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A private conservation block in the Coromandel is teeming with life thanks to four generations of one family.
Almost 100 years of care has secured a 4000-hectare pocket of flourishing native bush home to a healthy population of 150 endangered brown kiwi and flocks of kererū up to 100 strong.
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Native bird populations could be completely wiped out in some areas hit by this year's mega mast.
It's set to be the biggest seeding event in more than 40 years, but half-a-million hectares of forest will receive no 1080 predator control. Orange-fronted parakeets will still get protection but some mohua populations miss out as DoC reduces the area of forest being covered by 1080 poison. David Williams reports.
Predator-killing aerial 1080 poison drops planned across the country will be shrunk by 100,000 hectares, and cost millions of dollars more, because of the severity of this year’s mega mast. People feeding kea in South Island high country car parks have made the intelligent and curious alpine parrots more likely to nibble things they shouldn't - including a pest control poison.
Teams of volunteers who regularly clear predator traps in the Makarora Valley to protect nesting mohua (yellowheads) are reporting catching unprecedented numbers of rats.
Every fortnight since August Jane Forsyth and Ian Turnbull have been clearing and re-setting traps along one of the seven Forest & Bird trap lines between Haast Pass and the Makarora Tourist Centre. The Department of Conservation says a recent 1080 drop in Fiordland was to curtail an exploding rat and stoat population.
The department dropped 1080 in the Arthur Cleddau area and Bowen catchment area on Tuesday. Scientists have begun investigating how to wipe out the last surviving pests in New Zealand's bold bid to rid itself of rats, stoats and possums by 2050.
A new $7.5 million programme, led by Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research scientists, aims to overcome what's long been a headache for predator-busting efforts – how to eliminate that final 5 per cent which manage to hang on. After a court battle and a controversial 1080 drop last year, Kōkako’s haunting calls are returning to Hunua Ranges
Normally the fight to keep Hunua's kōkako alive is waged in native bush. Last year its fate was fought for in an Auckland courtroom. The rat population in a piece of pristine bush has exploded thanks to a plethora of beech tree seeds, forcing the Department of Conservation to make a 1080 drop.
But the glut of food means it can be difficult to get rats to eat the poison. The Department of Conservation is concerned after a higher percentage of rats than expected have survived the first 1080 drops intended to battle this years "mega mast".
This year's build-up of the rat population in New Zealand forests can be attributed to unusually high seed production, called a mast, experts have said. |
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