Source: Department of Conservation
Date: 12 February 2025
After travelling from Burwood Takahē Centre near Te Anau and Orokonui Ecosanctuary Dunedin, takahē rangers paused briefly at Glenorchy Primary School for children to wave the birds on to the release site.
Mana whenua Ngāi Tahu welcomed takahē with a mihi whakatau before they were released.
The decision to release takahē into the Rees Valley was made after takahē released into Greenstone Valley in 2023 showed early signs of successfully adjusting to their new environment – raising offspring and remaining in a healthy condition.
Thought to be extinct for 50 years, takahē are a taonga of Ngāi Tahu, unique to New Zealand and the largest flightless species of rail bird in the world. They were famously rediscovered in the Murchison Mountains in 1948.
DOC’s Takahē Recovery Senior Ranger Glen Greaves says existing wild sites in the Murchison Mountains and the Greenstone Valley are reaching capacity, so the focus is now on establishing more wild populations elsewhere.
“Finding wild sites with the right habitat, and with predator numbers low enough for takahē to thrive is a challenge – but the Greenstone, Rees, and wider Whakatipu areas likely provide high-quality habitat for takahē.”
Glen says predator control has been a significant factor in ensuring the translocation can go ahead. However, like other large wild sites, predator threats and dispersal into less-protected areas remain.
“Setting up new wild populations takes perseverance, and success is not guaranteed,” says Glen.
“We hope people walking the Rees-Dart track and Routeburn tracks will soon have a good chance of seeing takahē thriving in their natural wild habitat.”
Ngāi Tahu representative on the Takahē Recovery Group, Gail Thompson says the release of takahē into the Rees Valley is a welcome next step towards the goal of increasing the number of takahē roaming free in the wild.
“It is my hope the manu will thrive in this valley as they have so far in the Greenstone Valley and that current and future generations will have the opportunity to see takahē in their natural environment.
“Our tīpuna inhabited the valley to the west of Puahiri/Puahere awa/Rees River and this whenua was part of a well-known network of ara tawhito/trails to pounamu sources. It is heartening that these takahē can now make this place their home,” says Gail.
Today the total takahē population is more than 500 and growing at about five percent a year. More than half the birds now live at wild sites.
Kaiwhakahaere/co-chair of Southern Lakes Sanctuary, Greg Lind, says their organisation’s work has been to prepare the Rees Valley for takahē to hopefully thrive upon their return to this special area.
“We have been servicing a network of more than 500 traps in suitable takahē habitats and have been focused on intensive feral cat control,” says Greg.
“This takahē release is a great example of the power of collaboration, with each party making vital contributions to make this a reality. This includes everyone from donors, iwi, landowners, community groups and DOC.”
A further two takahē releases into the Rees Valley are planned for later this year, with the aim of establishing a population of up to 80 takahē in the Rees Valley in 2025.
DOC’s Takahē Recovery Programme, supported by National Partner Fulton Hogan and New Zealand Nature Fund, together with Ngāi Tahu and Southern Lakes Sanctuary have been working together to create one large self-sustaining population of takahē in the Upper Whakatipu – with the shared goal of restoring takahē to whenua they likely inhabited centuries ago.
Acknowledgments
Ngāi Tahu
Takahē have special cultural, spiritual, and traditional significance to Ngāi Tahu. Ngāi Tahu value takahē as a taonga (treasure) and continue to act as kaitiaki (guardians) of takahē by working with DOC to protect this precious species.
Seven of the 18 Ngāi Tahu Papatipu Rūnanga have a shared interest in and around Whakatipu Waimāori, Tāhuna and the inland Ōtākou region. Those seven rūnanga are: Te Rūnanga o Moeraki, Kāti Huirapa Rūnaka ki Puketeraki, Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou, Hokonui Rūnanga, Oraka Aparima Rūnaka, Te Rūnaka o Awarua and Waihōpai Rūnaka. The release had their full support.
DOC and the Takahē Recovery Programme
Fulton Hogan joined with DOC as a national partner to the Takahē Recovery Programme in July 2016. The New Zealand Nature Fund has a long-standing association with the programme and joined the DOC and Fulton Hogan partnership in July 2016, providing administration and advocacy support. DOC and the Takahē Recovery Programme are also supported by Air New Zealand, and 18 sanctuary sites throughout the country that provide safe breeding places for takahē to grow their numbers to feed into wild sites.
Southern Lakes Sanctuary
The Southern Lakes Sanctuary Trust is a consortium of six local groups that collectively represent 84 community groups, landowners, and businesses, who in turn have been working for many years to protect and restore the declining biodiversity of the Southern Lakes region. The consortium relies on the mahi of hundreds of committed and dedicated volunteers, throughout the district. Their tireless work, which has been quietly ploughing on for many years, is the foundation upon which the Southern Lakes Sanctuary is built. The group’s extensive predator trapping work in the Rees Valley has been supported by RealNZ, Impact100, Lotteries, Stout Trust, Patagonia, QLDC, CLT, AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand and Heli Glenorchy.
Takahē thrive in new wild home on Ngāi Tahu whenua in Ōtākou/Otago: Media release 15 August 2024
Contact
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Email: media@doc.govt.nz
