Predator Control Update After 25 years of hard work protecting the kokako as well as the rest of the native bird and plant life in Manawahe, the Manawahe Kokako Trust is winding down and will merge with the Manawahe Eco Trust as of July this year. Hopefully not much will change on the operational side as we will still maintain all the pest control around the kokako blocks and the wider corridor including McIvor Rd and the Cell Tower block. There are almost 3,000 bait stations within the Manawahe corridor, however these are only effective if they are filled every year. I [...]

We are really excited to feature in the Summer issue of Forest and Bird magazine with a great article written by Peter Fergusson on the wallaby control he has been leading in Manawahe. You can check it out by clicking here to download the article. F&B_Mag_386_Summer_2022_38-39  

Predator Control Update We have just completed our post poisoning rat monitor and got zero rats, 26% mice and 44% invertebrates. This is a good result especially good to see the big number of invertebrates which is a sign of a healthy ecosystem. When rats are low the mice often rise as a result. Our bait stations struggle to lower mice numbers as they are too far apart for mice. (they would need to be 10m apart due to the small home range of mice). Zero rats is great, as a comparison Whirinaki forest had a recent rat monitor of 40% We are [...]

MET hosted a presentation on native forest restoration on Saturday with Dr David Bergin from Tane’s Tree Trust and there was a great turnout of 70 people. His presentation was particularly relevant for the Manawahe area as much of our remaining forest is fragmented into pockets and this creates problems for bird movement, genetic diversity and seed dispersal. The Manawahe forests have also had decades of browsing from deer and wallaby which has reduced their diversity with many of the more palatable species having been reduced to low levels. The Manawahe kokako population is a particular case where this very [...]

These last few weeks have been really busy at the Manawahe Eco Centre. We have had a variety of activities running this term including day trips from Otakiri and Awakeri Schools where we have visited the Karaponga Waterfall, made kites, had scavenger hunts and taken part in team-building activities. We also had a great visit from the Special Education department at Western Heights High School in Rotorua.   A highlight from this term has been hosting a 3-day camp with the year 12 Outdoor Education students from Whakatane High School. The students went mountain biking at Onepu, took part in raft building at [...]

Volunteers wanted! We are currently seeking volunteers who are keen to help out as marshalls  for a few hours during our school multisport race on May 26th, please get in touch with Hilary if you are interested to find out more at educ.met@gmail.com We are also looking for volunteers who are keen to check a trapline every couple of weeks to help keep predator numbers low throughout Manawahe. Please get in touch with Peter if you are keen to learn more about what’s involved with this; petewfergusson@gmail.com Indigenous Forestry Presentation – Saturday July 2nd Join us for a presentation by Dr David Bergin from [...]

Education Update - Hilary Hurst This month kicked off with a steady flow of students from Whakatane Intermediate with a 5 week series of “Turf” days. This is where each class in the school comes up for a time of getting to know each other as well as how our area can be used for recreation.  As half of each class from the school has been up last year - the challenge has been to find activities they’ve not done before. The current programme features a walk up to Karaponga Waterfall, followed by activities at the MET Centre and finishing with a [...]