Local Focus: Wading into the environment, lizard guts and all

Video Journalist Wairarapa, NZH Local Focus·NZ Herald·

8 May, 2023 03:39 AM4 mins to read

Former Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown shows off her regeneration farm.

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Former Wellington Mayor restores Wairarapa land to its natural state. ...

Swapping the mayoral chambers for gumboots and an eTuatara, former Wellington Mayor Celia now spends most days restoring her farm near Masterton back to its natural state.

Wade-Brown - also the Green candidate for Wairarapa in this October’s general election, bought a 200-hectare sheep and beef farm in the foothills of the Tararua Ranges in 1987, and got to work, first removing the stock and then letting nature take its course.

“One of the first things to come back is the mānuka and some kānuka,” Wade-Brown said.

“Then it’s a bit slower on the more exposed bits of grass, and then I’m hurrying things up a bit.”

Recently a propagating nursery has speeded up regeneration of kōwhai, kōtukutuku and puawhānanga, amongst other native plants.

Originally from England, Wade-Brown found it quite a challenge adjusting to southern hemisphere flora and fauna.

“Standing in the New Zealand bush, it smelt different to the English forests and I just stood there and thought, ‘I don’t know a single one of these plants’. So I’ve really enjoyed learning about the different plants and the Māori history, Māori names and their Latin names and their English names.”

With native trees gradually coming back, Wade-Brown has set her sights on eradicating pests that are decimating indigenous animals. Using 130 traps, more than 2000 predators have been removed.

“We’ve been catching lots of weasels, rats and one or two ferrets and quite a few stoats,” she said.

“They all prey not just on birds but also on the lizards and I’m very keen on the lizards that live in this place. We’ve got about four different kinds.”

Following the old railway track running along her property that once used to carry out felled logs, Wade-Brown has situated a modest cottage, taking off-grid living to the limit.

“For a few summers we just camped here and then decided we’re going to build a little cabin. We decided we’d go into the furthest corner because otherwise we’d never get there, and we thought it would be safe from people burgling!”

Off the eTuatara, it’s a short walk through the bush to Wade-Brown’s rustic cottage.

Built entirely from scratch, the one-bedroom home gives a commanding view of the Mangatārere Valley and the foothills of the Tararua Ranges.

Inside it is soon apparent that Wade-Brown’s love of nature and fascination for reptiles is off the scale.

Reptile art abounds on walls and surfaces, and she even has a trinket box holding a treasured collection of lizard skins found around the property.

“As geckos grow or any lizard grows, they shed their skin,” she explained. “I call it their pyjamas and they shed it, just one cell thick. And every gecko has got a slightly different pattern on it. The whole thing comes off like a onesie.

“Mice will get smaller lizards and geckos and certainly weasels will. I did the dissection of a weasel and it had the little feet of the skinks in its stomach, which is really tragic.”

Wade-Brown knows she is fortunate to have this block of land on which she can do her bit for nature, but people without land, or the time to create their own biodiverse slice of paradise, still have a role to play.

“Somehow neoliberalism and capitalism pulled us away, made us think that the theories of economic growth were more important than the theories of ecology. And we have to actually change habits quite quickly if we’re not going to end up with more disasters,” she said.

“We need to do quite a lot and we need to do it everywhere and everything all at once, is the conservation message.”