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Twenty five years after it was founded, Tapora Land & Coast Care Group is celebrating more than its silver anniversary as 2025 draws to a close.
That’s because a recent audit by Auckland Council found that possum numbers across 10,000 hectares on the west coast peninsula had dropped to 1.5 per cent – that is, 1.5 possums caught for every 100 traps laid.
Group president Earle Wright said the results were great news, as they were well below council targets to achieve positive biodiversity benefits.
He added that if two traplines on Department of Conservation land hadn’t been included in the tally, where poison baits were not used, the figures would be even more impressive, coming in at just 0.6 per cent.
“Knowing that working together you can make a positive difference is great, it makes all the difference,” he said. “We are so proud of the group and what’s been done for our whenua and our people.”
The results are a far cry from when the land and coast care group was set up 25 years ago. Back then, the area was riddled with pests, and possums in particular – shooting 500 a night was not uncommon and in one year, some 50,000 of them were trapped and killed.
Establishing a solid network of volunteers and traplines since then has slowly but steadily seen those numbers dwindle.
A year ago, the council audit saw possum numbers down to three per cent, which everyone was pleased with, so this year’s results were a wonderful surprise for all involved, Wright said.
And he expressed their gratitude to Cheryl Krull, council’s regional conservation adviser, who has been working with Tapora Land & Coast Care in recent years.
“We support the work that Cheryl does, and appreciate how hard she advocates for our group and genuinely cares about our people and the Okahukura Peninsula,” he said.
Council-funded possum audits use Residual Trap Catch Index (RCTI) monitoring, a standardised method for estimating densities of possums. Traplines are placed in appropriate areas for three rain-free nights.
The RTCI is calculated as the percentage of trap-nights in which a possum was captured, with targets of below three or five per cent for positive biodiversity benefits to be achieved.
