Kia Ora From Emma, Acting CEOWelcome to June 2023 Newsletter
I am honoured to have the opportunity to hold the reins of TFBT for a while as we search for our new CEO. Although we have had to work through the impact of storm damage along with our local communities and landowners, the team have not slowed down with their great work and achievements. Whether in the limelight or behind the scenes, my thanks to everyone in the team for such dedicated work. It’s impossible to list everything, so here are just a few highlights of what we’ve all been up to in the last few months.
In mid-April we welcomed a new team member, Keryn Bradnam, as our long-awaited HR Coordinator. Keryn has hit the road running, getting to know everyone in the team and helping us all with some new ideas to support team connections – a real challenge with 24 busy staff working remotely across the rohe. Great to have you on board Keryn.
As well as our CEO search, we also have 2 more vacancies to fill, so please check out our website and social media to see if there is an exciting opportunity that grabs your attention – or pass it on!
Our intrepid predator control team (Cam, Eliane, Alex, Joh and Steve) have braved the wet weather and slippery terrain, pressing ahead with our trapline network but remarkably, they also made a significant discovery in identifying a very rare plant whilst on their travels. This is an incredible achievement when you think of the ground they cover every day. More information on this rare find is below in this newsletter.
Tris, Helen and Karen from our Community Liaison team rallied to support the very successful Restore Rodney East hui for environmental community groups held in Puhoi in April. RRE put so much work into this awesome event and were delighted to have Tris as the MC for the day. A wider group of our team members and community trappers were able to connect with Professor Kim King the following week to draw on her experience of mustelid behaviour – a great opportunity for invaluable learning.
TFBT linked up with the regional Ecofest event in April where Alex and Elena facilitated guided nature walks through Kōwhai park in Warkworth. It was great to see so many families enjoying learning about nature right on their doorstep and seeing the next generation of conservation leaders in the making.
Linking up with the Department of Conservation, TFBT was able to organise a 2-day "5 Minute Bird Count" training attended by a range of community conservation groups and including a couple of our own staff. We (and especially Virginia) are thrilled to have more hands available now to assist with monitoring the increase of birdlife in the area. Elena is hoping to arrange more 5MBC training sessions, so do get in touch if you are interested.
Virginia, our Ecology and Biodiversity Advisor, has been working on some major monitoring projects with some specialist input from our GIS and technical team – Pablo, Charlie and Kotaro. We are keen to see what she has discovered! You can find out more in this newsletter below, and we hope to publish some results in the coming months.
A huge “Thank You” to Tom and Mahrukh Stazyk for inviting our team to visit and see the difference predator control has made to the regeneration of the native flora and fauna at CUE Haven.