Via Newstalk ZB
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New Zealand's largest ever pest control operation will be launched this winter in an effort to protect the country's vulnerable birds.
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In a pre-Budget announcement at the National Party conference in Auckland today, Conservation Minister Maggie Barry said $20.7 million in funding would be allocated to Battle for our Birds 2016.

Opinion: a new possum control effort across the Rimutaka Ranges aims to rid New Zealand of bovine tuberculosis, says Matthew Hall.

An aerial possum control operation is planned for the Southern Rimutaka Ranges this spring as part of the drive towards eventual eradication of bovine tuberculosis from New Zealand.

The operation proposed for September is supported by the Department of Conservation, and community consultation and public meetings have been scheduled to determine the exact size of the control area, water supplies and exclusion zones.
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The proposed area includes the East Harbour Regional Park where the Eastbourne forest rangers have been performing effective possum control since 1933, and the Orongorongo Valley, where community groups such as the Moa Conservation Trust have contributed enormously to supporting biodiversity with voluntary possum control. The wider Southern Rimutaka area has not been treated with an aerial operation before.

​The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has released its eighth annual report on the aerial use of 1080.
Findings are consistent with previous years and show the 1080 regime is working as intended with the benefits of using 1080 being seen while the risks are minimised.

It has been a long time coming but finally the Waikato Regional Council has taken a position on how it intends to use 1080 pest control methods.
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Councillors spent close to three hours debating their position on aerial drops of the possum control pellets at the final meeting of the year on Tuesday, before unanimously voting to support a statement of intent.

Via Stuff Environment

1080 is being credited with a breakthrough in the conservation of kokako in Auckland's Hunua Ranges.

For the first time ever, a pair of kokako have been nesting outside Hunua's intensively managed kōkako conservation area.

It follows Auckland Council's two 1080 drops over 21,500 hectares of conservation and forest land in the Hunua Ranges in August and September.

The loss of our native birds from the wild has been revealed in its full extent for the first time, with a bleak and sweeping stock-take showing major hits for most endemic species.

But keeping our birds in large numbers can be achieved for a realistic price, says the Landcare Research scientist who has presented the startling figures to top ecologists.

A comparison of monitoring data, collected over periods in the 1970s and early 2000s, showed significant falls in well-known species such as brown kiwi, kokako, Kaka, rifleman, tomtit and blue duck, or whio.

View original story from Jamie Morton, NZ Herald here

DoC scientist says result helped breeding birds but is disappointed some pests survived.

A major 1080 poison offensive succeeded in wiping out 95 per cent of rats and 85 per cent of stoats in targeted forests around the country, but the result was still below what a Department of Conservation scientist was hoping for.

As part of a $ 21 million project dubbed The Battle for our Birds, DoC staff launched 27 aerial pest control operations between last August and February over hundreds of thousands of hectares of beech forest, mainly in the South Island.

Forest & Bird congratulates the New Zealand police for making an arrest as part of their investigation into a 1080 threat to infant formula late last year.
” This threat wasn't just a challenge for our dairy industry and exports, it also had the potential to damage our ability to control introduced predators that are killing our native wildlife, " explained Kevin Hackwell, Group Manager of Campaigns and Advocacy at Forest & Bird.

Monitoring studies show that targeted pest control operations last summer have led to record survival rates for short-tailed bats in the Eglinton valley in Fiordland.
DOC undertook a coordinated pest control programme in the Fiordland National Park valley last spring to combat a beech seed-fuelled rat and stoat plague over the summer.

Results show 99% of the bat population survived following the Battle for our Birds pest control operation.

This is almost twice the survival rates (50-60%) shown to occur without pest control in a beech mast (seeding) year.