Draft goals for kiwi conservation 2006-2016

The Department of Conservation's kiwi recovery team is working with tangata whenua, community groups, and other interested groups and individuals on planning conservation work to 2016. The over-arching goal is for at least 300 pairs each of rowi and Haast tokoeka, and 500 pairs each of the other types of kiwi, in predator-safe conditions, and stable or growing in numbers.

Community Relations

Back to the wild for a young Haast
tokoeka

• Tangata whenua: Iwi are involved from the ground up in kiwi research and management, an expectation under the Treaty of Waitangi.
• Communities: New Zealanders continue to become actively involved in kiwi conservation, especially on private land. As the community role continues to grow, more support will be needed, e.g. via continued information sharing.
• Advocacy: Maintain and where possible boost local support for kiwi conservation, raise public awareness of the need to reduce the threats dogs and cats pose to kiwi, and raise the profile of kiwi work.
• Bank of New Zealand Save The Kiwi Trust: A partner in kiwi conservation nationally, crucial for resourcing, supporting DOC research and community work, and advocacy.
• Operation Nest Egg: Continue working closely with captive management institutions.
• Local government: Step up involvement, via legislation, regulations and policies, e.g. on dog control. Promote kiwi conservation as part of conservation advocacy.

Management

Writing rowi into the records

• North Island: Improve stoat control technology and cost-effectiveness to increase the area of kiwi habitat under control. Where roaming dogs are a problem, urgent action is needed, including advocacy and kiwi avoidance training. Maintain support to community groups.
• South Island: The rowi and Haast tokoeka most need conservation management, because stoat control has been less effective than in the North, and egg laying rates are lower. Individual kiwi could be placed into areas of greater food availability, e.g. predator-free islands, to see if egg laying rates increase. Rat and possum control may lead to more insect availability, benefiting kiwi. Encourage community group participation in kiwi management.
• Off-site management: Establish back-up populations at predator-secure sites on islands and intensively-managed mainland sites.
• Maintain genetic diversity: Monitor the risk of inbreeding arising from Operation Nest Egg, e.g. eggs from some pairs can be taken more easily than others.

  
  Chick weighing, Operation Nest Egg

• Captive breeding: Reduce female deaths from egg pritonitis, and male deaths during re-pairing. Improve the adaptability of chicks to artificial diets, and improve chick survival on transfer from brooders to outside pens.

More research

• Genetics and taxonomy: Research on physical characteristics, behaviour, and distribution to better identify priority populations for management. Improve the formal classifications of the different types of kiwi.
• Monitoring: Continue kiwi listening and reporting schemes. Five-yearly stocktakes of banded populations of kiwi at six sites around the country to measure progress.
• New areas of research: Minimum areas for managing kiwi; effects of 1080 on pests at Tongariro; kiwi diseases; sustainability of community groups; monitoring techniques for kiwi and small mammal pests; effects of kiwi dispersal behaviour.

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