KEY POINTS:
Plans to lease the Aroha Island Ecological Centre and kiwi sanctuary at Rangitane to a commercial operator will be the focus of a public meeting in Kerikeri this week.
The island's owner, the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust, says it cannot afford the $30,000 to $50,000 a year the island costs to run.
But island supporters, including the New Zealand Kiwi Foundation - two of whose members manage the centre - fear a commercial lease could mean the kiwi sanctuary, with its ecological and educational focus and regular public access, may be lost or reduced under a new operator.
Aroha Island, in the Kerikeri Inlet, is in an area zoned conservation and a wahi tapu (sacred burial area) is registered over 2ha of its 7ha land area.
A trust covenant on the island encompasses its conservation purpose.
Terry Quinlan, a Kiwi Foundation member and one of the organisers of the public meeting, says the foundation is preparing a tender to lease the island from the trust.
He wants supporters to consider options for how best the island should be managed.
The foundation also wants the meeting to indicate who would be able to help to manage the island without cost to the trust if it is granted a lease.
The public meeting will be at The Centre in Kerikeri on Thursdaynight.
Kiwi Foundation member and Rangitane resident Tim Robinson says the area has the largest number of wild kiwi living on private land within populated locations.
Any lessening of activity on the island would be "a huge blow" to saving local kiwi as well as other kiwi throughout the Far North.
Mr Robinson believes the fate of wild kiwi lies not so much with the Department of Conservation in Northland as with private landowners.
Because of that, he says it is essential that the island remains a centre where all people can learn how to save and protect kiwi.
