Maungatautari Restoration Project

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Karuwai the kiwi at August 2005 health check.
Karuwai the kiwi at August 2005 health check.

The Maungatautari Restoration Project is the largest ecological restoration project in New Zealand, involving the total removal of all pest mammals. It is located just south of Lake Karapiro in the Waikato region of the North Island and comprises 33.63 square kilometres of forested volcanic peak surrounded by pastoral farmland, bordered on two sides by the Waikato River. The Maungatautari Restoration Project is comprised of private land and a government-owned scenic reserve administered by Waipa District Council. It is a community project under the Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust.

Maungatautari morning scene.
Maungatautari morning scene.

Contents

[edit] The vision

The Trust's vision is to permanently remove introduced mammalian pests and predators from Maungatautari and restore a healthy diversity of endangered flora and fauna to the mountain's forest.

Once all pests are eliminated and native species are being reintroduced, this ecological island will be the largest such restoration project and wildlife sanctuary open to the public in New Zealand.

[edit] Ecological restoration plan

The ecological restoration plan requires the construction of a 50 km pest-exclusion fence around the 34 square kilometres of bush and repopulating the area with the entire suite of charismatic species that may now be locally extinct, such as kiwi, kokako, kakariki, tuatara and many others. Kaka already visit regularly and are likely to become resident if suitable methods are employed.

Stage 1. The Trust created two exclosures, at the north and south of Maungatautari, totalling 1.1 square kilometres. The Trust used these areas to demonstrate the fence's feasibility and to test pest removal methods. The exclosures are now predator-free and were used as holding areas for native species while the main fence was being built.

Stage 2. In September 2006 the Trust completed fencing the entire 34 square kilometres to exclude all pests (and was able to take advantage of parts of the exclosures' fencing constructed at Stage 1). Then the Trust began eliminating pests by dropping poison, starting in November 2006. The combined effect of the poison, trapping and hunting eliminated brown rats, black rats, stoats, cats, weasels, ferrets, red deer, fallow deer, pigs, goats, possums, hedgehogs, rabbits and hares. In 2007 the sole remaining pest species was the mouse and poison was dropped a third time, in September that year, to eradicate it.

The Trust expects that certain introduced "pest" birds, such as the Indian myna and Australian magpie, will not need to be controlled as, over the long-term, native species (especially endemics) should flourish in the restored habitat to which they are well adapted.

It is established that introduced wasps cause ecological damage in NZ and are a nuisance to humans. The Trust may attempt to control the wasps' numbers in some sites on the mountain, but eradication, or even widespread reduction, is expected to be problematic.

[edit] The site

Map of Maungatautari.The two exclosures are ringed in blue.
Map of Maungatautari.
The two exclosures are ringed in blue.

The Trust chose Maungatautari as the site for this project because:

  • The mountain is almost completely bush-clad and the forest canopy is still largely intact, despite the adverse effects of introduced pests and some past timber milling.
  • The forest is sufficiently large and diverse to sustain healthy natural populations of many native bird, reptile, bat, fish and invertebrate species.
  • The site is surrounded by farmland, which means that fence construction was a practical option.
  • Local humans feel that they own, and are therefore responsible for, the mountain and its ecology. They are supportive of, and committed to, the restoration project.
  • It is located centrally in the Waikato region, close to State Highway 1 and Hamilton City.

Maungatautari is an eroded andesitic volcano in the middle of the Waikato, flanked by the towns of Cambridge, Te Awamutu and Putaruru. Lake Karapiro can be seen from the northern entrance to the mountain, while from Pukeatua, the southern peak, the Kaimai Ranges, Pirongia, Pureora Forest Park and Mount Karioi are visible on a clear day.

[edit] The pest-proof fence

The Xcluder pest-proof fence.
The Xcluder pest-proof fence.

Conventional pest control in New Zealand involves aerial poison drops, poison bait stations, traps and shooting, but typically sees only temporary success. Even limited control of pests requires blanket poisoning or intensive trapping at least every three to five years. For some native species to survive, pest numbers have to be reduced to virtually zero. The Department of Conservation has found in its monitoring of native species that two stoats can kill all kiwi chicks across one square kilometre of forest.

The ideal solution is a pest-proof fence and the success of this is central to the whole project. The Xcluder fence was refined over several years and can now successfully exclude the smallest mice and the most active climbing animals from the site's exclosures.

Successfully fencing across streams was extremely difficult, due to wildly fluctuating water levels, debris and the need to allow fish to migrate upstream. The fence designers solved this problem through an electronic surveillance system that warns the Trust if a watergate fails to close properly after heavy rain.

[edit] Milestones

  • December 2007 - First kiwi egg hatched on Maungatautari in 100 years. (Southern Enclosure)
  • November 2007 - Seven kaka previously housed in an aviary in the southern enclosure released.
  • September 2007 - Two male kiwi appear to be sitting on individual nests. One egg hatches but the other proves to be infertile.
  • September 2007 - Third and last planned drop of brodifacoum poison. "Tiny pockets" of mice remain - manual eradication underway.
  • July 2007 - Native beetles in the southern enclosure increased by at least 300% in the two years since the area was enclosed and completely cleared of pests.
  • July 2007 - Storm damage to the Xcluder fence occurred but was quickly repaired.
  • June 2007 - Wild kākā were attracted to the acclimatising birds introduced only days before.
  • May 2007 - Kākā introduced to a special enclosure for acclimatisation before release.
  • April 2007 - Three species of endangered whitebait (kokopu or native trout) reintroduced.
  • April 2007 - Radio signals indicated that the first kiwi to be heard calling on Maungatautari in an estimated 100 years may be sitting on an egg. In June it was discovered the nest was bare.
  • December 2006 Second drop of brodifacoum — all mammalian pests except mice eradicated.
  • November 2006 First drop of brodifacoum.
  • 31 August 2006 - Pest proof fence completed.
  • July 2006 - Work starts on viewing tower next to a northern rata grove in the Southern Exclosure.
  • June 2006 - Stocking the reservation begins with a pair of critically endangered takahē introduced to a protected area on the mountain.
  • June 2006 - Government grants $5.5 million to complete the pest-proof fence and finance most of the pest eradication operation.
  • April 2006 - A stand of about 100 silver beech, a native tree of southern New Zealand, discovered.
  • February 2006 - Main fence past half way mark. David Bellamy gave Maungatautari project the 'thumbs up'.
  • January 2006 - Tautari Wetland, a 3 hectare adjoining valley gifted to the Trust, pest-proof fenced and ready for planting.
  • December 2005 - First kiwi call heard on Maungatautari in about 100 years.
  • July 2005 - Kiwi (including Karuwai) returned to Maungatautari, after an estimated 100 year absence.
  • December 2004 - Hochstetter's frog rediscovered on Maungatautari.
  • November 2004 - Maungatautari Open Day to celebrate completion of the pest-proof fence around the Southern Exclosure.
  • September 2004 - Pest eradication within the two exclosures began.
  • July 2004 - Construction started on main fence.
  • November 2003 - Construction of the pest-proof fence around the two exclosures started.

[edit] Surprise discoveries

With the extra attention concentrated in the Maungatautari Restoration Project, unexpected discoveries are being made.

Silver beech discovered at Maungatautari in April 2006.
Silver beech discovered at Maungatautari in April 2006.

[edit] Silver beech

In April 2006, a stand of about 100 silver beech, a native tree of southern New Zealand and previously thought by botanists to be absent from Maungatautari, was found. The find was later confirmed by Dr Bruce Burns, Landcare Research, following a site visit where he was joined by Dr Bruce Clarkson, University of Waikato, Phil Brown and Maungatautari Trust staff.

"It seems most likely that silver beech hasn’t just arrived on the mountain, it has hung on there since the last ice age, which ended about 10,000 years ago – we have just never seen it before", said Dr Burns.

"The poor dispersal ability of beech is well documented so it is likely that this stand is a relic from the last ice age, when silver beech was a common tree on the Waikato lowlands. Two of the largest trees in the stand are around 86 cm in diameter suggesting they are probably several centuries old, given the extreme slow growth rate expected in this particular location."

"The most exciting thing, however, about finding silver beech is that they bring a host of fungi and insects associated with them that won’t occur anywhere else on the mountain." Maungatautari Trust chief executive, Jim Mylchreest, said that he "was excited about the prospect of other unexpected species, perhaps even locally extinct species, being found."

Hochstetter's frog discovered on Maungatautari December 2004.
Hochstetter's frog discovered on Maungatautari December 2004.

[edit] Hochstetter's frog

In December 2004 the first new find of the endangered Hochstetter's frog in a decade turned up eleven surviving in a fragile, rocky area on Maungatautari. The head of the Department of Conservation’s Frog Recovery Programme, Dr Avi Holzapfel, said that to "find any new population of Hochstetter’s was very exciting, and to find Hochstetter’s at Maungatautari, where they will eventually be protected, is just a dream come true."

Chief executive of the Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust, Jim Mylchreest, said that the "Hochstetter’s frogs had been on the list of possible re-introductions but it is wonderful that we have our own resident population which has survived on the mountain."

[edit] Native species

[edit] Mammals

[edit] Birds

[edit] Amphibians

[edit] Reptiles

[edit] Fish

[edit] Invertebrates

(Survey yet to be done)

[edit] Planned reintroductions

On 3 December 2007 the trust announced that they planned to reintroduce toutouwai (New Zealand robins), kokako, tuatara, popokatea (whiteheads) and hihi (stitchbirds) in 2008.

[edit] External links