Kiwi Sanctuaries

The areas were chosen to include significant populations of the most endangered kiwi – rowi and Haast tokoeka – and sample populations of brown kiwi, the species suffering the greatest rate of decline. The sanctuaries are in:

• the Whangarei area, Northland– for Northland brown kiwi
  
• Moehau, Coromandel – for Coromandel brown kiwi
  
• Tongariro Forest, King Country – for western brown kiwi
  
• South Okarito Forest, West Coast – for rowi
• Haast Range, South Westland – for Haast tokoeka.
  

Why are sanctuaries needed?

Outside kiwi sanctuaries and other managed areas, most mainland kiwi populations are declining and the size of the area they live in is shrinking. For example, unmanaged brown kiwi populations are predicted to halve every 25 years and, if cost-effective techniques to control predators over large areas are not found, they are in danger of disappearing from the much of the mainland within a human lifetime (75 years).

The sanctuaries’ purpose

Each sanctuary aims to increase the number of young kiwi surviving each year so that they more than balance adult deaths.

The sanctuaries also provide the Department with opportunities for research and monitoring. These include:

• Testing stoat control techniques to see which are the most effective in allowing kiwi populations to recover.
  
• Testing control techniques for other pests, including dogs, cats and ferrets.
  
• Developing monitoring techniques that quickly and accurately show the status of a kiwi population without the need for expensive radio tagging.
  
• Assessing the impacts that removing pests may have for other protected wildlife. For example, controlling stoats is good for kiwi, but when stoat numbers drop, rat numbers rise, and rats kill other forest birds, such as fantails.  While fantails are relatively common, it is clear that only controlling stoats is not a good strategy in places where threatened birds live, such as kokako or yellowhead/mohua.
  

Monitoring progress

In the three North Island kiwi sanctuaries, progress has been huge. Kiwi numbers have increased rapidly and populations are expected to at least double by 2015.

Breeding success in the two South Island kiwi sanctuaries has been lower, despite extensive stoat trapping, and so it is clear these populations are more complex to manage. The recent use of BNZ Operation Nest Egg™ has led to populations starting to grow again, and they are expected to double before 2020.

The results show that a single management approach is not the answer for kiwi conservation – methods need to be tailored to each area, depending on the mix of predators at each site, and the biology of each kiwi taxon.