As a 17 year old Simone Smits (formally Cleland) decided she wanted to work in braided river ecosystems with threatened species like kakī/black stilt. Nearly 20 years later she’s still bringing a huge amount of passion, energy and knowledge to that dream job.
As Te Manahuna Aoraki’s Project Manager it is Simone’s job to implement the work on the ground. On any given day you could find her working with the technical advisors, liaising with the landowners and other project partners, checking on our research projects, or up in the high country searching for rare birds.
Simone comes from a rural background and grew up close to the Mackenzie Basin, regularly holidaying in the project area with her family. “This is the landscape that I identify with, it’s an amazing place, it’s exceptionally unique and beautiful. The people within it, and the species that live here are all incredible,” she says.
It’s one thing to decide you want to work with kakī but another to make it happen. Richard Maloney remembers Simone turning up at his office as a 17-year-old wanting to volunteer. Initially he wasn’t keen on another volunteer who he assumed wouldn’t stick around for longer than six weeks. But Simone was undeterred, hassling him to let her help. That six weeks of introduction work has turned into a lifelong passion.
Simone went on to study for a degree at Lincoln University, returning to work with DOC’s Kakī Recovery Programme during holidays. A stint overseas followed graduation but when she saw a job working with kakī advertised she applied and came home.
“Kaki are an amazing bird. They are really beautiful and elegant, but they survive in such a harsh environment. It can be up to minus 20 degrees in the winter, and their feathers are fully frozen, or it can be 40 degrees in the summertime. They survive out in these extreme environments, I think that’s pretty impressive,” she says.
While Simone says kakī are a great flagship species for braided rivers, she is quick to point out there are many other exceptional species that live within the project area. Tarapirohe/black-fronted terns, ngutuparore/wrybill, tuke/rock wren and robust grasshoppers are all favourites.
What interested her about Te Manahuna Aoraki was the potential to make huge biodiversity gains. “When I first heard about this project, all I could think of was how I could be involved. It’s pretty game changing from a braided river and alpine point of view.”
She has seen first-hand the environmental change that’s happened as a result of predator control in the Tasman undertaken by DOC with the support of landowners and other organisations over the last 10 years. “Protecting one river isn’t enough. Working at a landscape level, it’s almost hard to imagine what we could collectively achieve in 20 years. It’s very exciting to be part of the team making this happen.”
When she’s not working you are likely to find Simone horse-riding – another passion. She’s also loving working with so many partners in the project.
“Learning the whakapapa history and values associated with Aoraki, spending time with rūnaka and seeing the land through their eyes is really rewarding. We’re also lucky to work with passionate landowners, a lot of these people are fourth generation farmers. I think the commonality of all of the partners in the project is their appreciation for the landscape and the species that live within it. It is pretty iconic to New Zealand, and it’ll be really great to see Te Manahuna Aoraki thrive in years to come.”
