Friends of Matapouri Environment Day 2009

Saturday 24 October 10am - 2pm Matapouri Hall

Saturday of Labour Weekend turned out to be a beautiful sunny day to greet over 200 people who attended the 2nd Friends of Matapouri Environment Day.
The star attraction for kids and adults alike was Sparky the Kiwi from the Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Centre who came along with Robert and Robyn Webb to promote the care of kiwi and the fantastic work they do at the Centre.

Rob from the Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Centre holding Sparky the Kiwi attracts a large crowd of kids and adults

Also on display was information about other threatened birds in our environment with an impressive display put up by Scott Theobald from the Department of Conservation. Scott brought along his two working dogs that are trained to hunt rats, cats and other predators.

Mike Cam from Tutukaka Land Care Association brought everyone up to date with the recent kiwi release in our area. We found out that there are approximately 200 kiwis living in our local area.

Mike gives a talk about the release of Kiwi in our area

There were about 10 stalls displaying information pertinent to our fragile coastal environment and its protection. NRC had a busy day talking with visitors and handing out information about pests and weeds, looking after our waterways and how to maintain septic tanks.

Northland Regional Council stand attracted many interested residents and visitors.

As well as the stalls there was forum in the hall in the afternoon and presenters were invited to talk about their area of expertise.

• Antoinette Mitchell, the WDC Emergency Manager gave a very informative and topical talk about civil defence. The audience was especially interested in tsunami information. This has now sparked a small group of local people to get actively involved in a co-ordinated civil defence plan.
• Dr Ingrid Visser spoke to a spell bound audience about her work with NZ orca and showed amazing photos.
• Information about Te Arahoa (the national walkway from Cape Reinga to Bluff) was given by local area co-ordinator, Stefan Sietzer. There are plans for local areas to ‘adopt a track’ in their area to help with maintenance.
•  Jeroen Jongejan from Dive! Tutukaka shared his vision for a marine reserve for Northland’s coastline.

The Environment Day was a great success and brought together people who are passionate about their local area and want to pass on their knowledge to others. Friends of Matapouri formed two years ago on Labour weekend and plan to hold the Environment Day each year at this time. The aim is to provide informative and educational information to residents and visitors about the care of the environment.

Dr Ingrid Visser on all things Orca

You can download a PDF version of our poster (size 147KB and you need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the file)

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Come and meet Sparky with his handler Robert Webb from the Native Bird Recovery Centre in Whangarei.

Visit the Native Bird Recovery Centre website>>

Patsy Waetford and Jenny MacMath selling raffle tickets for Otito Reserve legal fund. The Eco Store donated a bucket full of environmentally friendly products to raffle.

Nellie and Barry Ollard cook up a storm on the Sausage Sizzle stall

Last updated: December 18, 2009 •
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