South Otago — Positive Work for the Environment

Forest and Bird, Volume 20, Issue 3, 1 August 1989, Page 15

South Otago — Positive Work for the Environment

Fergus Sutherland.

welve young people and their leader, Peter Gardener, are making an impact in South Otago. These young people belong to the Conservation Corps group set up by the Department of Conservation and the Telford Farm Training Institute. They are based at Telford Farm from where they set out each day to learn new skills and achieve conservation objectives. Since starting on the 20th of February and up until May 1989, they have: @ Cleared encroaching willows from 10 ha of wetland at Otanomomo. e Learned chainsaw, stonewall building and fencing skills. e Improved and maintained 10 km of track at the Forest and Bird Society's Lenz Reserve. e Undertaken plastics pollution monitoring along 8 km of beach. e Fenced and weeded an area of rare coastal plants at Crystall’s Beach. e Restored a 2 ha area of native bush at the Kaka Point Camping Grounds by removing non-native plants. The South Otago Conservation Corps group will work together until December 1989, by when they plan to have completed a whole range of projects including the restoration and fencing of a Maori cemetery site at Kaka Point, the removal of weeds and

possum control in several reserves, extensive planting and fencing work in yellow-eyed penguin reserves, construction of bird hides and erosion control planting and maintenance. The Conservation Corps group has established a strong identity and takes pride in the nickname that other students at Telford have given them of the "Greenies and whale lovers’. Their leader, Peter Gardener, who is a long serving Forest and Bird member, chairman and councillor from South Otago, says that his role is made enjoyable by

the high quality of the members. The young people came to the group from as far afield as Invercargill, Wanaka, Arrowtown and Dunedin and all share a common interest in working for the environment. Most hope eventually to work full time in conservation. The enthusiasm and ability shown so far indicates that we will have some quality people to help manage our conservation estate in the future.

One of the shorter (6 month) projects is the development of a walking track along the Roxburgh Gorge. As well as working on this track, the corps members will produce an information pamphlet describing the walk and the historic significance of the area to Maori, Europeans and Chinese. These seven projects are a good sample of the 19 NZCC pilots, but it is important to realise that the conservation projects are only one part of the Conservation Corps. The Conservation Corps also aims to give young people opportunities for personal development and skill acquisition through participation in conservation activities of lasting benefit to the community.