Dr Bob doesn’t go with flow
Dr Bob Hoskins has been the driving force behind the Manawatu¯ River restoration in Foxton but now he needs a helping hand, reports.
To describe Dr Bob Hoskins it’s best to start with his car. Close inspection of Hoskins as a person annoys him – it detracts from the big issue in his life, the environment and what people are doing to it. So let’s stick to his car.
It’s a burgundy Subaru and it houses everything Hoskins, 73, needs on his river-saving, beachcleaning and weed-annihilating missions. The large folder, which documents his Foxton Save Our River Trust work, sits on top of his beach-scouring finds. What it shows is the slog that has been done, but what it doesn’t document is the hours of his life, the stress, the sleepless nights and the worry that is there, too. It weighs heavy.
Open up the boot and you get to the heart of this workhorse. Every tool Hoskins needs is here. If there is an apocalypse, buddy up with this man, you’ll be fine. He pulls out a shovel. Its handle is worn smooth and it is placed back in the same space, where it belongs.
This car, like its owner, has put in the miles. This car is starting to show its age, but it isn’t giving up. It’s a legend, this grunty old Subaru, and so is Dr Bob.
He’s worried, though. Hoskins knows he can’t keep going. ‘‘I’m getting too old,’’ he says and others say no-one else can do what he does.
What he has done is help save a river. It is a river he dived into once in the 1960s. Then, the flow of the Manawatu¯ River through Foxton was strong and wide. It brimmed with life and was beautiful, says Hoskins. ‘‘I was a student then. We had been climbing up Ruapehu doing geology and we came to the river. It was 300 metres wide and I swam across to the other side. It was quite something.’’
It was once a busy port area, but this had stopped by 1942.
Something then happened that made a huge difference to the area – the Whirokino Cut. The Ministry of Works botched the creation of a spillway and, when the Manawatu¯ River flooded in 1943, the river flowed down the new course. The loop would get nearly all its water through tides from the sea instead.
People were furious. In 1953, a commission of inquiry acknowledged that central government had made a mistake, but no restorative action was taken.
In the early 1960s, when Hoskins first experienced it, the Moutoa floodway wasn’t yet in place and the river was still relatively healthy. But when he returned many years later to start work as Foxton’s librarian, he was shocked. ‘‘I was completely and utterly disgusted.
‘‘The Moutoa floodway cut out 30 kilometres of meandering river and now the silt-laden water comes down here and floods all that you can see. When they open the floodway, anything that’s not wanted, all the plastic, rubbish, all of the weeds, convolvulus, climbing dock, you name it, gets washed down here.’’
The loop was closed right up, completely blocked, and degraded. When Hoskins got involved in the trust, he says ‘‘the regional council didn’t want to do anything about the damage’’.
People have pushed to have the channel reopened, but repairs and maintenance work could cost tens of millions of dollars, according to Horizons Regional Council. A staff report in 2012 said the Foxton loop would cost too much to reopen. Horizons has also argued the river would run through the loop too slowly, so it would inevitably silt up.
A Horizons spokeswoman says it works constructively as part of the Foxton River Loop working party ‘‘and has done so for . . . years’’.
‘‘We acknowledge the desire of people in the community to restore flows to the loop. However, we can honestly say the engineering challenge of returning permanent flows is significant.’’
Hoskins has worked doggedly to restore healthy flow back to the original river course, and has taken giant steps to restoring the wildlife.
What you see when you stand at the loop today is because of Hoskins and the people who work beside him. The waterway has been widened, herons call it home. The view is unhindered by willows, flax flourishes, a boat zips past, people walk by and the area that once had backs turned to it is alive.
What many don’t know is that this man has had quite a life. He has a bachelor of science with honours in zoology, he is a master of science in geology, a doctor of philosophy in geology and is also a qualified librarian. His work in geology and micropalaeontology has taken him all over the world and here, in New Zealand, he assisted in building the Te Araroa national trail, particularly the MangahaoMakahika Track.
‘‘Bob is an incredible person. He has a commitment to what he wants.’’ Neil Savage
But Hoskins would rather talk about his chainsaws. He’s gone through many and, as for lawnmowers, he has blown up at least seven. He doesn’t just chainsaw, plant and weed. He also often mows this wide and long strip of grass because the council ‘‘don’t do it right, or at all’’.
His current chainsaw has clocked more than 3500 hours. ‘‘I keep going with this because I love doing the job and seeing the results and seeing that I have improved something and given animals and plants an environment they can thrive in. But the big problem is the succession.’’
Who will fill Dr Bob’s hard-worn boots?
Neil Savage works alongside Hoskins and says there will never be another Dr Bob.
‘‘The big thing is trying to encourage people to come and help. It is difficult, very difficult. Bob is an incredible person. He has a commitment to what he wants to do and he does it no matter what.’’
Savage recounts when Hoskins went to a meeting at the Horowhenua District Council when a new parks and reserves manager was appointed. He got up, said his piece, passionately as usual, and the new manager said to him ‘well, who are you?’, and Bob told him and this guy turned to him and said, ‘do you realise that you are causing our guys work and you have no mandate to be doing what you’re doing?’ ’’
Well, says Savage, that got Hoskins fired up. ‘‘He let rip. He told this person in very plain language to go and read his files because considering that the council had given us $30,000 to clean up the river bank and a further $5000 for plants and the fact we maintained all of it was reason enough for this man to acknowledge him.’’
Alistair Cole is a trustee of the Foxton Wildlife Trust and a regional co-ordinator for NZ Landcare Trust. He says Hoskins’ work ethic is astounding.
‘‘There is just nobody like him and it is all very well that he has done all this work, but it could be in vain if people don’t take it on and continue his good work.’’
The trust’s chairman, John Girling, says it’s not just the river bank that he cleans up – ‘‘he also goes down to the beach and cleans that up too’’.
‘‘He’s incredibly dedicated to the environment. He is knowledgeable and opinionated and we need another 50 of him.’’
Irene, Hoskins’ wife of 51 years, is often by his side on Foxton Beach and has been a ‘‘rock’’ to him. They often sit together at the end of the Te Awahou board walk and enjoy a little quiet.
‘‘The animals and the plants don’t have anybody to stand up for them. So anything that I can do to help improve that situation, I’ll do it.’’
He shakes his head, throws his folder that amounts to more than a decade of blood, sweat and tears into his Subaru and he lowers his voice – ‘‘but I can’t do it forever. It pains me to say it, but I can’t.’’