TOSSI – Influencing the influential

First-timers to Tāwharanui generally discover the pest-free open sanctuary by themselves, but when a VIP goes bush – TOSSI likes to roll out the red whāriki. So when Auckland Mayor Phil Goff visited the park in the middle of the summer holidays, TOSSI enthusiastically exhibited volunteers’ diverse contributions and the outstanding outcomes achieved with collaboration.

It was the Mayor’s first visit to Tāwharanui and two of our precious takahe birds – Te Minga and Maaka – were in fine form, much due to the commitment and care by Auckland Council rangers and TOSSI. Park ranger Matt Maitland explained how labour-intensive takahē are and described the importance of TOSSI’s role monitoring their whereabouts.

These birds like to wander. Mayor Goff loved the takahē and puffed out his chest feathers when he discovered how Aucklanders’ teamwork has helped bring this taonga back from the brink of extinction.

Next up on the mayoral tour was a quick tutorial by TOSSI’s nursery guru, Susan Gibbings about the process to nurture thousands of plants needed to regenerate native bush at the sanctuary. Through trial, error and shared wisdom the TOSSI nursery has produced more than 260,000 plants that have been planted by thousands of volunteers since 2002. Susan aptly demonstrated the highly technical chopsticks used for pricking out tiny seedlings and discussed the labelling system that records every plant’s journey – from seed harvesting to planting.

It was TOSSI’s big chance to teach the Mayor about the importance of using plants to create an environment to support the regeneration of a forest, such as mānuka and kanuka. Nursery volunteers also grow plants that are a seasonal food source for threatened birds currently living at Tāwharanui and new ones that could be introduced in the future.

The media and minder entourage drove to Tāwharanui’s Ecology Bush, while Mayor Goff rode an Auckland Council electric motorbike – making the most of his out-of-office adventure.

The new boot cleaning station at the start of the trails in Ecology Bush were recently introduced to reduce the risk of kauri die-back at the open sanctuary. Fortunately, the disease is not evident at Tāwharanui and Mayor Goff learned about the challenges of keeping it that way, given the numbers of visitors to the park, including schoolchildren, who learn about biodiversity.

Mayor Goff needed to move on to his next engagement, but he took a few minutes to peek at the awareness and appreciation education trailer, spotting what he thought was a real nesting kiwi. It really is very life-like.

Jackie Russell, TOSSI
www.tossi.org.nz