Aerial predator control is under way for the southern boundary of the Hauraki District.

An area of 6300ha of public conservation land in the Otahu catchment near Whiritoa will have a 1080 operation.

Starting this month, the aerial pest control is part of the government's nationwide 'Battle for our Birds' 1080 operation.
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Otahu is largely forested, and drained by the Otahu River and tributaries to the Otahu estuary, which covers about 110ha providing significant vegetation and wildlife habitat.

Millions of dollars have been spent killing pests in Greater Wellington forests to give native wildlife a chance and keep TB at bay, but has it been worth it? Piers Fuller reports.

The threat posed by rats, stoats and possums to our bird species is "significant and urgent" and the battle continues to quietly rage in forests large and small around the greater Wellington region.
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Over the past decade hundreds of tonnes of the controversial poison bait 1080 have been dropped in the Tararua, Aorangi and Remutaka ranges in an effort to push back a tide of pests, but the advent of new technology is making ground trapping a more attractive option. 

Kiwi, kakapo, Maui dolphin - and even the great white shark - feature on a list of 150 New Zealand species "prioritised" in an ambitious conservation strategy launched by the government this morning.
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The Department of Conservation's new Threatened Species Strategy hinges greatly on already-announced moves under the Predator Free New Zealand (PFNZ) plan to purge the country of pest predators by 2050.

​A group of South Island fishermen claim to have come into contact with aerially distributed 1080 bait pellets in early December while guiding a fishing party in the Mokihinui River valley.

​An aerial 1080 operation on that day was being flown by helicopter contractors completing pest control work for the Department of Conservation’s Battle for our Birds programme and OSPRI’s TBfree programme. 

So far we have carried out more than a third of our planned pest control over 820,000 hectares using aerial 1080 and 70,000 hectares largely by traps alone. Several long-term study sites show the cumulative benefits of regular, carefully-timed, 1080 treatment.  Our monitoring shows that kiwi, kākā, kea and whio, among others, have better breeding success and produce more young after aerial 1080 pest control. ​

The Department of Conservation has begun aerial 1080 drops in the Kahurangi National Park as part of its Battle for our Birds predator control programme.
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The predator control is aimed at protecting populations of whio/blue duck, great spotted kiwi, kea, kaka, rock wren/tuke, Powelliphanta snails and long-tailed bats/pekapeka

​A tentative start date for two planned 1080 drops near Queenstown has been set.
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Department of Conservation Wakatipu operations manager Geoff Owen said the operation, to kill the predators of native birds, would begin any time from September 5.

More than $6 million will be spent dropping 1080 poison on the South Island's West Coast in the coming months.
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About 230,000 hectares of the region will be targeted in this year's Battle for our Birds programme, which focuses on western and southern parts of the South Island.

Recreational and commercial hunters have been asked to identify areas where game herds are at risk ahead of this year's large-scale aerial 1080 operation.  

The call comes as the Department of Conservation prepare for the Battle for our Birds, a large-scale aerial 1080 operation to control rats and stoats in response to a beech mast event.
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It follows a similar campaign to control rats and stoats on public conservation land in response to a beech mast event due to heavy seedfall in 2014 and will be the largest pest control operation in New Zealand's history.