PROJECT PROTECTS
Mike Watson speaks to those involved in the halo project - a pest trapping programme operating in land surrounding the Rotokare Scenic Reserve.
Staff at a protected Taranaki native bird and plant sanctuary have a long term aspiration - to become redundant from their roles.
The aspirations may never be realised but draw nearer as the sanctuary becomes increasingly successful through community input.
The work to eradicate pests from the ‘‘biodiversity hotspot’’ for future generations to enjoy will never end, Rotokare Sanctuary manager Simon Collins says.
Collins has helped lead the fight against pests since becoming project manager of the community-led charitable trust in
2013.
The trust relies on a handful of salaried staff, and a large number of volunteers and community groups to remain viable.
The sanctuary operates on an annual budget of $330,000.
The 230 hectare site, 12 kilometres east of Eltham, is ringed by a $2 million predator fence which has proven effective in keeping pests out of the area.
The last rodent, a mouse, trapped inside the sanctuary was caught in May 2017.
Backing up the protection is a
4000ha buffer zone, or ‘halo’, surrounding the sanctuary fence which helps protect the ‘‘spillover’’ of the increasing number of native bird species. The halo is made up of private farmland and land managed by Taranaki Kiwi Trust and South Taranaki Forest and Bird. Around 5000 pests have been trapped inside the halo, including
3500 pests in 2017, of which 2300 were rats.
Collins said the involvement of neighbouring farmers allowing pest traps on their land was vital to the success of the halo.
The project has been ahead its time, working collaboratively with organisations such as Taranaki Regional Council, South Taranaki District Council, Department of Conservation, South Taranaki Forest and Bird, and Taranaki Kiwi Trust to ensure it remained predator-free, he says.
The halo project is at the end of a three year establishment programme kicked off by a $157,000 grant from the Ministry for the Environment in 2015. About 13 neighbouring landowners are involved in the halo project, with more to come on board as funding allowed, Collins says.
‘‘It’s a community-inspired project, and every single landowner has bought into the story,’’ he says.
‘‘And one of the best things to have come from this has been the pride landowners have got from being part of the sanctuary success story.
‘‘The success has come from the bottom up after the community said ‘We’ve got this area on our doorstep, and let’s do something with it’.
‘‘For a lot of farmers around here involved there is a huge sense of pride when you meet them.
‘‘When you meet up with them they will straightaway talk about how many rats they have trapped then how their cows are milking.’’
The pest eradication has enabled hundreds of native birds, some endangered like the saddleback, and fernbird to exist in the area.
Sanctuary volunteer, and
"And one of the best things to have come from this has been the pride landowners have got from being part of the sanctuary success story."
Simon Collins
retired farmer Ray Willy, who last year won a Taranaki Regional Council environment award for wetland restoration, is woken at 4.30am by tui flocking outside his kitchen window, 2km from the sanctuary.
While he might like a longer sleep in he is overjoyed with the increase birdlife because of the halo protection project.
Willy planted kahikatea on wetland which future generations will see mature.
‘‘I won’t be around to see the trees grow but at least my grandchildren will be able to.
‘‘You can’t help but be sucked into the great things that are happening at Rotokare,’’ he says.
Willy, and neighbouring farmer, Murray Prankerd, grew up in the area.
Before the transformation of Rotokare into a native bird and plant sanctuary occurred, both men would come down to the lake with their families to waterski.
They were motivated in helping return native birds and trees to the reserve.
Willy undertook his own rat trapping in the early stages of the sanctuary, capturing nearly 1000, and is now a volunteer guide.
He helps check traps weekly along the 8.2km predator fence line.
Prankerd, a trust committee member whose land is part of the halo buffer zone, says farmers can see the benefits restoring wetlands, and fencing off bush remnants into covenanted protected areas can have in adding value to their land.
Halo ranger Aaron Jacobson says the project is a ‘‘job where you can see the improvements being made’’.
Jacobson lives inside the halo zone, and like Willy and Prankerd, has seen the increase in birdlife around his house.
‘‘Because of the trapping programme in the sanctuary and halo bird species can roam freely.’’