Tag Archives: The Forest Bridge Trust

Conservation Week Event–8 November 2015

06/10/2015UncategorizedConservation Week, The Forest Bridge TrustThe Forest Bridge Trust

Conservation Week 2015 – Healthy Nature Healthy People

The Forest Bridge Trust is offering a unique opportunity to take a guided walk through a magnificent piece of mature native bush on the banks of the lower Hoteo river followed by country hospitality.

Date: Sunday, 8 November 2015

Time: Arrive 1.00 – 1.30 pm for a 1.5 to 2 hr guided walk

No dogs please

Location: 3856 Kaipara Coast Hwy, Tauhoa

Cost: $25 per adult /$10 per child /$50 per family

For bookings contact: theforestbridgetrust@gmail.com or Tel: 027-551 4140

All proceeds and any additional donations will go towards fencing the bush you will be exploring (photo below)

CatchIT Schools at Kaipara Flats School—30 July & 13 August 2015

21/08/2015CatchIT SchoolsCatchit schools, Kaipara Flats School, The Forest Bridge TrustThe Forest Bridge Trust

The CatchIT programme is well underway at Kaipara Flats School after the initial launch on 30^th July when, Liz Maire, The Forest Bridge Trust (TFBT) educator, conducted a presentation to the students about pests and their effect on native plants and wildlife. She also demonstrated the use of tracking cards and each student was given a tracking tunnel and tracking cards to monitor pests around their homes.

On 4^th August a workshop was held at the school for the parents at the school. TFBT trustee Chris Roberts briefly introduced the objectives of the Trust and then Liz discussed the CatchIT Schools programme.

She started by discussing the different types of pests that we want to control.

ter explaining the different types of pests, Liz introduced the different kinds of traps that are used. The students and parents got a chance to see how a DoC 200 trap works!At the end of the session families took home a DOC 2000 and a Timms trap.On In August, Liz returned to see what the students had found on their tracking cards.
Some prints were puzzling, but we had an expert on hand visiting the school for the morning. Warren Agnew from Gotcha Traps gave the students helpful hints on how to identify different creatures’ footprints. Warren is the inventor of the tracking card system and had an interested audience. He explained about the differences between male and female stoat prints and had innovative ideas on how to attract these pests into traps – using mirrors and toy windmills!The students also reported back on the trapping success they were having with the Timms traps and DoC200s. Some of the students shared pictures of what they had caught.Some students are already having success and the most unlikely catch was a ship rat caught in a trap designed for possums and baited with apple!

The students were given mouse and rat traps and were given a chance to set mouse traps and to learn how to place them in their protective pipes. The pipes prevent birds and pets from accidentally triggering the traps.

This was voted the best bit of the session!

Sue Cameron and Jo Ritchie were also on hand to show the traps work and the students had a chance to see how a DOC 200 works.

The students were each given a 4 mouse traps, 2 rat traps, and protective covers to take home. They were also given a log sheet to keep track of what they catch and the bait they use and other relevant information and this data will be accumulated as part of the larger CatchIT programme.

Liz returned to the school to follow up with the students on their pest control activities and there were some impressive results!

As always, we have a lot of people to thank for the roll out of the CatchIT programme. Thanks to Warren Agnew of Gotcha Traps for providing tracking tunnels and cards, Auckland Council and the Rodney Local Board for providing rat and mouse traps and rat tunnels, the Mataia Restoration project for providing mouse trap tunnels, the Auckland Council Biosecurity Team for the Timms traps and Auckland Council’s Rodney Environmental Education Fund for partly funding our environmental educator.

We’d like to thank Liz for her hard work in preparing and presenting the sessions and handling all of the many administrative details such as numbering and accounting for all of the traps.

And we especially want to thank the staff, students and parents from Kaipara Flats School for being part of the CatchIT programme and for your enthusiasm and support. We know you will catch a lot of pests and make an important contribution to the health of New Zealand’s plant and animal life.

CatchIT Schools at Tomarata School—12 & 14 August 2015

17/08/2015CatchIT SchoolsCatchit schools, The Forest Bridge Trust, Tomarata SchoolThe Forest Bridge Trust

Our Education Coordinator Liz Maire held follow up sessions at Tomarata School to find out what pests the children had detected in their own back yards. She also distributed rat and mouse traps and trained the student in how to use them safely.

The students brought in their tracking cards and there lots of prints to identify. With Liz’s help, the students identified the tracks on their cards and presented the results to the class.

The cards revealed a variety of pests—there were lots of mice and rats plus a possible stoat and a hedgehog. In addition to learning to identify tracks, the students also learned some valuable lessons. One or two tracking cards were eaten by the family dog and a cat visited a tunnel put out at the school.

As a result of Liz’s efforts, over 100 Tomarata students have now been trained in using rat and mouse traps and are setting them out at home and at school In addition, several families are using the donated Timms and DOC200 traps that had been distributed at the workshop on 5 August. Tomarata students are making a huge contribution to reduce the populations of rats, mice, mustelids and possums.

We’d also like to thank Liz for her hard work in preparing and presenting the sessions and handling all of the many administrative details such as numbering and accounting for all of the traps.

And we especially want to thank the staff, students and parents from Tomarata School for being part of the CatchIT programme and for your enthusiasm and support. We know you will catch a lot of pests and make an important contribution to the health of New Zealand’s plant and animal life.

CatchIT Schools At Tauhoa School–3 & 10 August 2015

16/08/2015UncategorizedThe Forest Bridge TrustThe Forest Bridge Trust

The CatchIT programme is well underway at Tauhoa School. On 3 August, Liz Maire, The Forest Bridge Trust Education Coordinator held a meeting for parents and students at the school. Liz introduced the program and the students were provided DoC 200 and Timms traps for deployment at home. They were also given tracking tunnels and cards so that they could get an idea of the kinds of pests in their neighbourhood.

Liz started out by giving an overview of the Forest Bridge Trust and the CatchIT Schools programme.

She gave the group some background information about introduced pests and the damage that they do.

After explaining the different types of pests, Liz then introduced the different kinds of traps that are used to catch them.

The students got a chance to see how a DoC 200 trap works!

At the end of the session each family group was given a Timms trap and DoC 200 and trapping information.

On 10 August, Liz held a follow session with the students to help them interpret the tracking tunnel data they had collected. Each student had been given a tracking tunnel and a card with instructions on how to use it.

Liz started the discussion with a review of what had been discussed in the first session.

The students then broke into groups to review the tracking tunnel cards and to see what they had found. Liz explained how the tracks should be interpreted and gave the students helpful hints on how to identify different creatures’ footprints.

Once all of the tracks had been identified, each group presented what they had learned.

Liz then summarised the information about the creatures identified.

Today the students were also given mouse and rat traps. Liz reviewed how the traps work.

And the students brainstormed on different kinds of lures that might be used in the traps.

They were then given a chance to set the mouse traps and to learn how to place them in their protective pipes. The pipes prevent birds and pets from accidentally triggering the traps.

The students were each given a log sheet to keep track of what they catch and the bait they use and this data will be accumulated as part of the larger CatchIT programme.

The CatchIT programme would not be possible without the help of a number or people and organisations.

We want to thank Warren Agnew of Gotcha Traps for providing tracking tunnels and cards, Auckland Council and the Rodney Local Board for providing rat and mouse traps and rat tunnels, the Mataia Restoration project for providing mouse trap tunnels, the Auckland Council Biosecurity Team for the Timms traps and Auckland Council’s Rodney Environmental Education Fund for partly funding our environmental educator.

We’d also like to thank Liz for her hard work in preparing and presenting the sessions and handling all of the many administrative details such as numbering and accounting for all of the traps.

And we especially want to thank the staff, students and parents from Tauhoa School for being part of the CatchIT programme and for your enthusiasm and support. We know you will catch a lot of pests and make an important contribution to the health of New Zealand’s plant and animal life.