Tongariro Kiwi Sanctuary
Looking to Ngauruhoe from the Tongariro
Forest Conservation Area which contains a
nationally important and relatively large
population of northern brown kiwi
Tongariro Forest Kiwi Sanctuary (TFKS) is a 20,000ha area in the central North Island established in 2000 for the protection and recovery of Western North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli). It is one of five sanctuaries set up throughout the country to maintain significant populations of the different kiwi taxa and to develop and improve techniques in kiwi protection.
TFKS is unique from the other sanctuaries in that it aims in particular to establish if aerial 1080 is effective at protecting kiwi. Tongariro Forest consists of about 21,000 hectares of logged and unlogged podocarp forest and historically probably contained thousands of kiwi.
Biodiversity Ranger Mike Fawcett with
Fleming the kiwi prior to his release
What do we do?
The study involves putting transmitters on kiwi chicks after they hatch to see how many of them survive when there is no management in place, and how this differs once 1080 has been dropped. This job is particularly tough when there is nothing to help protect the chicks, and most of them are found killed by stoats.
What results have we had?
The research started in 2005, and this first year before the application of 1080, survival rate was 27%. This more than doubled after 1080, and surprisingly, the survival rate stayed high the next season too. But by the third season after 1080, rats and stoats were back to their normal levels and chick survival rate was back down to 21%.
To give the population a boost, Operation Nest Egg (ONE) was undertaken, where eggs are taken from the nest and hatched at an incubation facility. The chicks are raised in a predator proof enclosure until they are over 1kg, which is when they stand a better chance of fighting off stoats.
Where to from here?
Another year of chick survival without management showed that chick survival remained low. A 1080 operation is planned for 2011 and chicks will be monitored once more to determine whether their survival will increase again afterwards. This will confirm not only the effectiveness of 1080 in increasing chick survival, but also how often predator control needs to be implemented.
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