Strengthening our pest control programme

Pests such as possums, rats, and stoats have been subject to control on Te Akau for many years. This work has been most welcome. It has kept these pests down to low numbers, allowing the forest canopy to remain intact and has enabled birds and native insects to survive.

Recently, this work has increased with the Northland Regional Council and support from Iwi and other landowners running a major program to remove feral goats. Over the last year, several hundred goats in the forest behind Te Akau have been culled allowing the remnant forest to regenerate after decades of browsing damage. In the coming months, it is hoped a small population of illegally liberated sika deer—another browsing animal—will also be removed.

Above: Goats—which prevent endemic flora from growing—feeding on a kowhai bush.

Left: A possum trapped on a Pūriri.

The Ipipiri Nature Conservancy Trust, with the property now purchased, is looking at the opportunity to increase the level of pest control at Te Akau to help form a significant barrier against pests and help to realise a dream of the community; to make the Cape Brett peninsula pest-free. With this achieved, the forests, wetlands, and native animals will flourish.