Rotary Club of Port Nicholson Bulletin 20 December, 2018 (Dec 19, 2018)

Rotary Club of Port Nicholson Bulletin 20 December 2018

President's Message

The survey about deciding our future meeting venue was emailed to members last night. If you haven’t completed it yet, I encourage you to take just a couple of minutes to indicate your preference. It is an important decision for many reasons, not least that we need to be able to meet at the same place consistently and to be able to return to our Wednesday morning time. This is an opportunity for members to consider which venue will help to take the club into the future and be appealing to current and future members.

I have said to some, I don’t see the future of our club as being my age group, but more of those perhaps up to a decade younger. Do you expect to be an active member of our club in 10 years’ time? I would hope to be, but we do need to future-proof our club with growth in our membership base and I will be leading a membership campaign starting early in the new year to do just that. Let me know if you are interested in joining a small, action group for 2-4 months.

Thank you for all your support during the first six months of my Presidency. We’ve been busy with our community service projects, supporting youth, distributing funds and supporting internationally towards ending polio and a new truck in Fiji. I’ve been enjoying it so far and expect the next six months will be just as enjoyable!

I’m heading away Thursday morning to Nelson and will be back New Year’s Eve. It’s my father’s 94^th birthday today and I’m pleased my daughter and her fiancé will be joining us for 3 days over Christmas.

Wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas! (hopefully no Lime scooter ACC claims!)

Bev

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Background

At the beginning of her term, President Bev asked me to lead a Club project to untake predator eradication activities along the water front in partnership with Predator Free Wellington [PFW]. My husband Dave and I are working on this together as he brings his many years’ experience overseeing projects with local authorities and, in particular of health and safety implications of working in such a public space.

The waterfront is WCC owned land so any activity requires the appropriate authorization. Unfortunately there have been a number of personnel changes in council so it has been slow to progress despite repeated efforts.

Happily I can report that Dave and I have now met together with representatives from the Regional Council, Predator Free Wellington and the Wellington City Council and we can now report the following:
The intention is to capture baseline data first. This will inform the trapping design and enable reporting against the baseline;

A chew pad distribution map has been designed and we have been briefed on the rational of the design. We have walked over a section as mapped to be briefed on positioning and securing these pre-baited cards;
A proposal will be drafted to present to Council for sign-off in January;
Project identity will be established and we will set up a project in Trap.NZ;
A stakeholder plan and simple brochure will be designed for distribution.
PFW will investigate monitoring equipment to identify traps best fit for purpose;
Baiting logistics will be confirmed and communicated to the Club aiming for chew-pad distribution late January. These will be collected and evaluated, and the outcome will inform the trapping plan design. It is hoped to put traps out in February.

Many thanks to all those who have already offered to help on the project. Early in the New Year we welcome:

input from members on our Project identify and in the design of our communications. See https://www.pfw.org.nz/get-involved/ for ideas;
Support to deploy and collect up the chew-pads in preparation for the next phase.

I will be signally timing for the above through our Facebook page and the bulletin. Please watch this space.

Brenda & Dave Lazelle