That's what the members of the Bluff Hill/Motupohue Environment Trust call themselves and who could or would argue with them!
They're fighting a war against stoats, ferrets, rats and possums on Bluff Hill, in an attempt to make it a better place for the native birds, insects and plants that have suffered ever since the arrival of the pests.
I've met those guys and been shown around territory and take it from me, you'd need to be a little 'touched' to take that job on and thank goodness they are and have!
Congratulations to the team for your success with the Environment Southland Awards - you're the kind of enviro-troopers every community needs.
2 comments:
Kia ora Robert,
Good on those folks. I slaute them as well. I have met in my Ruahine travels a few hardy types in there tending a trap line or most recently a stoat line many kilometres up the Oroua valley. Very rugged country and not easy work. Passionate lunatics is an apt name. I write that with all respect. We need more like them.
Cheers,
Robb
Tena koe Ruahines (ko tenei te wiki o te reo Maori, nei ra!)
Yeah, they're great. It can be a mucky, tiring job too and Bluff Hill ain't flat!
There are some sea birds that nest near the shore that are in dire need of protection and these guys are giving those a much better chance of survival. They are fun people too. They came across to our seaside town for the Midwinter celebrations and brought some good stuff too eat. I'm going to visit them in return soon, to have a look at their home-made and widely-talked-about, glasshouses.
I did a little work on one of the offshore islands down south, counting puffinus griseus burrows and counting birds but there were no predatory mammals there at all as they'd been cleaned off the island several years before with a big DoC poison drop. The regrowth of native plants was astounding. Rats were the problem there.
I've a question for you Ruahines - have you noticed an increase in sightings of kereru/kukupa/native pigeons sitting on the ground? It used to be something you never saw, but lately I've seen it a few times and heard of others who have seen birds quire relaxed about being on the ground. My guess is that in pre-mammalian pest days, it was normal. With rats and stoats and cats around, it would be perilous!
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