One volunteer, 30 years, and a growing forest on Waiheke

For nearly 30 years, Waiheke Island resident Chris Palmer has quietly worked away in Delamore Reserve, helping transform former farmland into regenerating native forest.

What began as a passion for conservation and a few hours helping alongside well-known Waiheke conservationist Don Chapple at Atawhai Whenua Reserve in the early 1990s has grown into decades of restoration work.

“I just had a passion for bush and nature and birds and trees,” says Chris.

“Don Chappell told me about this new reserve, and I thought, wow, that’s an opportunity to convert farmland to bush. I’d never been involved in a project before, so I was quite excited about that.”

Chris first began volunteering with Don Chappell around 1992, helping with weed control and restoration work at Atawhai Whenua Reserve near Matiatia.

A few years later, after a subdivision created several protected reserve areas nearby, Chris became involved in what is locally known as Delamore Reserve, where he still works today.

“It’s really quite remarkable, and a real privilege to be able to sit and watch one piece of land change as a result of revegetation,” he says.

“I can remember standing at the top of Delamore Reserve and it used to be a hay paddock. You just can’t even possibly imagine that now. It’s nearly 30-year-old trees.”

Over the years, Chris has taken on everything from planting and weed control to track maintenance and predator baiting.

Since 2008, he has continuously maintained rat bait stations throughout the reserve.

“In that one reserve, I can tell you every single bait goes every single time,” he says. “When you think how much bait has gone in over those years, there must have been a lot of rats taken.”

Like many long-term restoration projects, the work has come with challenges.

Chris says invasive Japanese honeysuckle has had a major impact on the reserve, choking large areas of regenerating forest and contributing to tree collapse.

“It’s been incredibly disappointing,” he says. “But if you work with nature, it’s exhilarating one day and incredibly disappointing the next when something happens. You’ve just got to go because it’s nature.”

Despite the setbacks, Chris says seeing wildlife return to the reserve has made the work worthwhile.

“I remember saying to my daughters years ago that I probably wouldn’t even see a kākā land in one of the trees I was planting in my lifetime,” he says.

“But just in the last couple of years, I’m actually starting to see kākā landing in kōwhai trees that I planted from seed and grew myself. I never thought I’d get to see that.”

Chris says support from the Waiheke Local Board and council staff has made a significant difference to the work happening in the reserve.

The Waiheke Local Board helps fund the Waiheke Resources Trust wetlands team, which Chris credits with helping tackle large-scale weed control and restorative planting in the reserve.

The team, alongside volunteer groups, has helped clear large areas of invasive honeysuckle and carry out planting across the reserve.

“They’ve done more in five years than I could do in 100 years,” he says.

More recently, Chris has also welcomed two new volunteers to the reserve, something he says has been hugely encouraging after many years working largely on his own.

“The impact that even one or two people can have is phenomenal,” he says. “It really makes a very, very big tangible difference.”

For anyone thinking about volunteering, Chris says the rewards go well beyond the physical work.

“It’s very fulfilling. It’s good honest physical work, and the camaraderie is very nourishing with people that are like-minded. And you know you’re doing some public good. You’re helping create something for the future.”

People interested in volunteering with the Waiheke Resources Trust can find out more about upcoming planting days and restoration projects through the trust’s community programmes.

The Waiheke Local Board also supports a range of community-led environmental initiatives through its local grants programme, helping groups and volunteers deliver restoration, conservation and environmental projects across the island.