Retired zoologist John Darby has been studying and monitoring the Australasian crested grebe population at the Lake Wanaka marina and building artificial breeding platforms for them since 2013.
Five years ago, he ‘‘first raised the idea’’ of a boardwalk along the lakefront, from the Dinosaur playground to the marina, with the Queenstown Lakes District Council ‘‘to create a place where folk could sit and enjoy the view and peace of the area’’.
In the past week, the council announced the detailed design of stage three of the Wanaka lakefront development plan was nearing completion.
It would include the implementation of Te Ara Wanaka (a shared pathway) for pedestrians and cyclists, a separate boardwalk along the lake’s edge, and plans for wide-scale planting in the area to restore the ecology.
Community services general manager Thunes Cloete said the council was aware there was some apprehension about the boardwalk and its effect on Wanaka’s grebe population.
‘‘But we’ve worked with stakeholders to not only make sure they’re accounted for, but that any development in the area supports them,’’ he said.
Mr Darby said the main risk to the breeding grebes during construction of the board walk was they might abandon their nests.
‘‘But I would be quite prepared to move eggs from one nest to another if that happened.’’
Mr Darby expected to be closely involved in the project and ‘‘would be liaising with the construction company on an almost daily basis,’’ but he had begun handing over the grebes programme to ‘‘someone younger’’.
The 84-year-old said he could no longer bend over and the 40kg to 50kg artificial building platforms were too heavy for him to lift and carry.
Yesterday, German-born Wanaka years 5-6 primary school teacher Markus Hermanns began understudying Mr Darby.
Mr Hermanns said Germany had similar birds to grebes and he had always found them fascinating.
‘‘I kayaked a lot on lakes and rivers in Germany and grebes were always in my company, and so I was quite surprised they were here as well.
‘‘I got to know about John’s project quite early and found it really interesting,’’ he said.
Mr Hermanns said he would incorporate the project into his teaching.
