Project Parore patrons
Two outstanding conservationists, Rosalie Smith and Peter Maddison have become patrons of Project Parore, a pioneering catchment-wide ecological restoration project based in Katikati.
Rosalie and Peter, who both accepted patronship at Project Parore’s recent annual general meeting, say the appointments are an honour.
Project Parore has evolved from the Uretara Estuary Managers, an environmental group Rosalie helped to found in 2004. In 2007 Rosalie was awarded a Queen Service Medal for her services to agricultural journalism and the community.
The same year the Uretara Estuary Managers won the Ministry for the Environment’s prestigious Green Ribbon Award which celebrates outstanding contributions by individuals, communities and organisations to protect and manage New Zealand’s environment.
Entomologist Peter, who moved to the Bay of Plenty in 2006, is a founding member of and a scientific advisor to Project Parore, and in 2021 was awarded membership of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to conservation.
Lawrie Donald of Project Parore says the group is delighted to have Rosalie and Peter as Patrons. “The contributions Peter and Rosalie have each made to conservation over so many decades are outstanding. They have been trailblazers who continue to be passionate about the environment. It is an honour for Project Parore to have them as our patrons.”
For Rosalie, who grew up at Athenree, just north of Katikati, the Northern Tauranga Harbour has always been special. “The healthy harbour was our playground. The only mangroves were to the south at Matahui and the harbour floor was not muddy like it is today,” says Rosalie.
Initially trained as a teacher, Rosalie achieved her ambition to be a journalist when she was offered the job of Bay of Plenty Times’ Katikati correspondent in 1969. She later became the Bay of Plenty Times’ rural reporter and won awards for her writing, including the Rongo Award from the Guild of Agricultural Journalists in the 1980s.
In 1984 she was invited to be the editor of a new kiwifruit industry magazine, the NZ Kiwifruit Journal. The same year she helped the avocado industry start their publication, Avoscene, which she edited for seven years. From 1999 onwards, she freelanced, writing for such publications as NZ Herald and The Orchardist. Rosalie has been a member of and written books for Open Air Art, responsible for Katikati’s murals, and is an active member of the Katikati Twilight Concert committee.
When, in the 1980s, a proposal to clear fell the native forests of the Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park and convert it to plantation pines was mooted, Rosalie was spurred into joining those opposing the idea.
“I got on to the Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park advisory board which was pretty much a pawn of the Forest Service, and we didn’t have much say in what happened to the park. However, fortunately, the forestry plan didn’t go ahead and when the Forest Service changed to the Department of Conservation, we had more strength in making changes.”
Rosalie was already well aware of increasing mangrove growth and siltation in the Uretara Estuary when she was approached by conservationist Andrew Jenks to front a public meeting to form a group to restore the estuary. The outcome was the formation of the Uretara Estuary Managers in 2004.
“We quickly realised the silt in the estuary came from upstream, so we got involved with the quarry in Wharawhara
Road, which improved its systems to reduce runoff. We planted natives along the Haiku Pathway beside the Uretara Stream and planted alongside tiny streams, just rivulets really, to reduce sediment entering the harbour.”
Rosalie is delighted that UEM has evolved into Project Parore with a vision to protect areas in eight adjoining catchments: Aongatete, Waitekohe, Te Mānia, Te Rereatukahia, Uretara, Tahawai, Tuapiro and Waiau, all of which flow from the Kaimai range into the northern tidal zone of the Tauranga Harbour.
Peter has brought to Project Parore a wealth of knowledge and experience which is invaluable. Born in Coventry in England’s Midlands, a childhood fascination with caterpillars helped influence his decision to study entomology at university in London. After graduation, Peter spent around 15 years working for the United Nations, on insect pests and quarantine in the Pacific, based in Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and Papua New Guinea.
“Working with the Polynesian people was such a pleasure. They are so attuned to the environment. While we may think community-led development is something new, it’s the way they have always operated.”
When funding for his project ran out, Peter joined the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, later Landcare Research, at Mount Albert in Auckland, working on Pacific trade-related quarantine issues and on New Zealand insects.
In 1992 when the DSIR was restructured, Peter was without a job. “I stood for election to the Waitākere
City Council and for six years served with mayor Sir Bob Harvey and a council with more women than men, which had a strong environmental focus and developed the agenda for the first eco-city in New Zealand. Unfortunately, this has disappeared in the Auckland Supercity.”
Peter chaired the Waitākere City Council’s Water and Environment Committee and the Pacific Science Association Scientific Committee.
When Peter was not re-elected, he operated a private consultancy business focusing on insects and became heavily involved with the Forest and Bird Society. He was a member of the national executive for 15 years, including four years as president and is a distinguished life member of the society.
When he moved to Katikati, Peter quickly became involved with UEM and Project Parore, using his extensive knowledge and rigorous scientific research to seek out and catalogue exactly what creatures are living in the catchments. Some of this work involved the public in ecological surveys, called ‘BioBlitzes’.
In 2015 he organised the first Katikati BioBlitz to identify, in just 24 hours, every living organism in the Uretara catchment, an area that runs from the Kaimai Range to the Tauranga Harbour. The aim was to catalogue 2400 species and, at the last minute, that number was surpassed. “It is now nearly 3500, with several new species (to the world) being discovered,” says Peter.
To find out more about Project Parore go to: www.projectparore.nz