About 16,000-hectares in size, it is a haven for a nationally important and relatively large population of western Brown Kiwi. 

Tongariro Forest consists of logged and unlogged podocarp forest - logging stopped completely 25 years ago.  

Historically Tongariro Forest probably contained thousands of kiwi. However, recent surveys suggest there may be fewer than 500 remaining, and large tracts of the forest have no kiwi at all.

Tongariro’s kiwi were given further protection in 2003, when Tongariro Forest (and the Erua and Rangataua forests) were made a Controlled Dog Area, and avian aversion training was introduced for hunting dogs.  Dogs are one of the main threats to adult kiwi.

The aim of the Kiwi Sanctuary

The aim of the Tongariro Forest Kiwi Sanctuary is to build and maintain a representative sample of more than 100 pairs of Brown Kiwi by 2010.  Funding from Bank of New Zealand Save the Kiwi Trust has allowed Department of Conservation staff to catch new birds to add to the existing pool of monitored breeding males. 

Bank of New Zealand Save the Kiwi’s Operation Nest Egg is one of the management tools used in the Tongariro sanctuary.  Tongariro’s kiwi eggs are transferred to Kiwi Encounter Rainbow Springs to be hatched, and the chicks are then transferred to a privately-owned kiwi crèche, Warrenheip, in the Waikato.  Most chicks take about five months to grow to a release weight of 1200-grams – when they are believed to be able to defend themselves from stoats and possums. 

Without intervention to reduce the number of chicks killed by stoat, the Tongariro Forest kiwi were predicted to become extinct in 10 – 20 years.