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1. The resource management issue under consideration is the conservation and ecological restoration of natural lowland forest and its associated plant and animal communities (referred to here as native bush), which have considerable human-use and intrinsic values. 2. Within the issue of native bush conservation in New Zealand, the topic of this research is the phenomenon of citizens’ involvement as pro-active volunteers, tackling ‘bush restoration’ on public or trust-owned sites. This phenomenon is not rare but is little researched. Some key initial questions are: How extensive is citizen-led bush restoration as a means of environmental management? What motivates the volunteers and what factors advance or hinder their efforts? Why is this phenomenon not more widespread in New Zealand society, and how could it be? 3. The research strategy adopted to address the selected topic is firstly a scoping study to define the issue in context, including multi-disciplinary literature review, followed by a structured qualitative telephone survey of a representative sample of restoration project spokespeople. An analysis of these information sources provides insights and understanding related to the research questions, and raises additional questions. 4. Conclusions offer a potential contribution to the national and local-scale policy agenda in support of citizen-led bush restoration. Recommendations seek to recognise the value of voluntary bush restoration, better enable the committed volunteers, promote new voluntary action and improve the skills of volunteers with a view to enhanced quality of work.

The long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) is a threatened species endemic to New Zealand. Historical anecdotes indicate that long-tailed bat populations have declined. However, it is unknown if all populations have declined and if declines are historical or ongoing. Thus, the development and implementation of a national network of long-tailed bat monitoring sites is a priority of the Department of Conservation's Bat Recovery Plan. Potentially, information gained from a national monitoring programme would assist conservation managers to target resources towards those areas where bat populations are declining and provide baseline information to assist managers to gauge the impact of management techniques on bat populations. Of critical importance is that unless it can be demonstrated that long-tailed bat populations have declined and that, that decline is real, management will not be initiated. The aim of this research was to investigate aspects of the ecology of long-tailed bats that would influence the development of a monitoring programme. The distribution, roost selection, habitat use, and activity patterns of a long-tailed bat population that persisted in the Waitakere Ranges, Auckland, were investigated. A study of the Waitakere Ranges long-tailed bat population was significant because (1) the Waitakere Ranges is the northern most location at which long-tailed bats have been researched; (2) the study was the first to be conducted on a long-tailed bat population that persisted in kauri Agathis australis dominated forest remnants; (3) the long-tailed bat population in the Waitakere Ranges is the only known extant population in close proximity to a major urban area; and (4) the factors that are attributed to long-tailed bat population declines (i.e., forest clearance, predation and urbanisation; O'Donnell, 2000) are likely to be ongoing and intensified in the Waitakere Ranges. Twenty roosts were located. Most roosts (85%) were in kauri, 2 were in mature rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum) and 1 was in a kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides). All roosts were in large, live, emergent trees. Mean height of roost trees was 38.4 ± 1.3 m and average DBH was 186 ± 12 cm. The entrances of six roost cavities were identified all were located in minor lateral branches in the crown of the tree and were primarily near the tip of branches. Roosts were a mean height of 24.6 ± 3.7 m above ground level. It was argued that roosts in the crowns of kauri were inaccessible to terrestrial mammalian predators. Twenty-eight roost watches were conducted. The average number of bats counted leaving roosts was 10.0 ± 1.5 (maximum = 24). Roosts were occupied by radio-tagged bats for an average of 2.0 ± 0.4 days, and 11 (55 %) were occupied for only one day. Roost size was the lowest reported for long-tailed bats. Roost switching also appeared higher than in other populations that have been studied. It was argued that morepork predation may have a significant impact on the population viability of the population. As in other studies long-tailed bats were found to forage over modified habitats including over farmland, dwellings, orchards and along streams and roads with little vehicular traffic. Long-tailed bats foraged throughout the Waitakere Ranges and their foothills. Bat activity was highly variable. Of the environmental variables analysed, temperature was found to have the greatest influence on bat activity. There were seasonal and habitat influences on bat activity. The relationship between sample sizes, variation in bat detection rates and desired statistical power using automatic bat detectors to monitor populations of bats was explored. A power analysis on activity data collected with automatic bat detectors indicated that declines in bat populations would need to be reflected in declines of greater than fifty percent in bat activity before monitoring programmes would have sufficient power to detect declines in activity. It was recommended that monitoring programmes should concentrate on intensive presence – absence surveys rather than long-term studies at a few sites.

Enquanto alguns paises tem o ecoturismo como a sua principal fonte de renda, o Brasil nao explora a atividade de forma planejada, o que resulta, muitas vezes, na degradacao do meio ambiente e na descaracterizacao da diversidade cultural local. Assim sendo, este estudo pretende contribuir para a compreensao do processo de adaptacao de uma comunidade tradicional ao fenomeno do ecoturismo e dar um alerta para a necessidade de considerar a identidade cultural das populacoes locais como bem patrimonial e como elemento de risco no planejamento da atividade. Com esse intuito, foi realizado um Estudo de Caso, durante os anos de 2000 e 2001, com uma familia residente na praia de Martim de Sa, caracterizada como caicara. Essa comunidade foi escolhida, pois reside em um local onde o ecoturismo esta apenas comecando, fato que permitiu refletir a respeito das consequencias da atividade. Martim de Sa, apesar de estar inserida nos limites de duas Unidades de Conservacao da Natureza, esta sobre forte ameaca de degradacao ambiental devido a especulacao imobiliaria incentivada pelo crescimento do fluxo turistico sem planejamento e facilitado pela falta de fiscalizacao dos orgaos ambientais responsaveis por essas areas. Para o desenvolvimento do Estudo de Caso foram utilizadas nesta pesquisa a Observacao Participante e as entrevistas estruturadas com a finalidade de caracterizar a comunidade local e os turistas e, a Historia de Vida, para a reconstituicao da historia do nucleo receptor.

Enquanto alguns paises tem o ecoturismo como a sua principal fonte de renda, o Brasil nao explora a atividade de forma planejada, o que resulta, muitas vezes, na degradacao do meio ambiente e na descaracterizacao da diversidade cultural local. Assim sendo, este estudo pretende contribuir para a compreensao do processo de adaptacao de uma comunidade tradicional ao fenomeno do ecoturismo e dar um alerta para a necessidade de considerar a identidade cultural das populacoes locais como bem patrimonial e como elemento de risco no planejamento da atividade. Com esse intuito, foi realizado um Estudo de Caso, durante os anos de 2000 e 2001, com uma familia residente na praia de Martim de Sa, caracterizada como caicara. Essa comunidade foi escolhida, pois reside em um local onde o ecoturismo esta apenas comecando, fato que permitiu refletir a respeito das consequencias da atividade. Martim de Sa, apesar de estar inserida nos limites de duas Unidades de Conservacao da Natureza, esta sobre forte ameaca de degradacao ambiental devido a especulacao imobiliaria incentivada pelo crescimento do fluxo turistico sem planejamento e facilitado pela falta de fiscalizacao dos orgaos ambientais responsaveis por essas areas. Para o desenvolvimento do Estudo de Caso foram utilizadas nesta pesquisa a Observacao Participante e as entrevistas estruturadas com a finalidade de caracterizar a comunidade local e os turistas e, a Historia de Vida, para a reconstituicao da historia do nucleo receptor.