After a lifetime promoting marine conservation, Northland environmentalist Wade Doak is most proud of his very first efforts to quench his thirst to go underwater.

Mr Doak was today awarded the Queen's Service Medal for his services to marine conservation in the Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours.

He was one of the first advocates for the protection of the marine environment in the 1960s and is internationally recognised for his underwater photography and film-making and was one of the main drivers behind the Poor Knights becoming a marine reserve.

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Developer plans to strike contracts with many providers to put up 2500 homes

Private developer Todd Property Group wants to have its first housing sections ready for sale towards the end of this year at its 160ha Long Bay development on Auckland's northern outskirts.

An information office with a cafe will be the first building to rise at the site, which is 25km from the central business district.

But instead of awarding most of the housing contracts to Fletcher Residential as it did at Stonefields, group chief executive Evan Davies said the business intends to strike contracts with many housing providers to put up the 2500 residences.

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A Northland sea cadet unit has had the honour of being presented a national award by the Navy's top brass.

Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Anthony Parr presented the unit's commanding officer, Sub-Lieutenant Ben Gilbert, with a pennant at a ceremony on Thursday night.

The SCC National Annual Efficiency trophy recognises the quality and delivery of the sea cadet training programme, overall administration and logistics, and the degree of community support the unit engenders.

Sub-Lieutenant Gilbert, an ex-navy man himself, said it was a huge honour to accept an award from a Rear Admiral.

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Traffic jams and congestion caused havoc in central Whangarei on Thursday during a protest over the ownership of Hauturu – Little Barrier Island.

The peaceful protest called Hikoi for Hauturu was attended by about 80 Ngatiwai whanau, including children.

They were protesting a Treaty of Waitangi settlement over the island which is being settled with a hapu of Ngatiwai, Ngati Manuhiri, spokeswoman Isha Waetford says.

The settlement gives Hauturu completely to Ngati Manuhiri who then give Little Barrier back to the Crown seven days later. Ngati Manuhiri gets to keep 1.2 hectares as a nature reserve and run a conservation management plan over the whole island with the Crown.

Ms Waetford says the problem is that Ngatiwai who are not of Ngati Manuhiri descent lose their rights to the island.

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Housing investor and developer Todd Property Group will build up to 6000 new residences in the next few years but has scaled back a former developer's plans at a $2 billion East Auckland estate.

Todd, building the equivalent of just under half the country's total new annual housing supply over about six or seven years, is remediating excavated apartment sites at Stonefields in Mt Wellington because it found the original scheme by Gregg Olliver too intensive.

Managing director Evan Davies said sites around College Rd were being filled because market signals meant plans had to be reconsidered.

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Northlanders' attitudes towards their geographical features - such as Ngunguru Sandspit, Waipoua Forest and Mander Park - are currently under examination by a group of visiting university students from Sweden.

Fourteen geography students from Stockholm University and two of their tutors have been in Whangarei for the past week as part of their studies.

Associate Professor of Geography at the university, Peter Kinlund, said the students, aged from 22-30, were here to examine how the public looked at geographical features and issues as part of their studies.

Some students were examining how public attitudes towards the iconic Ngunguru Sandspit have changed over the years, with the Government buying the site last year to save it from development.

The fight to save Ngunguru Sandspit from development was one of the most high profile struggles in recent memory in Northland and attitudes towards the conservation area are being studied by Mikael Hagberg and Carl Hamnesjo.

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Northland's kiwi population has been boosted with the release of 15 of the endangered birds into the wild by the Department of Conservation.

Bird lovers, environmentalists and children waited in anticipation at Mike Cann's 120ha of mostly forest land at Ngunguru yesterday as the birds made their way from Motuora Island to Whangarei via Warkworth.

Prior to yesterday's release, about 16 kiwi had been released on Mr Cann's property which DoC has classified as an established predator control area.

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A large group of local residents gathered to watch the release of 15 kiwi, brought north from a Hauraki Gulf island, at Mike and Jane Camm's Ngunguru property

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Also, see Tutukaka-15 Kiwis released on Tutukaka property

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Critics of a 46-lot subdivision plan at Te Arai Beach, near Mangawhai, say public opposition stays high - despite the developers' offer to gift 172ha of park land along the 5.3km of untouched white sandy beach.

A summary of 2255 submissions on the bid to change the Rodney District Plan for the subdivision has been released by Auckland Council for public comment.

Te Arai Beach Preservation Society president Mark Walker said 1671 submissions asked that proposed plan change 166 be declined - compared with 582 submissions wanting it approved.

He said the issue was about giving subdivision rights on land adjacent to nesting grounds of the critically endangered NZ fairy tern, in exchange for park land.

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