Oruawharo Medlands Ecovision

Our Vision is an Oruawharo Bay where all the ecosystems flourish

Background

Oruawharo Bay is located on the eastern coast of Aotea | Great Barrier Island. It has a small settlement of approximately 130 properties centered around a long white sandy surf beach named Medlands. The Oruawharo Medlands Ecovision group has been carrying out conservation advocacy and restoration work since 2019.

What have we achieved so far?

- TRAPPING & TRACKING - RESTORATION PLANTING - BEACH PROTECTION - BIRD SPECIES MONITORING - ECO-HUB AND GROW TUNNEL - COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

 
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  • Sep 17, 2024

We are so excited to be hearing and seeing kākāriki in Medlands. One individual spent hours in the community gardens recently, munching on calendula seeds. Mustard seeds were also quite the favourite a few months ago.

  • Sep 17, 2024

Moth plant is found in the most impossible places on Aotea. The seed pods look a bit like a choko and contain 250-1000 dandelion-like fluffy seeds that can parachute over large distances in the wind. Moth plant is a pest plant all across NZ and it even has its own active volunteer group called S.T.A.M.P(Society Totally Against Moth Plant) who will remove any moth plant they come across. You can join their Facebook group to help out. For more information go to https://www.weedbusters.org.nz/what-are-weeds/weed-list/mothplant/

Mission: To work with the community to improve the habitats of native species by managing invasive pest species, restoring and nurturing the local dune, wetland and bush ecosystems.

Oruawharo Medlands Ecovision (OME) is a local community group with an environmental focus, based in Oruawharo Bay on Aotea / Great Barrier Island. We are a group of enthusiastic and passionate locals who think we have a lot to protect here in our neighbourhood, from pāteke/brown teal, matuku hūrepo/australasian bittern and mātātā/fern bird in the wetland and New Zealand dotterels on the beach and dunes to niho taniwha/chevron skinks along the creeks further inland. This is indeed a special piece of Aotea, you just have to stop and take notice!

We nurture and protect the taonga on our doorstep, and are in the planning stages of an expansion of our pest managed area, hoping to include many private properties as well as public land.

Every Wednesday from 9am, weather permitting, OME hosts weekly working bees, restoring a Department of Conservation wetland. We would love you to join us, contact us to find out where we are working from week to week.


About Us imageAbout Us imageAbout Us image

Raoul Stuart

Chair person

Peter Jemmett

Deputy Chair

Prue Smith

Secretary

Lotte McIntyre

Coordinator

Isobel Edwards

Field manager

Maxine Barrowman

Fieldworker

John Ogden

Data analyst

Hemo Davis

Iwi representative

Annamarie Clough

Council liaison

Frances McClure

Grow tunnel queen

Jennifer Neads

Chair support

Kim Bannister

Tech advisor

Peggy Garlick

Shorebird patrol

Michelle Benson

H&S officer

Tony Lyon

Track magician

John Garlick

Proof reader

Margaret Jemmett

E-bike promoter

Andy Thomson

Handy man (muscle man)

  • Medlands Beach, Great Barrier Island / Aotea, New Zealand

Sign up here to receive our quarterly newsletters or get in touch to volunteer or for any other enquiries.


Ahu Moana Survey Report

Ahu Moana Survey Report

The inaugural Ahu Moana survey was carried out around Boasted Rock by a team of volunteers in October 2024. To find out what they saw and experienced you can read the report here. This will be a regular event with four surveys per year. If you would like to take part please reach out to the OME team.

OME Property Owners Survey Analysis

OME Property Owners Survey Analysis

A short survey has been distributed to the Oruawharo Bay property owners asking peoples opinions on extending our pest control in the area. You can read the full report of the analysis here.

OME Newsletters

OME Newsletters

You can find all of OME's online newsletters here

OME birds data

OME birds data

We keep all sort of bird related data. John Ogden is our resident data expert and he has kept data for longer than OME has existed. He has kindly shared a lot of this content and we have merged it here for everyone to be able to follow.

Aotea Bittern Survey 2023

Aotea Bittern Survey 2023

Here you can read the full report on the Aotea Great Barrier Island Bittern Survey 2023, compiled by John Ogden.

Tākoketai (black petrel) survey

Tākoketai (black petrel) survey

Joanna Sim and her trusty canines Rua and Miro did a search of the upper Medlands area looking for tākoketai (black petrel burrows) in January 2023. We are stoked to report there is a population of breeding birds on the DoC blocks at the top of the OME Phase Two project area.

Phase Two Predator Control for Oruawharo Bay

Phase Two Predator Control for Oruawharo Bay

OME has plans to extend our pest controlled area. To learn more about what we are proposing read this article published in the Aotea Great Barrier Environmental News issue 47.

OME Progress Report

OME Progress Report

A thorough report has been prepared by John Ogden, covering the period 2019-2022, including analysis of our trapping and monitoring data and progress over the first three years of the project.

Forest and Bird feature

Forest and Bird feature

An article on OME’s wetland restoration work was published in Forest and Birds 2022 summer issue.

Kororā Survey

Kororā Survey

In June 2022 Jo Sim of Dabchick NZ undertook a survey with her canine team and found Kororā /Little Blue Penguin burrows across the Aotea with a bonus discovery of Oī/Grey Faced Petrel burrows in Medlands.