One of the country's most ambitious pest eradication projects is stepping up a notch.
Conservationists are working to eliminate all predators from Stewart Island-Rakiura with the goal of repeating the success of nearby Ulva Island.
Tourists flock to Ulva Island every year to experience nature at its best.
“It's unique… we don't have mice, rabbits, goats, pigs, stoats or ferrets, and we work hard to be predator free,” Ulva Goodwillie from Ulva Guided Tours said.
The sound of native birds is a testament to years of work with the roughly 270 hectare-island first becoming rat-free in the late 1990s.
There are 75 tracking tunnels across Ulva Island, all loaded with the pest’s favourite snacks.
“Pic’s Crunchy Peanut Butter is the recommended one,” said Kevin Carter from the Department of Conservation.
“Alongside traps, dogs sometimes cameras, little wax tags all sorts.”
Now, Predator Free Rakiura is taking lessons from their neighbour to a size we've never seen before – the whole Stewart Island mainland.
“It's a massive task and it's one of those ones that when you start thinking about it, you think, where do you start,” Paul Norris said.
To give an idea of the scale of the challenge, Maria Island off the coast of Auckland at a mere one hectare became the first predator free island in the 1960s.
The size of pest-free islands increased substantially over five decades with Campbell Island the biggest to-date at 11,300 hectares.
Stewart Island's mainland trumps that though, sitting at a whopping 175,000 hectares - and it's not just the sheer scale of the task that will be a challenge.
“There are multiple different types of terrain… we've got industry here and we have a resident population so all of them are unique challenges,” Kevin Carter said.
The work is more than just getting the pesky pests off.
“Once the total eradication of this island is completed then becomes the even harder work to keep those pests off Rakiura,” Ngāi Tahu representative Tāne Davis said.
The Department of Conservation has committed up to $5m over the next five years to come up with a plan to make Stewart Island predator free. If that's successful, those ideas could be used for the rest of the country.
“If the country is true to their 2050 [predator-free] vision, we have got a great area to start in a real sense.”
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