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Visitors to get up close with Pukaha kiwi in major upgrade

Date:  19 November 2009
Source:  Pukaha Mount Bruce Board
Visitors to Pukaha Mount Bruce will become much more a part of the kiwi conservation experience in a planned $1.5 million upgrade and expansion of the existing nocturnal house and other outdoor facilities at the National Wildlife Centre.

DOC produces guide to Wairarapa’s outdoor attractions

Date:  02 November 2009
Wairarapa’s wealth of outdoor attractions and activities are highlighted in a new “glove-box sized” DOC brochure.

Turangi bridge to bridge track extended

Date:  06 October 2009
The River Track along the Tongariro is a favourite mountain biking and walking track linking the Major Jones and Red Hut Bridge footbridges.

Seal torment prompts DOC plea to let them be

Date:  30 October 2009
“Leave seals alone” is the plea from a Wairarapa Department of Conservation officer who, responding to a Labour weekend call-out to a sick seal at Riversdale, found it being prodded with sticks by children, and terrorised by motorcycles and dogs.

Biosecurity breaches threaten harbour sanctuary

Date:  30 October 2009
Illegal landings by yachts, one bringing a dog, marred an otherwise positive Labour weekend on predator-free Matiu/Somes Island in Wellington Harbour, by threatening the biosecurity of the island’s wildlife.

Project Kākā aims at boosting birdsong in the Tararuas

Date:  30 October 2009
The Tararua ranges should resound with increased birdsong as the result of a new pest control programme by the Department of Conservation.

Workshop upskills Wellington’s conservation volunteers

Date:  16 October 2009
Volunteers restoring the health and vitality of Wellington’s natural ecosystems were equipped with skills to plan and monitor their projects at a workshop in the Rimutaka Forest Park last weekend.

Booking DOC Wairarapa cottages and lodges goes virtual

Date:  15 October 2009
Three popular visitor lodgings around Wairarapa are set to hit the virtual super highway as they become available to book online, making them more accessible to all.

Treasure trove of marine knowledge uncovered

Date:  28 September 2009
Knowledge gleaned about Wellington’s marine environment over more than century, has been brought together in an interactive CD, to help guide decision makers.

Create your own garden lounge for lizards

Date:  04 September 2009
For the price of a nasty weed, Wellingtonians can create a little luxury for lizards in their gardens during Conservation Week (September 13-20),

Open day will highlight Wellington's heritage

Date:  02 September 2009
A portal into Wellington’s colourful past will be opened to the public during Conservation Week. DOC is opening up the historic places that it manages in the city on Sunday 13 September, to launch the annual week of celebrations in style.

Historic Wairarapa shipwreck vandalised

Date:  25 August 2009
Department of Conservation staff and volunteers attending the Onoke Spit beach clean-up last Friday were dismayed to find that the historic wreck of the ship Addenda had been vandalised during the previous week.

Fishing line, wire, tyres and a fridge removed from Onoke Spit

Date:  25 August 2009
In preparation for the Caspian tern breeding season, Wairarapa’s Onoke spit has been cleared of rubbish posing a threat to wildlife, including tangled fishing line, wire, tyres, and even a fridge.

Seal ordeal

Date:  24 August 2009
The start of the seal pup weaning season - and a pup "rescue" attempt - has prompted a reminder from the Department of Conservation that seals are resilient and usually best left to their own devices.

Help 'spring clean' Wairarapa's Onoke Spit

Date:  13 August 2009
Volunteers are invited to help “spring clean” Wairarapa’s prized Onoke Spit, a nesting site of Caspian terns, home to the rare red katipo spider and a threatened moth, and a magnet for outdoor enthusiasts.

Feedback sought on planned Te Araroa link through Tararuas

Date:  14 August 2009
Feedback is sought from the public and outdoor recreation groups on a proposal to extend the Te Araroa trail through the western side of the Tararua Forest Park, including the currently untracked Oriwa ridge.

Suspected dog attack kills kiwi in Rimutaka Forest Park

Date:  06 August 2009
One of the kiwi re-introduced by the community into the Rimutaka Forest Park has been killed by a dog, highlighting the importance of keeping dogs on a lead in the park.

Harbour Hector’s identity confirmed

Date:  21 July 2009
A rare dolphin residing in Wellington Harbour has been confirmed as a male Hector’s dolphin.

Penguins perish on Wellington roads

Date:  15 July 2009
Wellington’s south coast roads are proving perilous for little blue penguins, with three killed by motorists last weekend.

Captive breeding at Mount Bruce continues to protect NZ wildlife

Date:  02 July 2009
The captive breeding programme at the Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre will continue to protect endangered New Zealand wildlife, says the Department of Conservation.

Students offered chance to be a ranger for a day

Date:  18 June 2009
Aspiring young rangers are being offered the chance try their hand at tracking pests, monitoring wildlife, maintaining tracks and facilities, talking to the public and generally getting out into the great outdoors in Wellington’s parks and reserves.

Atiwhakatu Hut open for business

Date:  17 June 2009
The new Atiwhakatu Hut in the eastern Tararua Forest Park is now open, offering warmth and comfort to people overnighting in this popular outdoor location.

Popular Wairarapa tracks being improved

Date:  19 May 2009
Improvements are being made to two of Wairarapa’s most popular walkways - the Castlepoint Lighthouse Track and the Rimutaka Incline.

Victoria’s ‘blow-torched’ landscape shocks firefighter

Date:  16 March 2009
Rachael Thorp plays down the fact that she was the only female among the first contingent of 52 New Zealand firefighters to help fight the devastating Victorian fires in February.

Celebrating Seaweek - from mountains to sea - in Wairarapa

Date:  09 March 2009
Streamsides were planted and dunes weeded in the Wairarapa during Seaweek (1-8 March) , highlighting the connections between the land and sea.

Seaweek clean-up removes marine threats and human traces

Date:  05 March 2009
A beach clean-up at Turakirae on Wellington’s rugged south coast yesterday eliminated a couple of truckloads of rubbish with the potential to harm marine wildlife.

Take a look down under during Seaweek

Date:  27 February 2009
It will be heads down, tails up at New Zealand's beaches next week, as thousands of people take part in Seaweek activities all around the country.

Whio return to Pukaha Mount Bruce for visitors to enjoy

Date:  02 February 2009
For the second season whio (blue duck) ducklings are on display in Wairarapa, while they learn outdoor survival skills in the safety of the Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre

Rare Hector's dolphin sighting in Wellington harbour

Date:  30 January 2009
One of the world's smallest and rarest dolphins has paid a surprise visit to Wellington Harbour, delighting onlookers and exciting DOC marine mammal experts.

Rare beaked whale strands on Kapiti coast

Date:  29 January 2009
A rare Gray’s beaked whale which stranded and subsequently died on a Kapiti beach this week may have been nursing a calf.

Seal wounded by packing tape destroyed

Date:  20 January 2009
A seal severely injured and being strangled by packaging tape was put down by Department of Conservation staff in the Wairarapa last week.

 

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