This week we are highlighting the work and contributions of our Lead Contractor, Paul van Klink. Paul pretty much single-handedly started the wetland restoration 9 years ago and continues to be a driving force in the planning and execution of the restoration works, including being the supervisor extraordinaire of our Thursday volunteer sessions. Read on to hear from Paul in his own words.

What are your skills and experience background?

 I have worked in conservation and ecology since I left school and completed a BSC a few years later when I realised that is what I wanted to do. I specialised in working on endangered species and a highlight was training and working with a threatened species detector dog. In the past few years I have slowly retired from the physical fieldwork and shifted my focus to learning more about our native plants.

Why did you become involved in FOBC and how long have you been involved?

I was employed by Otago Fish & Game as a field officer from 2015 till 2022. At that time Otago Fish & Game had already de-established the Wānaka Hatchery operations but the site remained with the Council. One of the jobs I got involved in was cleaning up the site including disposing of assets on the site and I also began some adventive plant management along the banks of Bullock Creek adjacent to the hatchery grounds. It was during those first couple of years working for Fish & Game that Te Kākano, the Wānaka Residents Association and the Department of Corrections became involved in the restoration of the headwaters of Bullock Creek. FOBC was formed in 2018 and the site was named by the Otago Fish & Game Council as Bullock Creek Hatchery Springs.  

What is your role/s at FOBC?

 I am the primary contractor responsible for the operational delivery of the workplan for the site. Most of this work is completed for FOBC Trust but I also complete some tasks on the site for Fish & Game. The work is really about progressing the staged restoration of Bullock Creek Hatchery Springs. To do this FOBC engages with the community and together with FOBC volunteers, Te Kākano, school groups, other contractors and the Department of Corrections, the work is undertaken. 

What have been some highlights during your time at FOBC?

Highlights have been the formation of FOBC which have been instrumental in raising awareness, fundraising for the operations and the boardwalk and also a huge amount of resourse managment work that has been required. 

Getting the QE11 covenant registered on the title prior to me leaving Fish & Game in 2022 was another highlight. Also with the community efforts, we have collectively planted over 11,000 native plants. 

In five words, describe what makes Bullock Creek Hatchery Springs so special

Passionate People 

Spring water trickling

Wetland natives flourishing

Peace and tranquility

Birds and Bees

Where do you see Bullock Creek in ten years time?

 In terms of the total area we are approximately halfway through the staged restoration. The hardest thing now is the weed control required to clear the site for the next 10,000 natives that will be planted on the site. The current goal is to plant 1,000 plants per growing season so if FOBC is able to keep up the current efforts and resources then it is definitely achievable. 

Paul having a lakeside brew after work

As we’ve done over the recent months with our volunteers, we’d also like to shout out and recognise all the mahi that goes on behind the scenes thanks to our Trustees. Friends of Bullock Creek Trust is managed by a committed Board of Trustees who are responsible for all the fundraising, awareness-raising, education, collaborations, restoration planning, and community engagement. A lot of their work goes unseen by many, but it is their ongoing work and the fruits of their labour that ensures the continued protection and restoration of Bullock Creek for all. Together with Paul van Klink, our valued operational works contractor and the work of Ed Astin alongside Paul, a tremendous amount of work occurs on a weekly, and sometimes even daily basis. We recognise and thank them all for their continued commitment to the gem that is Bullock Creek in Wānaka.

Over the coming months we will profile some of our Trustees here so you can get to know them a bit more, and hear in their own words what drives them to be involved in FOBC.

First up is Charlotte…

In five words, describe what makes Bullock Creek so special

Urban seepage wetland.

What kind of skills and experience do you bring to your role as Trustee?

 I have an accounting background and work with a variety of businesses and charities.

How did you become involved with FOBC?

The Bullock Creek Wetland is close to the home that I grew up in. When Roger (my dad) and Paul started clearing the area and FOBC came about I volunteered my services in preparing the Charities return and providing bookkeeping to the organisation. 

 What have been some highlights of your work so far as a Trustee for FOBC?

 I think the overall highlight is how well maintained the site is and how it is enjoyed by so many members of the public. It really is a testament to the countless volunteer hours and a long term vision for the space. 

What are some challenges you see regarding local environmental protection and regeneration?

 In general I see challenges around local environmental protection and the rate of development of the Wānaka area. Wānaka is an extremely desirable place to be, but we need to be mindful of how infrastructure co-exists with nature and making sure that the decisions made now serve us in the future. 

Where do you see FOBC in ten years time?

As a QEII protected space my hope is that the Bullock Creek wetland is enjoyed for generations to come. FOBC’s role is to help support that.

What do you think of when you visit the wetlands?

Do you think of a beautiful space, where it is lovely to spend time and is full of native flora and fauna?

Do you look around you and notice the tui singing in the trees, the kahu soaring overhead, the bees buzzing around?

Do you see the world in miniature, the tiny insects living in a tiny ecosystem of moss on fallen logs, lichen clinging to tree trunks and scattered over stones and windfall branches?

Do you stop to take it all in, look around you, see, hear, feel and smell the world of the wetlands?

Looking around, sometimes it seems as though there is an intentional art trail set throughout the wetlands…not the art of humans painting on canvas or sculpting creations from clay. Nor the art of photography even, focusing in on the hidden and unseen worlds that march along while we’re living our human-sized lives.

The art you can see if you stop and look is the art of nature, all around us. The art of gradients of green flung throughout the wetlands; the art of fungi clinging to a fallen log; the art of stones slick with wet and plastered with dead leaves.

Do you see the art of nature when you visit the wetlands? What do you see?

Our friends at WAI Wānaka work tirelessly for local water health and educating the community about water health and quality issues such as stormwater run off, ecosystem monitoring and water pollution events.

Their Adopt A Drain program aims to educate and provide local groups, businesses and households the opportunity to ‘adopt a drain’ in the name of reducing stormwater pollution in our local area. The reality is that drains are waterways just like streams are, and anything that goes down a drain ends up in our streams, rivers and lakes; pollutants include chemical cleaners, sediment, pesticides and heavy metals and pathogens like E.coli.

We appreciate the work of WAI and know how important it is to protect our waterways, such as those found along the Bullock Creek environs, for the benefit of the ecosystem as a whole and for us humans within the larger ecosystem, being able to enjoy and care for our waterways for generations to come.

Bullock Creek

To check out and support the work of WAI Wānaka, check out the following links:

• WAI Wānaka

• Adopt A Drain program

• Adopt A Drain newsletter

• WAI Wānaka newsletter

• WAI Wānaka facebook page

You can do your bit by:

• Reporting water pollution to Otago Regional Council- 24/7 hotline 0800 800 033 or complete the Report Pollution form on their website

• Wash your car on the lawn, not on the road

• Get involved in local water health initiatives like our weekly wetland restoration volunteer days at Bullock Creek or events regularly run by WAI focusing on education, clean-ups and water quality monitoring

• Donate to FOBC and WAI to help us continue our important mahi

• Check out Otago Catchment Community Inc who help support a network of catchment groups in our broader region, including generously funding some of our work here at FOBC

• Check out Otago Regional Council for everything you need to know about water care

References

https://niwa.co.nz/freshwater/stormwater-management/stormwater-introduction

https://waiwanaka.nz/actions/our-drains-are-streams/

https://waiwanaka.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Summary-of-M.-Vermeulens-work.pdf

Fish on Drains

Trailer reveal!

Recently we became the grateful recipients of some Queenstown Airport Community Fund funds to buy ourselves a trailer for our work at the wetlands.

With all the weeding and plant removal we undertake, we need something to help us remove it all from the wetlands.

The new trailer being put to good use

We will be using this new and reliable trailer to transport all the green waste we remove from the wetlands when we do our weeding and restoration work. We're very grateful to Queenstown Airport Community Fund for this support so we can continue our wetland restoration work with ease.

As part of the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival, the Adventure Film School arm of the NZMFF came to the Bullock Creek wetlands this week for some filming fun! Our very own Paul van Klink was interviewed, as too were our friends at Te Kākano, Kris Vollebregt and Jose Cranfield from WAI Wānaka, talking about the start of the project, the vision and history of the site and FOBC, the community connections and collaborations, the restoration work and the future of the Bullock Creek wetlands restoration project.

The filming of this little bit about the wetlands and the importance of the site and what it means to Wānaka not only highlights the wetlands itself, and the collaborative mahi that goes on between local conservation and environmental organisations, but also provides the students involved with Adventure Film School a unique opportunity to learn all about the film making process with industry film professionals in an outdoor environment.

Not only are the Bullock Creek wetlands a site of environmental conservation but they also exist as a community and public space, as well as an important outdoor education space.

For more information about the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival and Adventure Film School check out the following links: https://mountainfilm.nz/adventure-film-school/ and https://mountainfilm.nz/

Thank you to Te Kākano, WAI Wānaka, NZMFF, Adventure Film School and all involved in the organisation and execution of this special filming day. We can’t wait to see the finished product!

This week marks National Volunteer Week from the 16th- 22nd June.

The theme this year is Whiria te tangata – weaving the people together. This couldn’t be more apt, as we recently hosted our friends Te Kākano who held a weaving workshop at the wetlands. Weaving is about more than the physical though, it is about the woven connections and collaborations and interactions and work between us all; it is that which brings us together for a common cause.

As a group based primarily on volunteer power, Friends of Bullock Creek, with our on-the-ground volunteers who turn up week in and week out in all-weather, to the folks who are passing through Wānaka and want to volunteer their time for the community, to our Board of Trustees who all act in a volunteer capacity in their governance and oversight of the ethos and vision of Friends to Bullock Creek Trust, to those semi-regular volunteers who live in Wānaka for periods of the year and come back again and again to put in the hard mahi. We couldn’t do the work we’ve been doing at the Bullock Creek wetlands for the past 9 years without volunteers. We see you and thank you.

As one of our volunteers Dave says, volunteering “…helps our community grow…”.

Thank you to all past and present and future volunteers, with us here at Bullock Creek, and more widely working within the Wānaka community. Here’s to you. 

FOBC have a very exciting announcement to make in the coming weeks. We’ll soon be taking delivery of a VERY SPECIAL ITEM. What could it be? We can tell you it is a form of transport, but will keep the big reveal hidden for now!

We’d love to hear what you think it may be…now taking your best guesses and ideas for what it is and what it will be used for…kudos for the most outlandish/funny/spot on guesses!

All will be revealed in good time…

TW: image of deceased animal

Have you ever wondered about the pest animals found at Bullock Creek wetlands? Well we can tell you that they exist, and have been systematically trapped since 2018. Introduced pests like hedgehogs, possums, rats and stoats have all been found and trapped at the wetlands.

Trapping is an important method of pest control. Why? Because pest animals contribute to the predation of native species of birds, lizards, amphibians and insects; they compete with native species for food sources; and destabilise delicate ecosystems that we all rely on.

Check out this information from Southern Lakes Sanctuabout predators and their environmental impact.

https://southernlakessanctuary.org.nz/the-sanctuary/predators/

For information about how to become involved in backyard trapping in the Wānaka area, contact Predator Free Wānaka at https://www.predatorfreewanaka.org/get-involved

And keep your eyes peeled here on our website and on our social media pages for more information and news about predator control at Bullock Creek wetlands in the upcoming months.