Aerial 1080 best option

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For some people 1080 is a dirty word, but not me. I worked for Department of Conservation (DOC) for more than 10 years and learnt a lot about 1080 in that time.

I still recall my first discussion on 1080 with a DOC Whanganui colleague back in the 1990s - he said "you couldn't design a better toxin" and it's true. If you don't believe me, check out the independent Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment's two comprehensive reports into 1080 in the past two years.

1080 is biodegradable, doesn't accumulate in organs and breaks down quickly following rain. Today the rates of poison are surprisingly low - as little as 2kg of cereal bait (about 320 baits) per hectare with each bait having 0.15 per cent poison, so a total of 3g (less than a teaspoon) of 1080.

Yes, there were mistakes made in the early days of 1080 use, particularly with carrot bait, but I'm more worried about Talon you can buy over the counter or cyanide some farmers use than 1080.

There is a natural discomfort with the concept of poison distributed by helicopters, even using GPS technology. Our country has a staggeringly rugged landscape and the real alternatives are truly limited, even if the budget was four times the size, because it's so hard to access.

When at DOC, I oversaw a 1080 operation in Tongariro Forest to protect kiwi and whio (blue duck) in partnership with the Animal Health Board who use 1080 to stop TB getting to cows via possums. This was one of the early operations to track how effective 1080 was at killing stoats through targeting rats as well as possums. Results showed kiwi chick survival rates doubled for the following two seasons - success.

There will always be some people you can't convince about aerial 1080 use, although I've been heartened to see Wilderness magazine and the Dominion-Post both come out in support this month. To reassure the community in our Tongariro operation, we invited local people concerned about the operation to be part of the decision-making team. This led to some compromise and extra cost with us agreeing to hand-lay baits around their water catchment - I helped for one day carrying a backpack of baits and it was tough going, bushwhacking up and down steep gullies.

Some of the opposition to 1080 comes from the hunting lobby concerned about the loss of deer. 1080 can kill deer, but due to the significantly reduced distribution rates and poison load since the early days of 1080 use, deer would struggle to find enough pellets to eat "in one sitting" before rain washed them away.

While a deer repellent can be added to 1080 baits, it comes at a cost. It can nearly double the cost of baits and that means a smaller area can be covered. Bigger areas of control are not just better because they're cost-effective, but they're also better operationally - it takes longer for reinvasion of possums and rats.

This year a massive "mast" event is predicted - this is when forests, particularly South Island beech forests, have unusually high flowering and seeding, leading to an explosion in rat numbers and a flow-on effect to stoats, who then turn their sights to native species. The last major mast event in 2000 caused the localised extinction of mohua (yellowhead) from Marlborough due to a stoat boom.

Minister of Conservation Nick Smith has recently announced a campaign to more than double DOC's 1080 operations this year. It will mean 12 per cent of public conservation lands will receive 1080 treatment - yes, the annual average is only 5 per cent. The funding is coming from DOC's existing budget, thanks in part to good planning by DOC, but it must have some impact on other priorities.

The real issue for conservation is why don't we use more 1080? More funds for 1080 control would be money well spent. It doesn't have to be used every year - a rolling three-year programme of control is standard.

Thanks to this bold yet sensible action taken by DOC and its new DG Lou Sanson, returning after years at Antarctica NZ, we can look forward to a boomer Spring of native birds - and bats, insects, mistletoe and fuchsia too.

Nicola Young works for global consultancy AECOM, is a former Department of Conservation manager and a columnist for the Chronicle. She was educated at Wanganui Girls' College, has a science degree from Massey University and is the mum of two young boys.