Introduction

The Powelliphanta ‘Augustus’ snails live on the spectacularly beautiful ridgeline of Mt Augustus, a mere 4 km from the Powelliphanta patrickensis snails in Happy Valley. But the two species are separated by millions of years of evolution.

The Augustus snails have adapted to live in very specific habitat, so their chances of survival anywhere else are slim. In April 2006, the Labour Government gave state-owned coal miner Solid Energy permission to destroy 94 percent of this habitat. That’s likely to lead to the first state-sponsored species extinction this country has seen.

Only you, the people of New Zealand, can stop this extinction from occurring...

Newsflash: Occupation of Mt Augustus:

We are occupying Mt Augustus in order to directly protect the remaining couple of hectares of habitat. We have been camped inside Solid Energy’s blast exclusion zone (of 500m from any given blast), on public conservation land, since 5th February 2007.

If you are able to help, please email b.anderson (at) clear.net.nz. Or if you can gift money for others to get there, please donate now. Stalls and actions in other places around the country are also needed to stop this SOE removing this ridgeline, extracting yet more coal, and driving a species to extinction.

The Save Happy Valley Coalition have been occupying Happy Valley for over 12 months, in a thus far successful bid to protect it from Solid Energy’s digger and dynamite. Mt Augustus faces exactly the same threat; this destructive, polluting, profit driven state owned company is destroying kiwi habitat and eradicating the last home of the critically endangered Powelliphanta “Augustus,” as fast as they can. So it is time to take direct action!

For images and blogs on the occupation, please check out the blog for more pictures and updates.