Foundation funds pest trapping work
To regenerate the Hihi Peninsula
oundation North has granted $30,000 to the trust that has spent 19 years working to regenerate native ecosystems on the Hihi Peninsula, including a pest-trapping programme over 2400ha.
The Whakaangi Forest has many areas of untouched original bush, and is home to many native tree species, Whakaangi Landcare Trust treasurer Bruce Jarvis saying the area’s botanical diversity was significant, and reducing pests such as possums, rats and stoats provided immediate benefit to native flora and fauna.
“The botanical diversity is unique because the original forest has grown in size, and the areas that were retired from farming 50 years ago have now returned to forest,” he said.
“The peninsula contains flora and fauna representative of the natural environment of Northland prior to land being cleared for pasture, forestry or settlement.”
He believed Whakaangi offered a “window in time” into the rich, natural biodiversity that would once have been widespread in Northland.
Whakaangi also contains the northernmost population of North Island brown kiwi, and numbers have risen since the trust began its trapping programme, alongside an increase in other native birds. However, it wasn’t just birdlife that had benefited.
“The flora, from huge kauri, rimu and pohutukawa, to small native rare ferns, have also recovered in spectacular fashion and growth rates.
“This has a flow-on effect of improved air quality and enhanced experience for communities who live on or access the peninsula. The Hihi Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Association, and the greater Hihi community, have noticed an improvement in habitat restoration since the trust embarked on this work, which without the support from Foundation North wouldn’t be possible.”