A visit to Mangarara
On Wednesday last week, I had a very enjoyable day in Hawke’s Bay as a guest of the Air New Zealand Environmental Trust.
The Trust was set up by Air NZ, who gave it an initial donation. Passengers can also donate to the trust here, to offset the environmental impact of their flights. And yes our flights to Napier were offset!
The Trust invited several bloggers along, being very open about the fact they wanted to increase awareness of what they do.
There were three other bloggers there. Matthew and Waveney who are trying to live wastefree for an entire year. They talk about the day on their blog.
Carlin Archer from Ecobob was the other blogger, and he talks about the day here. He has the best collection of photos.
The highlight for me was Ruud Kleinpaste – the Bugman. His enthusiasm for biodiversity was infectious. He had fun showing off his katipo and his wetas.
So why was I there, amongst all these dedicated environmentalists? I certainly don’t walk the walk like they do. But I guess in someway I may be like the average Kiwi in that I do a bit – I do recycle most of the the rubbish, I use eco-friendly lightbulbs, I absolutely adore the outdoors, support the World Wildlife Fund through a monthly donation etc., and use public transport almost daily.
We spent the day at Greg and Rachel’s Mangarara Family Farm. This is the view from the House – their own private lake! Horseshoe Lake is a 30ha wildlife sanctuary on the farm.
The overall farm is 300 hectares and their aim is to restore as much of the original ecosystem as possible, so they are planing native forests and converting it to a sustainable beef and sheep station. The forests will also act as carbon sinks to help with offsetting greenhouse gas emissions. That’s a triple win with more native forest, a more sustainable farm and lower net carbon emissions for NZ.
The Air NZ Trust’s first project is a conservation programme involving more than 100 acres on Mangarara Station. It will financially contribute to the purchase and planting of 85,000 trees over the next three years.
It’s am ambitious challenge, especially as there has been no rain since mid August! So they took advantage of our presence to have us help water some of the saplings, using lake water.
We rode on the back of some sturdy farm vehicles to an existing area of native forest. For several kms there are plain fields only, and suddenly this little patch of wonderful greenery. It even has a small little bach out there, making it an ideal hideaway. We nailed some bamboo tubes (known as weta motels) to some of the trees, as they help attract wetas, which form an important part of the ecosystem. I got bitten by a weta when I was seven, so I had to overcome my natural genocidal instncts towards them 
I really enjoyed the day learning more about the work of the trust at Mangarara, and meeting a lovely group of people. We have one of the greenest countries on Earth, but it will only stay that way people making a commitment to it.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:04 am
DPF – I am surprised at you, I really am.
The Mangarara Trust is just another con job by big business. Yes it has some good effects – like the people putting their time into planting trees would have been outside the Air NZ office in past years waving placards about global warming and putting pressure on Air NZ for better efficiencies. But instead they are planting trees and they think Air NZ is just so nice and cuddly.
You may have seen a report recently that showed grass covered country – or even things like cereals – were better at absorbing CO2 than forest were. Its just goes to show that people whould do the studies before they jump to conclusions (the conclusion here being that the trees at Mangarara would absorb more Co 2 than the grass they replaced)
Its also very encouraging to see that at the IPCC conference in Poland (I think) some more level headed statements have emerged with another 600 scientists distancing themseklves from the IPCC propoganda.
Ive always felt that if CO2 really is THE cause , then the very obvious solution is nulcear energy – its the only reliable big volume source that is any good and CO2 free. But no one from the “Global Warming’ set ever promotes it. Wonder why? maybe they really dont believe in global warming anyway and all they are really after is another 10 years funding from a bullied government.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:25 am
You seem to be under the mistaken impression the Trust is just about offsetting carbon. It isn’t. The project is also about enhancing biodiversity and restoring natural ecosystems.
December 16th, 2008 at 11:04 am
What are you collecting in buckets in the middle picture?
December 16th, 2008 at 11:16 am
We’re pouring water on the trees as it has not rained for almost four months.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Might I recommend that in the interest of offsetting carbon, enhancing bio diversity and restoring natural ecosystems that the Trust trade in their sturdy farm vehicles for some sturdy horses.
December 16th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Rudd Kleinpaste is bigger on biodiversity restoration than carbon offsets fwiw.
If you prefer your wetas through the vantage of the monitor, I’ve managed some nice photos in the past ( http://chthoniid.zenfolio.com/p470492842 )
Lots of spiders hidden away here http://chthoniid.zenfolio.com/f91678765
December 16th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
As a personal observation, my enthusiasm for WWF took a hit in the 1990s. The organisation under went a bit of a struggle between the ‘scientists’ and the ‘marketers’, with the marketers winning.
A consequence of that has been a pretty heavy conservation emphasis on species that are err, say somewhat charismatic even if not especially threatened.
I tend to prefer smaller conservation NGOs with specific goals and measurable targets, and that aren’t afraid to tackle some of the less well-known species.
December 16th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
I know the family at Mangarara and early in November spent a day on the bowling green with Greg’s father. Big business they are not. Just Farmers with enough enterprise to go to Air New Zealand for some funding to clean up, develop and extend what are natural wetlands and native bush. As I understand it the Air New Zealand money is mainly applied to extending the native bush area.
Did they take you to the Patangata Tavern while you were there?
December 17th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Very interesting blog and comments.
I’d put you in as “hard green” as opposed to soft. The distinction…
http://reason.com/news/show/27580.html