Kiwi on trail cam at Kaitake. Photo: Supplied / Department of Conservation
Dozens of cameras installed on the Kaitake Range in Taranaki are revealing the success stemming from five years of intensive predator control.
The western-most of three mountain ranges in Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki, Kaitake is the focus for a joint predator control programme involving the Department of Conservation, Taranaki Maunga Project, iwi, and other community collaborators.
DOC biodiversity ranger Brandon Kingi said a comparison of images captured by the trail cameras dotted across the Kaitake showed a dramatic decrease in predators such as possums, stoats and feral cats - and a notable increase in protected native species like kiwi, which had been successfully reintroduced to the area.
"We've seen a big fall in the number of feral cats caught on our cameras, which shows the 1080 operation has effectively controlled them," said Kingi.
"Immediately after the operation in November last year, the number of cats detected dropped almost overnight - from about 95 percent of the cameras showing feral cats, to about 1 percent.
"There was a similar result for stoats - they were seen on our cameras before the operation, then they had almost vanished when we checked the cameras afterwards."
The predator control methods used at Kaitake also included bait stations and leg-hold possum traps.
Kingi said keeping predator numbers down required hard physical labour, carried out by staff from DOC and Taranaki Maunga Project, as well as volunteers and paid staff from iwi and community groups.
"The community collaborators contributing to Kaitake working to protect biodiversity on the maunga have also helped control rats and mustelids."
Kingi said the measured reduction of predators at Kaitake demonstrated how a trapping network extended the benefits from aerial operations by reducing predator reinvasion. There were also anecdotal observations of more birdlife across the range and a healthier forest.
Taranaki Maunga Project pou whakahaere taurua/co-project director, Sean Zieltjes, said the camera data was another tangible measure that the hard work by kaimahi and volunteers removing predators and reintroducing kiwi was paying off.
"We're really stoked, mate there. Our latest round of camera data from Kaitake is showing more images of kiwi than possums up there at the moment. We're really psyched with this and some ways we can't believe it. But it certainly gives us a shot in the arm and a steer that we're on the on the right track up there, that's for sure."
Zieltjes said it showed the power of community involvement to really make a difference in driving biodiversity improvements.
Kaitake didn't have a particular focus for Taranaki Mounga Project when it started nearly a decade ago, but community support for it changed that.
"Relationships fostered with Ngā Mahanga a Tāiri, the Kaitake Conservation Ranges Trust, schools, landowners, and other groups and agencies, have snowballed into achieving much more than we could ever have done working separately."
Zieltjes said invasive species were putting immense pressure on New Zealand's ecosystems and at 4000 Aotearoa had one of the highest rates of threatened species in the world.
"Once our unique native species are gone, they are gone for good. The results at Kaitake demonstrate a small but important success in protecting native species."
Organisations contributing to predator control and species protection at Kaitake include Ngā Mahanga a Tāiri hapū, Kaitake Conservation Ranges Trust, environmental educators Te Ara Taio, and numerous schools.
Taranaki Kiwi Trust, Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, Ngāti Koroki Kahukura, and Save the Kiwi had all contributed to the return of kiwi to the maunga.
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