Don Merton
Encyclopedia
Donald Merton, QSM (22 February 1939 10 April 2011) was a New Zealand
conservationist
best known for saving the black robin
from extinction. He also discovered the lek breeding system of the kakapo
.
Until his retirement in April 2005, Don Merton was a senior member of the New Zealand Department of Conservation’s Threatened Species Section, within the Research, Development & Improvement Division, Terrestrial Conservation Unit, and of the Kakapo Management Group. He has had a long involvement in wildlife conservation, specialised in the management of endangered species since he completed a traineeship with the New Zealand Wildlife Service (NZWS) in 1960.
in February 1939 and with his family moved to Gisborne
later that year when Don’s father, Glaisher (Major) Merton was appointed the first New Zealand Automobile Association
representative in the Poverty Bay
region. Initially, the family settled at Wainui Beach
near Gisborne, but in 1945 moved to a farmlet in Mangapapa
Road, Gisborne.
Together with his two older brothers Don had early success fostering
an orphaned wild goldfinch nestling to their Grandmother's canary. This early success proved crucial 35 years later in inspiring a cross-fostering programme to save the black robin, which at that time numbered 5 individuals including just one productive pair, and was the most endangered species in the world.
Don attended schools at Kaiti
, Mangapapa
, Gisborne Intermediate
and Gisborne High School
. On leaving school he secured a traineeship with the fledgling New Zealand Wildlife Service
. In 1987 the Wildlife Service merged with other Government conservation agencies to form the Department of Conservation. In the early 1960s Don became one of only two field officers working nationally on threatened species, roles now filled by more than 80 staff. Don married Margaret Johnston of Hangaroa near Gisborne and has a son, Dave, a daughter-in-law Jan Tinetti and two teen-age grandsons, Liam and Zak, all living in Tauranga, New Zealand.
In New Zealand Don is also known for his role in the rescue of the South Island saddleback when in the early 1960s rats Rattus rattus invaded its final refuge - Big South Cape Island; for facilitating recovery in the North Island saddleback, confined in the early 1960s to a single island (Taranga/Hen Island); for his role, since 1974, in developing the rescue strategy and techniques, and for his role in the rescue and recovery programme for the giant, flightless, nocturnal kakapo parrot; and for devising the rescue strategy and leading the successful rescue and recovery of the Chatham Islands black robin when in the late 1970s its numbers fell to just five individuals - including only one effective breeding pair. The black robin now numbers ~250 individuals on two islands.
for services to New Zealand; in the following year he received the Royal Society of New Zealand
’s Fleming Award for Environmental Achievement; in 1992 the honorary degree of Doctor of Science
was conferred on him by Massey University
for his contribution to science; in 1994 the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
(UK) awarded him its medal for his “international contribution to species survival” and in 1998 the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) elected him to its Global 500 Roll of Honour for his “outstanding contributions to the protection and improvement of the environment.” Don was named one of “100 Great New Zealanders of the 20th Century” in the 60th anniversary issue of the New Zealand Listener; in 2001 the New Zealand Government presented him with a certificate in commemoration of the United Nations International Year of the Volunteer 2001, for his “valued contribution toward assisting developing countries to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development”; in 2004, BirdLife International
awarded him its Conservation Achievement Award for achievements during his 48 year career in the rescue and recovery of endangered birds within New Zealand and elsewhere; on his retirement from the NZ Department of Conservation in April 2005 the Department granted him Honorary Technical Associate status – the first such recipient; in 2010 the Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society of NZ presented him with its “Old Blue Award” in recognition of his extraordinary and sustained contributions to conservation in NZ and worldwide”; and in 2011 he became a “Fellow of the Ornithological Society of NZ in recognition of his “lifetime contributions to ornithology and to the work of the Society”.
As well as being the recipient of numerous awards the The Don Merton Conservation Pioneer Award is named after him.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
conservationist
Conservationist
Conservationists are proponents or advocates of conservation. They advocate for the protection of all the species in an ecosystem with a strong focus on the natural environment...
best known for saving the black robin
Black Robin
The Black Robin or Chatham Island Robin is an endangered bird from the Chatham Islands off the east coast of New Zealand. It is closely related to the New Zealand Robin . It was first described by Walter Buller in 1872. The binomial commemorates the New Zealand botanist Henry H. Travers...
from extinction. He also discovered the lek breeding system of the kakapo
Kakapo
The Kakapo , Strigops habroptila , also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand...
.
Until his retirement in April 2005, Don Merton was a senior member of the New Zealand Department of Conservation’s Threatened Species Section, within the Research, Development & Improvement Division, Terrestrial Conservation Unit, and of the Kakapo Management Group. He has had a long involvement in wildlife conservation, specialised in the management of endangered species since he completed a traineeship with the New Zealand Wildlife Service (NZWS) in 1960.
Early life
Don Merton was born in Devonport, AucklandDevonport, New Zealand
Devonport is a harbourside suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is located on the North Shore, at the southern end of a peninsula that runs southeast from near Lake Pupuke in Takapuna, forming the northern side of the Waitemata Harbour...
in February 1939 and with his family moved to Gisborne
Gisborne, New Zealand
-Economy:The harbour was host to many ships in the past and had developed as a river port to provide a more secure location for shipping compared with the open roadstead of Poverty Bay which can be exposed to southerly swells. A meat works was sited beside the harbour and meat and wool was shipped...
later that year when Don’s father, Glaisher (Major) Merton was appointed the first New Zealand Automobile Association
New Zealand Automobile Association
The New Zealand Automobile Association is a mutual organisation and an incorporated society that provides vehicle breakdown assistance and related services to its members...
representative in the Poverty Bay
Poverty Bay
Poverty Bay is the largest of several small bays on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island to the north of Hawkes Bay. It stretches for 10 kilometres from Young Nick's Head in the southwest to Tuaheni Point in the northeast. The city of Gisborne is located on the northern shore of the bay...
region. Initially, the family settled at Wainui Beach
Wainui Beach
Wainui Beach is a small settlement on the coast of New Zealand's North Island, located just to the north of Tuaheni Point, some 8 km to the east of Gisborne, to which it is linked by State Highway 35. As of the 2006 census, Wainui Beach had a usually-resident population of 1,515.The beach is...
near Gisborne, but in 1945 moved to a farmlet in Mangapapa
Mangapapa
Mangapapa is a suburb of the New Zealand city of Gisborne. It is located in the north of the city. Whataupoko lies to the southeast and Te Hapara to the south, separated from Mangapapa by the Turanganui River....
Road, Gisborne.
Together with his two older brothers Don had early success fostering
Foster care
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....
an orphaned wild goldfinch nestling to their Grandmother's canary. This early success proved crucial 35 years later in inspiring a cross-fostering programme to save the black robin, which at that time numbered 5 individuals including just one productive pair, and was the most endangered species in the world.
Don attended schools at Kaiti
Kaiti, New Zealand
Kaiti is a suburb of the New Zealand city of Gisborne. It is located immediately to the east of the city centre, on the opposing bank of the Waimata River....
, Mangapapa
Mangapapa
Mangapapa is a suburb of the New Zealand city of Gisborne. It is located in the north of the city. Whataupoko lies to the southeast and Te Hapara to the south, separated from Mangapapa by the Turanganui River....
, Gisborne Intermediate
Gisborne Intermediate
Gisborne Intermediate School is a co-ed intermediate school in Gisborne, New Zealand.-School organization:Gisborne Intermediate School is divided into four education teams. They each have their own individual colour and are named after local Gisborne rivers. The teams are: Taruheru , Waipoa ,...
and Gisborne High School
Gisborne Boys' High School
Gisborne Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school situated in Gisborne, New Zealand that was originally founded as a Co-Ed school in 1909 and was known as Gisborne High School. In 1956 the school became Gisborne Boys High School when the original school was split into two single-sex...
. On leaving school he secured a traineeship with the fledgling New Zealand Wildlife Service
New Zealand Wildlife Service
The New Zealand Wildlife Service is a defunct government department that was replaced by the Department of Conservation in 1987.-External links:* - New Zealand Wildlife Service collection...
. In 1987 the Wildlife Service merged with other Government conservation agencies to form the Department of Conservation. In the early 1960s Don became one of only two field officers working nationally on threatened species, roles now filled by more than 80 staff. Don married Margaret Johnston of Hangaroa near Gisborne and has a son, Dave, a daughter-in-law Jan Tinetti and two teen-age grandsons, Liam and Zak, all living in Tauranga, New Zealand.
Professional achievements
Together with NZWS colleagues and volunteers, his contributions include:- pioneered capture and translocation techniques as management tools in the rescue and recovery of endangered birds: In the early 1960s Don led some of the first successful translocations for conservation purposes involving New Zealand birds – including establishment of a second population of the North Island saddleback, and averting extinction of the South Island saddleback. Techniques pioneered then are now an everyday part of threatened species management within NZ and beyond;
- pioneered “close order management” (COM) as a means of averting extinction; sustaining in the wild; and/or facilitating recovery of critically endangered species. COM involves intensive management of free-living animals at the individual rather than population level. The concept and techniques were developed and applied with outstanding success during the rescue and recovery of the black robin which Don led in the 1980s. Refined and adapted over the years, close order management techniques pioneered then are now an integral part of threatened species recovery programmes internationally.
- helped pioneer island biodiversity conservation and restoration techniques. For instance, in the early 1960s he and Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society of New Zealand volunteers eradicated Norway ratsBrown RatThe brown rat, common rat, sewer rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Brown Norway rat, Norwegian rat, or wharf rat is one of the best known and most common rats....
from four small islands in the Noises group, Hauraki GulfHauraki GulfThe Hauraki Gulf is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has a total area of 4000 km², and lies between the Auckland Region, the Hauraki Plains, the Coromandel Peninsula and Great Barrier Island...
. This was the first time that rats had been deliberately eradicated from a New Zealand island, and opened the way for ecological restoration of these – and many other islands both within New Zealand and beyond; - led the NZWS field teams that re-discovered the kakapo parrot (in Fiordland) in 1974, and females of this species (on Stewart Island) in 1980. Females had not been seen since the early 1900s and it was feared they may have been extinct – and thus the species “functionally extinct”;
- discovered and documented the significance of the ritualised, nocturnal booming display of the Kakapo - it is in fact an unusual form of courtship display known as “lekking”;
- instrumental in averting imminent extinction of Kakapo (an endemic, monotypic sub-family): In the early 1980s; (i) determined that the newly re-discovered Kakapo population of southern Stewart Island was in steep decline due to predation by feral cats (~53% mortality per annum of marked adults); (ii) alerted NZWS, drafted submissions and obtained agreement from the various government and other agencies to relocate (and thus effectively destroy) the last natural population; and, (iii) as NZWS’s Principal Wildlife Officer (Endangered Species), assumed responsibility for planning and leading the capture and relocation of all remaining (61) birds to Little Barrier, Maud and Codfish Islands. This action proved very successful - the steep decline in Kakapo numbers was halted and adult mortality since (~30 years) has averaged a remarkably low ~1.3% per annum;
- led the field project and devised the techniques necessary to capture, hold in captivity, transport and establish a second population of the endangered and highly localised Noisy scrub-bird of Western Australia. The second population is now by far the larger of the two;
- during the 1980s helped devise and implement a recovery strategy for the critically endangered Mauritius ParakeetMauritius ParakeetThe Mauritius Parakeet , also known as Echo Parakeet, is the sole survivor of the Psittacula species which inhabited the southern Indian ocean islands near Madagascar. Its local name is katover.-Taxonomy:...
of MauritiusMauritiusMauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
(Indian Ocean). Only around eight birds including three females were known to exist at that time. There are now more than 300 in the wild; - also during the 1980s, devised and led the successful eradication of rabbits from Round Island, Mauritius (Indian Ocean) - Round Island was said to support more threatened animal and plant forms than any comparable area on Earth, but survival of these was seriously threatened by the rabbits;
- instrumental in the designation of a national park within the Australian Territory of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) to facilitate survival of Abbott’s booby (largest and most endangered gannet) and a unique raised tropical island ecosystem - while seconded for two years to the Australian National Parks & Wildlife Service as its first Conservator on Christmas Island;
- played a key role in the rescue and recovery of the magpie robin and other animals endemic to the Seychelles Islands (Indian Ocean): In 1990 - 1992, in collaboration with Birdlife International staff, designed and implemented an effective recovery strategy and range of management techniques for the critically endangered Seychelles magpie robin, the last ~20 individuals of which were confined to 219ha Fregate Island. Then, in 1995 when Norway rats reached Fregate Island, (final refuge of the last natural population of Seychelles magpie robin and a number of other vulnerable endemic life-forms), alerted the island’s owner, and local and international conservation agencies to the fact that without intervention ecological collapse and extinctions were inevitable. Worked with stake-holders and by 1999 convinced all that eradication was both necessary and practicable. At their request planned, and in 2000 led a successful rodent (Norway rat and house mouse) eradication – thus averting extinctions and facilitating ecological recovery.
- authored or co-authored ~150 publications, including books, peer-reviewed scientific papers, popular articles and technical reports.
In New Zealand Don is also known for his role in the rescue of the South Island saddleback when in the early 1960s rats Rattus rattus invaded its final refuge - Big South Cape Island; for facilitating recovery in the North Island saddleback, confined in the early 1960s to a single island (Taranga/Hen Island); for his role, since 1974, in developing the rescue strategy and techniques, and for his role in the rescue and recovery programme for the giant, flightless, nocturnal kakapo parrot; and for devising the rescue strategy and leading the successful rescue and recovery of the Chatham Islands black robin when in the late 1970s its numbers fell to just five individuals - including only one effective breeding pair. The black robin now numbers ~250 individuals on two islands.
Awards
Don was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 1973 to study management of endangered species in the USA and Europe. He was the international chairperson of IUCN/Birdlife International’s Parrot Specialist Group from 1983 to 1986. In 1989 he was awarded the Queen’s Service MedalQueen's Service Order
The Queen's Service Order was established by Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, awarded by the government of New Zealand "for valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the public sector, whether in elected or...
for services to New Zealand; in the following year he received the Royal Society of New Zealand
Royal Society of New Zealand
The Royal Society of New Zealand , known as the New Zealand Institute before 1933, was established in 1867 to co-ordinate and assist the activities of a number of regional research societies including the Auckland Institute, the Wellington Philosophical Society, the Philosophical Institute of...
’s Fleming Award for Environmental Achievement; in 1992 the honorary degree of Doctor of Science
Doctor of Science
Doctor of Science , usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D. or Dr.Sc., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries Doctor of Science is the name used for the standard doctorate in the sciences, elsewhere the Sc.D...
was conferred on him by Massey University
Massey University
Massey University is one of New Zealand's largest universities with approximately 36,000 students, 20,000 of whom are extramural students.The University has campuses in Palmerston North , Wellington and Auckland . Massey offers most of its degrees extramurally within New Zealand and internationally...
for his contribution to science; in 1994 the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Bird Notes and News was first published in April 1903.The title changed to 'Bird Notes' in 1947. In the 1950s, there were four copies per year . Each volume covered two years, spread over three calendar years...
(UK) awarded him its medal for his “international contribution to species survival” and in 1998 the United Nations Environment Programme
United Nations Environment Programme
The United Nations Environment Programme coordinates United Nations environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972 and has its...
(UNEP) elected him to its Global 500 Roll of Honour for his “outstanding contributions to the protection and improvement of the environment.” Don was named one of “100 Great New Zealanders of the 20th Century” in the 60th anniversary issue of the New Zealand Listener; in 2001 the New Zealand Government presented him with a certificate in commemoration of the United Nations International Year of the Volunteer 2001, for his “valued contribution toward assisting developing countries to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development”; in 2004, BirdLife International
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...
awarded him its Conservation Achievement Award for achievements during his 48 year career in the rescue and recovery of endangered birds within New Zealand and elsewhere; on his retirement from the NZ Department of Conservation in April 2005 the Department granted him Honorary Technical Associate status – the first such recipient; in 2010 the Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society of NZ presented him with its “Old Blue Award” in recognition of his extraordinary and sustained contributions to conservation in NZ and worldwide”; and in 2011 he became a “Fellow of the Ornithological Society of NZ in recognition of his “lifetime contributions to ornithology and to the work of the Society”.
As well as being the recipient of numerous awards the The Don Merton Conservation Pioneer Award is named after him.
Further reading
- Butler, David; Merton, Don. The Black Robin. 1992. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-558260-8
- Jim Kidson: "Don Merton on the side of the Underdog" (page 15-17) in: Forest&Bird Magazine, February 1989. Forest&Bird Protection Society of New Zealand, P.O.Box 631, Wellington, New Zealand.
- Ballance, Alison [text] & Don Merton [photos] 2007: "Don Merton, the man who saved the Black robin", Reed Publishing (NZ) Ltd., Auckland. ISBN 10: 0 7900 1159 X; 367pp.
External links
- "Winging it" - an interview with Don Merton at ew Zealand Listener]
- Don Merton's biography - Kakapo Recovery Team