Buffer zones to be created around important NZ wildlife sites

10/02/2007 00:00:00 Pest-free ‘halo’ areas around the Maungatautari Ecological Island and other native bush blocks in the Waikato basin will be of major importance in the preservation and expansion of native bird species throughout the region, according to a leading conservationist in the area.

Jim Mylchreest, CEO of the Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust, said the Environment Waikato proposal to set up such pest control buffer zones around significant wildlife habitats would see a substantial spread of native birds throughout the region.
EW has recently released a comprehensive regional pest management strategy proposal for the next five years. The halo areas, where a variety of predators would be controlled, cover 645,600ha, and include Hamilton city and its surrounds, and a large area around Maungatautari.

‘The trust is strongly in favour of EW’s strategy to create these halos, especially around Maungatautari,’ Mr Mylchreest said.


‘Their plan indicates the intention to do more pest control around the mountain within a 20km radius, and if that happened we could very soon see regular visits by native birds to Cambridge, Hamilton, Te Awamutu, Putaruru, Matamata and even further. Native birds are known to fly daily some distance from where they roost to good food source areas, and the halo areas would provide the security for the birds to roost and breed, then disperse from there to feeding grounds in private gardens or smaller patches of native bush each day.’

He said when that began to happen, people would realise how important and enjoyable birdlife was.

‘They won’t know what they’ve been missing until they see and hear it in their own gardens; we’ve already started the programme, with the pest eradication from the Maungatautari Ecological Island area, and if there was a 20km pest-free halo around that, people would very quickly see the benefits’ He said. He added that even if just one or two such sites were established in the Waikato, their value would rapidly be recognised, and the public would push for more. Mr Mylchreest agreed that certain areas should be set aside for hunting and other recreational activities, and that authorities and hunters should seek a compromise on what areas should be made available for specific activities.

Kevin Collins, programme manager, natural heritage, for EW, said the council wanted to take advantage of the work done at Maungatautari, so native birds from the mountain would be encouraged to fly to nearby private gardens or patches of native bush for regular feeding. EW was keen to help bring native birds back into Hamilton and other surrounding towns by carrying out pest control work on breeding areas such as Te Miro, Pirongia, and the Old Mountain Road bush area at Whatawhata.

‘If we can substantially reduce ship rat populations in those areas, bird numbers will increase, there will be competition for food, and the birds will be encouraged to go further afield to places such as Hamilton where there is a large number of food trees available,’ he said. John Innes, of Landcare in Hamilton, said if rat and possum numbers in bird breeding areas could be controlled, bird such as tui could hugely increase their breeding rates, and their additional numbers would quickly be noticed.

‘In conditions where there are few predators, 300 pair of tui will fledge up to 720 young in a season, instead of only about 240, and this can also apply to other species such as robin, kaka, kereru and bellbird. Within a year or two, people will begin to see major increases in native bird numbers in their gardens and in nearby forest areas.’