Community award for reserve stalwart
Alan Rogers is more comfortable out in the bush than being centre stage.
But that’s exactly where he found himself after receiving an award at the South Taranaki Community Awards held at the TSB Hub in Ha¯ wera in November for his support and volunteer work at the Lake Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust.
‘‘I’m sure there’s more deserving people, but it was nice to be recognised.
‘‘I’ve always enjoyed tramping and being outdoors. It’s my happy place out in the bush.’’
Lake Rotokare is a 230 hectare scenic reserve, near Eltham, which is the country’s largest wetland and lake habitat and is protected by an 8.2km predator proof fence which Rogers helped install.
And most Sundays you can find him helping with working bees at the reserve, something he’s done since 2006.
‘‘I’ve always enjoyed the bush and the birds and thought it’s a good project.
‘‘I really enjoy it. They’re a good group of people to work with and I think they do a really good job getting birds back into Taranaki like hihi, tieke (saddleback), toutouwai (robin) and kiwi,’’ he said.
Rogers has assisted in developing the infrastructure of the project, including the walkway, bringing and restoring buildings on-site for use as offices, a classroom and the site manager’s residence.
In 2017 he helped to build the new wetlands boardwalk.
While he has had many roles and helped clear hundreds of kilometres of tracks in the reserve, one of his highlights has been building up the kiwi population and reintroducing tieke and hihi to Taranaki.
Rogers said there were no hihi or tieke in the region for about
100 years and they were now breeding down at the lake, along with kiwi.
‘‘The birds are going crazy out there at the moment.’’
Rogers worked at the Ha¯ wera hospital laboratory for more than
40 years. Now retired, he is a parttime farmer and owns land at the back of Hurleyville, where he has an active biodiversity and restoration project up and running.
‘‘I’ve always had a passion for science.’’