The release of 14 native whio into the Kaiwhakauka Stream highlights another success of the Kia Wharite biodiversity project, Horizons councillor Bruce Rollinson says.
The blue ducks were released in the remote Retaruke valley near Owhango last week, before a crowd that included Conservation Department deputy director general operations Mike Slater.
The Kia Wharite project covers 180,000ha of Whanganui National Park and adjoining private land. Horizons Regional Council, the Conservation Department, iwi and other landowners all help with it.
The area hosts a large population of North Island brown kiwi, in lowland forest and hill country. Biodiversity there is threatened by introduced possums, goats, stoats and other predators.
Possums are controlled on 150,000ha by Horizons, OSPRI and DOC and there are 85km of trap lines along the Retaruke and Manganui o te Ao rivers to capture feral cats, stoats and other predators that threaten the native ducks.