TIRI TIRI MATANGI

Forest and Bird, Volume 18, Issue 4, 1 November 1987, Page 28

TIRI TIRI MATANGI

by

Mike Lee

--- putting It all back together --

I has always been my personal belief that one of the strongest driving forces in a conservationist is a feeling of quiet anger; a quiet anger at the years of destruction inflicted upon our country’s environment for quick profit and because of a tragic determination by European settlers to remould this land into the image and likeness of parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Today one can travel through miles and miles of many parts of New Zealand and view a landscape almost entirely dominated by exotic flora and fauna. For the environmentalist this can sometimes be very frustrating — at least that’s the way it is with me. How very satisfying it is therefore to be involved in a project in which one can, with a spade and one’s own pair of hands, help repair and put back together an island forest environment the way nature originally designed it. This satisfying, even therapeutic, feeling of helping to heal the land perhaps explains the remarkable public success which is the Tiritiri Matangi revegetation project. Literally thousands of people from all walks of life have enjoyed the Tiri experience and contributed to the project in many different ways. Credit must go first however to the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park Board which in 1971 had the foresight to remove stock from the island in order to allow Tiri to regenerate into native forest. Tiri History Tiritiri Matangi (its name means ‘‘moving in the wind’’) comprises 220 hectares and lies 20 km northeast of Auckland and 4.5 km east of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula. As one of the hundreds of islands great and small which make up the New Zealand archipelago, Tiri’s story is a microcosm of New Zealand's history. 12,000 years ago Tiritiri Matangi was a range of rolling hills standing out on a great wooded plain which is now the Hauraki Gulf. With the ending of the last great Ice Age and the melting of the polar ice-caps the rising Pacific Ocean rolled in over the great plain, drowning it and forming the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Around 900 AD far ranging sea rovers

from tropical Polynesia first discovered these islands and not long after this Tiri first felt the tread of human footsteps. The Kawerau tribe who claim descent from their ancestral canoe Te Waka Tu Whenua have had an association with Tiri which stretches far back into the mists of time. According to historian and ethnologist Dr David Simmons the Kawerau would have originally used Tiri as a seasonal station — a vital component in their semi-nomadic economy. According to tribal tradition gathered by Simmons Tiri was known as ‘"‘he motu tohu hau’’ — literally ‘‘an island which indicates the weather’’. An ancient fisherman’s tradition stated that if the island was seen to be above the horizon the weather outlook was good, if the island was seen to be below the horizon the weather outlook was bad. For hundreds of years the Kawerau people occupied much of the Auckland region north of the Waitemata but their territory became gradually reduced by the southward movement of the Ngati Whatua and the expansion into the Hauraki Gulf of the powerful Tainui people, notably Ngati Paoa. As time passed settlement on Tiri became more and more intensive (today there are at least 26 identified archaeological sites on the island) and by around 1700 a sub-tribe of Kawerau, Ngati Poataniwha were in permanent occupation with a fighting Pa named Tiritiri Matangi on the northwest coast. By this time Ngati Paoa also had a Pa on the island named Papakura located about a mile further along the coast. Perhaps because of the pressure of population on natural resources fighting broke out between the two tribes, and Kawerau with the aid of the powerful Wai o Hua people from Tamaki eventually expelled Ngati Paoa and destroyed Papakura Pa. In the late 18th century war returned to the region when Ngapuhi from the Bay of Islands began raiding southwards. In 1821, led by Hongi Hika and armed with muskets, the northerners brought devastation to much of northern New Zealand. Lighthouse Established Tiritiri Matangi lying across the sea approaches to the inner gulf, Tamaki Peninisula and the Thames, (Waihou), was

extremely vulnerable to such attack and Kawerau were forced to abandon their island and flee to the hinterland. However, it was not to Ngapuhi that Kawerau lost their island but to the Pakeha. Tiri was an attractive proposition for grazing and the settler government wanted the island as a site for a lighthouse to guard the approaches to the burgeoning port of Auckland. In 1841 the Crown purchased the whole Mahurangi block from Ngati Paoa. The Kawerau disputed the sale, which the Government claimed included Tiri but which Kawerau maintained did not. Indeed the island is not specified in the Deed of Purchase and does not appear in the two sketch maps of the blook drawn up at the time of purchase. Regardless of all this, in 1863 materials fora lighthouse were ordered from Britain and in 1865 the lighthouse became operational. In 1867 Matini Murupaenga on behalf of the Kawerau tribe appealed to the Native Land Court to confirm Kawerau’s legal title to their ancestral island. By this time the lighthouse was already built and despite Kawerau’s strong case the claim was thrown out, thus terminating Kawerau’s one thousand-year association with Tiritiri Matangi. Throughout the present century Tiri became renowned for its lighthouse, for many

years the most powerful in the Southern Hemisphere, and less known for its grazing and repeated burn-offs. This destructive land-use finally ended in 1971 when the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park Board assumed responsibility for the island and the enlightened policy of native forest regeneration was instituted. By the late 1970s, however, it was becoming apparent that a thick barrier of rank grass, bracken and compacted soil was blocking the process of natural regeneration. It was about this time that Auckland University ornithologist John Craig and botanist Neil Mitchell began proposing the idea of mass tree-planting to accelerate the natural process. Craig and Mitchell also advocated the-then radical idea of using Tiri as a sanctuary for rare native bird species but at the same time retaining the public's right to free access. In 1979 they brought out a management plan for the island and soon after the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park Board set up an environmental consultancy group which came to be known as the ‘‘Tiritiri Matangi Committee’. This committee built on the ideas embodied in the management plan and produced some of its own. Open Sanctuary In 1982 Sir Peter Scott, son of the famous Antarctic explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott, was in New Zealand to look at suitable projects for the World Wildlife Fund to support. The Tiritiri Matangi project caught his imagination and it was Scott who first coined the now popular term ‘‘open sanctuary’ in reference to the island. At Scott's direction World Wildlife Fund set up a fundraising committee and over $40,000 was quickly raised by public subscription. With a two-to-one government subsidy this grew to near $150,000 — enough to get the project up and running. The hard toil necessary to turn drawing board plans into reality was undertaken on Tiri by landscape architect Mike Cole and Tiri’'s park ranger (and last lighthouse keeper) Ray Walter. In 1983 a large shadehouse complex was completed and Cole and Walter began the process of germinating seeds gathered from the island’s remnant native bush. Interestingly Tiri, unlike its surrounding region, grew no kauri. Instead the island was clothed in a rich mosaic of northern broadleaf coastal forest dominated by pohutukawa, kohekohe, puriri, karaka and taraire. In all 29 different species were propagated including half a dozen from Little Barrier Island (Hauturu). These latter such as toropapa, taurepo and native fuscia are nectar and berry producing shrubs which were considered an essential additional food source for the prospective population of stitchbirds. By autumn 1984 30,000 young trees standing out in their Canadian plastic roottrainers were awaiting planting. The main worry now for project organisers was how to get all these trees into the ground. PEP schemes were proposed but the difficulty in housing and feeding the required small army of workers made the idea impractical. It became clear then that

the project would stand or fall on long term voluntary labour — something which had never been tried on such a large scale before. In May 1984 two launch loads of Waiheke Forest and Bird members made a stormy crossing to Tiri. Despite high winds and torrential rain (1.9 inches) the volunteers managed to plant two thousand trees. The revegetation of Tiri was underway. Mass Awareness In May this year I visited the island once again with a party of Waiheke tree-planters. Unlike our first visit three years ago the weather was kind and after sedately planting our quota of 500 trees we were taken on a tour of the island by Ray Walter. Ray, a bluff former seafarer, has been sole manager of the project on Tiri for the past two years. His popular daily reports on Auckland's Radio Pacific (weather, fishing and latest news on the Tiri project) played no small part in gaining the mass awareness and support which has made the project such a success. Indeed any tourist entrepreneur would be envious of Ray’s engagement book. Trips to the island are now limited to three per week and are booked solid for a year ahead by a remarkable variety of clubs, schools and service organisations. A typical page in Ray's diary shows bookings for North Shore Forest and Bird (keen supporters from the start), the sixth and seventh form, Otamatea College, and an over-sixties group from the Hibiscus Coast Horticultural Society. With an enthusiastic labour force and an excellent growth rate (believed to have been boosted by the higher than average summer rainfall for the projects first three years and the handful of urea/osmocote fertiliser mixture planted with each tree) the project is now two years ahead of schedule. This year the 100,000th tree will be planted and it is estimated that only three more years of intensive planting is required before the project begins to wind down and the revegetation of the neighbouring ro-dent-free Motuora (79 ha) begins. Even at this stage of its development the

Tiritiri Matangi ‘Open Sanctuary’ boasts some remarkable features, such as the bird release programme. Thriving kakariki This began more or less accidentally in 1974 when a cargo of aviary-bred redcrowned parakeets, kakariki, were released on the island after weather conditions made a landing on their original destination of Cuvier Island impossible. On Tiri the kakariki have thrived and large chattering flocks of the little green and red parrot move from valley to valley secure from the predators which have nearly wiped them out on the mainland. In February 1984 22 North Island saddlebacks, tieke, including six known breeding pairs were released on Tiri. This ancient New Zealand wattle-bird, a cousin of the extinct huia, has itself fought back from the brink of extinction and now the Tiri population is estimated to be over sixty. Its distinctive call can now be heard echoing all over the island. With the aid of a tape-recorder the inquisitive bird can be ‘‘called’’ into view — its striking jet-black and orange plumage recall an old Aotearoa nearly lost. At this stage 30 different bird species nest on Tiri and a further 11 species visit. Other birds planned for relocation to the island are the little spotted kiwi, (from Kapiti Island), the brown teal, whitehead, stitchbird and perhaps even the takahe. The translocations of these birds still await approval from government wildlife authorities but there is a strong feeling amongst Tiri project supporters that vital decisions on matters such as bird liberations which have been delayed for many months should be made soon if the project is to maintain its momentum. The Open Sanctuary has also become a focus for scientific research and interesting information on the island's natural history is coming to light. Scientist Mary Roberts is carrying out research on internal parasites in the island's large population of native rat, kiore which is another creature virtually extinct on mainland New Zealand. Though the kiore has been in New Zealand for over

a thousand years, its internal parasites reveal organisms related to Filariasis (Elephantiasis) confirming its tropical oceanic origins. Though much of the island was subjected to repeated burn-offs some valleys of remnant forest dominated by pohutukawa survived. Some of these are enormous — one old giant was considered to be the largest living example of its genre. After a recent storm this old giant virtually collapsed under its own weight with a massive branch tearing itself off from the trunk. The tree was thought to be a couple of hundred years old but when Neil Mitchell cut open the detached branch to confirm this he was startled to detect from growth rings that the branch was at least 700 years old — giving the tree itself an estimated age of between 1000 to 1200 years. Even more interestingly the growth rings revealed a sudden pause in the tree’s growth pattern lasting about 100 years.

This 100-year period coincided with the years of bush clearances and burn-offs. Had the venerable old giant gone into some form of shock as the forest surrounding it was destroyed in the infernos?. The grand finale of any Tiri visit is the walk from the lighthouse/nursery complex to the wharf through what is known as ‘Wattle Track’. This area of regenerating bush dominated by the Australian wattle supports an amazing amount of bird life during this tree’s lengthy flowering period. If you have walked through the remaining great forests on the mainland and reflected upon their almost eerie silence the absolute din of chiming bellbirds in the wattles is a revelation. This area is important also for the island's tuis and saddlebacks. Tiri's bellbirds are another interesting feature of this remarkable island. Extinct in most of northern New Zealand for much of this century, the birds survived only on some of the most isolated outer Gulf islands and for some strange reason on Tiritiri Matangi. That such a small patch of what can only be described as ‘‘scrub’"’ can support so much birdlife is a stark reminder of the lethal damage done to this country's wildlife by introduced predators. Nevertheless, the resounding success of the Tiritiri Matangi ‘Open Sanctuary’ has proved that the tide of destruction can be halted and indeed in some circumstances rolled back. 4 Mike Lee is past chairman of Forest and Bird's Waiheke Section.