A locally produced children’s picture book with a strong message of conservation was launched last week, highlighting how the Karioi Project’s trapping programme is helping restore native biodiversity.
Entitled ‘Bringing Back the Bird Song’, the full-colour publication is the work of Ruapuke pre-school teacher Sioux Swann who’s passionate about the weekly bush days she and children at Matapihi Kindergarten spend eradicating pests as they explore the eight-acre Te Mata property together.
“We reckon we are getting results,” Sioux told enthusiastic friends and colleagues gathered at Raglan Harbour View Hotel for the Friday evening launch. “I feel we are seeing and hearing lots more birds in the bush (now).”
She also pointed to the healthy stock of eels in the creek, and how they too were benefitting from the culling of invasive pests like rats and stoats.
Her glossy 30-page book is full of photos of the pre-schoolers she and fellow teacher Justine Davies – “my bush buddy” – guide through Matapihi’s bush tracks on Mondays, ultimately to connect with nature.
The book’s text, in English and Maori, tells in first person how a group of 10 children walk into the forest or ngahere to check the traps, stopping to look at things of interest along the way. “There is no hurry,” it reads. “We have all day to explore.”
The text also explains the practice of pest control which includes carrying a trapping bag containing “everything we need” – the peanut butter for bait, tools for trap-setting and an all-important log book to record the daily catch.
“We know we are making a difference,” Sioux insists, “because our birdsong is back.”
She originally set out to make a book just for herself, capturing on camera some “magical moments” with her young protégés during those bush days. “Then I realised I needed to share it.”
Now Matapihi – a name which translates in te reo to window of opportunity or window to the world – has a unique resource for both teachers and children of the daily discoveries made when venturing into the Matapihi bush, with its towering kahikatea trees andwinding creek.
Sioux proudly adds the publication is also catalogued as a library book, with scan codes linking to further information about the Karioi Project – a community-led conservation programme which focuses on predator control in Whaingaroa, enabling native flora and fauna to flourish.
“We (at Matapihi) continue to be amazed and forever grateful for our precious environment,” she says, “and we are committed to taking care of it together.”
