‘I’ll do this until I die’ - Didymo Dave KSM - a man on a mission
Monday, 17 June 2024
A chance riverside meeting with a local kaumātua when just a boy has led to a life of conservation work for Taupō’s latest King’s Service Medal recipient.
Dave Cade, widely known as “Didymo” Dave, is literally a man on a mission.
The rivers, streams, lakes and forests around the region are in his blood and their preservation are his motivation.
“I’ll do this until I die. It’s not work - it’s a mission,” he told the Waikato Times.
The former Hamilton boy spent many family holidays fishing with his father while camping near the Waitahanui River on the shores of Lake Taupō.
It was there he meet an “old Māori fulla who used to talk to this little pākehā kid about how to look after the river”.
His name was Marama, and Cade said it was him who sparked his lifelong interest in caring for the environment.
The former Department of Conservation (DOC) ranger now works part time for the Horizons Regional Council with the rest of his time spent volunteering doing pest prevention, and invasive species and conservation education work in the Taupō district.
He visits local schools, mentors young people who could “fall through the cracks” and engages with anglers and boaties using waterways in the region.
Outside of his paid work, Cade said he would spend around 30 hours a week volunteering and gets around the countryside in a ute provided by the Taupō District Council with his fuel paid for by Harcourts Taupō.
His KSM was awarded for his services to conservation and bio-security awareness.
He has been a leading advocate for protecting New Zealand’s biodiversity and environment for more than 20 years, particularly against didymo infestation.
Cade has worked extensively with local iwi in aquatic biosecurity advocacy work, weed control and predator trapping, and has “been a leading freshwater advocate of the Check, Clean and Dry campaign”.
Cade “thoughtfully engages” freshwater users in any environment from car parks to riverbanks on correct biosecurity prevention methods and conservation practices.
Those who know him will say he’s often forthright and does not mince his words, but he chooses them carefully when explaining his views on the coalition Government’s sweeping cuts to the departments he often works with - the Ministry for the Environment, Ministry of Primary Industries, and DOC.
“There’s a lot of public conservation land around the Taupō area, and cuts will cause problems.
“I really don’t think they understand how important protecting our biodiversity is down here.
“We are facing threats from all sorts, alligator weed, didymo, and now gold clams.
“They are taking money from these departments and I’m hearing that they just can’t cover enough of the region to make any difference.
“We cant get any help from them - I told all of this to Christopher Luxon at the Canterbury A&P Show - he was not interested either.”
He said it was not enough to rely on volunteers like him to protect the country from a looming biodiversity disaster.
Another problem was different Government departments giving different advice and “mixed messages” about how to protect rivers and lakes.
“It’s frustrating, these rivers are in my heart. I feel helpless in a way and if they leap from one place to another, there will be nothing I can do.
“I want a lake we can swim in, rivers we can fish in and forests free of weasels, stoats, possums and wallabies.
“I want to see kids walking up rivers with their fathers and walking back down with a fish he’s caught - it’s the kids who motivate me.”
At 64-years-old, he’s not about to give up his work just yet.
“One of the most satisfying things is helping kids turn their lives around while out on the river - connecting them to their whenua - they have wonderful abilities and are often just ignored - I learn a lot from them, too.”