Successful project profiles

Protecting native species on Great Barrier Island

A project which is helping protect native species on Great Barrier Island received funding from the Auckland Regional Council's Environmental Initiatives Fund.

The Windy Hill Rosalie Bay Catchment Trust manages animal and plant pests over about a 450 ha of privately-owned forest. It was formed in 2001, with the vision to create a sanctuary where species lost to Great Barrier, or threatened elsewhere, could be reintroduced.

The ARC partly funded the second year of the Trust's, 'to protect it you need to measure it,' control project. Under the project the number of rats, weta, lizards, birds and plant seedlings were monitored in an area where pests were managed and in a non-controlled pest area and then results compared.

Results indicated that the number and variety of native species increases in areas where pests are managed compared to areas that are not.

A project which is helping protect native species on Great Barrier Island received funding from the Auckland Regional Council's Environmental Initiatives Fund.

The Windy Hill Rosalie Bay Catchment Trust manages animal and plant pests over about a 450 ha of privately-owned forest. It was formed in 2001, with the vision to create a sanctuary where species lost to Great Barrier, or threatened elsewhere, could be reintroduced.

The ARC partly funded the second year of the Trust's, 'to protect it you need to measure it,' control project. Under the project the number of rats, weta, lizards, birds and plant seedlings were monitored in an area where pests were managed and in a non-controlled pest area and then results compared.

Results indicated that the number and variety of native species increases in areas where pests are managed compared to areas that are not.