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PEST AND PREDATOR CONTROL

The Problem

Before the arrival of humans New Zealand was a land of birds. The only native land mammals were small bats. Our plants and trees had evolved natural defences against birds, but mammals feed differently.  Likewise our birds had evolved to avoid avian predators – which hunt by sight and sound – rather than mammalian predators, which hunt chiefly by scent.  Some of the birds such as the kiwi and insects such as the giant weta evolved to be completely flightless and to fill the natural roles of mammals elsewhere.  

When humans arrived, they brought animals from their own countries.  Some examples are rats, mice, pigs, deer, stoats, ferrets, weasels and rabbits from the Northern Hemisphere and possums and wallabies from Australia.  Without any natural enemies, many of them multiplied out of control, and caused huge damage to our native forests and wildlife. 

Most of the mammals listed above are in the forests on Mount Ngongotaha, and our biggest task is to reduce their numbers to levels where the forest and wildlife can recover.

  

The Programme

There are two different approaches to pest and predator control in conservation project areas.  One is to surround the area with a special predator-proof fence, then do a one-off intensive campaign to eliminate all pests and predators.  There is then a permanent programme of maintenance, monitoring and, if needed, further control actions.  Mount Maungatautari is an example.

The other method is to rely on a long term annual programme of pest and predator control.  For various reasons, this is considered to be the best approach for Mount Ngongotaha.

We use bait stations attached to trees at a spacing of 100 metres.  Each year when native birds are nesting, the bait stations are loaded with suitable toxic baits, primarily targeted at possums and rats.  We only use properly trained operators, and all the necessary notifications and warnings are undertaken.  Special monitoring techniques are used later to determine the success rate.

1080 is not used on Mount Ngongotaha.

For details about the 2010 pest control programme, go to our events page

For a more detailed report on last season's our pest control programme, click the following link.

PEST CONTROL REPORT MAY 2010