A large predator-free area featuring some of the South Island’s most majestic landscapes is the long-term vision of a $4.5 million predator control project announced by Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today.
“Encompassing 310,000 hectares between the snowy mountain lands of Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park, glacier-fed lakes and the iconic drylands of the upper Mackenzie Basin, the Te Manahuna Aoraki 'mainland island’ is inspirational,” Ms Sage said.
“I am pleased to launch this fantastic project. Te Manahuna Aoraki will help to preserve and protect the habitats of 23 threatened species including wrybill/ngutuparore, robust grasshoppers, kea, and the world’s rarest wading bird, the kakī/black stilt."
The $4.5 million investment will fund an initial three-year phase to extend protection for threatened species and to test predator and pest control techniques for the rest of the 20-year project.
“The project will use natural barriers including 3000-metre-high mountain peaks, ridgelines and waterways to prevent or reduce re-invasion of predators like rats, possums and stoats – keeping them away from our precious threatened species," Ms Sage said.
“This nationally significant biodiversity project builds on decades of DOC’s biodiversity work and the help of many volunteers."
Supporting the project, she said, will be the new captive breeding facilities for kakī/black stilt at Twizel.
DOC biodiversity ranger Scott Theobald, who died recently in a helicopter crash in Wanaka, played an important role in the Te Manahuna Aoraki restoration project, Ms Sage said.
“All three men [who died in the crash] were committed to conservation and pioneers in their fields," she said. "Scott’s knowledge and advice regarding control of black-backed gulls and rabbits, and his expertise in the construction of the robust grasshopper protection fence will be remembered always as Te Manahuna Aoraki is brought to life.”
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