Environment – If Wellington can do it … so can we!

Whangaparāoa’s pest-free potential is attracting major attention. Conservation Minister Tama Potaka recently announced $10 million for predator eradication projects across Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau, funded through the International Visitor Levy, and backed by generous support from the philanthropic NEXT Foundation. This funding will support existing eradication projects in the Hauraki Gulf and a mainland pilot project, with Whangaparāoa under consideration pending the outcome of our planning – a first for Auckland. Alongside experts from Wildlife Management International, I have been working with Auckland Council, the Department of Conservation, Ngāti Manuhiri, and the NEXT Foundation, with support from our local board, to develop a plan that suits our community. Pest Free Hibiscus Coast volunteers have also shared valuable ideas, and we look forward to involving the wider community as things progress.

This follows on from the announcement earlier this year (Hibiscus Matters, April 20) that the Pest Free Hibiscus Coast project had received Predator Free 2050 funding to plan multi-species predator elimination on the Whangaparāoa Peninsula, while also carrying out detailed monitoring of target species, such as rats, stoats, weasels and possums.

As part of this work, I have been talking to and visiting projects around the country to learn how they are achieving predator elimination, which involves getting to zero in a defined area and managing occasional incursions. One standout example is Predator Free Wellington’s work on Miramar Peninsula, New Zealand’s first urban mainland predator elimination. The area is already free of possums, and it was declared free of rats, stoats and weasels in 2023. 

Miramar shows what a united community can achieve. The project relied on 20,000 locals supporting it by allowing traps and bait stations on their properties, alongside businesses and schools. The result has been a 136 per cent increase in native birdlife, including a 400 per cent rise in pīwakawaka. Importantly, the original team of backyard trappers and volunteers remain actively involved today, often the first on the scene if a rogue rat is spotted.

Pest free isn’t about killing things, it certainly isn’t for me. It’s about caring for our place and protecting native birds, lizards, insects and forests from being decimated, preventing the loss of what makes where we live so special, while also reducing the damage rats cause to property. These animals were introduced by people, but New Zealand’s ecosystems are especially vulnerable to them after evolving for thousands of years without mammalian predators. Doing nothing just isn’t an option, no matter what your reason for getting involved. 

Whangaparāoa is bigger than Miramar, but Coasties are determined and resilient – this can be done!