Kiwi Link’s Year 7 Annual Report has not only fulfilled their HVA reporting requirements, but also showcased another outstanding year of results and achievements.
The past year has been a great success for the Kiwi Link High Value Area (HVA) with good progress made towards all five objectives. All of the eleven groups and projects involved have worked well together, carrying out animal and plant pest control and monitoring over the 15,000 hectare collective project area.
The removal of 45,044 roaming animal pests over the past seven years has improved forest health and helped to restore birdsong to the once near-silent forests. Kiwi are going from strength to strength as evidenced by increasing kiwi calls, rising number of breeding pairs and monitoring of kiwi survival, dispersal and breeding success.
Additional monitoring data, including five-minute bird counts, show upward trends in populations of a range of other native species too. Increasing observations of key species such as kākā and korimako / bellbird bring hope that such species will return in strength. These results can be attributed to the ongoing hard work carried out by the many local landowners and land managers involved.
Other highlights reported include:
- Increased native bird abundance, including kiwi, kākā and pāteke
- Removal of a further 8,086 animal pests in 2022, with a grand total of 45,044 since 2017
- Boosted plant pest control, with landowners and land managers contributing $77,631 to plant pest control labour
- A sixfold increase on NRC’s $120k investment, with a total Year 7 project value of $636,999
- A huge private landowner effort to protect local biodiversity values, with unpaid labour costed at $30/hour providing 37% or $235,723 of the total project value
- Increased communications and engagement, with a new dedicated website and social media pages completed (www.kiwilink.org.nz).
The 11 community group coordinators commented:
“The 2023 kākāriki observations and pekapeka detections are highlights that exceed the expectations held when Kiwi Link began. They inspire fresh motivation and renewed determination to protect and restore the significant biodiversity values within Kiwi Link.”
They also extended their gratitude to all those involved:
“Many thanks to the funders and supporters of Kiwi Link, including NRC, Kiwi Coast, QEII Trust, Tahi Estate, Martin Trust, Predator Free Whangarei and Department of Conservation. Our immense gratitude is also extended to all the private landowners, professional predator trappers and land managers who have been servicing traps, filling bait stations, counting birds and collecting data for the past seven years (and more!). The immense community effort and leadership remains the key to success. Without it, our local native forests and wildlife would have remained in decline.”
The full report can be downloaded here
