Rock Climbing Twins Help Protect New Zealand's Natural Heritage

An ambitious major conservation project to protect some of New Zealand’s most endangered species in a remote valley in Milford Sound is proving an outstanding success -- with help from an unusual source.

Californian rock-climbing twins Dave and Joe Newman came to New Zealand on a working holiday and ended up living and working in world-renowned Milford Sound, exploring New Zealand’s natural playground.

Through employer Southern Discoveries they heard about work the company was doing with the Fiordland Conservation Trust and Department of Conservation to establish a sanctuary in the Sinbad Valley, at the base of Mitre Peak.

Over summer the twins and other Southern Discoveries’ volunteers have been working alongside DoC to cut access tracks in the valley and climb previously inaccessible rock faces to establish numbers and condition of a range of wildlife, including the rare and endangered Sinbad Gully skinks.

As a result of their rock climbing skills on several three-day trips into the valley, where they are dropped off by helicopter, DoC now has further data on several of the most rare Sinbad Skinks. They also located more than a dozen other lizards, among them Mahogany skinks and Cascade gecko.

The 31-year-old twins, who hail from Ventura, California, had no idea they would end up working so far from home.

“We’ve both got a deep respect for the environment so when we heard Southern Discoveries was looking for volunteers to help with gecko and skink research on our days off, we put our hands up,” said Dave.

“Sinbad Gully’s the most special place I’ve ever been. We fly in by helicopter because that’s the only way to access this remote valley, then climb up to a spot where we set a number of small cylindrical mesh traps along a rock wall with some bait in them to attract the geckos and skinks.

“Later in the day while the sun’s still on them we go back up to check the traps then gently bring them back to the valley floor for the DoC people to measure, check and photograph them before re-releasing them where we found them.”

Joe said working with DoC had been “an educational experience” and he and his brother were delighted to have put their rock climbing skills to such good use.

“To go out into the Sinbad Gully, which we can see from Milford Sound, where there are no beaten tracks and we have a great starlit sky to sleep under at night, it’s like another world.

“These skinks are tiny, beautiful creatures, so being involved with this project means my experience of New Zealand has been nothing short of magical.”

Both men said it was a privilege and an honour to work with DoC to help preserve species for generations to come, and said they were grateful to Southern Discoveries for enabling them to have these experiences.

“I think we’ve done something that makes a difference, and I love telling people about what we’re doing and why. It says a lot about Southern Discoveries that they do get involved with the environment we’re working in,” said Dave.

The Sinbad Gully Project is a result of the collaboration of Southern Discoveries, the Fiordland Conservation Trust and the Department of Conservation who have a long-term commitment to ridding the valley of predators. On-going donations from Southern Discoveries is also helping to establish a pest control programme that will enable threatened native species to increase in number and see the re-introduction of those that have disappeared from the valley.

More information on the project can be found at: http://www.southerndiscoveries.co.nz/sinbad-sanctuary-project/sinbad-sanctuary-project

or http://www.fiordlandconservationtrust.org.nz/