Monday, July 16, 2012

Mile 45.66 - July 16th

As of this morning, our group has walked a total of 45.66 miles! A respectable number, by all accounts. We woke up to another clear morning, with some spectacular cloudscapes courtesy of the northwesterly winds blowing in over the Alps.
We then piled into the Gatorwaka and headed to Manaaki Whenua, where we met the illustrious Dean Anderson and Will Allen. Will spent some time talking to us about managing for programme (note the kiwi spelling!) performance by way of logic modeling. We then broke into two groups and made our own logic models for the issue of our choice.
Some of the girls with their lovely logic model.

Next was Dean Anderson, who gave us a thought-provoking look at managing for pest mammals in New Zealand. We spoke about the “troubling paradigm” of having to kill animals for proper conservation in New Zealand.

He also reminded us who the true pests are.

After our lectures and a quick break for lunch, we headed over to the Live in Lincoln and Liffey developments for an overview of kiwi development practices. The Live in Lincoln development is overseen by the Ngai Tahu Development Corporation, New Zealand’s largest, and Maori owned, developers.

Dr. Hostetler pointing out the artificial wetland.

We discussed the ways in which each development considers and carries out their “green” initiatives. Both developments heavily incorporated native New Zealand flora alongside “attractive” exotics in their landscaping; however, the suspicious lack of munching on the native flora in the Liffey development told us that they may not have ecosource their plants. (For the curious, ecosourcing is a practice in which “plant seeds are obtained from the area in which they grow naturally,” thus ensuring that they are perfectly adapted to the area).

It was hot! Here we are at Liffey shading our eyes and shedding layers in the hot New Zealand sun.

Our shadows as we look for non-native trouts in the Liffey stream.

After we finished, we had a short ride back to Lincoln Uni and we discussed our plans for the upcoming three day weekend, which, as of this writing, have yet to be solidified.

Cheers!
~Alex

No comments:

Post a Comment