Puketi Forest Trust

Puketi Forest Trust has established trap lines to control stoats, possums and feral cats covering almost 10,000ha of the 20,000ha forest. Within this management area, a 1,350ha core area also receives rat control via trapping and the occasional use of toxins in bait stations if monitoring indicates it is necessary to achieve the target (less than 5% tracking for rats). To date we have removed in excess of 100,000 pest animals using these methods.

Existing forest birds (including North Island brown kiwi) have more than doubled in number and maintaining low numbers of pests has allowed us to reintroduce toutouwai (North Island robin). Further reintroductions are planned for the future, particularly in the core area where the low rat population will allow vulnerable bird species to establish successfully.

Wildlife monitoring in the form of five minute bird counts, annual kiwi call counts, rodent tracking tunnels and wax tag monitoring for possums is carried out regularly by Trust volunteers to confirm the effectiveness of pest control and the response of the native species.