Bringing kiwis back in Taranaki

Although the kiwi bird is a beloved national symbol, and an area of wildlife conservation that we all feel passionately about, it is estimated that only 15% of New Zealanders have actually seen a kiwi in the wild. Taranaki Kiwi Trust is a local charity focused on protecting and increasing kiwi populations in Taranaki, to ensure more New Zealanders are able to experience kiwis in their natural habitats.

Celine Filbee, Trust Manager, shared some key areas of work that the Kiwi Trust undertakes: "We run an education and advocacy project, mostly in schools, teaching children all about kiwis, their habitats and how to protect them from their predators. Then we have a community trapping project, with 28 landowners spread across Taranaki who have kiwi presence on their property, where we supply predator traps to help protect the kiwi living there."

"We also work in partnership with a lot of other local conservation focused organisations, such as the Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust. We have been breeding kiwi on the Reserve for the last 7 years; now we're at the point now where we are looking to relocate some of the kiwi that have grown up here to other locations across the region, such as the Kaitake Ranges."

The team at Taranaki Kiwi Trust have celebrated many important milestones that demonstrate how their work has made a huge difference to the kiwi populations in this area, and how it will continue to do so for many generations to come - particularly thanks to the introduction of breeding pairs.

"When we started the project in 2012 there were no kiwi in the Rotokare Scenic Reserve. Now we estimate there's somewhere between 150-170 kiwi there, including up to 20 breeding pairs. As part of a partnership with the Taranaki Mounga Project we recently released our 107th kiwi back into the wild on the mountain, and have been monitoring around 25 kiwis in this population, so we can learn more about how they live and breed. Without the support of volunteers, and the co-ordination of specialist contractors, this would not be possible."

In 2017, the Kiwi Trust received a grant of $49,000 from TSB Community Trust. The grant supported staffing and project costs, including a part-_me Trust Manager to look a?er all operations, and liability insurance to ensure that the large roster of volunteers can work in various locations with full protection.

"Without paid staff, we can't effectively run the Kiwi Trust. We have to manage contractors out in the field, partnerships with numerous other conservation agencies and a large volunteer workforce. The grant enables a really broad spectrum of volunteers to get involved too, not just out in the bush, but monitoring wildlife activity from their own homes in order to build our regional data."

Over the coming years, we hope the Taranaki Kiwi Trust are able to increase the number of kiwis in the region, along with the percentage of Kiwis who have a close encounter in the wild with our cherished namesakes.