A fluttering shearwater chick is fed by Friends of Mana Island volunteer Kelvin Hunt, in 2008.
The uniqueness of Mana Island, and the volunteers that care for it, are on display in an exhibition at Pātaka Art + Museum’s Bottle Creek Gallery.
With the theme of “Celebrating our volunteers”, the exhibition features photos taken over the last 20 years of projects such as tree planting, bird and lizard translocations, maintenance work, and guiding visitors.
A centrepiece of the exhibition is a large model of the island, painstakingly prepared by model maker Doug Royson, using a topographical base from a previous Pātaka display. Several other photos will show the transformation of Mana from the 1980s to today, along with some short videos.
There’ll also be speakers each Sunday at 2pm in the Bottle Creek Gallery from now until the exhibition finishes on 2 September, on topics like restoring ecology, reintroducing lost species and translocating birds.
Friends of Mana Island president, John McKoy, says 20 years of active support by volunteers for Department of Conservation’s successful restoration of the island was a milestone worth celebrating, with more than 500,000 trees planted by volunteers.
People marvel at the transformation that had taken place, he said.
“At its peak there were hundreds of volunteers involved in planting trees, setting a great foundation for the reintroduction of wildlife species,” he said.
One of the Friends’ current projects included proposed translocations of white-faced storm petrels and fernbirds.
Go to manaisland.org.nz to see the programme of Sunday speakers.
8 Aug 2018
