Latest news with #ProjectTongariro
RNZ News
04-08-2025
- Science
- RNZ News
Our Changing World: Turning Taupō green
Project Tongariro staff and 'wicked weeders' volunteers. Photo: Claire Concannon / RNZ On 9 December 1982, a helicopter accident on Mt Ruapehu claimed five lives. The pilot and four National Park staff had been testing a new lighting system for night-time search and rescue. Two years later, a living memorial, the Tongariro Natural History Society, was established in their honour. The society's aims were to care for, and connect people to, Tongariro National Park. Today, more than 40 years later, the work of this group continues. Follow Our Changing World on Apple , Spotify , iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts It's on the drive from Tūrangi to the Waimarino wetland that the problem becomes apparent. "This is known as the willow corridor," says Kiri Te Wano, current CEO of the Tongariro Natural History Society, which today goes by Project Tongariro. Both sides of this stretch of State Highway 1 are thick with a dense forest of grey willow. Shirley Potter in an electric buggy at Oruatua Reserve. Photo: Kiri Te Wano "Absolute nightmare," says volunteer Shirley Potter. "And when the grey willow are seeding you're just floating through a cloud of seeds and you think, oh, how many of those are going to grow?" Grey willow is known as an ecosystem transformer - when it invades an area it completely takes over, excluding native plants and the animals who need them. Cutting it back doesn't work - you need herbicide and, because of its ability to produce seeds and reinvade, you also need persistence and careful planning. That's why ecologist Nick Singers is applying detailed precision to the operation. Mapping grey willow with a drone. Photo: Nick Singers. In his home office in Tūrangi, aerial images stitched together from drone pictures are marked with the location of each willow tree in the wetland area they are trying to restore. An area is assigned for treatment, either from aerial control via a helicopter or ground control, in which contractors hand-drill and inject herbicide into each tree stem. After the operation, the images are updated with the GPS marks from both teams on which plants have been poisoned. This means Nick can track what's done, as well as what's left to do and how much it will cost. The wetland area is important for native wildlife. Its lagoons are home to some of New Zealand's most cryptic and threatened birds. Shirley Potter and Nick Singers at Waimarino Wetland. Photo: Claire Concannon / RNZ "The latest population count for bittern is that there might be 700 to 800 left in the entirety of New Zealand," says Nick. "And so, these areas are critical. And really what we've been doing is to try and maintain the habitat in a healthy state. So, they've got somewhere to feed, they've got somewhere to nest. And that's the best sort of management we can do." Project Tongariro are working with DOC and local hapū to help conserve large wetland areas beside Lake Taupō. Not just battling willow, but also pest trapping and replanting. But restoring wetlands is just one of the conservation efforts that the project is involved in. The initial efforts of the society in the 1980s were focused on Tongariro National Park. The society was a network of people who loved the park and were prepared to chip in alongside park staff. It supported small restoration projects through an annual membership model and publishing books about the park. Over the years, the society grew, became more financially stable and eventually employed dedicated staff, increasing the organisation's capacity to get involved in larger conservation efforts in the area. Predator and weed control, planting projects, wilding pine removal, environmental education - today the society is involved in a wide range of projects and it employs nine staff in the region, spread between Raetihi, Tūrangi and Taupō. Heidi Pritchard from Kids Greening Taupō with student leaders Emily, Jack and Taylor from Taupō Intermediate school. Photo: Claire Concannon / RNZ In 2012, Greening Taupō was established under the Project Tongariro umbrella. Its goal is to enable urban restoration within the town. It was swiftly followed by the Kids Greening Taupō and then Predator Free Taupō projects. Kiri Te Wano sees Project Tongariro's role today as providing opportunities for people to be involved, however they can, and having projects close to where people are is key to that. "Our vision and goals do talk about Tongariro National Park and our hearts and minds are there, but we also talk about its environs," she says. "So, we took that to mean that we could also expand outwards a little bit. Doing restoration work next to small communities is quite difficult. So, we made the conscious decision to move closer to a larger community." Kiri Te Wano, CEO of Project Tongariro. Photo: Claire Concannon / RNZ Rachel Thompson is a bit of a local celebrity around Taupō, getting spotted wherever she goes. Through her role as lead education coordinator with Kids Greening Taupō , she's known by most kids in the area. It currently has 46 schools and kindergartens that have restoration planting projects with it, either on their own grounds or on neighbouring council land. Robyn Ellis, the coordinator of Greening Taupō. Photo: Rachel Thompson She's also credited with the idea for 'Greening Taupō Day' - an annual festival in which local schools and community members are encouraged to dress in green, plant trees and get involved in different activities run by the 50 or so stall holders that also come along. This year's effort, on a soggy 5 June, saw 2000 people show up and 3000 trees planted. The focus of these planting projects is to create 'bird corridors' - green forested veins though Taupō to connect Mt Tauhara to the south with the Waikato river corridor and Wairakei Golf and Sanctuary to the north. But a further goal is to educate and inspire the next generation of environmentalists, who are also bringing their whānau along with them, says Rachel. The 2025 Greening Taupō festival. Photo: Rachel Thompson "We've got over 100 children signed up to our extracurricular student leadership team, they all come along to the planting days with their families and they lead the planting days. They show everyone how to plant. They've brought the community on board with them." Project Tongariro began as a way to remember local environmentalists, people who cared deeply about the place they lived and worked in. Over four decades later, this living memorial is still going strong, powered by those same kind of people, says Kiri. "People who are just so passionate about what they do and where they live ... I just feel so lucky working with these people and absorbing, you know, their knowledge." Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
RNZ News
04-08-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Turning Taupo green
Project Tongariro was established as a living memorial for five people who died in a tragic helicopter accident. Last November, the project turned 40 years old. Over those four decades, activities have expanded beyond Tongariro National Park and into the wider area, including urban restoration through tree planting and predator trapping. Claire Concannon visits the TaupÅ-based projects that Project Tongariro is supporting as they prepare for Greening TaupÅ Day - their biggest planting day of the year. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
28-07-2025
- General
- RNZ News
The willows and the wetland
In November 2024 Project Tongariro turned 40 years old. It started as a living memorial in response to a helicopter crash tragedy on Mount Ruapehu, with the mission to care for Tongariro National Park and its surrounds. Four decades on Project Tongariro continues to support conservation, education and engagement activities in the region. Claire Concannon joins the team to learn about battling willow to restore a wetland, and community efforts to replant a local reserve. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
27-05-2025
- General
- RNZ News
'Nank would be chuffed' - Native bush stays in public hands thanks to donation from late conservationist
Nank descending Elie De Beaumont. Photo: Supplied When Wellington's regional council placed the winning bid on a huge block of farmland and native bush in the hills behind Eastbourne, it was only possible with the help of a million-dollar donation from the estate of a local conservationist. John Nankervis, who died aged 75 in 2022 after a stroke, left his estate to conservation projects after a lifetime exploring the outdoors. An avid tramper, climber and conservationist, his friends paint a picture of a thoughtful man with a wicked sense of humour, one who listened before he talked, and who often took on the role of mentor for younger adventurers. Project Tongariro president Paul Green had known him for decades. They had moved in the same circles since their early 20s, part of a growing group of Wellington trampers and climbers in the days when those pursuits were really becoming popular. He rarely went by his given name - Green said he had called him John maybe twice, in formal settings. Instead, he went by Nank. Green said they worked together closely in their various conservation roles, himself in national park management, and Nank serving on both the Tongariro-Taupō conservation board and the Conservation Authority. Nank was a life member of Project Tongariro, and a little over $75,000 from his estate had been granted to two of its planting projects - at Whakaipo Bay at the northern edge of Lake Taupō, and the Oruatua Reserve Restoration Project beside the Tauranga-Taupō River. John Nankervis - who died aged 75 in 2022 - left his estate for conservation projects. Photo: Supplied Nank was a good sounding board, Green said, with a deep knowledge of the law and his familiarity with the landscape. He could be cryptic, sometimes cynical, often the devil's advocate. "He certainly kept me honest." Nank's day job was as a lawyer in Wellington, but his friends suspected he would have preferred to follow in the footsteps of his famous grandfather Ernest Marsden, as a scientist. He was one of the first people to climb all of New Zealand's 3000-metre peaks - "A real mission in the early days," Green said, "when access and equipment wasn't as good as it is today." Nank climbed all over the world - in South America and the Himalayas, in India, Nepal, China, Pakistan, Antarctica, Mongolia, the European Alps, and the United Kingdom. According to a story in a book of tributes from his friends, he twice declined invitations to join expeditions to Mount Everest, preferring the paths less travelled. He served as president of the New Zealand Alpine Club, represented New Zealand at the UIAA (International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation) for a decade, and was named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to mountaineering in 2010. A climbing accident in 2013, by which time Nank was in his sixties, changed his life irreversibly. The fall from a ridgeline on Mount Awful in Mount Aspiring National Park left him paralysed. In 2013, RNZ's Checkpoint interviewed search and rescue mission co-ordinator Dave Wilson, who said Nank fell 100 metres, and suffered multiple injuries, including to his head. He was taken to Queenstown Medical Centre by rescue helicopter, and then transferred to Dunedin Hospital. The fall broke his back, and he would use a wheelchair for the rest of his life, but he remained a stalwart of the climbing and conservation scene. Nank on Montague Spur. Photo: Supplied Fellow climber Ross Cullen knew him for more than 40 years. Together, along with two others, they founded the Tūpiki Trust four years ago, with a goal to gather bequests and donations to support New Zealand climbers, and protect climbing areas. "He was single, wealthy, and could allocate his time pretty much as he wished," Cullen said. "He was able to fit in a lot of work on boards, and managed to fit in a lot of trips into the mountains in New Zealand, and overseas." The Tūpiki Trust had been able to provide grants for conservation projects worth more than $2 million in the past four years, Cullen said, with much of it coming from Nank's estate. "People who read about what's happened say that Nank would be chuffed if he was here." (From left) Guy Cotter, John Nankervis and Sir Edmund Hillary. Photo: Supplied The trust had supported 60 projects so far, which was "quite remarkable", Cullen said. Nank was an avid climber becoming one of the first to scale all NZ's 3000 metre peaks. Photo: Supplied "It's succeeded in that sense beyond our wildest dreams," he said. "The challenge for the trust is to continue, and to draw in donations and bequests from other people, because Nank's money can't last forever." The executors of Nank's estate preferred not to say how many projects had been funded, or by how much. But Zealandia was another notable recipient. Chief executive Danielle Shanahan said it had contributed to two significant projects within the Wellington eco-sanctuary. The first was a raised path on Te Māhanga track to protect the Pepeketua/Hamilton's frogs, which were released from their enclosed pens into the wider sanctuary in August last year . "It's a boardwalk that enables people to walk through the sanctuary without having an impact or crushing these little cryptic frogs," Shanahan said. The second contribution was going towards the replacement of the Zealandia fence, which was by now 25 years old. "We've got new metals that are options, new tools and techniques. We need to develop a blueprint to help us replace the rest of the fence going forward," Shanahan said. These projects were "big, meaty asks". Zealandia could absorb its business-as-usual cost, she said, but to take things to the next level - "that's where philanthropy comes in". "It really does enable that long-term thinking, and enables organisations like ours to think about what that future might look like." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Scoop
12-05-2025
- General
- Scoop
Rising From Transition To Triumph: Volunteer Great Lake Taupō Celebrates One Year Of Renewed Purpose
Press Release – Volunteer Great Lake Taupo Volunteers whod like to explore opportunities or learn how to connect with causes close to their heart are encouraged to come along on June 7th or book a one-on-one krero with us at Waiora House. When the Taupō Council of Social Services (TCOSS) closed its doors after 30+ years of dedicated service last year, the future of local volunteer coordination hung in the balance. What could have been the end of an era instead became the catalyst for remarkable renewal. On his final day as Volunteer Great Lake Taupō (VGLT) Coordinator under TCOSS, Julian Bishop launched COMAVOL—the inaugural Community and Volunteer Expo—planting the seed for what would become a flourishing movement. A Critical Transition In the eleventh hour, two crucial lifelines emerged: emergency funding from the Department of Internal Affairs and the welcoming embrace of a new umbrella organisation, the Tongariro Natural History Society Inc. (Project Tongariro). Known for conservation initiatives like Greening Taupō, Kids Greening, and Predator Free programmes, Project Tongariro's commitment to community and environment proved the perfect match for VGLT's vision. 'We are deeply grateful to Kiri Te Wano, CEO of Project Tongariro, and its Board of Trustees, who championed the transition and provided a much-needed bridge,' says Bishop, who continues to lead VGLT with the same passion that has defined his tenure. 'The support of long-time partners like Malcolm Flowers, Mad Media, and Quality Print ensured our vision had not just momentum, but a home to grow.' From Survival to Thriving What began as a rescue mission has evolved into a renaissance. In just twelve months, VGLT has: Established a new, highly-trained Board of Trustees committed to governance excellence Secured charitable trust status, creating a solid foundation for future growth Transformed COMAVOL into a flagship annual event showcasing community impact Pioneered micro-volunteering opportunities that make giving back more accessible Built strategic partnerships across the district to amplify community efforts Hosted the prestigious Volunteer Centre Network Aotearoa (VCNA) Hui Secured crucial operational funding through the Taupō District Council Accelerator Fund Welcomed Tremains as the naming sponsor for the Volunteer Service Awards Leadership for the Future The new VGLT Board brings diverse expertise and unified purpose: Michelle Simpson (Chair) – Strategic leadership from the mental health and addiction support sector – Independent Living CHOICES Ian Jackson – Extensive public service and governance experience Tania Abel (Treasurer) – Professional accounting expertise from Strettons Jane Fogden (Secretary) – Deep volunteer sector knowledge as one founders of Volunteer Kapiti Abhinav Batta – Commercial acumen as current President of the Taupō Business Chamber Looking Forward 'Last year, we weren't sure if Taupō would still have a volunteer centre. This year, we've never been busier,' reflects Bishop. The 2025 COMAVOL Community and Volunteer Expo, scheduled for June 7th, is already shaping up to eclipse last year's successful debut. Additionally, the Repair Café returns on June 28th—a collaboration with Bike Taupō, Taupō District Council, the Timebank Community Garden, Project Tongariro and VGLT. Join the Movement Volunteer Great Lake Taupō exists because Taupō believes in its volunteers and understands that transformative change happens through collective action. For organisations seeking volunteer support who cannot attend COMAVOL, VGLT stands ready to help connect them with willing hands and passionate hearts. 'We don't just stand on the shoulders of those who came before,' says Bishop. 'We move forward arm in arm, building a more connected, empowered district through every act of generosity, every shared event, and every meaningful contribution.' Whether you're a local wanting to lend a hand or simply curious about what's happening in your community, COMAVOL is your invitation to get involved. Volunteers who'd like to explore opportunities or learn how to connect with causes close to their heart are encouraged to come along on June 7th or book a one-on-one kōrero with us at Waiora House. Just call, email, or visit to arrange a time. Now more than ever, Taupō needs its volunteers, and we're here to help you find your perfect match..
