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Land & freshwater

Conservation on land

Orange-fronted parakeet. Photo: Jack van Hal.
Orange-fronted parakeet

Cutting costs by avoiding bait station use. Aerial 1080 would need to be applied over larger areas and achieve greater knock-down of rats, for the effects to carry through the mōhua and kākāriki breeding seasons. More research is underway on the use of aerial 1080 for the simultaneous control of rats, stoat and possums.
Early intervention to manage rat plagues will continue at sites where mōhua, kākāriki and bats are at low levels. Additional individual nest monitoring and protection, and bird translocations to these sites will be considered.
Extending stoat trapping along rivers from 163km to 254km would enable whio numbers to reach 50 breeding pairs at each of the Wangapeka-Fyfe, Oparara-Ugly and Arthur-Clinton-Cleddau sites. Stepping up captive rearing and fledgling transfers, e.g. at Isaac Wildlife Trust, would speed population recovery.
Pekapeka (bats) may be benefiting indirectly from pest control for other native species at Operation Ark sites other than the Eglinton valley. Monitoring would confirm this.
Areas under rat and stoat control will need to be expanded to support sustainable populations of mōhua long term, particularly in the Catlins, Eglinton and the Blue Mountains (if it is decided to move from monitoring there to control).
The long-term sustainability of whio, mōhua, pekapeka and kākāriki at the 10 sites will depend on more resources being allocated to Operation Ark.

Maps and statistics on public conservation land and waters