Conservation Comment: Dedicated volunteers work to save whio

Janet Wilson checks a trap in the western Ruahine. Photo / Supplied

Dedicated volunteers work to save whio
By Dave Scoullar
When it comes to volunteer conservation programmes, they don't come more impressive than the work of the Ruahine Whio Protection Trust. This group works to protect whio, the rare native blue duck, and their habitat in the Ruahine Ranges, and to raise the funds necessary for this work.

Currently, eight groups maintain more than 2500 stoat traps in the Northern Ruahine (1660 traps) and Central Ruahine (875 traps).

Last August marked a decade of service by the Ruahine Whio Protectors. What started as a need to check traps in one section of the range has expanded to include lines throughout the often-challenging terrain. Eliminating pests to protect whio — a bird rarer than kiwi — is the goal.

Gotcha! A stoat caught in a Ruahine trap. Photo / Supplied

Protectors chairwoman Janet Wilson, who has helmed the trust since its inception, said the Protectors spun out of work done by the Deerstalkers Association and Department of Conservation. The association had traps in the southern end of the range, while the department ran a trial of having only every other trap baited to the north.

She got involved in vetting volunteers wanting to take part in checking traps, which led to her taking greater responsibility. "In the end, I decided I would just start driving it," Janet says in a newspaper interview. The Protectors are now made up of dozens of volunteers monitoring traps throughout the range.

She is convinced that while DoC does great work, volunteer groups like Ruahine Whio Protectors are key in the fight against predators, especially given the goal to be predator-free by 2050. "It is, really, community-group led."

The dedication of the volunteers has been rewarded by an increase in Ruahine whio numbers so they are now a population of national significance, though Janet stresses there is an ongoing need for protection if their numbers are not going to fall. The volunteers range from a 10-year-old girl who comes along with her mum, to a very fit 80-year-old.

Janet's work was recognised when she was awarded a Queen's Service Medal in 2020 for services to wildlife conservation.

The trust, which fundraises to buy better equipment and give volunteers petrol vouchers, has been boosted by grants from DoC's Community Fund. A grant in 2019 was used to consolidate existing trap lines. Another in 2016/17 resourced a kiwi survey through areas outside the known range of kiwi in the Ruahine using acoustic recorders.

This survey revealed kiwi populations had extended further south than they had been previously. Funding in 2017/18 was to extend the stoat trapping network to include all areas that kiwi were found in 2017 and to increase protection for whio in these areas.

The trust also receives support from the Central North Island Blue Duck Trust, Horizons Regional Council and other funding bodies and welcomes public donations.

Wanganui Tramping Club members met Janet while tramping on the track to peak Tunupo in December. She was checking the trapline on the track and explained a technique of attracting stoats through scent on cloth in the traps.

Dave Scoullar is a tramper, conservationist and member of the Te Araroa Whanganui Trust