First there's the Department of Conservation (DOC)-managed Moehau Kiwi Sanctuary set up in 2000 as one of five kiwi sanctuaries funded as part of the government's package to implement the New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy.
Then there's the Moehau Environment Group, whose kiwi sanctuary is protecting kiwi on land immediately to the south of the DOC-managed area.
DOC's project manager for Moehau Kiwi Sanctuary is Pim de Monchy, and he's also a member of the Moehau Environment Group. Pim says the co-operation on the Coromandel is a huge asset to achieving kiwi conservation in the area.
"Along with DOC and the Moehau Environment Group, there is strong community support from the Harataunga Kiwi Project in Kennedy Bay, the Mist Preservation Society, Forest and Bird and many landowners who live within the sanctuary. Because so little of the land is actually managed by DOC, we really need their co-operation, and they're giving it" Pim says.
The Moehau Environment Group formed in 2000 to achieve co-ordinated pest control between landowners in the Moehau area, and now has 140-plus members, mostly locals, landowners and others keen to see the area once again alive with the sounds and sights of indigenous fauna. Chair, Lettecia Williams, says a co-ordinated approach by neighbouring properties gives a much higher kill rate than everyone doing their own thing at different times of the year.
Moehau Sanctuary's location at the northern tip of the Coromandel Peninsula means stoats can only invade from the south, and to do so they have to get through a six kilometre-wide buffer zone filled with lethal traps.
The trapping programme has removed a large proportion of the resident stoats and, with minimal re-invasion, the population has been reduced to a level that allows kiwi to breed and chicks to survive through to the safe weight of 1000-gram.
Traps are loosely spaced at 200-metre intervals on lines about one kilometre apart, and will be checked 14 times during the 2006-07 year. The traps are baited with eggs sponsored by Zeagold Foods Limited. Sometimes salted rabbit meat, shipped from Canterbury, is used to vary the bait, and often leads to more feral cats being captured. "It's a nice irony that one introduced pest, rabbits, are being used to deal with other introduced pests - stoats and wild cats," says Pim.
Size of Area under Protection
The DOC-managed kiwi sanctuary covers 18,556 hectares, of which just 7107 hectares is on public conservation land - the rest is privately owned.
The Moehau Environment Group’s kiwi sanctuary will soon protect 7900 hectares immediately to the south of the area treated by DOC’s trappers, substantially extending the area that will be cordoned off against stoats.
Lettecia says the group felt that extending the kiwi sanctuary further south, passed the narrowest point of the peninsula, would have a huge positive impact by slowing stoat migration north - especially if targeted in the narrow "bottleneck" area.
Biggest Challenge
A big challenge is make sure the Group’s work is linked to all the other good conservation work happening on the Coromandel. Because so much of the sanctuary is outside DOC-managed land, memoranda of understanding to cover the trapping work have been signed with many landowners.
Biggest Successes
Up to 2008, DOC is monitoring how many kiwi chicks survive each season to find out if the predator control is successful - at least 20 per cent have to survive to adulthood for the kiwi population to increase.
The combined efforts at Moehau means the area has consistently achieved one of the highest kiwi chick survival rates in New Zealand. In fact, the survival rate at Moehau has been the highest of any kiwi protection project in New Zealand, with an average of 77 per cent recorded in the last four breeding seasons.
Pim says some great stories have come out about the tenacity of these small birds. "One of our young kiwi, named "Baggins," has packed her swag and headed away. Over 15 months she has walked from Port Charles to Port Jackson, then turned south and passed through Colville and Kennedy Bay before passing within two-kilometres of Coromandel Town. She has since settled on Papa Aroha (the "land of love", 15 kilometres north of Coromandel) as a suitable place to settle down with one of the untagged male kiwi in the area. That's more than 60 kilometres of walking.
"Seeing the brown kiwi population recover is incredibly rewarding and provides hope that one day we can help restore other elements to Moehau mountain sacred to Maori and dear to other residents of the Coromandel," Pim says.
Funding
Funding for traps is coming from Environment Waikato, and Bank of New Zealand Save the Kiwi Trust has provided $28,404 to cover the actual work- cutting track lines and baiting the traps.
Since January 2005, 674 traps have been set in the area. So far, more than 350 stoats and weasels have been captured in the Moehau Environment Group’s Kiwi Sanctuary.
Alongside its trapping work, the Group also plays an active role in environmental and ecological education. A programme of 19 guided walks, boat trips and helicopter flights is run by its volunteers each summer. This includes "Kiwi by Night" and Kiwi Close Encounters" where participants have the opportunity to hear wild kiwi calling at night and to see a kiwi in the day.
The Most Important Things
Pim says it is important to try and make sure efforts are well-integrated with any other agencies or community groups who may be active in the area - a combined approach will produce the best results for kiwi.
It’s also important to place your traps over as wide an area as possible.
And good information management systems to record data also help. A plan is currently being drafted by DOC, Environment Waikato and the Moehau Environment Group to achieve this in the long term.
Moehau Sanctuary Reports
Moehau Kiwi Sanctuary Report 2000 - 2005
Moehau Environment Group Kiwi Sanctuary Report June 2005
Moehau Environment Kiwi Sanctuary Report February 2006
Contact Details
If you would like to help with the work of the Moehau Environment Group, or would like further information, contact any of the following people:
Wayne Todd
Phone: 07 866 6928
Lettecia Williams
Phone: 07 866 6926
Alan Currie
Phone: 07 866 6635
Email: info@meg.org.nz
Website: www.meg.org.nz