Thanks to everyone who's been involved in AKV this year! We're going to take a break now over the Christmas and New Year period. See you next year for more community building, wildlife enhancing, environment improving FUN! Have a safe and happy break everyone 💙

Meet Janice Huang. Janice works as the catchment advisor for Dunedin and the Coast Freshwater Management Unit. She's motivated to work with communities, catchment groups and landowners who are working towards positive water quality outcomes. She's been involved with AKV this year, by attending AKV’s meetings and school education workshops. "AKV is one of the many amazing groups promoting the health of the Kaikorai catchment through pest control, stream health and stormwater awareness in an urban space. They play an important role in bringing local communities together. I am excited to support their work where possible. Seeing firsthand how passionate the AKV folks are, has been truly inspiring. They are an amazing group of people. I really enjoy learning from the community about Kaikorai Stream. It’s great to understand what people care about and are passionate about, and to learn about creative solutions." Thank you Janice for your contributions and support. We look forward to working together in 2025!

Over the weekend Paul Southworth and Martin Knox got to represent AKV while volunteering out with our sister project, Hikaroroa Mt Watkin Conservation Group. This is hopefully the first of many trips to come into this amazing area with a fantastic crew. The mission was to do a maintenance run on the AT220 Auto traps on some very challenging terrain. The boys report "steep as all hell! but worth it". Put your hand up if you would like to head off on a volunteer weekender in 25. #trapinatorpossumtrap #trapinatornz #akv #arohakaikoraivalley

Meet Troy Ruhe. Troy came on board as a community trapper. He's helping backyard trap hosts to manage their traps and work the trap.nz app. Troy says it has been awesome being a part of AKV and the wider Kaikorai Valley community. "It gives me an excuse to be outside and in nature and there is always a fulfilling feeling of doing things to help our environment. It has been the best part of my week, and coming up to two months which has skipped by so quickly."

Last night we put our trail camera in a new location. The white box at the top-left is a possum trap. We've caught 182 rats to date, but we have plenty more still running around Kaikorai Valley, right under our noses!

Meet Will Sweetman! Will has lived in Roslyn for about three years but before that spent fifteen years living on the peninsula and noticed the huge changes in bird life over that period due to the near-elimination of possums. He enjoys tramping, so when a message came through to the tramping club mailing list that AKV was looking for volunteers happy to work on steep ground he thought it could be a good fit. Will is proud dad to two kids and three dogs. The youngest (but biggest) is a Ridgeback pup who has his own ideas about how best to dispose of the possums he finds in Fraser’s Gully!

28 November 2023 versus 28 November 2024!

Meet Simon McMillan. Simon is an AKV trustee and has been involved for over 20 years in environmental education in and around the Kaikorai Catchment. He spent the last 24 years as a teacher and HOD Science at Kaikorai Valley College. He emphasizes win-win partnership projects for mutual benefit with different stakeholders: such as riparian planting with Scott Technology and the Kaikorai Catchment Hui in 2019. Currently, Simon manages Kaikorai Valley College’s Urban Farm. That project aims to challenge mindsets about sustainable best practice in our urban and rural spaces. He shares AKV’s vision and is thrilled to support its ongoing mission. Simon's had a lot of big wins over the years for water quality and we're thrilled to have his expertise on board.