Effective pest control sees birds flocking back to Aongatete

Visitors to the Aongatete area of the Kaimai Ranges have Aongatete Forest Project (AFP) volunteers to thank for the abundance of flora and fauna in the area.

Over the past 17 years AFP has been transforming 500ha of the Kaimai Mamaku Conservation Park from a heavily degraded forest where pests stripped the trees of foliage and raided bird nests, to a living forest abundant with wildlife.

A recent study commissioned by project partners Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council backs this transformation, finding significantly higher counts of seven bird species, which notably included kererū, tui and titipounamu (rifleman) and indicating a higher bird abundance overall.

Aongatete Forest Project was established in 2006 with the goal of restoring indigenous wildlife and plants to Aongatete. At the time, a small group of volunteers began pest control to eradicate rats, possums and stoats over a 140ha area located between Tauranga and Katikati.

As the group grew in size and scale, they secured advice and funding through Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s Environmental Enhancement Fund, as well as from Forest and Bird, TECT, Bay Trust and several generous individuals and businesses.

In 2018, Bay of Plenty Regional Council recognised the ambition of the group and began a partnership with AFP through the registered care group programme. This has enabled AFP to have greater access to technical advice, funding, monitoring assistance (such as the recently commissioned bird species survey) and the materials they need to undertake their work.

Aongatete Forest Project Deputy Chair, Karen Smillie, says they are incredibly grateful for the support Bay of Plenty Regional Council has provided over the years.

“We couldn’t do what we do without our funding partners and the technical advice we receive from Bay of Plenty Regional Council. We get valuable advice about what is working and what we can do to better protect the species that we are looking after.”

Aongatete Forest Project Chair James Denyer echoed the same sentiment and says he is proud to work with such a dedicated group of volunteers.

“We do what we do for nature. But also, every minute spent in the forest gives us back so much in return.”

Bay of Plenty Regional Council Costal Catchments Team Leader, Braden Rowson, says it’s been incredibly rewarding to see the group grow and become more self-sufficient in their mahi (work).

“Our role is to empower and enable care groups to carry out activities which restore or enhance biodiversity in their own backyard. To transform this patch of forest to quite a pristine state has incredible benefits for native flora and fauna, as well as the catchment downstream.”

The Aongatete area of the Kaimai Ranges is one of 429 Priority Biodiversity Sites (PBS) that Regional Council and the Department of Conservation have identified around the rohe.

These sites are not only home to many of our threatened species but also provide the wider community with many services, such as water purification and regulation, creating and maintaining soils, nutrient cycling, pollination, regulation of local climates and prevention of soil erosion.

Regional Council works with landowners and care groups to protect and restore these sites around the region.

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