Here’s a devastating equation: stoats consume about 100 grams of food a day. If birds make up half of one stoat’s daily intake, that equates to 6 birds, or roughly 2 fantails, 1 tomtit, 2 greywarblers and a silvereye. These are the kind of numbers that the Puketi Forest Trust faced when it took on the stoats, along with other predators, in Puketi Forest in 2003.
But the Trust has its own winning formula. To date, their pest eradication efforts have removed 254 stoats from the Puketi Forest, along with 1402 rats, 48 feral cats, 9 weasels and a ferret. If we take into account the number of birds a stoat might kill on any given day, this leaves a staggering number of potential lives saved, if the forest supported abundant birdlife.
Since trapping began three years ago, the number of dispersing stoats caught each summer has increased from 50 in the first year, to 54 in second year and 109 this year. The Trust attributes this increase and the overall success of its pest control to personal dedication, public support and funding from various charitable foundations.
Thanks to organizations like the Bank of New Zealand Kiwi Recovery Trust, Lotteries Grant Board, the Lion Foundation, the Northland Regional Council and the Department of Conservation, the Trust has expanded the area under control for stoats, weasels, feral cats and rats from 2500 ha to 4500 ha.
Since last year, the Trust has added three lines, bringing the total number of lines to 8. Two of these lines were funded by the Bank of New Zealand Kiwi Recovery Trust.
Line 6 was made possible by contributions from three sources. A grant from the Northland Regional Council’s Environment Fund covered the cost of traps on private land and the Department of Conservation funded the cutting of a 3 km trap line. Contributions from the Trust’s supporters were used to buy traps to place along the forest road on the northern side and along the line cut by DoC.
This leaves only two lines, both near Manginangina Scenic Reserve, remaining to be added for comprehensive stoat control.
To date, the Trust has achieved its target of having 227 traps in place on the new lines in time to catch dispersing young as well as the resident stoats. The Trust wishes to acknowledge the commitment of trapper Scott Candy, whose efforts keep stoat numbers close to zero throughout most of the year.
The Trust is celebrating the end of its trapping season and with good cause. In January, juvenile kiwi and young kiwi footprints were spotted in the pest control area. After completing its 2006 winter call counts, the Trust will be better able to report on species and survival rates. This winter’s monitoring will be significant for the Trust because the first chicks protected on the plateau by its trapping efforts should be calling this year. If these counts produce a similar number of birds to the counts in previous years, this will indicate a pause in the decline of kiwis. If these counts produce an increase in numbers, this will indicate that the kiwi population in Puketi Forest is no longer declining and that the Trust’s stoat removal efforts have been successful.
The Puketi Forest Trust was established in October 2003 and introduced the Oho Mai Puketi, or “Awaken Puketi” project. The Trust is guided by its founding document which sets out its purpose to restore wildlife to Puketi Forest and raise the perception and the value of the forest in the collective consciousness of the community. To help fund the restoration project, the Trust has introduced a hectare sponsorship programme.
The Trust launched a new website on March 20 to coincide with Earth Day. For more information about the Trust and the forest restoration project, or to sponsor a hectare, visit www.puketi.org.nz.