Arethusa Reserve at Lamb Rd, Pukenui and its dedicated volunteer caretakers are the focus of the 26 Forest & Bird Centennial project. Photo / Toby Ricketts
Arethusa Reserve at Lamb Rd, Pukenui and its dedicated volunteer caretakers are the focus of the 26 Forest & Bird Centennial project. Photo / Toby Ricketts
Volunteers have long been at the heart of efforts to restore nature in the Far North for future generations.
A recently-launched project highlighting work at nature restoration projects throughout Aotearoa - among them the Aupōuri Peninsula’s Arethusa Reserve - has recognised their essential contributions.
Arethusa is one of 13 featured projects, gifted to Forest & Bird by Dagny Oxford in 1985, with a rare dune lake habitat which is slowly being restored by the charity’s Far North Branch.
Wetlands captures carbon faster than a forest can, so the volunteers who drive an hour or more for working bees see a place of tremendous value.
Rimu and tōtara planted by volunteers in the 1980s are thriving, kohekohe is reseeding naturally again and kauri - which rarely survives near water - is growing strong.
The 26 Forest & Bird Centennial project sought to harness the power of art and poetry to inspire and connect New Zealanders with te taiao (nature).
Run in partnership with 26, a global not-for-profit writers’ collective that establishes projects around the world, the project saw artists and writers randomly paired up to travel to 13 of Forest & Bird’s 120 nature restoration projects nationwide.
Artists used a variety of mediums to create original artworks that responded to the landscape, people, species, and conservation challenges encountered during the visit, while writers were tasked with creating a centena – a poem of exactly 100 words that must start and finish with the same three words – and a 260-word essay inspired by their visit.
Forest & Bird’s chief executive Nicola Toki said the project was an opportunity to honour the mahi of hardworking volunteers, while inspiring more people to apply their passion and skills to protecting te taiao.
“Each creative pair has captured the beauty, fragility, and ecological importance of these conservation efforts at-place.
“The writers and artists have dedicated a huge amount of time, creativity, and aroha to this project and the results are spectacular.”
Arethusa’s Golden Legacy was created by artist Simon Dowling using pen, pencil, watercolour and acrylic on cotton rag paper.
Artist Simon Dowling and writer Paul White were among the 26 contributing creatives and worked together to capture the magic of Arethusa.
“The kōtare in my artwork evokes the idea of leaving a legacy by embodying the contributions of many volunteers eradicating pests to save the forest and birds,” Dowling said.
“Native flora is entwined within a sacred golden border that represents pure nature.
“Introduced freesias on the reserve’s fringes are depicted outside the border.”
Dowling also used kauri cones to represent the volunteers who planted the regenerating trees 35 years ago.
There are very few naturally occurring native species on the property, with most having been planted by the Far North branch.
Since Forest & Bird acquired the land, many pōhutukawa, kauri, kahikatea and other native trees have been planted.
The once dominant tree species, Sydney golden wattle, is giving way to naturally occurring kānuka, mānuka, karo and various other native species. Along the western slopes, the parasitic native climber taihoa climbs over bracken, native shrubs and the sedges.
The wetland is home to mallard, grey duck, black swan, pied cormorant, pūkeko, paradise shelduck and the regionally significant spotless crake.
Below the surface there are native eels and the introduced mosquito fish. Sacred kingfisher nest around the wetland margins and flitting amongst the many exotic and native trees are North Island fantail, grey warbler and silvereye.
Writer Paul White’s centena captures Arethusa’s beauty and the reality of the work required by dedicated volunteers to make it habitable to native species.
Forest & Bird was launched by a passionate volunteer - Ernest ‘Val’ Sanderson - in 1923, in Te Whangaui-a-Tara Wellington.
It became the first of the country’s modern-day conservation charities, which Sanderson led until his death in 1945.
In that time, Sanderson employed artists, cartoonists, and journalists to spread the word about vanishing nature and published art and original writing to educate adults and children about the value of protecting te taio for all New Zealanders.
The first five projects showcase Forest & Bird’s Lenz Reserve (the Catlins, South Island), Rangitīkei Reserves (Manawatū-Whanganui), Walter Scott Reserve (Pirongia, Waikato) and Pāuatahanui Wildlife Reserve (Greater Wellington) alongside Arethusa. The remaining eight will be published over the next six months.
