How a keen nature lover formed the Matatā Trappers group, and the work they’re doing to make a difference for nature on their back doorstep.
Dean checks a new Sentinel trap for possums | Mal Harison, DOC
Connections in the community make things happen
Dean has always loved being in the outdoors. Long runs that took him off the beaten track as a kid, later turned into casual hunting, yet another excuse to get outside. Now he is grateful to his two dogs who demand he gets regular exercise outdoors.
Dean’s hometown of Matatā has two incredibly special reserves right on the doorstep, the steep slopes of the Scenic Reserve are home to a unique stand of hard beech, pōhutukawa and kānuka, and the Matatā Wildlife Refuge is home to a small population of matatā/fernbird, which have disappeared from Wairarapa, Wellington, and Canterbury, as similar wetlands have been converted to farmland.
Back in 2022, DOC Senior Community Ranger Jesse presented to the Matatā Residents Association. He described how the Scenic Reserve was the only area with no predator control in a line of bush running from Lake Rotomā to the coast. Jesse appealed for volunteers to form a group to help protect the bush from the spread of weeds and give native birds like the kōkako safe place to live, breed, and forage for food.
Dean rose to the challenge.
North Island Kōkako | Leon Berard – leonberardphotography.co.nz
Feeling inspired by this talk, and the urgent need to save the community’s precious biodiversity, Dean thought, “This is something I can help with.”
The Matatā Trappers group was born.
Dean and the group started trap runs as soon as DOC and the Kōkako Trust had installed box traps for rats and stoats on the lagoon track and in the campground. A set of old possum traps in the steep Scenic Reserve from a previous initiative had fallen to pieces and the track had become overgrown.
“We didn’t have the know-how or the funds to do anything about it.”
DOC’s Predator Free 2050 Ranger Freddy Matariki Carr offered to help with a plan to protect the special birds and plants which call the reserve home.
DOC Regional Predator Free Ranger Freddy Matariki Carr putting the well-used Predator Free tohu (logo) to good use on a new Sentinel trap cover | DOC
Six months later and with Freddy’s help, the group has eight lines of completely renovated Sentinel possum traps running through the hills of the Scenic Reserve, and a network of rat and mustelid traps in the lagoon area and campground.
Thanks to their trapping work, there are fewer rats, possums and mustelids which means the matatā (fernbird), kōkako, matuku hurepō (Australasian bittern), and the rare trees on the hills have a much better chance of surviving.
Matuku hurepō (Australasian bittern) | Matthew HerringThe Matatā (fernbird) | Leon Berard – leonberardphotography.co.nz
“Community is what we create, together,” Dean says, “and we’re slowly making a difference for our community right here in Matatā.”
Dean shows Tipene Marr and Tracey Raureti examples of pest plants in the Reserve | DOC
Growing support for the group
Dean has big plans for the group. He is working to get a trapline roster going and to start tackling pest plants in both reserves.
“We also need to do something about the number of deer in the Scenic Reserve, and we could do with help to find more funding too.”
Ranger Freddy is thrilled with the community support so far and encourages more locals to get involved, “there is lots to do and a role for everyone in the Predator Free 2050 movement. Working together builds communities, and everyone has skills to help in some way.”
This is the power of community. If we all play a part in supporting Predator Free 2050, the difference will be even greater. Freddy and Dean show what an impact people can make for nature.
What the next 20 years of predator free islands hold.
In this two-part series, we’re celebrating 20 years of Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest predator free project to-date. Looking to the future, we explore what the next 20 years of restoring New Zealand’s wild and precious islands may hold. Learn how artificial intelligence, the history of phones, and feral pigs all connect.
Written by Janel Hull.
20 years ago, DOC declared the seemingly impossible operation to make Campbell Island predator free a resounding success.
The techniques that DOC staff on Campbell Island/Motu Ihupuku pioneered helped propel the world into exponentially scaling up eradications of bigger and bigger islands. DOC’s Predator Free 2050 Senior Manager, Brent Beaven, shares how Campbell Island changed the game. “Campbell Island helped unlock a step change in what we thought was possible.”
DOC Predator Free 2050 Senior Manager, Brent Beaven, translocating a rare native tīeke (South Island saddleback) | Photo: Peta Carey
Now, there have been over 1,000 island eradications in the world. And New Zealand is responsible for the lion’s share.
Thanks to these predator free breakthroughs, islands across the world are covered in screeching penguins, soaring albatross, and chubby sea lions. We were able to save precious native plants and animals from the brink of extinction.
But momentum in creating larger predator free islands has unfortunately waned. Brent notes, “The island eradication tools and techniques we use now have allowed us to achieve some incredible things. But, to scale up to larger and more island eradications, we need innovation.”
Technology and techniques haven’t changed much since the 2001 Campbell Island operation. Island eradications in 2023 use similar GPS, helicopters, and techniques. Which is surprising considering that in 2001 the first ipod was released, we had just survived Y2K, and fax machines and landlines reigned supreme. These predator eradication techniques are tried and true and get the job done. But the tools aren’t effective and efficient for eradicating predators from very large islands or the mainland of Aotearoa.
To tackle restoring larger islands and the mainland, we need new tools, techniques, and technology. We need investment to shift from reliable landlines to transformative smart phones.
Predator Free 2050 has focused government investment into this innovation. Since the goal was announced in 2016, programmes like DOC’s ‘Tools to Market‘ and Predator Free 2050 Ltd.’s ‘Products to Projects’ have invested in possible game changers like biodegradable aerial rat traps, AI cameras and image recognition, smart detection devices, pest-specific toxins, and research to map predator genomes to understand their unique weaknesses and biology. In just the first five years of Predator Free 2050, government has invested $43 million into tools, research, and software for predator eradication.
Biodegradable aerial rat traps | Photo: GoodnatureZero Invasive Predators (ZIP) innovation and operations team talk through a prototype | Photo: Robyn Janes
It’s unlikely research will uncover just one “silver bullet” for eradicating introduced predators. But with the help of investment and new tools and technology, Aotearoa could accelerate efforts to restoring precious islands and our mainland.
Predator Free 2050 has also helped launch DOC’s National Eradication Team (NET). This team is working on a strategy for eradicating predators from all of New Zealand’s uninhabited off-shore islands. They’re leaders in predator eradication – spearheading strategy, testing new techniques, and advising on island eradication projects both in Aotearoa and around the world.
Some members of the National Eradication Team | Photo: Finlay Cox
DOC’s eradication experts have already achieved great things for people and wildlife. In 2018, a DOC team led the charge to successfully eradicate mice from Antipodes island, protecting wildlife like wandering albatross.
They’re also sharing their knowledge and expertise abroad. In 2023, they led a rat eradication on Palmerston Atoll in the Cook Islands with our neighbours in the Pacific who were struggling with rats destroying food and threatening their community’s health.
National Eradication Team member supporting Palmerston Atoll community members with trail cameras and rat surveys | Photo: Em Oyston
With the leadership of DOC and investment in tools and techniques, Aotearoa is taking strides to accelerate island conservation.
And these experts have their eyes set on the next big island restoration – Maukahuka Auckland Island.
Maukahuka/Auckland Island is a stronghold of remarkable plants and animals. As a subantarctic nature reserve and World Heritage site, it is home to some of the world’s rarest animals like the Gibson’s albatross, southern right-whales, New Zealand sea lions and hoiho (yellow-eyed penguin).
The island supports over 500 native plants and animals with more than 100 found nowhere else in the world. The wild landscape has blushing rātā forests and windswept clusters of bright megaherbs. Maukahuka is of great cultural and spiritual significance to Ngāi Tahu, with a long history of Polynesian expeditions to the islands to gather food and settle.
Megaherb carpets on neighbouring predator free Enderby Island | Photo: James WareHoiho/yellow-eyed penguins | Photo: Rachael Sagar
Sadly, over the last 200 years, populations of feral pigs, feral cats, and mice have inflicted severe harm. Now, of the 39 native bird species that were once on the island, 28 are either gone or remain in very small numbers. Large swaths of rātā forests have disturbed soils and stunted understories. Megaherbs are dwindling. Without action, plants and animals will continue to disappear.
Feral pigs in a white-capped albatross colony on Auckland Island | Photo: Paul Sagar
At about four times the size of Campbell Island, achieving a predator free Auckland Island would be a massive undertaking. It would be New Zealand’s largest predator free island and the final step to finally restore all of New Zealand’s subantarctic islands.
In 2021, the National Eradication Team spent three years investigating whether it was possible to eradicate pigs, mice and feral cats from Auckland Island. They concluded that making Auckland Island predator free would be achievable, worthwhile, and sustainable in the long run.
But first, the project would need about $9.75 million per year over 8 years to tackle the challenge. Innovation in image processing and targeted baits has steadily reduced the time and cost. But it would still require unprecedented support and investment.
Looking to the future, New Zealand could make even bigger strides in conservation on islands like Auckland Island. Brent reflects, “All of our progress on previous islands helped build the confidence to launch Predator Free 2050. We’re now seriously eyeing up another step change in possibility with Maukahuka Auckland Island.”
Predator Free 2050 is helping tackle the challenge of innovating new tools and technology, spearheading a strategy for restoring all islands, and growing new levels of community support and investment for eradicating pests.
The next 20 years could be promising for predator free islands. But it’ll be a challenge. Brent notes, “We’ll need to innovate, test our limits and be prepared to take a bit of risk as we step into the unknown.”
We’re celebrating 20 years of Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest predator free project to-date. Hear from a former DOC ranger who experienced the world first rat eradication as he shares the story of mysterious footprints, an explosion of wētā, and why making subantarctic islands predator-free is so important.
Written by Janel Hull.
Campbell Island, Motu Ihupuku is a thriving wildlife stronghold and a testament to Aotearoa New Zealand’s world-leadership in conservation. But it’s tucked away in a surprising location, 700 kilometres south of Aotearoa New Zealand’s South Island in the subantarctic islands.
This island is a World Heritage Site and nature reserve that is renowned for the overwhelming volume of rare plants and animals it supports. The island is home to six species of albatross – including one that lives nowhere else in the world.
The northern cliffs are blanketed in densely packed nests of Campbell Island albatross and thick with weaving swarms of seabirds. It’s a stunning sight to see… just try not to imagine the strong smell.
Fields of lilac and sunshine megaherbs (giant wildflowers) stretch in an endless carpet across the upper parts of the island, reaching up to the knees and hips of visitors. The fields are interrupted with dots of white – nests of southern royal albatross/toroa – and brown – lounging New Zealand sea lions/pakake. Sometimes, the sea lions let off an unsettling nearby roar from somewhere in the tall grass.
But 20 years ago, Campbell Island was a completely different story. For nearly 200 years, introduced rats had run rampant on the island. These predators decimated megaherbs, birds, and nests in their wake. Campbell Island had achieved another world first for wildlife volume. But this time, the island had the highest density of Norway rats in the world.
This all changed in 2001 when DOC began a world-first operation to eradicate rats from the 11,300-hectare Campbell Island. Former DOC Ranger Lindsay Wilson recalls “when we were doing Campbell, there was a huge amount of scepticism that it would work. It was the largest rat eradication in the world.”
Former DOC ranger Lindsay Wilson on Campbell Island | Photo: Supplied
The team boldly aimed to eradicate rats from an island about six times bigger than any island attempted before. This was attempting “the impossible”.
DOC sent a team of 19 including eradication experts, biologists, helicopter pilots, a medic, and a cook to live on the island for 3 months.
Lindsay was a key part of the team. To save native species from extinction, they were tasked with meticulously distributing rat toxin across every corner of the island. They used helicopters and recently developed GPS technology to map the precise spread of bait.
A typical day for Lindsay involved being flown out to a helicopter loading site at sunrise, filling buckets with toxin, and reloading until sunset. (Although sometimes a typical day involved waiting for the wind to stop blowing). In the evenings, the crew would head back to their hut and pour over GPS tracks to determine paths for the next day. Their long hours were driven by a single purpose – bring thriving wildlife back to the island.
All work was planned around the wet, windy, and unpredictable weather of the subantarctic islands. Operations require fine and calm weather for flying and to ensure bait is in tip top shape. A typical day was drizzly, blustering with 30-40 knot winds, and was about 5 degrees Celsius with heavy grey clouds. In fact, rain falls on Campbell Island an average of 325 days per year!
Lindsay chuckles, “the weather was so bad, it was kind of cool. You know? I remember the first time after 10 days the sun came out. Suddenly it’s like everything went from black and white to colour.”
With a combination of surprisingly dry weather and the team’s hard work, the operation finished in just 6 weeks.
Two years later, Lindsay and the team returned to the island to monitor whether the world-first eradication was successful. The team landed with bated breath.
“Right after we landed on the first night, we went outside and shone the torch around and here’s all these wētā under the bushes that we hadn’t seen previously. It was really pronounced – there were wētā everywhere.”
For two months, the team hiked up and down the steep island checking lines of traps to look for signs of any remaining rats. Instead, they found recovering megaherbs, an explosion of the songbird pipits, and a mysterious footprint.
“The icing on the cake was one of the team found small footprints in the mud at Six Foot Lake.” They thought it could be the endemic subantarctic snipe, previously wiped out from the island.
“We could hardly believe it really. They didn’t have a camera with them, and we didn’t have cell phones in those days. They did a very careful sketch and got measurements of the footprints.” Once they returned to the hut, they radioed the snipe expert and confirmed their finding.
Drawing of subantarctic snipe footprints by bird expert Colin MiskellyA subantarctic snipe chick found by researchers on Campbell Island in 2004 | Photo: Colin Miskelly
The snipe were back home, at last. These hearty birds had managed to reintroduce themselves from a tiny rock stack near the island.
Lindsay remembers that the team had dreamed of one-day returning snipe to Campbell Island. “We thought we’d have to go and physically capture snipe, captive rear them, and maybe in 10-20 years we could reintroduce them. But instead, within two years, they were back.”
An adult subantarctic snipe on Campbell Island | Photo: Brent Beaven
Campbell Island was officially declared free of rats in May 2003, achieving the world’s largest rat eradication at the time and our country’s largest island eradication to date.
But New Zealand’s legacy of successful eradications doesn’t end there. From the 1980s to the 2010s, we were able to increase the size of island eradications. They went from 200 hectares, to 10,000 hectares, to over 100,000 hectares. “In just 30 years, the rate of possibility hugely increased”.
The techniques that DOC staff on Campbell Island pioneered helped propel the world into exponentially scaling up island eradications of bigger and bigger islands. Now, there have been over 110+ successful island eradications in New Zealand and around 1,000 successful eradications in the world. And New Zealand is responsible for the lion’s share.
Islands across the world are covered in screeching penguins, soaring albatross, and chubby sea lions thanks to predator free action.
Read part two to learn what’s to come for the next 20 years of island restoration. We explore futuristic technology, how New Zealand takes Predator Free 2050 knowledge around the world, and what it’ll take to make New Zealand’s final subantarctic island predator free.
Written by Vanessa Mander, DOC’s Predator Free 2050Communities Advisor.
Life as a ranger means that you are at the front line and members of the public see us as a trusted source of best practice trapping information. The green uniform appears to act like a beacon of sorts in the field. I certainly found that!
Questions I have been asked:
“How do I find out what pests I’ve got?” to “What sort of humane traps are right for possums on my lifestyle block?”, to the very real, “my chickens are getting nailed by a stoat (or some other furry sod), what lures should I use in my traps to deal to it?”
Vanessa checking a tracking tunnel | Photo: DOC
But what if you too could possess these answers, all at your fingertips?
Since 2019, we’ve been printing and revising our popular publication, the Practical Guide to Trapping. It is often referred to as a “ranger in your back pocket” because it’s full of important best-practice information to help you with your trapping work. There have been so many circumstances that this book has come to my rescue. It’s the trapping bible that people really should know about.
The DOC Predator Free Communities Team is now launching the 3rd edition of this amazing guide. Since 2019, we have distributed well over 35,000 hard copies to communities, as well as 6,000 downloads from our website.
Senior Biodiversity Ranger Archie with the 3rd edition of our trapping guide | Photo: DOC
What can we expect with this new and improved trapping guide?
The third edition builds on all the great, best practice trapping and predator species information, and now also includes:
Site specific updates on kauri disease and myrtle rust
Updated information on recording your trap catch
Updated suppliers and links
And so much more!
We are also excited to share the Predator Control Calendar and Stoat and Rat Trap Checklist in this new edition, courtesy of our friends at the Predator Free New Zealand Trust.
A DOC200 trap in the Waimakariri valley | Photo:Holly Thompson, DOC
These are used far and wide, and beloved across the motu, so don’t trust just us! Here’s what a range of people are saying about the Practical Guide to Trapping:
“The trapping guide is a highly valuable booklet for communities and contains vital information on animal ecology as well as DOC best practice trapping methodology and biodiversity monitoring.
A great resource, improved further with some of our own branded material including our popular Predator Control Calendar and our new Stoat and Rat Trap Checklist. The trapping guide has always been very popular at our Cam Speedy Roadshows across Aotearoa.”
Jessi Morgan, CE of the Predator Free New Zealand Trust.
The guide has great trapping information for community groups | Photo: DOCThe Predator Free tohu on a trap | Photo: DOC
“This little booklet is packed full of useful information. Covering animal biology, best practice monitoring and solid trapping advice, it’s never far from hand and an excellent resource for individuals and communities whatever their experience or scale.”
Tim Sjoberg, Senior Team Lead at Pest Free Banks Peninsula.
“We find the trapping guides enormously useful for our teaching & trapping. The guides are a handy size and robust. They are very easy to follow, and we find the detailed plans and dimensions of trap boxes very useful.”
“It is great to have detailed information on pests and reputable ‘best practice’ trapping options in Aotearoa in one booklet. Selecting the right trap for the right environment and for the target predator is essential for successful conservation outcomes and this guide lays out all the information and detail to get you off to the right start.”
Becs Gibson, NMIT.
“At the Visitor Centre’s in Taranaki, we find that the public really enjoy the books and they are popular!! Students who study Pest Ops [Western Institute of Technology Taranaki] must choose a target species and research it’s biology, behaviour, impacts and control methods – which the ‘bible’ serves as a great resource.”
Georgina Ngametea, Taranaki DOC Visitor Centre & Western Institute of Technology Taranaki.
Georgina with an earlier edition of the trapping guide | Photo: Western Institute of Technology TaranakiA ranger and volunteer setting a trap | Photo: DOC
Come and join in the action with us! You can pick up your own copy from your nearest Visitor Centre, or download a copy from the DOC website. But don’t worry if you already have one of the other versions, it’s still got some great best practice info in there and got some life in it yet!
