats. If you've an opportunity to see them in the wild, go for it.

Zoom to recent times. Community leaders gathered to build an ambitious case for investment. A proper step change in flaxroots action. This included work by iwi authorities, and the stellar crews at Environment Network Manawatū, its group Manawatū River Source to Sea, and Te Kauru Eastern Manawatū River Hapū Collective. Together, a huge effort over years to pull it all together, and then exercise the gentle arts of persuasion. All led by dedicated nature conservations content without the spotlight, yet putting their heart and soul into restoring health to our environment.

And then, quietly, on only the fourth day of 2022, it happened.

A day we expect no Government announcements of any sort, there was a surprise. As luck would have it Kiri Allan, the Minister for Conservation, was in her office. The lights were on, and she said it's all go; $7.2 million to be invested via Jobs for Nature with iwi, hapu and community groups to begin restoring the mauri and mana of our Ruahine Ranges. Works to include predator control and streamside restoration in the Manawatū River catchment, and kiwi habitat restoration in the southern Ruahine Ranges.

In the local world of nature conservation, $7.2m is a massive boost. I'd bet it's more targeted ecological investment than our southern Ruahines has seen in its entire history. A wonderful result that shows what can happen when a community gets organised around a cause, and keeps working away to make it happen.

Now the challenge is on to zap as many feral predators as possible, get kiwi and whio doing their thing, and keep investment flowing until we see whio on every bend in our Ruahine cascades, kiwi crashing about the Ruahines and into the Manawatū Gorge, and strong signs of canopy recovery in our rainforests.

It's a long game. Kāpiti Island is the gem it is today thanks to the energy of returning World War I soldiers who got to work in the 1920s. What a difference a century has made there.

With new investment flowing in the 2020s, we're off to a good start so that in the 2120s we can look back on a century of progress and see nature restored and thriving in the southern Ruahines, a legacy for future generations.

Eco tip: It's a great time of year to have a go at biking or walking for those short trips. With the price of petrol, you'll be saving money and the planet.

• Brent Barrett is an environmental advocate, city councillor and scientist. The views expressed here are his own.