Battle to protect New Zealand’s native birds continues

06/07/2009 11:38:58

Local businesses taking matters into their own hands

July 2009. It was the concern of their customers over the absence of native birds and a desire to look after the special environment they live and work in that prompted Nigel and Paula Lamb of Fiordland Explorer Charters to establish a pest control programme in the Wilmot Pass area of New Zealand's Fiordland National Park.

Focusing on the stoats and possums which contribute significantly to the demise of bird populations, they purchased over 200 stoat traps and employed a trapper to target the pests from the Percy Saddle to West Arm, over the Wilmot Pass road to Deep Cove and up the Spey River.

"Protecting native species in Fiordland is a massive task and one where every contribution counts," said Lindsay Wilson, Biodiversity Programme Manager at DOC. "The efforts taken by this small tourism company should be applauded".

200 stoats, 26 rats and an extraordinary 3000 possums
Since the project was set up about three years ago over two hundred stoats and twenty six rats have been caught in the traps which cover a total distance of 42 kilometres. Approximately three thousand possums have also been trapped. The benefit to the bird life in the area is already noticeable.

Bob Hughes, one of the volunteer relieving hostel managers, and also a Deep Cove Outdoor Education Trust member, is glowing in his praise for what Nigel and Paula Lamb have achieved to date. "The bird numbers in Deep Cove are starting to increase and it is great to see and hear them chirping away again," he said.

Dawn chorus
Mr Hughes first visited Deep Cove in the early 1970's and he recalls the bird life as "quite something" to experience. "The dawn chorus was deafening back then. It was almost impossible to sleep through for anyone staying at the hostel. Wekas would squabble under the building, keas would slide down the roof and the sound of all the different birds calling to greet the dawn was just magic".

Silence
Mr Hughes said throughout the 1970's his students would get a real buzz from just listening to all the bird calls in the forest that surrounded the hostel. "But over the last twenty years the bird life has been decimated to such an extent that students could sit and listen for five minutes or more and not hear one bird calling".

Lack of birdlife a huge disappointment
Visitor surveys undertaken over the past few years by Fiordland Explorer Charters identified the lack of birdlife on the trip to Doubtful Sound as a huge disappointment. "We wanted to do something to improve the situation," said Mr Lamb, "and establishing this trapping programme was the answer".

Impressed by the success of many community based conservation projects in Fiordland, Mr Lamb never doubted the benefits his investment would bring. The recent increase in bird life in the area is considered a direct result of this successful trapping programme.