Wildbase About Recovery

NZ Harrier Hawk

For Rotary to build a better world, we must first stop our existing world from being further destroyed.

 

Rotarian Scott Bruce, of the Rotary Club of Milson, NZ, with the support of local New Zealand Rotary clubs, believed that the first step to effect a real change in environmental and conservational consciousness, was to start with an impactful experience for children. The barriers to this positive encounter are usually awareness, cost, access or proximity.

 

Wildbase Recovery, planned to be completed in 2017, is more than a rehabilitation facility for endangered wildlife; it will provide a free opportunity for visitors to interact and learn about the global fragility of our native species.

 

Set in Palmerston North’s Victoria Esplanade, Wildbase Recovery will provide a special place to observe native wildlife as they recover from illness and injury after treatment at Massey University’s Wildbase Hospital, New Zealand’s only dedicated wildlife hospital.

 

Patients will come from all over the country; their journey back to wellness will engage visitors directly with the conservation of some of NZ’s (in fact, the world’s) most endangered species. Rehabilitating wildlife will spend an average of six weeks at Wildbase Recovery before their release back into the wild, making every visit a unique and exciting experience.

 

The world-class facility will include: permanent breeding and inflight aviaries and 14 purpose built rehabilitation aviaries for species such as kākā, kea, and raptors; recovery pools for penguins and wetland birds; and ground-dwelling aviaries for kiwi and takahē. An education centre will provide hands-on and online learning opportunities.

 

Rotary led the formation of The Wildbase Recovery Community Trust. The Trust, officially launched in August 2014, is tasked with raising $5.69m that will be granted to Palmerston North City Council to build this community funded wildlife recovery centre. In a unique collaboration, Wildbase Recovery will be co-managed by Massey University’s Veterinary School, with the on-going support of the regional Rangitāne Māori iwi.

The Department of Conservation has provided a 30 year permit for care of native animals at the facility (the only one of its kind), as well as providing financial support. Fundraising is also Rotary-led with almost $2.6m raised to date, thanks to grants from Central Energy Trust, the Lottery Grant Board’s WWI Commemorations, Environment and Heritage Fund, the Lottery Grant Board’s Significant Project Fund, financial donations from the NZ Rotary Clubs of Awapuni, Milson, Palmerston North and Plimmerton, and NZ Lions clubs. 

In addition to the growing community support, Wildbase Recovery has the Governor General, Rt. Hon. Sir Jerry Mateparae as its Patron, with Ambassadors Sir Graham Henry, Urzila Carlson, Jamie Fitzgerald, Nicola Toki and Ian McKelvie all endorsing the project.

 

There is no other facility like this in NZ, so its direct connection with Wildbase Hospital and contribution to conservation efforts reflects the project’s national and global significance.

 

Together with Rotary, we can give our native species the best chance of survival and be a Gift to the World, now and into the future.  

Wildbase Recovery centre (artist impression)

www.wildbaserecovery.co.nz

Wildbase Recovery Give A Little https://givealittle.co.nz/org/wildbaserecovery

 Words and photos: supplied by Chrissie Morrison, Communications Adviser for Wildbase Recovery, NZ

Sugar Loaf track accesses 45th Parallel

Donald Young, Denis McEntyre, Matt Sole o the track

Cromwell Rotary have developed a narrow walking track up the Sugar Loaf in 2009 to allow visitors to view the 45th Parallel and surrounding lake area from the crest of the Sugar Loaf terrace a significant land form and landscape.

This is managed currently as an out and back track from State Highway 6 Luggate – Cromwell Road beside Lake Dunstan 500m north east from Lowburn inlet and Valley up the lakeside face of the terrace via a series of steps to a viewing point aligned with the 45th parallel. This has received use from passing visitors and locals alike and with its success the club has extended the walking track down Hanging Gully on the true route via the early gold workings down to the Lowburn inlet and then around the foot of Sugar Loaf terrace to the track starting point beside Lake Dunstan and the SH.

This has created a rewarding loop track with outstanding views and opened up a previously hidden sequence of early gold workings for public access and appreciation. Most of the current track and new extension is located on Central Otago District Council (CODC) owned land. The Sugar Loaf area is an Area of Outstanding Landscape in the CODC District Plan requiring compliance with Rule 4.7.6L (1) (c) relating area/amount of earth/material disturbance.

The Hanging Gully is a recorded archaeological site on the NZ Archaeological site recording register G42 572 and the Cromwell Rotary Club along with consultation and gaining approvals from various other bodies such as LINZ, NZTA, adjacent neighbouring landowners  worked with Heritage New Zealand (HNZ) to gain the required consents to run the track extension through the archaeological gold workings site in Hanging Gully.

The Cromwell Rotary has developed and maintained the current track and has the support of both Cromwell and Pisa communities with their respective plans for walking tracks rating them as medium and high importance. A memorandum of understanding sets out the agreement between Cromwell Rotary and CODC

Cromwell's 'Rotary Day' 2015 - 4WD adventure for all

The 21^st Cromwell Rotary 4 Wheel Drive event held on Sunday 4^th January enjoyed near perfect weather with a little cloud cover tempering the heat of the day. This was Cromwell Club’s ‘Rotary Day’ for 2014-15 bringing together Rotarians, other locals and summer visitors to the Central Otago area of New Zealand.

 

The trip, covering almost 100 km over challenging terrain was tackled by more than 70 people in 28 vehicles. The event started at the Golden Gate Hotel with an introduction by Club President Jean Morgan, a safety briefing from co-organiser Murray Dennison and the allocation of the now traditional box per vehicle of mouth-watering Webb’s peaches. The convoy then headed towards the Nevis Valley and on to seek out the source of Bannockburn’s water from the Carrick race.

 

The day’s trip was punctuated by a few vantage point pauses and a welcome picnic lunch break next to the Nevis River and then on to view the Cromwell basin from the shadow of the aerials at the top of Mount Difficulty. A steep hill descent was rewarded by a barbeque in Bannockburn to conclude this year’s Cromwell Rotary 4WD fundraising event. As always, Cromwell Rotary very much appreciates the considerable effort devoted by the team organising the event and the local landowners who permit access during the planning stage and on the day.

www.cromwell.rotarysouthpacific.org

Many hands make light work

The Rotary Club of Hawera, NZ had a working bee on the July 16 in conjunction with the Te Rangatapu Trust at the local Ohawe Beach to plant native plants to enhance the Waingongoro River.

The river has a swimming hole which is very popular in the summer while its populations of brown and rainbow trout draw fishermen from around Taranaki.

This area is also considered a key native ecosystem by the Regional Council for its significant indigenous biodiversity.

Teamwork meant that 60 young and not so young helpers from all sectors of the community planted 380 plants. Native plants included Toetoe, Purei, Taupata, Cabbage Tree, Karaka, Corokis, Akeake, Broadleaf and Totara. These plants will help restore the native vegetation cover to a degraded part of this river system and bring back native birds to the area.

The Ohawe Progressive Association and the Te Rangatapu Trust supplied tea, coffee and a sausage sizzle which were greatly appreciated by the volunteers.

Canterbury Rotary clubs combined to bring a bit of colour to Christchurch

From this

The brainchild of District 9970 Ashburton Rotarian Walter Van Der Kley, ColourMe Christchurch was born on November 4, 2012 because, since the devastating earthquakes, parts of Christchurch had become an unattractive city of vacant land and dust.

Step in 15 local Rotary clubs and 15 vacant lots plus hundreds of volunteers, and by the end of December this landscape had changed to one of beauty.

To this

ColourMe Christchurch set out to plant wild flowers with attractive borders around each plot.  The borders were designed using large truck tyres painted terra cotta, each emblazoned with the Rotary logo.  They were placed around the edge of each plot and filled with Petunias. 

In all more than 100 truck tyres were donated and used.  Behind these, liberal quantities of wild flower seeds were sown (totalling more than 30 kgs).




Done by these Rotarians

Each participating club was involved in the watering and maintenance of their plot.  In most cases, this meant members arriving with various containers of water, and in some instances members of the public emptying their water bottles as they went to work.



The largest plot was nearly 2000 square metres, and it was planted out with more than 1000 Sunflower and 3200 Petunia plants, plus more than 4kgs of wild flowers. On this site we were able to tap into the local water supply and some makeshift irrigation was installed. 

and letting the commuity know who their supporters are

ColourMe Christchurch signage was erected at each site that listed our major sponsors and the contact phone number for enquiries about membership.  We have received a lot of good publicity from the written media, and also a couple of spots on both local and national television. 

Our goal to make a difference has been achieved. Christchurch can be proud once again to call itself “the Garden City”.

 

-          By Gordon Hooper, District 9970 Governor 2012-13

Related links:
http://www.christchurchdailyphoto.com/2012/11/09/colour-me-christchurch/ 

Outstanding beauty available for all

The Pauatahanui Inlet is aptly named ‘The Jewel in the Crown of Porirua City’.

Porirua City, about half an hour north of Wellington in New Zealand, is an area that is home to some of the richest and some of the poorest people in New Zealand. The Rotary Club of Plimmerton has dedicated itself to raising the bar for the poorer communities with projects such as Computers in Homes, Reading in Schools, stocking the Salvation Army Foodbank, organising annual Christmas parties for disadvantaged kids, and many more.

A major project for the club benefits the wider community, and this entails constructing a pathway, Te Ara Piko Pathway, around the Pauatahanui Inlet. The scale of this project is significant, so Plimmerton Rotary and the Porirua City Council have been working in partnership. The pathway runs along the northern edge of the inlet through native salt marshes and wetland habitat – a nationally important estuary.

Both the Rotary Club of Plimmerton and Porirua City Council were recently recognised for their work on the Te Ara Piko Pathway in the 2011 Encore Awards, co-hosted by the Department of Conservation, Wellington Hawke’s Bay Conservancy, Conservation Board and Greater Wellington Regional Council. The Encore Awards honour people going the extra mile to restore, protect and enhance nature and history, and enable others to enjoy it.

The Council has committed significant funds to the project and several organisations, including the New Zealand Walking Access Commission, and Trusts have also donated generously.

Club members advocated for the pathway and acted as project ambassadors, promoting it at festivals, and establishing their own nursery.

Councillor Denys Latham said that the partnership between the Council and the Plimmerton Rotary has been a successful one for many years.  “I congratulate Rotary and our Leisure Assets team for the great work they are doing. The club pushed hard for this pathway, beginning in 2000, and the Council had to respond.”

Rotary club members have assisted with fundraising and actively helped with revegetation plantings along the pathway.

More photos of the progress on the walkway are available on http://rotary.angnz.com/projects/pathway/index.htm

More than twenty years of tradition

On a rainy afternoon in early October, District Governor of Disrtict 9930 – Raewyn Kirkman, found herself and her partner Geoff riding a “Skyline” Gondola up Rotorua’s Mt Ngongotaha, through the misty drizzle, to The “Rotary Walk”. They were not alone in their venture. Several Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Rotorua North, one armed with a spade, joined them on their quest. Two of the assemblage had previously ridden the trail, along with a spritely young Kauri tree, in order to prepare for the occasion.

This whole enterprise is part of a Club tradition, which has occurred each year, for more than twenty years, to commemorate the first visit to the Club, from the DG of that Rotary year.

The Rotary Club of Rotorua North initiative began in the 1987/88 Rotary year as a way for the club to acknowledge and honour the District Governor. It is an on-going project that is enabled by “Skyline”, who allow the Club access via the gondolas, and it aims to compliment the Native replanting of Mt Ngongotaha that is promoted by the Ngongotaha Bush Restoration Trust.

During the District Governors first visit to the Club in his/her year, the members escort the DG and his/her wife, husband or partner up Mt Ngongotaha, by Gondola, to the Rotary Walk which is to the left of the Terminal when you reach the top. The DG and members walk through the “forest” of native trees, some Totara and Kauri and other varieties, planted by Past District Governors, to a pre-prepared area where their tree awaits. Photos of the tree planting are taken and the views are enjoyed by all, over refreshments in the Café afterwards.

The Rotary Club of Rotorua North has performed this tradition since two years after it was Chartered and except for three District Governors, Tom Ryan (88/89), Jim Ross (89/90) and Jim Judd (90/91), who for some unknown reason do not appear in the Club Records, all feature on the “Honour Board” and have a Native Tree on Mt Ngongotaha, planted in their name, to show their Children, Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren. Twenty-two District Governors, now including DG Raewyn, have trees planted and feature on the Honour Board at the entrance to the Walk which is also marked by the Rotary Wheel. This symbol is so very recognisable to so many of the thousands of people that visit “Skyline” each year from throughout New Zealand and the World. The walk is “perpetual promotion” of Rotary and the Rotary Club of Rotorua North is very proud to maintain it for all to enjoy.

Submitted by:  Rotary Club of Rotorua North www.taggedtrout.co.nz/rotary