Aotearoa New Zealand's environment is under pressure – and protecting nature has never mattered more. Our cover story takes you to the Māniatoto, where the spectacular upper Taiari scroll plain – one of the southern hemisphere's most extraordinary wetland landscapes – is being restored by a remarkable community of farmers, scientists, and volunteers.
Critically endangered matuku-hūrepo Australasian bitterns have been rediscovered here, and tūī and kererū are returning to a basin that had nearly lost its birdsong.
With a general election approaching in November, this issue also focuses on what's at stake for nature at the ballot box. Forest & Bird, alongside WWF-New Zealand and Greenpeace Aotearoa, has launched a bold joint manifesto for a Nature-positive Aotearoa – and we explain why every vote matters.
We celebrate a major ocean victory as Trans-Tasman Resources withdraws its bid to mine the South Taranaki Bight seabed – a win made possible in part by Project Reef, the remarkable South Taranaki citizen science project that spent a decade documenting the extraordinary marine life thriving on the region's offshore rocky reefs. We also report on Forest & Bird's continued fight to save the Denniston Plateau, and meet the extraordinary volunteers of Friends of Flora, 25 years into transforming Kahurangi National Park.
Also in this issue: a rare tusked wētā rescue, a hihi turnaround at Tarapuruhi Bushy Park, the case for a national Cat Management Act, and why de-extincting moa isn't the conservation silver bullet some claim. Plus: pukunui dotterel bounce back on Rakiura, Avatar moth crowned Bug of the Year, a giant black coral discovery in Fiordland, and Taiwan's hidden birdwatching paradise.
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