The Forest Bridge Trust – Building connections for kiwi

Rotorua played host to over 200 conservationists, iwi representatives, scientists and community leaders at this year’s National Kiwi Hui, held last month. The three-day event was a vibrant exchange of ideas, field updates, and future-focused solutions to safeguard our national icon. Among the attendees were representatives from The Forest Bridge Trust, including founders Kevin and Gill Adshead.

With presentations grouped into themes of technology, research, communications and project summaries, the hui provided a unique opportunity to share local insights and national developments in kiwi recovery.

A proud moment for The Forest Bridge Trust came during senior ecologist Dr Virginia Moreno’s well-received presentation on the Trust’s Jobs for Nature-funded kiwi connectivity project. Her striking maps and visuals painted a powerful picture of the corridor being created from the Kaipara Coast to the Pacific – safe habitat that connects eastern and western kiwi populations. Her talk built on Kevin and Gill Adshead’s reflections from the day prior, which focused on their use of ground-based 1080 at Mataia, on the Kaipara Coast, and the lessons in community engagement they had learned along the way.

Workshops were a vital part of the hui. Paula, from our predator control team, attended a Best Practice session with long-serving DOC scientist Rogan Colbourne, gathering expert tips to inform our pest control work.

Highlights of the hui included a moving moment when Carolyn King, a pioneer in mustelid research, announced her final book Stoat in the Dock. At over 80 years’ old, Carolyn received a heartfelt standing ovation in honour of her five decades of contribution to conservation.

Other standout sessions came from Whānau ā Apanui and Ngāti Porou, who shared their powerful journey reconnecting with the mauri o te whenua during a 1080 operation in the Raukūmara. Their message was that public perception often lags behind ecological reality, with many unaware of the true state of our forests.

The hui also looked ahead. Save the Kiwi’s Tineke Joustra shared upcoming tools and resources, from a refreshed KAT (Kiwi Avoidance Training) booking app for dog owners to the just-released Ferrett Trapping Guidelines. Encouragingly, 2025 has been a record year for kiwi translocations, with 392 birds released at nine sites, including 20 to Tamahunga, which reinforces the contribution that predator-free islands and sanctuaries such as Tāwharanui make to the growth of the population.

As Save the Kiwi itself transitions to a smaller team, post Jobs for Nature, it was heartening to see the strength and solidarity of the wider kiwi whānau. The hui reaffirmed that landscape-scale conservation isn’t just about traps or translocations – it’s about people, partnerships, and persistence.

To find out more, go to Save the Kiwi at https://savethekiwi.nz/