Staff from Forest & Bird, Department of Conservation, volunteers and independent ecologists are putting their heads together to brainstorm the design of a new trapping grid to enhance protection while still preserving the important part volunteers play in the protection of this population. This will involve the trial of some new electronic predator control traps.
Along with the short-tailed bat, pekapeka are New Zealand’s only endemic land mammal and are high on the national conservation priority list as well as Te Hoiere Project’s predator control and habitat protection and enhancement efforts.
Forest & Bird’s Te Hoiere Bat Recovery Project Manager Dr Daria Erastova said unfortunately the remaining populations of pekepeka across Aotearoa were declining due to predation and loss of habitat. The population at Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve sadly reflects this nationwide trend.
Pekapeka were first detected at Pelorus Bridge 14 years ago and predator control efforts have been shouldered by volunteers since that time. The team of professional contractors is now heading into its seventh season of bat monitoring.
Four reserves are part of Forest & Bird’s Bat Recovery Project – Pelorus Bridge and the Brown River, Carluke and Ronga River Reserves in the Rai Valley – all selected because of the presence of pekapeka. At 170 hectares, Pelorus Bridge is a lot bigger than the others.
“It’s challenging at Pelorus Bridge. The reserve is surrounded by bush and forestry and reinvasion of rats happens very easily. Some trapping lines date back to the first discovery of pekapeka. We know those historic trapping lines are not as efficient as the modern traps we have access to today.”
“Rats are the number one predator in the fight to preserve pekapeka,” Daria said. “The last round of monitoring at Pelorus Bridge revealed an 11 per cent rat occurrence, far above the 5 per cent target we need to be below.”
“Pelorus Bridge is a special area in so many ways and it is a big priority for us. It’s also very much a volunteer driven programme with Forest & Bird providing support in the area in the form of consumables and coordination,” Daria said.
Thirty-three volunteers are ‘on the books’ at present travelling from both Marlborough and Nelson to do predator control. “New volunteers are welcome at any time, and we’d love more helpers as we up the efforts to protect pekapeka at Pelorus River,” Daria said.
