DOC's work
DOC ranger Paul Macdonald with his
stoat seeking dog
The forest habitat has substantially improved at Boundary Stream Mainland Island since the nature restoration project began in 1996. Pest numbers have dramatically reduced and birds, insects and vegetation have increased.
Managing the threat of these pests involves:
- setting traps and bait stations around and within the entire reserve
- monitoring bait stations and traps to measure how pest numbers change and how plants and animals respond.
Methods
Keeping predator levels low enough for native plants and birds to benefit requires different methods. Early control methods included ground hunting and aerial drops of 1080. Applied for possums, 1080 also dramatically reduced rat numbers.
Ongoing methods include:
- poisoning and trapping mustelids using Fenn traps
- killing possums and rodents using bait stations
- hunting and shooting deer, goats and pigs within and outside reserve.
Measuring the benefits
The success of pest control at Boundary Stream Mainland Island is determined by:
monitoring what's happened with different species like birds, lizards and invertebrates
measuring how the ecosystem has recovered through vegetation protection monitoring.
Contacts
Further information about Boundary Stream is available from the Team Leader of Boundary Stream Mainland Island: