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A record number of whio ducklings have been located on Mt Taranaki in what is the best year for our rare native blue duck. Eight-seven (87) ducklings have been found by Department of Conservation (DOC) Rangers on eight regularly surveyed rivers. This is an increase of 71 percent from the 51 ducklings located during the 2018-2019 breeding season. The annual whio monitoring work on Mt Taranaki is part of the DOC Whio Forever partnership with Genesis Energy. Reducing predator numbers is a major factor in the large increase of whio. In the last…continue reading →

Making a DOC 200 stoat trap is not easy. Just ask students from Coastal Taranaki Area School, Manukorihi and Devon intermediate schools. Students from Manukorihi Intermediate and Coastal Taranaki Area School who participate in the New Horizons Aotearoa program. Since 2018, when New Horizons Aotearoa joined Taranaki Mounga, about 60 Year 7 and 8 students have done what many people cannot when they mastered trap building. This after-school mentoring programme uses building as a platform to lift students’ confidence while opening their eyes to Taranaki’s natural environment. Students are selected by their schools…continue reading →

BTW Company Director Grant Aitken (far left) with some of his volunteering team. PHOTO: Vicki Zieltjes Over the last 12 months a number of Taranaki-based businesses have supported biodiversity efforts on the Mounga. One such business is BTW Company (BTW) which has provided opportunities for its staff to check and maintain 53 traps along a five-kilometre loop near the Mangaoraka carpark by the North Egmont Visitor Centre. BTW Director Grant Aitken says as with many other community projects the company supports, the staff enjoy being actively involved. “We’re proud to be a company…continue reading →

Kaitiaki Whenua Ranger Wayne Capper. PHOTO: Vicki Zieltjes Kaitiaki Whenua Ranger Wayne Capper (Taranaki Iwi, Te Atiawa, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngā Ruahine) is loving everything about his role, created as a partnership between the Department of Conservation (DOC) and Te Kāhui o Taranaki Trust. Wayne is working alongside the DOC Visitor Assets team as he manages the upkeep of 29 cultural sites returned to the iwi as part of its 2015 Treaty of Waitangi settlement. These properties lie within the rohe of Taranaki Iwi between Oeo in South Taranaki and New Plymouth’s Ngā Motu/Sugar…continue reading →

If you have been to Rotokare Scenic Reserve at dawn or dusk, you would have heard the symphony of bird song. This 230-hectare predator-free environment is protected by an 8.2 kilometre pest-proof fence and native flora, lizards and invertebrates are thriving. Native birds like hihi, kiwi, kārearea, kererū, toutouwai, tieke and pāteke abound. Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust Conservation Manager Fiona Gordon. PHOTO: Vicki Zieltjes Earlier this year a native bird species was returned when 60 titipounamu were translocated from the Mounga to Rotokare as part of the restoration of the Rotokare reserve. Monitoring…continue reading →

Restoring the flora, fauna and birdlife along the Hangatahua Awa, also known as Stoney River, is important to students from Coast Taranaki School. Principal Scott Walden, left, and students from Coastal Taranaki School. To support this restoration, Year 9 – 13 students from the school are now managing 18 DOC200 stoat traps which cover two kilometres along Blue Rata Reserve in Okato. Many of the students who will check the traps, also built them, thanks to their participation in the mentoring programme New Horizons Aotearoa. Coastal Taranaki School principal Scott Walden says the…continue reading →

Professor Bruce Clarkson. Last week we listened to Professor Bruce Clarkson (pictured) talk about the positive change in biodiversity on Egmont National Park. Professor Clarkson knows the Park extremely well. He was raised in Midhirst and a lot of his early research focused on the Mounga. He is now University of Waikato's Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and recognised as one of New Zealand's foremost authorities on ecological restoration. He shared fascinating facts and images showing the physical landscape changes from when the Park was ravaged by possums and goats in the 1960s, to its…continue reading →

In July state-of-the-art thermal camera aerial technology was trialed as part of the search for the final remaining goats in the subalpine area of Egmont National Park. The good news was that the experienced thermal team did not detect any goats or see any sign of goats during the 30 hours of operational flying time. Hunting and local expertise was provided by staff from the Department of Conservation’s Te Anau and Taranaki offices, and a team from Te Anau Helicopters conducted the aerial operation and thermal detection work. The result from the trial indicates the…continue reading →

On Thursday 31 October 2019 the final aerial 1080 operation was completed on the Kaitake Range. This was the second application over the 3000 hectare area which aims to completely remove possums from the range as well as reducing overall predator numbers to less than five percent. A total of 13 water samples were taken during both operations on both public and private water supplies within 24 hours of each application on the Kaitake Range. Of the 13 samples taken on six seperate sites after both operations, NO detectable traces of 1080 were…continue reading →

Press release from Department of Conservation Native birds on Mount Taranaki have a greater chance of breeding success this season with high rat and possum numbers knocked down from the predator control operation in June. Taranaki Mounga Project undertook aerial 1080 predator control over 31,000 ha in Egmont National Park to reduce predator numbers and give threatened species such as whio and kiwi a chance to successfully breed and raise their young. This operation is part of a much larger multi-tool approach to predator control, which will one day allow the return of…continue reading →

Twenty-four water samples were taken on both public and private water supplies within 12 and 24 hours of the aerial 1080 predator control operation on Mt Taranaki and Pouakai Range. This operation was completed the last week of June. Of the 24 sampled sites NO detectable traces of 1080 were found. Laboratory analysis can detect 1080 in water at concentrations as low as 0.1 parts per billion (ppb) and the maximum amount of 1080 residue allowed in drinking water by the Ministry of Health’s is 2.0 ppb. This has never been breached. This testing was conducted…continue reading →

Over the last two years Year 10 students from Francis Douglas Memorial College have adopted a large part of Centennial Park in New Plymouth as part of the school’s stewardship programme. Led by teacher Tina Dalliston, 150 students have helped to make, set and regularly monitor 100 T-Rex traps along the coastline. “This ongoing work helps us to remind students that we all have an impact on others and our environment and we need to be conscious of how we manage that,” says Tina. DOC Biodiversity Co-ordinator Tim Sjoberg is grateful for Tina’s…continue reading →

Every project has its characters and ours is Tony Green. His energy and passion for the environment are equalled by his amazing photography skills. He has taken some of the project’s most captivating images. His images, especially of whio, toutouwai and project volunteers, have featured not only in Taranaki Mounga publications and social media, but also in those of the Department of Conservation, NEXT Foundation and many local and international conservation groups. As well as taking impressive images, Tony has been volunteering for the project for more than two years, the first time…continue reading →

Pre and post predator control monitoring Taranaki Mounga and Department of Conservation have completed a number of monitoring projects in the lead up to the 1080 operation. Since mid-2018 320 separate rat tracking tunnel cards, 160 stoat tracking tunnel cards and a further 320 waxtags for monitoring possums have been set up across the Park. There has been intensive monitoring on three separate occasions since August 2018. We have accumulated 960 rat tracking nights, 6720 wax tag nights and 3360 stoat tracking card nights. Results indicated high predator numbers are evenly distributed throughout the Mounga. This has resulted in our team and volunteers setting up additional trapping…continue reading →

Thanks to the efforts of the Department of Conservation, Taranaki Kiwi Trust and Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust, three of our taonga species are being monitored as part of the 1080 operation. Toutouwai monitoring has been completed within the 1000 hectare ‘A24 block’ by the North Egmont Visitor Centre. The monitoring results have been mixed. Over a six-week period, dedicated volunteers and a team from Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust have been diligently tracking sightings and post-breeding behaviours of these birds. Thirty-four individuals (both banded and unbanded) were sighted within the block. The Department of Conservation are monitoring 20 whio…continue reading →

Eighteen staff from across BTW Company Ltd’s New Plymouth office have been making a positive contribution to the biodiversity on the Mounga. In the last six months the company has provided opportunities for their staff to check and maintain 53 traps along a five kilometre loop from the Mangaoraka carpark by the North Egmont Visitor Centre. BTW Company Managing Director Grant Aitken says like many other community projects they support, staff are provided paid time off to participate. “We’re proud to be a company that supports the volunteering efforts of its staff and…continue reading →

Toutouwai (North Island robin) have now been seen at Pukeiti, by the Ngāti Ruanui Mountain House, on the Tahurangi track and several times on the York Road track. This is great news given when we first released toutouwai in 2017 they had not been seen on the Mounga for over 110 years. We’re pleased to know how far they have dispersed, however other than Pukeiti, the other locations currently have low predator control measures in place, so we hope these birds are safe from predation. Since 2017 nearly 100 toutouwai were released into…continue reading →

For 2019, Taranaki Mounga and many other groups and organisations are working toward an increase in targeted predator control. Kaitake Range As noted in our September newsletter, the Kaitake Range already has over 250 predator traps on the Range, thanks to the dedicated Kaitake Ranges Conservation Trust volunteers. Our project, along with Taranaki Taku Turanga – Towards Predator-Free Taranaki, led by Taranaki Regional Council (TRC), are working closely in rural and urban areas around the Range, and with the many community groups in the area, to dramatically bring down predator numbers. In 2019, the…continue reading →

Mixing technology, conservation and education has proved popular for students at Omata School, Auroa School and citizen scientists from around the world. All these people are helping to identify predators in Egmont National Park and the Kaitake Range using open source technology. Called Zooniverse, the platform already has over 5,000 images from 36 sensor cameras loaded. Recently, more were uploaded specifically from our mounga. Stuart Bennett, Deputy Principal of Omata School says being amateur sleuths has helped grab the pupils’ attention on a serious problem. “Students seem to like the detective work needed…continue reading →

Bringing kākā and kiwi to the Kaitake Range is not a distant dream, but achievable through a multi-tool approach to restoring the biodiversity of this area. Seeing the forest flourish and having native birds like kākā visit gardens in Oakura is a goal we want to achieve. Our project along with Taranaki Taku Turanga - Towards Predator-Free Taranaki, led by Taranaki Regional Council (TRC), rural and urban areas around the range, and the many community groups in the area, are working hard to accomplish this target. A multi-tool approach to predator control will be conducted…continue reading →