Editorial: Big payoff in dealing with pests

As you read this, possum and rat numbers are already decreasing in one part of the Pukenui Western Hills Forest.

Pest animals and pest plants are a scourge and an economic dead weight to all New Zealanders.

Including private land, the Pukenui Western Hills Forest, right on the boundary of Whangarei city, is deemed to be the largest piece of contiguous forest in the Whangarei district - close to 2000ha. The trees are in reasonably good condition (apart from the skeletons of possum-chewed rata), but, like so much other New Zealand bush, it is as silent as the grave. And this is a fair analogy, as every minute stoats kill kiwi chicks, possums eat native pigeon eggs, rats eat lizards and insects and mice eat seeds that should be the next generation of trees. Without active intervention, Pukenui Forest will retain its sombre silence.

In the latest edition of Kararehe Kino, the official magazine of the Landcare Research Institute, is an article by well-known ecologist John Innes. John and his research team have found that another of our native birds, the tui, was in unnaturally low numbers in and around Hamilton city.

The birds have never bred in the city but instead, in spring, would fly up to 20km to nearby native bush to try to raise their young.

To improve tui nesting success, the Waikato Regional Council (WRC) offered to target key pests species - ship rats and possums - in forests where radio-tagged tui went to breed.

After several years of poisoning, bird counts in early spring showed an increase in tui numbers in some areas by up to 23 per cent over a period of six years. For the first time in living memory, tui nested in Hamilton.

Whangarei City will, over the coming years, see more and more tui and native pigeons in its parks and gardens as predator control is expanded over Pukenui Forest and the surrounding countryside.

Whangarei is a lovely city set in extraordinary, beautiful forests.

As conservation and predator control increases in places such as Bream Head, Limestone Island and Pukenui Forest, and as new conservation sites come on stream, we will all truly see our city come into its rightful place. A magnet that will be good for us.

Gerry Brackenbury is chairman of the Pukenui Western Hills Charitable Trust.