BFTAdmin | Matuku Link

Girl Power!

BFTAdmin — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 05:25:38 +0000

For the third year in a row, the Girl Guides came to help us! Some of the plants the girls planted as little saplings three years ago, were now twice the girl’s height! After a short welcome by myself, an introduction on mammals and predator control by expert James Russel who conveniently joined us in his capacity of father of little Emma, we gathered the plants and headed out to the planting site. Led by the ever engaging Derek and Jenny from our end, and Katherine and her team of leaders from her end, the girls and their siblings and carers did a great job of planting over 150 trees, grasses and shrubs on the north east side of our river culvert.

The weather totally played along and a couple of hours later all was done and dusted (or more accurately: done and muddy!) and the group enjoyed their well deserved lunch. Unfortunately the river was too muddy after recent rains to see any eels, but they’ll just have to come back to see them. So see you next year, young ladies!

Hope to see you there! – Annalily & the trustees

Celebrate Conservation Week

BFTAdmin — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 05:24:47 +0000

Come and pot a plant, plant a tree, rescue a reed or search for a scrub… it’s all part of our September Working Bee for Conservation Week!

With the floods from last week, a lot of debris has been collected in the tops of our newly planted trees and shrubs: time to give them some air and rescue them before the next floods deposits even more. If planting is more your thing, join our nursery team to help pot up some small ones to give them the best start for the coming season, ready to be planted next year. Or take advantage of the soft soil (mud alarm!) and clear out our nursery by planting everything big enough to go into the ground. We’ve got flax coming out of our ears! (Figuratively speaking, luckily..). Whatever you fancy to do to help us help our wetland, you’re welcome. As usual it starts at 10 am (but some keen ones will be there earlier) and we finish at 1 pm with a shared lunch. We provide hot drinks and hot soup and if you’re lucky even home made breads… feel free to join us for a social chat in the sun (the latter not guaranteed!).

Perhaps you’ll even spot one of our native birds: tui, kereru and piwakawaka are guaranteed, but maybe you’ll even hear or see a matata (fernbird), a rare pateke (brown teal) or our shy namesake matuku (bittern)…who knows…

Bring: rain gear, water bottle and shared lunch if you like. And arrive with squeaky clean boots! We are still kauri dieback free and we really like to keep it that way.

Gloves, spades etc will be provided. If you bring your own, again they need to be completely clean, not a speck of mud in sight please.

Hope to see you there, contact me if you’ve got any questions: matukulink@gmail.com or 021-2207136. Note that there is no cellphone reception on site…

All the best, Annalily & team of Matuku Link volunteers.

The financial backstory

BFTAdmin — Sun, 25 Aug 2019 21:32:46 +0000

Mortgage free in 3 years, for a $2,040.000 property? The trustees of the Matuku Reserve Trust had it on their wish list, and their wish came true, with the help of many parties along the way. This is the story of an Auckland unicorn…

The story starts over fifteen years ago, with John Staniland and John Sumich approaching the late Henk van Steeden to buy a landlocked piece of land of him to add to the Forest & Bird reserve “Matuku”. He agreed and after much sausage sizzling and fundraising, that block was bought. Henk used some of the proceeds to reroof his house on 111 Bethells Road.

One of the trustees of Matuku Reserve Trust is Geoff Davidson, well known as the founder and owner of Oratia Native Nursery, and less known as a founder and trustee of the Native Forest Restoration Trust (NFRT). In 2005/6 when NFRT was given substantial funding from a donor who requested to use it to purchase ecologically important land within an hour of Auckland. After much searching NFRT recommended the extension of F&B’s 120 hectare Matuku Reserve, by acquisition of the 37 hectare property at 111 Bethells Rd, but when approached Mr Van Steeden declined to sell, but did discuss the idea with his family. When Mr van Steeden past away ten years later in November 2015, his family remembered his support of the idea of selling it to a community group to look after the land and protect it from being subdivided. When approached, his family generously extended the time for the newly formed Matuku Reserve Trust to find the funds for this amazing opportunity to protect a wetland habitat, create a safe link between several conservation projects (Matuku Reserve, Ark in the Park, Habitat te Henga) and with the potential for a wetland education centre, a nursery and an accommodation facility.

Six months of begging, borrowing and fundraising started, and everyone came to the party. First off the blocks was the Native Forest Restoration Trust with the large sum of $450,000, followed by $300,000 from the Nature Heritage Fund, $80,000 from Forest and Bird Waitakere and $30,000 from the Waitakere Ranges Protection Society (WRPS). And this were just the not-for-profits! Individuals and businesses were maybe even more generous: through Givealittle, our own networks and incredible volunteers over $120,000 was raised. The combined total was enough to buy the land with a interest free mortgage provided by the family for the other half of the amount. When the deadline for the mortgage came up, an incredible local business owner and volunteer provided an interest free loan to extend the period for fundraising.

But how could the trust get their hands on the funds to pay off the remaining loan of one million dollars? Right from the start, a couple of smart minds came up with the plan to sell “Transferable Development Rights”. Very simplified, it is like carbon trading: you can sell your rights to subdivide to someone else. This is a seldom used option in the Auckland regional plan to provide the opportunity to protect large land blocks (the “donor site” has to be a minimum size, and of high ecological value, for instance a native bush block) and transferring those rights to the buyer on a donor site which is of low ecological value (in our case a paddock in Rodney). In exchange for selling those “TDR’s”, the donor site will be protected by a covenant, ensuring the best outcome for the environment.

And it sounds quite simple and straightforward, which is probably why our volunteer Vianney Newman-Watt agreed to do the legal work for us for free, as she in her day job she is a partner at Cairns Slane barristers and solicitors. How wrong we were! Almost three years later, hundreds of emails, several surveys, multiple meetings and with help from many more people, we finally got there. Vianney was amazing and never expressed any regret on taking on the job, which obviously was a million times larger then anticipated! Slowly but surely pushed along by the trustees with Chad Wilkie as chair we finally received the email that the trust now fully owns the property at 111 Bethells Road in the last week of August 2019.

Can we rest on our laurels now? Not at all! This is just the first step in the grand plans for Matuku Link. Of course we keep looking after our ecosystem, with trapping and baiting and planting, but we’re also welcoming groups and adding displays in our upgraded barn. In the next couple of years we’d like to add a fully accessible trail through the wetland and bush areas, and start the process of the design and build of a fully Sustainable Wetland Education Centre, with indoor facilities and staff to host and educate groups, researchers and schools as well as have a financial model to keep it all ticking over (a shop, cafe, nursery and co-working spaces spring to mind).

But for now, we’re first going to celebrate this big milestone. Do join us for our Third Anniversary Party on Saturday 2nd of November! Details to come shortly, but we’re working on something really special.

A huge, 2.4 million dollars worth of THANK YOU’s to all of you, all our supporters who gave their time, money and energy so generously to make this happen.

Annalily & the trustees

Some of the news articles:

A picture is worth…

BFTAdmin — Sun, 04 Aug 2019 07:01:06 +0000

… a thousand words? Even more in our case I image, as it is very hard to describe a leaf of a tree, a rare bird or the energy of a group of volunteers. That is why we are extremely blessed to have not one, not two but THREE semi-professional photographers in our midst. Jacqui Geux runs the facebook page Waitakere Ranges West and does bird surveys for our neighbour Ark in the Park. No wonder she can find rare birds where others can’t, and if it wasn’t for that skill, we would miss out on many bird sightings, including our recent discovery of a pateke with a yellow (2015) leg band!

Stefan Marks has been a very regular volunteers at our working bees and events, and usually he brings along his enormous camera. Combined with this eye for detail and ear for birdsong, he is FAST and sends me a link to his pictures almost as soon as the day is over…We’ve got him to thank for catching the vibe of our Open Day, Kayak Days and many over our working bees, as well as for the action shots of birds in the air. He also contributes his pictures to the Birds Auckland facebook page.

Eric van Essen focuses on the small and the green, and is in the process of documenting everything you might encounter when you would visit either of our reserves. When he does his trap line on neighbouring Matuku Reserve or joins Matuku Link for a working bee, he always takes a bit longer than strictly necessary, as he’ll be botanising and taking pictures along the way. Some of his pictures are already in two white ring binders which we use to show our visitors what certain birds or plants look like when we’re talking about them.

And of course many volunteers are skilled photographers and share some of their highlights with me after their visit. Thank you for those, keep them coming and I’ll try credit you when I can (let me know if I forgot!).

Thank you Eric, Stefan and Jacqui for sharing your talents and keen eye with us, it helps me to tell the Matuku Link story 1000 times better.

Annalily – secretary Matuku Link

(Top picture: fern bird – matata – by Stefan)

Big Barn Yarn

BFTAdmin — Sun, 04 Aug 2019 03:03:04 +0000

Remember how we started when we got the keys to Matuku Link in January 2017? Every working bee was about rubbish, cleaning up and clearing out. A lot of the work focussed around the old, ‘well ventilated’ barn, with the vision to restore it and turn it into our Sustainable Wetland Education Centre.

Two-and-a-half years later, we’ve been enjoying many cup of tea in the barn, sheltering from the rain with volunteers, business groups or school children, made in our temporary “kitchen” with donated cups and Girl Guide cookies. Thanks to the “Million Dollar Mission” grant of $85.000 from The Trusts, we were able to buy materials and get the asbestos professionally removed. TTCF gave another $40.000 towards our new roof and Natural Flow wastewater treatment system. But we are most grateful and supported by all the people who so generously gave and are giving their time and expertise to this project: lawyers, builders, electricians, plumbers, handymen and women, designers, architects, doctors, students…

Sometimes it is hard to see how much has happened if you only see incremental changes each month, that is why I’ve collated some images of the process of our barn becoming our education center… for all to see, share and be proud of their part in it!

With a very special mention to our trustee John Sumich, who has been instrumental not only in his vision for the property, but specifically with his incredible supply of energy and enthusiasm on site, leading the teams and charging ahead, restoring the ecosystem as well as the barn!

Happy scrolling (click on an image to enlarge, then on the arrow to the right to go the the next one).

Winter Working Bee

BFTAdmin — Sun, 04 Aug 2019 02:09:05 +0000

Planting has never been so easy…with the ground soft and muddy, it was more akin to ladling chocolate pudding than our usual sweat-inducing exercise trying to dig a hole! In some cases this did result in mud actually flowing into shoes and sneakers, creating squishy socks for the rest of the day. A wet reminder to wear gumboots on our planting days in winter, not just tramping boots. To balance out the easy work, a couple of brave volunteers pulled out re-sprouting gorse and blackberry, triumphant when getting another of these thorny pests out.

Because we were with many, it was a sunny day and the soil was soft, we finished early and most of us went back to the barn to start on lunch with lovely home made soups, breads and salads. Our photographers Jacqui and Stefan went for a walk with John and discovered… a second pair of pateke (brown teal) in our most recently dug pond! One of the pair was wearing a yellow leg band, which means it is one birds originally translocated to Te Henga in 2015. It was the highlight of the day to hear it is still around, looking happy and healthy. And as this is a pair, let’s hope they start breeding soon as well.

Our upcoming working bees are always on the Third Sunday of the month, from 10 am to 1 pm. The next ones are:

Sunday August 18th
Sunday September 15th
Sunday October 20th

A big “thank you” to all of you who have came along before, and a big “welcome” to new volunteers! We start at 10 am as (although some eager beavers are usually there from 8.30 am) and keep going until 1 pm, followed by a shared lunch (optional). There is no public transport unfortunately but ample parking spots, and the opportunity to go to the beach afterwards. Let us know if you’ve got any questions, otherwise just turn up at 111 Bethells Road, with suitable gear (sunscreen and/or rain coats) and sturdy, CLEAN, footwear. This is important because we are kauri dieback free, and like to keep it this way.

This Sunday we’re hoping to plant around our Natural Flow system and mulching around them. If the weather is horrible, we’ll work in the nursery (or just get soaked!)… if there is anything you specifically like to do, drop us a line.

Thanks to all who came and hope to see you next time! – Annalily & the trustees

All images by our voluntary professional photographer Jacqui Geux – thank you!

Big Green Day Out

BFTAdmin — Tue, 02 Jul 2019 23:38:44 +0000

For the second year in a row, the team of Ricoh showed up en masse for the Big Green Day Out! Great to have such an enthusiastic team of people helping us to plant, weed and learn about the environment. The weeding was around the trees which were planted by Ricoh staff and their families last year, and we can honestly say some of the trees grew faster than some of the children who planted them… and we all know how fast those 4-year-olds shoot up!

After all the hard work (almost double the number of plants and trees were planted this year compared to last year – a whopping 850 of them), the catering was well deserved and definitely enjoyed by all. Every time it amazes us volunteers how those professional caterers deal with our “interesting” location and manage to serve not only delicious coffees and treats, but also a hot lunch with vegetarian options galore to suit every taste and requirement. I’m certain that if we would provide this kind of catering at our working bees, we’d have a parking issue with the number of volunteers wanting to join us!!!

On top of all this, Ricoh generously supports our Million Metres fundraiser towards more stream side restoration: https://millionmetres.org.nz/open-project/matuku-link-restoring-a-rare-bird-haven. If you work in a team or at a business who wants to do a similar “give back” or “community day” at Matuku Link, please contact me. We still have enough plants ready to be planted!

Thank you to all the Ricoh staff, volunteers and family members, managers and supporters for their mahi, thank you to our own volunteers to prepare the site, grow the plants, help set up, guide the groups and just be there as support for these big team days.

All the best and hope to see you back next year,

Annalily & the trustees of Matuku Link – matukulink@gmail.com

All images by our voluntary professional photographer Stefan Marks – thank you!

June Working Bee

BFTAdmin — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 07:13:42 +0000

Despite the forecast, it only rained once… and with perfect timing, it came down at noon: a great excuse to pack up and have lunch. A very well deserved lunch it was, with all the tasks John had in mind for today, over and done with. Yeah! And even some tasks which weren’t on his list were finished: a long awaited gate to keep the pukeko out of the nursery, potting up of small seedlings and weeding the many plants for our upcoming big planting day with Ricoh. The main task however was to prepare the site for the Ricoh planting: along the “canal” next to “Hercules Bridge” (named after the movie which was filmed here). Mowing, raking and staking were the jobs of the day, to ensure all the plants will be placed where they will grow best.

Highlight of the day was the lunch, as usual, with beautiful soups and breads and even a vegan banana cake to celebrate “International Volunteer Week”. Well, according to me it is every week Volunteer Week, especially with this project, as nobody is employed it would all come to a grinding halt if it wasn’t for all of your amazing voluntary work.

Thank you, once again, and hope to see you next Working Bee, on Sunday 21st of July, 10 am to 1 pm.

Annalily & the trustees – with two of them living the life in Europe at the moment!

Winter Working Bees

BFTAdmin — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 10:01:09 +0000

Winter Working Bees are usually all about water: rain from above, levels rising in the river, making the soil nice and muddy… a great time to do weeding (soft soil is so much easier to pull roots out of), planting, re-potting and with young ones (of all ages): playing in the mud!!!

Our upcoming working bees are always on the Third Sunday of the month, from 10 am to 1 pm. The next ones are:

Sunday June 16th – a special one for International Volunteer Week
Sunday July 21st
Sunday August 18th
Sunday September 15th

This Sunday we’ll be potting up plants, finalizing the nursery, rediscover and release more plants… if there is anything you specifically like to do, drop us a line.

Hope to see you there! – Annalily & the trustees

All images by our voluntary professional photographers Jacqui Geux and Stefan Marks – thank you!

Alsco Planting Day

BFTAdmin — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 21:03:46 +0000

What a day!!! We couldn’t have asked for better weather or a more enthusiastic bunch of people last Sunday. A large group of Alsco employees and other supporters of the Million Metres project came out to Matuku Link for a family day to help us ‘search and rescue’ plants (weeding), ‘walk and talk’ (guided by trustee John Sumich) and ‘plan and plant’. And they did the planting with such vigor that we had to rush back to the nursery to get more!

Our own volunteers were team leaders, parking wardens, H&S specialists (how to carry a spade!) and catering chefs, with five types of home made soups, cooking lovely sausages and three types of vegetarian options. Thank you so much for all your help, our beautiful native species are very thankful.

(and don’t forget we’re trying to raise funds for the future plants: the Million Metres project)

Annalily & the trustees

All images by our voluntary professional photographer Stefan Marks- thank you!