Predator control isn’t just installing traps and crossing fingers. There’s a lot of research and planning to ensure effective control.

Before any traps can be set, project teams identify what taonga is in their whenua and what they need to thrive.

For Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Kearoa Ngāti Tuara, they’re working to protect the long-tailed pekapeka.

In 2019/20 through initial monitoring, a colony of long-tailed pekapeka was found. This helped the project team focus their 1,427-hectares of traps and bait stations around the pekapeka.

Building on their initial findings, this summer more pekapeka monitors have been installed.

Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Kearoa Ngāti Tuara Environment Manager, Kataraina George, says the goal is to identify how many pekapeka are in their sacred whenua to help focus their predator control work.

"We initially identified long-tailed pekapeka in about 50% of our monitoring area. This summer, we have put out 39 recorders and most of these are in new monitoring areas to confirm if pekapeka are in other areas of the maunga, but also see if we can identify any roosting sites."

The team are currently focusing predator control efforts on feral cats, rats and stoats due to their huge impact on pekapeka.

The effects of these predators is particularly high during winter when roosting bats are immobilised by torpor (involuntary hibernation) or when the taonga are breeding and forming maternity roosts.

"Knowing where the taonga are will help us focus our project and give the pekapeka a better chance of surviving and thriving,

"We’d like to acknowledge Rebecca Stirnemann (Conservation Ecologist) and Waikato Regional Council, for their help and support in this mahi, without them we would not be able to carry out this type of monitoring," Kataraina says.

Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Kearoa Ngāti Tuara Project Team (L-R): Izaiah Kiel, Kyle Kiel and Kataraina George.

Predator control

Stoats and feral cats are introduced predators with incredible survival strategies, making them hard to remove from the ngahere. Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Kearoa Ngāti Tuara are working hard to minimise the effects of these pests. "These are two main predators we've found in our maunga and they cause a lot of damage to the ngahere and to our taonga".