Just breathtaking!

Pukaki Scientific Reserve

My May travels to the basin have been both disappointing and rewarding.

I’m new to the challenges of film-making and still coming up with things that get in the way, and this trip was plagued by them. The biggest problem has been working around people’s schedules to get interviews done and his was just one of those best laid plans that go awry (I’ve had plenty of legitimate excuses for moving interviews like tonsillitis) but aside from these evolving plans the trip was a great success.

I visited Pukaki and the great mountains with a couple of DoC officers monitoring traps in preparation for the release of the lovely (dorky) teenage black stilts later this year. It’s not a great job (killing things for a living) but it’s a crucial part of New Zealand conservation and a pretty amazing office.

We also visited the Twizel area school and were privileged to meet and chat with some of the students about the changes happening around them. We came up with an epic (and super messy) brainstorm to describe some of the problems, potential solutions and the interested parties. Special thanks to a particularly astute young man who gave me some very grown up views of what’s really going on (see the movie for more on clever kids).

Another challenge has been the backing away of some of the dairy farmers I have approached regarding filming their operations. It’s a hard thing to trust some stranger to portray you fairly and honestly to the rest of the world, particularly as the dairy industry often gets a pretty bad rap from the media (not always undeservedly). But it’s difficult to tell both sides of a story if mostly one side would rather not comment. I personally see the problems with dairying (in New Zealand in general) as arising with individual management strategies, as is the case with almost any kind of land use. There are places where dairying works very well with minimal environmental impact but it’s not the right choice for all of New Zealand.

I hope to contact a few more farms and see what they have to say, wish me luck!

Avoidance and weapons of mass distraction

Felicity Filicularis, pic by Neave R Willoughby

Welcome to my world of postgraduate studies. Sorry about the delay, I was kidnapped by time bandits and jumped ship at Oamaru for the steampunk celebrations.

Something not so film related you might not know about me is my great love of costumes and creations, therefore my latest exercise in procrastination has been the creation of the steampunk entomologist – Felicity Filicularis.

But I digress, you’ll be relieved to hear that not all the time passed since I last blogged has been steamed away and the film is still full steam ahead (if you’ll pardon my distractions).

I’m mostly in Dunedin now, planning the plot and tentatively beginning to edit. The winter is trying to set in, but unusually balmy weather leaves me (surprisingly) hoping for snow so I can head out and capture the stunning scenery that goes with snow. All I can see out my window today is cloud, thick white fluff filling my porthole to the world outside. Lucky it’s cozy inside and the weather might just get me to sit still long enough to write the latest version of my script.

Here’s hoping.

But the city isn’t enough and I’ll be off to the tussock country in a couple of days for the next meeting of the Mackenzie sustainable futures trust. I’m looking forward to learning a little more about the process and getting an idea of what might come out of this process. I have to admit I’m a bit of a cynic about decisions being acted upon but always hopeful – the collaboration I hope to be seeing is the way to go for this sort of national/local subject.

Wish me luck, I’ll let you know how it goes.

Sof

Plauges of rabbits

cute, or not so cute?

It’s all very well and good to have cute rabbits bouncing around your back lawn, but the feeling quickly changes when they’ve devoured your veggie garden and the lawn’s starting to recede leaving only bare dirt to disappear in the wind.

We have a long history of rabbits in New Zealand. Initially they were released for the fur trade (from 1838) and seemed to be a pretty good industry until we realised how well they colonised the country, and it stopped being such a good idea.

Rabbits are, and possibly always will be a challenge for farmers across the country, and the with the lessening effect of the Calici virus (AKA rabbit hemorrhagic virus) the Mackenzie/Waitaki basin is no less plagued. In fact the dry climate and shallow topsoil coupled with already low productivity seem to exacerbate the problem.

With the massive reproductive rates of rabbits it’s easy to see where the trouble begins, they just take off and take over, and what little food being produced for stock, instead goes into more fat rabbits.

Then there’s the pests they bring with them. While rabbits are a problem in and of themselves the predators that come with them include Stoats Ferrits and Weasels (introduced from ~1883 to control the rabbit problem) have a massive impact when they put a little variety in their diets, sure they’ll grab a couple of rabbits but who wants to chase bouncy bunnies when there’s a mouthful of black stilt to be had.

So rabbits definitely suck – why don’t we just get rid of them? well it’s not as easy as all that.

High country farmers can spend $70-$200/ ha on a years rabbit management which adds up over a station of 400ha (or more) and that’s an awful big bite out of your income when there’s other maintenance to be managing.

And then you’re relying on your neighbours to do the same, otherwise the job never gets any smaller.

And if it’s a poor year in the markets and you can’t afford rabbit control then you’re even further behind.

 Or you’re investing in a rabbit proof fence (which seems to be a high country staple), and the maintenance that goes along with it.

It’s a never-ending battle, made harder for those who are fighting it by those who can’t afford to. It’s all well and good to re build the market in rabbits but it’s not enough.

Something needs to be done, the farmers need help to save the high country – but what will it be?

Another connection to the basin and my story is the argument for dairy and separately that against conservation land.

If partial conversion to dairy provides more reliable income farmers will be able to manage pests better, and that includes rabbits. A little more certainty in income can make a huge difference to the management of a property.

And…

One of the arguments against the creation of a conservation park is the cost of maintaining it, not just against rabbits but also weeds such as Hieracuim pilosella and wilding pines. Some say DoC can’t afford to properly care for the reserves they care for now.

While this is an outrageous accusation at least in the Mackenzie basin (despite the continuing budgetary issues of DoC – thanks national) where there is a systematic management plan to fence and control rabbits on all conservation estate. It’s still a valid question, pest management isn’t cheap and if we want a dryland conservation park someone needs to pay.

And that’s quite enough ramble for me….. what do you think?

Frost and sunshine

Frosty morning

Another Mackenzie adventure!

Well, it seems a bit like the whole year is a Mackenzie adventure. Unfortunately I can’t spend it all in the Mackenzie area, but I’m doing my best and absorbing as much as I can while I’m there. So last week was another one out in the wonderful countryside, starting at the Mackenzie show in Fairlie.

Which as far as shows go was brilliant! I just wish the weather had been less rubbish. But i slogged around in the mud for an afternoon meeting all sorts of interesting animals. Too much rain to get the video camera out though.

Fairground sheep

From then the weather only got better. And a glorious day spent in the Pukaki headwaters stalking black stilts resulted in duck, goose, rabbit, heron and cat spotting – but no stilts.

Still, there’s time. And I’m certainly complaining about an afternoon in the sun and wilderness. Other missions included frost stalking in early mornings and frost wrangling in the dark of night (it turns out it’s pretty hard to film anything when the camera lens has frosted over), interviewing the mayor of the Mackenzie (a friendly and articulate woman, for those who haven’t met her) and bunny stalking with new gadgets to try out.

One revelation I was sad to discover is that there are still stock grazing in the rivers!

I thought that keeping stock out of waterways was the first step in environmental care? And while one of my farms has an excellent system for keeping stock out of the river, and in fact all waterways on the property – it’s clear that not all management strategies are taking this into account.

And as far as i can see it’s not even dairy farms that have these problems. It seems a hard ask to get rid of or restrict dairy farms on the basis of environmental effects when there are ‘dryland’ farms making these basic faux pars!

It just re-enforces the idea that environmental issues are primarily with individual management strategies rather than farming styles (Issues of landscape values being another story altogether).

So all in all a successful mission, all kinds of adventuring and learning along the way. Next mission – sort all the footage from the trip (the less fun part).

See you out there soon….

Another real treasure from the film unit

A piece of history, showcasing what the tussock country used to look like: click the picture to follow the link, or follow the link below.

LINK.

Chasing Rainbows

Lovingly sunkissed I return from a Mackenzie autumn to the wild wind and wet of Dunedin.

But on the upside, I return with treasure to sort  – footage from my first 2 interviews is ready to view and add to the scripting of the film.

Less exciting is that I really have no excuse to avoid the joy of scriptwriting (sarcasm much? sigh). So filmmaking is in full swing, the story is developing in front of my eyes (with a little help from some hours of crafting), the year is passing by at an alarming pace and it’s almost time for winter. Next trip I’ll be prepared for frost with my wooly warms, and hoping to capture some on film. I’ll also be having a go with my new gadget – an intervalometer, for those who don’t know (like me a few months ago) an intervalometer is an attachment for your still camera which tells it to take pictures at set intervals, and it’s the gizmo behind time lapses – ideal for the big skies and stunning landscapes of the Mackenzie!

Moan whine complain? well not really, just busy. But that’s quite enough of that. Here’s a pic from the set taken over the weekend by my awesome Mum (she’s such a great assistant) as a component of the publicity requirement for the project. ie see me in some of the amazing places I’ve filmed in!

golden grasses and morning dewdrops

The man in the millhouse

Another interesting character I went to see while I was in the area (up north that is) was the artist and writer (and many other things) Sam Mahon.

His book “the water thieves” tells tales of water in Canterbury, and he is trying to save our rivers. And while I struggle to get through any writing of a vaguely political nature I recommend this as an enveloping story, perhaps it will make a good film one day 🙂

He’s a man of enthusiastic ideas and thinks in striking imagery – I imagine my scriptwriting would go much faster if I could borrow his brain, alas it is already involved in worthier tasks.

I visited his river and came away full of ideas scrambling for a place in my notebook – now to apply them to the project.

Canterbury tales

On my adventure to the north I learnt of some mega earthworks near Geraldine, whats it all about? find out here.

Basically this is an initiative to store water when there’s lots and release it to farmers when there’s not enough.

This gives farmers the chance to collect all of their allocated water (as in their resource consents) and use it when it is most needed. Sounds like good news for all – I think…

Before I support this as a positive initiative I’d like a little more information:

?? Taking water at high flow times seems like it will be better for the health of the river (no need to take water at low flow times and less chance of it drying up entirely). And good for the farmers – a more reliable source of water = more reliable product and minimization of losses. But who measures how much water the river needs (what does 110 cumecs look like in the river?) and will there still be enough ‘flood’ type high flows to keep the braided rivers clear of weeds and debris? I’ve seen an awful lot of weedy riverbeds on my travels and it’s worrying.

 

?? How is breeding ‘sport’ fish an environmental benefit? On the surface it seems like a good idea but it’s really only good for the developers image and the sport fishermen – sport fish such as trout are a huge pest problem for our beautiful natives, I’d like to see something done for them.

 

?? Does this ultimately mean that more farms will find it possible to convert to dairy or expand existing units? While I support dairy in some circumstances it’s better for job opportunities, land health and animal welfare (among other things) if operations are smaller. Dryland farming has it’s place in our culture and our landscape.

What do you think??

A long and winding road…

Last week the great southern field days were held at Lincoln University. I took this as an opportunity to gather some opinions, so I packed the gear and headed north.

The drive is noted for its lack of exciting features but the morning clouds hugged the valleys and it was pretty spectacular to drive in and out of sparkling sunshine over each hill. Sadly the fog had some early casualties and a nasty accident held me, and many others up for a bit, so late to Lincoln, but better that than never.

I wanted to talk to people about the Mackenzie dairy schemes and hoped the field days would provide a cross-section of people who rely on agriculture for their bread and butter, what I didn’t count on was the lack of co-operation by noise and weather. Nevertheless I talked to lots of interesting people (although only a few on film), from sharemilkers to cowshed designers, I learnt about waterwheels, digging tools, and an awful lot of irrigation systems and an array of accessories to make them more cost-effective/environmentally friendly/compliant with resource consents etc….

So despite not getting the footage I was after, the mission was a successful information gathering experience.

While in the area I got to stay with an Uncle, we drank whiskey and discussed dairy-farming on the planes. The problem he keeps coming back to is the absence of shelter. The Canterbury planes are known for their winds, it’s what carries the topsoil (or rather the loess which forms the topsoil) from the riverbeds across the land. But what it brings, it also takes, and winter winds make the open spaces and unfair place to keep livestock.

Two things that come from this are:

#1. In the Mackenzie many dryland areas are under serious attack. The rabbits are back people! And not only are they taking food from stock, they leave only Hieracium weeds and bare ground. The winds are similar to those in Canterbury and take the precious topsoil with them – I wonder that with the ‘taming’ of braided rivers for hydro power how much of that is replaced in the cycle of things?

#2. Intensification of dairy means large-scale irrigation, and to do this in a cost-effective way paddocks are made bigger and shelter-belts are cleared to make way for pivot systems. The problem being that those trees are there for a reason. Shelter belts do not significantly decrease amounts of grass grown on a property and in the cold and windy south are a vital element in animal welfare – surely well cared for animals mean better product? In the absence of these the case for housing of stock is clear.

And that’s quite enough from me, although not quite all of my latest adventure – more soon.

So it turns out I’m an academic…

Waiting for the apple to fall....

Who knew?

While making this film is a huge part of this year for me, it’s not the only requirement for my Masters in Science Communication.

I am also required to complete a written academic thesis. And the topic I have chosen is the tailoring of communication to a target audience, specifically communicating science in a rural setting. I want to look at what does and doesn’t get through to the people it matters to, and why or why not?

So what is effective communication?

And how can it be applied in a rural setting, and how is/can this be applied to science? What are the things getting in the way?

Curious….

Come along to my seminar on Thursday to find out more:

12pm at the Center for Science Communication, University of Otago, 303a Great King Street, Dunedin