Forest & Bird

The Fast-track Approvals Bill is an unprecedented attack on nature, overriding our environmental laws and democratic process. Multi-national mining company OceanaGold hopes their proposed mine under public conservation land will be rubberstamped by the law. At Wharekirauponga, north of Waihī in the Coromandel, this area is home to ancient species like the pepeketua Archey’s frog, which is endemic to Aotearoa and already threatened with extinction. If this project goes ahead, they could be significantly impacted. Help us fight back and STOP the war on nature! Donate now - https://lnkd.in/dgqjf4dF #WarOnNature #WrongTrack #FightForNature #GivingNatureAVoice 📷 Credit James Reardon

ICYMI: Forest & Bird magazine editor Caroline Wood and Justin Jordan, grandson of Forest & Bird founder Captain Ernest "Val" Sanderson, were on RNZ yesterday to discuss the incredible treasure trove of never-before-told stories uncovered in Force of Nature | Te Aumangea o te ao Tūroa. From discovering 1150 undigitised folders of material in the archives, to digging out the Captain's special rat trap, the interview provides a window into the tales of conservation mahi chronicled in this landmark publication written by David Young and Naomi Arnold. Listen to the interview: https://lnkd.in/gycTW5QR Buy a copy: https://lnkd.in/giHUm2wC

The Fast-track Approvals Bill is an unprecedented attack on nature, overriding our environmental laws and democratic process. The proposed Ruataniwha dam in Hawkes Bay would flood 22 hectares of Ruahine Forest Park, where there are rare wetlands as well as habitat for threatened species such as the pekapeka long-tailed bat and kārearea NZ falcon. We prevented the dam from going ahead in 2016, after winning a case in the Supreme Court, but now the Ruitaniwha dam is on the Fast-track Approvals Bill list.  Help us fight back and STOP the war on nature!  Donate now - https://lnkd.in/dgqjf4dF #WarOnNature #FightForNature #WrongTrack #GivingNatureAVoice 📷 Credit Peter Scott

📣 Tune into RNZ National tomorrow morning just after the 10am news to hear from Forest & Bird magazine editor, Caroline Wood, and Justin Jordan, the grandson of Forest & Bird founder Captain Val Sanderson. They'll be discussing our rich conservation history from the last century, captured in our landmark publication, Force of Nature | Te Aumangea o te ao Tūroa. Listen for your chance to win a copy – or if you can't wait to get your hands on a copy, order one here: https://lnkd.in/giHUm2wC

Yesterday’s announcement that the Government is restricting councils’ freshwater rules by slipping last minute changes into the Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Bill is undemocratic and a backwards step for communities who want swimmable rivers and lakes and safe drinking water. Tom Kay, Forest & Bird’s freshwater advocate says communities around the motu have been asking for the pollution of their rivers and lakes to be addressed for years. “Now the coalition Government is undermining that community aspiration to restore the health of their freshwater. It’s a massive kick in the guts. “Years of effort and evidence-based work, and years of investment, are all being undermined and wasted – with the consequence being continued pollution of our rivers, lakes, and groundwater. “Healthy freshwater – rivers, lakes, aquifers, and wetlands – are critical to the wellbeing of our communities, ecosystems, and economy. Delaying action to address the pollution of our rivers and lakes will cost us significantly. It’s already costing us and our communities in all sorts of ways - through things like regular boil water notices and contamination, and through pollution of drinking water in places like rural Canterbury with nitrates that make the water unsafe to drink. “This law change will be bad for our communities, our children, and our grandchildren. We’ve seen freshwater kicked down the road for probably a generation now. We all need and value clean and healthy water.” Listen to the RNZ interview https://lnkd.in/gaFszJeC #WarOnNature #ProtectOurFreshwater #WrongTrack #GivingNatureAVoice 📷 Kuratau River. Credit Tom Kay

As a proud member of the Community Climate Action Network (CCAN), Forest & Bird invites you to join us at Collaborating for Climate Hui on 23 October 2024. This event is designed to bring together climate advocates from across Tāmaki Makaurau for a session focused on meaningful collaboration. While there will be some inspiring highlights from CCAN members leading critical mahi, the emphasis will be on connecting with new people to spark collective climate impact. A simple, fun activity will help break the ice and set the stage for lasting partnerships. 📅 Date: 23 October 2024 🕐 Time: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM 📍 Location: Ellen Melville Centre, Auckland CBD 🥤 Refreshments Provided 🎟️ Free Entry – RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/g7pZUCm8 We’d love to see you there! #ClimateAction #Collaboration #AucklandEvents #Sustainability

The Fast-track Approvals Bill is an unprecedented attack on nature, overriding our environmental laws and democratic process. The Waitaha river is one of New Zealand’s last remaining wild rivers, but it’s being threatened by a proposed fast-track project hydro scheme. The pristine conversation land is home to a high number of threatened bird species, including the nationally critical pekapeka tou roa long-tailed bat, the nationally endangered kea, and nationally vulnerable kākā and whio blue duck. This project will have significant impacts to the area and those species that live in it. Help us fight back and STOP the war on nature! Donate Now https://lnkd.in/dgqjf4dF #WarOnNature #GivingNatureAVoice Whio Blue Duck. Credit A Reith

The Forest & Bird Hauraki Islands Branch, Waiheke community and friends from across the Hauraki Gulf gathered yesterday to show our aroha for Tikapa Moana. The Tīkapa Moana / Hauraki Gulf Marine Protection Bill is an incredibly important step forward to addressing an ecosystem on the brink of ecological collapse. The Government is to be commended for the mahi which will establish two marine reserve extensions, five seafloor protection areas, and 12 high protection areas in the Hauraki Gulf. We urge the Prime Minister and Minister of Conservation to intervene and instruct ministers and officials to stop work on the proposed amendment to the bill that would allow commercial fishing in high protection areas. This amendment needlessly undermines the rest of the good work on the bill. The public need the Government to stick to its word and stand by the work of its own MPs in select committee. With your leadership, Tīkapa Moana can be protected with integrity. ✍🏽 Please sign the petition - https://lnkd.in/gXW_FuYN 🎥 Sam Carroll 🌊 #ArohatiaTikapaMoana 🐟 #LoveTheGulf

🌿AUDREY EAGLE: PLANT CHAMPION 🌿 Audrey Eagle returned to New Zealand from a stint in the UK with a new husband in 1949, with, Audrey later recalled, a strong feeling that "there is something important I have to do there". That "something important" turned out to be the meticulous recording and painting of botanical specimens found all over the motu. She worked to the most exacting standards, and her beautiful paintings were published in several editions of the epic Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand, as well as in various other publications. Audrey lived in the Waikato and helped to establish the branch there in 1954. Audrey led or joined Society field trips several times a year, and she noted that Forest & Bird was crucial to her work as the field trips gave her the opportunity to get to places she could not have otherwise – and everyone else on the trip was set on looking for the plant species she had an eye on! Her logbooks and diaries form a fascinating, detailed record of Forest & Bird branch activities across decades and are an invaluable source of botanical information as well as social history. They are held by her family near Dunedin. Find out more about Audrey’s extraordinary work and the beauty of her art in our new book, FORCE OF NATURE, available now: https://lnkd.in/giHUm2wC 📷: Audrey (centre) with a group at the Desert Road, 1973; Audrey measuring a kauri at Hauturu, Kawhia, 1970. Credit: Alison Eagle.

We’re alarmed that the purpose of the Fast-track Approvals Bill – back from select committee today – is to enable coal and gold to be dug up, the seabed to be mined and rivers to be dammed with little or no regard for the environment. The bill still overrides environmental protections, there is no attempt at consistency with New Zealand’s climate change obligations, and communities are still shut out of having a say on these major developments. We think New Zealanders deserve to have a say on a waste-burning plant in their neighbourhood, if public conservation land should essentially be sold off for development, or whether New Zealand commits to digging up kiwi habitat for coal mines into the 2040s. New Zealanders should ask their Members of Parliament to vote the fast track down and stop the #WarOnNature. Image: West Coast Green Gecko, credit Rod Morris