Brook Waimārama Sanctuary
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The Brook Waimārama Sanctuary is a nearly 700 hectare mainland "
ecological island An ecological island is a term used in New Zealand, and increasingly in Australia, to refer to an area of land (not necessarily an actual island) isolated by natural or artificial means from the surrounding land, where a natural micro-habitat exists ...
" sanctuary located 6 km south of
Nelson, New Zealand Nelson () is a List of cities in New Zealand, city and Districts of New Zealand, unitary authority on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay at the top of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the oldest city in the South Island and the second-old ...
. The sanctuary is the largest fenced sanctuary in New Zealand's
South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...
and the second largest in the country; it is the only sanctuary to feature mature New Zealand beech forest. The Brook Waimārama Sanctuary Trust was established in 2004 with the intent of restoring the flora and fauna of the Brook Valley, a former water supply for Nelson with intact
beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...
forest. A predator-proof fence was completed in 2016 at a cost of NZD $4.2 million, and introduced mammalian pests were eradicated from within the sanctuary in 2017. The sanctuary reopened to the public in 2018, and an entrance fee regime was introduced in 2020. Reintroductions of species such as the
Okarito kiwi The Okarito kiwi (''Apteryx rowi''), also known as the rowi or Okarito brown kiwi, is a member of the kiwi family Apterygidae, described as new to science in 2003. The species is part of the brown kiwi complex, and is morphologically very ...
are planned.


Origins

The Brook Valley immediately south of
Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
is a water-supply reserve owned for over 100 years by the
Nelson City Council Nelson City Council is the unitary local authority for Nelson in New Zealand. History Local governance of Nelson began with Nelson Province in 1853, which covered the entire upper South Island. The town of Nelson was managed by the Nelson ...
. The Nelson Waterworks Reserve was created in 1865, encompassing the watershed of the Brook Stream. A dam was built and an oval reservoir were constructed that held a two-week water supply for the city; they opened on 16 April 1868. A second dam was built in 1905, and a third in 1909, to create enough water pressure to supply houses in the hills around Nelson. The dams were plagued with leaks, and the city's water needs continued to grow. A dam and pipeline were built on the Roding River in 1941, and the
Maitai River The Maitai River (also known as the Mahitahi River) is the largest river in the city of Nelson, New Zealand, Nelson, in the north of New Zealand's South Island. The river stretches from the Bryant Range, situated to the east (inland) of Nelson, ...
was dammed in 1987. Together these rendered the Brook waterworks obsolete, and it was decommissioned in 2000. The valley also contained the
Dun Mountain railway The Dun Mountain Railway was a privately owned and operated Narrow gauge railway, narrow gauge, long List of horse-drawn railways, horse-drawn Tramway (mineral), tramway from chromite mines in the vicinity of Duppa Lode on the eastern slopes ...
line, New Zealand's first railway, which was a horse-drawn tramway built in the 1860s to service a
chromite Chromite is a crystalline mineral composed primarily of iron(II) oxide and chromium(III) oxide compounds. It can be represented by the chemical formula of Iron, FeChromium, Cr2Oxygen, O4. It is an oxide mineral belonging to the spinel group. The ...
mine. In the 1890s two coal mines operated nearby. Planning for turning the Brook Valley into a predator-free wildlife sanctuary began with the formation of a steering committee in mid-2001, and in 2004 the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary Trust was formed as a community group. The valley was only 5 km from Nelson, backed onto 1660 km2
Mount Richmond Forest Park Mount Richmond Forest Park is a forest park in New Zealand, administered by the Department of Conservation. Established in 1977, the forest park is located between Nelson and Marlborough and consists of of conservation estate. Around 80% of t ...
, and included the 690 ha Waterworks Reserve. Although its lower reaches had been initially cleared for grazing livestock and were regenerating, the beech forest in the upper reaches had been preserved as a water-supply reserve and was intact. In 2007–2008 the Nelson City Council approved $1.036 million and the
Tasman District Council Tasman District Council () is the unitary authority#New Zealand, unitary local authority for the Tasman District of New Zealand. The council is led by the mayor of Tasman, who is currently . History Tasman District Council was formed on 1 Novem ...
$300,000 of funding to begin the project.


Fencing

The plan for the Brook Waimārama included a predator-proof fence, to prevent reinvasion by introduced predatory mammals after eradication had been completed. A resource consent for the fence was secured in 2009, and the fence route surveyed in 2010. The area to be protected was three times the size of
Zealandia Zealandia (pronounced ), also known as (Māori language, Māori) or Tasmantis (from Tasman Sea), is an almost entirely submerged continent, submerged mass of continental crust in Oceania that subsided after breaking away from Gondwana 83 ...
, with a fence twice as long – the largest wildlife sanctuary in the
South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...
, and the second-largest in New Zealand. The predator-proof fence was finished in September 2016 after 12 years of planning and 18 months of construction. The fence is 14.4 km long, and cost $4.2 million. In addition to the Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council funding, $574,000 was raised in donations (including a one-off anonymous donation of $250,000), and the remaining $1.75 million came from a
Lottery A lottery (or lotto) is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find som ...
grant. An electric wire runs the length of the fence hood to detect when branches fall on it that might allow a predator to cross.


Pest control

A trapping programme began in a small area of secondary forest in 2006 aimed at controlling
possum Possum may refer to: Animals * Didelphimorphia, or (o)possums, an order of marsupials native to the Americas ** Didelphis, a genus of marsupials within Didelphimorphia *** Common opossum, native to Central and South America *** Virginia opossum ...
, rat, mice,
stoat The stoat (''Mustela erminea''), also known as the Eurasian ermine or ermine, is a species of mustelid native to Eurasia and the northern regions of North America. Because of its wide circumpolar distribution, it is listed as Least Concern on th ...
and
weasel Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets, and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slend ...
populations. A team of volunteers cut 22 km of tracks spaced 100 m apart around the valley, allowing traps to be set up on a 100 m grid (50 m around the perimeter). The traps were baited weekly. Shooters also killed about 100
goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...
s that had been ring-barking trees in the valley. Three aerial drops of 26.5 tonnes of
brodifacoum Brodifacoum is a highly lethal 4-Hydroxycoumarins, 4-hydroxycoumarin vitamin K antagonist anticoagulant poison. In recent years, it has become one of the world's most widely used pesticides. It is typically used as a rodenticide, but is also used ...
-laced bait to eliminate all rodents within the fence were planned for July to October 2017. This action was challenged in June by a group calling themselves the Brook Valley Community Group (BVCG), led by Nelson lawyer Sue Grey, who protested the aerial poison drop near a waterway. Although portraying themselves as a community group, many of the organisers were anti-
1080 Year 1080 ( MLXXX) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Autumn – Nikephoros Melissenos, a Byzantine general and aristocrat, seizes control of what remains of Byzantine ...
activists from outside Nelson. The drop was halted while the case went to the High Court on 7 August, and then, two days before the first drop, to the
Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...
; in both cases the court ruled against the BVCG. Nelson MP Nick Smith was accosted on 3 September 2017 (the day of the first drop) by activist Rose Renton and her then husband, who allegedly rubbed rat poison on his clothes and intimidated him in an act of protest; both were found guilty of offensive behaviour. That same day, a hole was drilled in a fuel tank for helicopters performing the drop, several protesters attempted to block access, and three were arrested. The three poison drops subsequently went ahead smoothly, and no bait was dropped outside the sanctuary boundaries, nor was any trace of brodifacoum detected in the stream water. The BVCG attempted to take their appeal to the
Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
, but were denied, and they were ordered to pay over $70,000 in legal costs to the Nelson City Council, the Minister for the Environment, and the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary Trust. The group considered disbanding as an incorporated society to avoid having to pay the costs and "starting again somewhere else". After attempting to recover some of the $100,000 it had spent responding to the BVCG's legal action, the Nelson City Council applied for the group to be liquidated. After six months of monitoring, the sanctuary was declared "pest free" in 2018, with at least 14 pest species removed from within the fence, including rats, stoats, and
deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...
. A four-monthly testing regime checks for presence of rodents; as of May 2019 there had been two breaches of the fence, both individual rats which were dealt with shortly afterwards. In the year following the elimination of rodents there was 400 per cent increase in the numbers of
tūī The tūī (''Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae'') is a medium-sized bird native to New Zealand. It is blue, green, and bronze coloured with a distinctive white throat tuft (poi). It is an endemism, endemic passerine bird of New Zealand, and the on ...
and bellbirds, and a 200 per cent increase in fantails and
tomtit The tomtit (''Petroica macrocephala'') is a small passerine bird in the family (biology), family Petroicidae, the Australasian robins. It is endemic (ecology), endemic to the islands of New Zealand, ranging across the main islands as well as s ...
s. There were also notable increases in the number of ground
invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...
s and tree seedlings.


Reopening

The sanctuary reopened to the public on Sunday 15 July 2018. It featured an outdoor classroom space with electricity for visiting school groups, a wheelchair-accessible loop track, and bridges over the former dams. The visitor centre, designed by John Palmer of Palmer & Palmer Architects, had been operating since 2007. A wheelchair-accessible bridge was scheduled to be opened in February 2020, but the Sanctuary was forced to temporarily close due to the high summer fire risk. In 2024,
Tuatara The tuatara (''Sphenodon punctatus'') is a species of reptile endemic to New Zealand. Despite its close resemblance to lizards, it is actually the only extant member of a distinct lineage, the previously highly diverse order Rhynchocephal ...
were reintroduced to the sanctuary from
captive breeding Captive breeding, also known as captive propagation, is the process of keeping plants or animals in controlled environments, such as wildlife reserves, zoos, Botanical garden, botanic gardens, and other Conservation biology, conservation facilitie ...
.


Gallery

File:Brook Waimarama Sanctuary.jpg, View from air File:Brook Waimārama MRD 01.jpg, View up the valley File:Brook Waimārama MRD 17.jpg, Beech grove outdoor classroom File:The Brook Waimarama Sanctuary.jpg, Weir File:Weir in Brook Valley Stream.jpg, Another view of the weir File:Weir at Brook Waimārama Sanctuary, Nelson.jpg File:Brook Waimārama MRD 07.jpg, Shining spleenwort (''Asplenium oblongifolium'') File:Ferny Forest Floor (Brook Waimarama Sanctuary).jpg, Ferns on the forest floor File:Brook Waimārama MRD 09.jpg, QR code for tracking tunnel File:Brook Waimārama MRD 23.jpg, Visitor centre File:Weka at Brook.jpg, Weka and chick


Governance

From 2004 to 2019 the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary Trust was chaired by Dave Butler, who had been involved with the project from the beginning; he had previously managed the ecological island setup at Lake Rotoiti in
Nelson Lakes National Park Nelson Lakes National Park is in the South Island of New Zealand, at the northern end of the Southern Alps. It was created in 1956 (one of four created in the 1950s). The park contains beech forests, multiple lakes, snow-covered mountains and v ...
. The Acting Chair Peter Jamieson was replaced in 2019 by Chris Hawkes. The first general manager of the Trust was Hudson Dodd, who started in January 2012 and played a major role in the fundraising for the fence and pest removal. Dodd stepped down in November 2018 and was replaced as CEO in January 2019 by Ru Collin. As part of Nelson City Council's Long Term Plan, the sanctuary received $250,000 for the 2018–2019 financial year, with a further $150,000 each year for the nine remaining years of the Plan. One third of the Sanctuary's annual budget comes from Nelson City Council, the
Department of Conservation Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
, and Jasmine Social Investments; the remainder is from sponsorship and donations. After missing out on $50,000 of additional Council funding its annual budget, previously $850,000, dropped to $660,000. In January 2020 the Sanctuary announced that it would be replacing its voluntary entry fee of $5 ($15 for families) with a compulsory fee of $15 for adults, $8 for those under 15 years, and $40 for families. These fees would be halved for Nelson or Tasman residents, students, and unwaged.


Flora

Brook Waimārama Sanctuary contains over 250 species of vascular plants, including pukatea (''
Laurelia novae-zelandiae ''Laurelia novae-zelandiae'', also called pukatea, is a large evergreen tree, endemic to the forests of New Zealand. Pukatea has 'toothed' leaves and produces small flowers. It is a species in the Atherospermataceae (formerly Monimiaceae) fam ...
'') and tawa (''
Beilschmiedia tawa ''Beilschmiedia tawa'', commonly known as the tawa, is a New Zealand broadleaf tree common in the central parts of the country. Tawa is often the dominant canopy tree species in lowland forests in the North Island and the north east of the Sou ...
)'' which are close to their southern limits here. About two thirds of the valley consists of intact
Southern beech ''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere, found across southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Guin ...
forest, including all five beech species, along with
mataī ''Prumnopitys taxifolia'', the mataī () or black pine, is an endemic New Zealand coniferous tree that grows on the North Island and South Island. It also occurs on Stewart Island / Rakiura (47 °S) but is uncommon there. It grows up to high ...
,
rimu ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a dioecious evergreen conifer, reaching heights of up to , and can have a stout trunk (botany), trunk up to in diameter. It is endemis ...
, and
tōtara ''Podocarpus totara'' (), commonly known as the , is a species of Podocarpus, podocarp tree endemism, endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island, South Island and rarely on Stewart Island, Stewart Island / Rakiura in lowland, ...
. The remainder in the north-west is a mixture of
kānuka ''Kunzea ericoides'', commonly known as kānuka or white tea-tree, is a tree or shrub in the myrtle Family (biology), family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to New Zealand. It has white or pink flowers similar to those of ''Leptospermum'' and from its ...
,
mānuka Mānuka (; ''Leptospermum scoparium'') is a species of flowering plant in the myrtle family (biology), family Myrtaceae, native to New Zealand (including the Chatham Islands) and south-east Australia. Bees produce mānuka honey from its necta ...
, and regenerating broadleaf forest.


Threatened species

* Red mistletoe (''
Peraxilla tetrapetala ''Peraxilla tetrapetala'', commonly known as red mistletoe, is a parasitic plant in the family Loranthaceae, endemic to New Zealand and found on both the North and South Islands. The Māori names for the plant are pikirangi, pirirangi and roero ...
'')


Uncommon species

* Forest parsley fern ('' Botrychium biforme'') * Gully tree fern ('' Alsophila cunninghami'') * Lace filmy fern (''
Hymenophyllum flexuosum ''Hymenophyllum'' is a genus of ferns in the family Hymenophyllaceae. Its name means "membranous leaf", referring to the very thin translucent tissue of the fronds, which gives rise to the common name filmy fern for this and other thin-leaved fern ...
'') * Notched glade fern ('' Hypolepsis distans'') * Green mistletoe (''
Ileostylus micranthus ''Ileostylus micranthus'', commonly known as green mistletoe pikirangi; pirinoa; pirirangi; pirita; small-flowered mistletoe, is a species of mistletoe in the family Loranthaceae. Description ''Ileostylus micranthus'' is a mistletoe native to ...
'') * Velvet fern ('' Lastreopsis velutina'') * Bamboo grass ('' Microlaena polynoda'')


Fauna

Tūī, bellbirds, fantails,
kererū The kererū (''Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae''), also known as kūkupa (Māori language#Northern dialects, northern Māori dialects), New Zealand pigeon or wood pigeon, is a species of pigeon native to New Zealand. Johann Friedrich Gmelin describ ...
,
grey warbler The grey warbler (''Gerygone igata''), also known by its Māori name or outside New Zealand as the grey gerygone, is an insectivorous bird in the family Acanthizidae endemic to New Zealand. It is sometimes known as the teetotum or rainbird. I ...
s, brown creepers,
silvereye The silvereye or wax-eye (''Zosterops lateralis''), also known by its Māori name tauhou, is a very small omnivorous passerine bird of the south-west Pacific. In Australia and New Zealand its common name is sometimes white-eye, but this name is ...
s, and tomtits are common in the sanctuary, and South Island robins and
riflemen A rifleman is an infantry soldier armed with a rifled long gun. Although the rifleman role had its origin with 16th century hand cannoneers and 17th century musketeers, the term originated in the 18th century with the introduction of the r ...
, which had previously lived in the upper reaches, are increasingly venturing into the valley bottom. In April 2021, the sanctuary reached a milestone with first species reintroduction 40 tīeke/
South Island saddleback The South Island saddleback or tīeke (''Philesturnus carunculatus'') is a forest-dwelling passerine bird in the New Zealand wattlebird family which is endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. Both the North Island saddleback and this speci ...
(''Philesturnus carunculatus)'' were released into the sanctuary''.'' Orange-fronted parakeet / kākāriki karaka (''Cyanoramphus malherbi'') were introduced successfully (seven translocations totalling 125 birds from several sources by March 2023). Some nationally uncommon species are also present, such as New Zealand falcons/ kārearea. The Sanctuary's long-term plan is to re-introduce several further threatened bird species: *
Rowi The Okarito kiwi (''Apteryx rowi''), also known as the rowi or Okarito brown kiwi, is a member of the Kiwi (bird), kiwi family Apterygidae, described as Bird species new to science, new to science in 2003. The species is part of the brown kiwi ...
or Okarito kiwi (''Apteryx rowi''), from the population on Motuara Island (although this has been delayed several years following a rat incursion in September 2018) *
Kākā The New Zealand kākā (''Nestor meridionalis'') is a large species of parrot of the family New Zealand parrot, Strigopidae found in New Zealand, New Zealand's native forests across the three main Islands of New Zealand. The species is often kn ...
(''Nestor meridionalis)'' * Yellowhead / mōhua (''Mohoua ochrocephala'') In 2022 the threatened giant snail '' Powelliphanta hochstetteri consobrina'' was re-introduced into the sanctuary. In the stream are freshwater crayfish (
kōura ''Paranephrops'' is a genus of freshwater crayfish found only in New Zealand. They are known by the English common names freshwater crayfish and koura, the latter from their Māori language, Māori name of ''kōura''. Species The two species a ...
) and kōaro (''Galaxias brevipinnis''). Nelson green geckos (''Naultinus stellatus'') are present, and
tuatara The tuatara (''Sphenodon punctatus'') is a species of reptile endemic to New Zealand. Despite its close resemblance to lizards, it is actually the only extant member of a distinct lineage, the previously highly diverse order Rhynchocephal ...
are included in the Sanctuary reintroduction plan. In November 2024 56 Tuatara were bought to a 5.7 acre mouse-free enclosure marking it as the first time tuatara were reintroduced to the northern South Island.https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/533045/dozens-of-tuatara-to-be-released-at-brook-waimarama-sanctuary-in-nelson,
huhu beetle The huhu beetle (''Prionoplus reticularis'') is a longhorn beetle Endemism, endemic to New Zealand. It is the heaviest beetle found in New Zealand. Terminologies The Māori language, Māori name ''huhu'' is ultimately Proto-Austronesian langua ...
s and
Tree wētā Tree wētā (pūtangatanga) are insects in the genus ''Hemideina'' of the family (biology), family Anostostomatidae. The genus is endemic (ecology), endemic to New Zealand. There are seven species within the wētā genus ''Hemideina'', found th ...
are most noticeable, and wētā "hotels" have been installed beside the walking track.


See also

*
Zealandia (wildlife sanctuary) Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne, formerly known as the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, is a protected natural area in Wellington, New Zealand, the first urban completely fenced ecosanctuary, where the biodiversity of 225 Hectare, ha (just under a square m ...
* "Mainland island" sanctuaries *
Biodiversity of New Zealand The biodiversity of New Zealand, a large island country located in the south-western Pacific Ocean, is varied and distinctive. The species of New Zealand accumulated over many millions of years as lineages evolved in the local circumstances. ...


References


Further reading

*Bell, Jacquetta (2008). ''Returning Nature to the Nelson Region: The Brook Waimarama Sanctuary''. Nikau Press. 32 p. , *


External links

* *
RNZ Radio New Zealand (), commonly known as RNZ or Radio NZ, is a New Zealand public service broadcaster and Crown entity. Established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995, it operates news and current affairs station, RNZ National, and a classica ...
''Our Changing World'' episode on the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary
24 March 2016
{{Nelson, New Zealand, state=collapsed Nature reserves in New Zealand Nelson, New Zealand Wildlife sanctuaries of New Zealand Protected areas of the Nelson Region