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Kiwi chicks released  Kahori Nakagawa from the Department of Conservation, Tamsin Ward-Smith from the Cape Kidnappers and Ocean Beach Wildlife Preserve, volunteer Bede Nathan, and Tama Wipaki from the Aorangi Awarua Trust, with the three kiwi chicks released into the north-west Ruahine ranges
THEIR names are Camo, Rubik and Mokai.
They’re three small kiwi chicks, and they carry the hopes of a Rangitikei iwi with them into the remote north-west Ruahine ranges.
The chicks – whose genders are not yet known – were released into the rugged mountains east of Mangaweka as part of a partnership between the Department of Conservation and the Aorangi Awarua Trust, which is connected to the Mokai-patea iwi.
The partnership, named Te Potae o Awarua (the protective cover of Awarua), was formed around 10 years ago. Since then Te Potae has carried out several projects on endangered species in 5000ha of Mokai-patea’s land, including restoration of native snails, plants, trees and birds.
The latest project involves re-establishing the population of eastern North Island brown kiwi in the area – the southernmost reaches of this kiwi sub-species.
Richard Steedman from the Aorangi Awarua Trust said his people had known for years there were kiwi on their land.
“We’ve always felt aroha for our kiwi because we knew they were there. But we didn’t have a viable population, and we didn’t have the resources or the expertise to help them.”
And that’s where DoC was able to assist. Rebecca Lewis, from DoC’s Palmerston North office, said the first step was to establish how many kiwi were in the area. “We’ve identified 12 individual kiwi calls up there, nine males and three females. “In 2006 we were able to trap a pair and fit them with transmitters to monitor their breeding. Last year we did the same with another pair. We don’t know for certain how many kiwi are there – we really need to do more intensive work.”
The three released kiwi chicks were taken out of the Ruahine while they were still in the egg, and were hatched and creched elsewhere. Kiwi who start life this way have a much better chance of making it to adulthood, as they are not released into the wild until they are big enough to fight off predators. Crucial to kiwi restoration is the eradication of stoats, a major predator for the flightless bird.
Ms Lewis said the project was able to piggy-back onto research that aimed to find out if bait was required in stoat traps. “We said, why don’t you do your project here? So the researchers provided 262 stoat traps, and we [DoC] provided 200 more traps; and they’ve been set over a 57km area in the Ikawetea Gully.”
Volunteers from conservation, tramping and hunting groups go into the area on a regular basis to check and maintain the stoat lines. Other organisations are also helping Te Potae o Awarua in a variety of ways: Horizons and Nga Whenua Rahui are assisting financially; Zeagold Foods are donating eggs for the stoat lines; while the Cape Kidnappers and Ocean Beach Wildlife Trust are helping out with their kiwi expertise.
Ms Lewis is enthusiastic in describing the conservation values of Mokai-patea’s land. “This is a special area for its biodiversity. It’s a wonderful place - every time we go there we discover something new.” Mr Steedman said his people feel very strongly about preserving their land and its taonga. “We acutely feel the alienation from our lands – many of our people are urban now. “But we want to be good kaitiaki (guardians).” He said part of the reason the area has been neglected is its extreme remoteness. “Just getting to the place is difficult. We’ve always been remote – there were no Europeans here until 1845.”
So, what does the future hold for the kiwi of the north-west Ruahine? Mr Steedman said he’s encouraged by the fact some of Mokai-patea’s young people are studying conservation, ecology and science. “They want to learn how to preserve our land and our taonga, and we’re really happy about that.” Ms Lewis said she hopes the kiwi release and stoat trapping projects will be expanded, but admits it’s a constant battle for funding. “This year alone, it’s costing us $65,000 to run the project. Unfortunately that’s the reality of remote location conservation. “But if we don’t do anything, the kiwi here will disappear.”
Courtesy of the Wanganui Chronicle |
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