1080 drops in Western Bay of Plenty planned over next few months

The Department of Conservation will target three Western Bay of Plenty forests in its nationwide "Battle for our Birds" 1080 operation.Photo/file

The Department of Conservation will target three Western Bay of Plenty forests in its nationwide "Battle for our Birds" 1080 operation.

Conservation Minister Maggie Barry said the project was to protect "our most vulnerable native wildlife from the scourge of rats and stoats fuelled by widespread forest seeding".

Work would be carried out at 34 sites covering more than 800,000ha including an aerial drop on 2549ha at Rotoehu Forest in September and a ground control operation on 350ha at Otawa Forest in October and 1000ha near Waihi.

"We'll be using aerial 1080 at around 29 sites to knock down rat, possum and stoat numbers and using traps and other ground-based methods at other more accessible sites," Ms Barry said.

The Battle for our Birds supports the Government's ambitious Predator Free 2050 goal by controlling predators over large areas and also contributes to the interim goal to suppress rats, stoats and possums over a further million hectares by 2025, she said.

The Government had committed $21.3 million from Budget 2017 to fund Battle for our Birds.

"Aerial 1080 is the most effective pest control method across large areas and difficult terrain and our monitoring shows it's a very successful way of protecting vulnerable species and allowing birds to produce more chicks to sustain and grow their populations," Ms Barry said.

Department of Conservation senior communications adviser Herb Christophers said the areas would be fully sign-posted and neighbours would be consulted before the operations start.

The application rate was about 1 to 1.5kg of bait per hectare with each bait containing a .015 per cent active ingredient - the rest was cereal bait (porridge), he said.

NZ Deer Stalkers Association president Bill O'Leary said it was opposed to 1080 but understood DoC's commitment to protecting native birds.

The association had negotiated with DoC to reduce its effect by using smaller pellets and dropping 1080 at certain times of the year when more feed was available for deer, he said.

"We also understand there are a lot of people out there who are opposed to the use of toxins."

By the numbers
* 25 million native birds are killed each year by predators like possums, rats and stoats.
* The research shows that use of 1080 in a three-yearly cycle allows the kiwi population to grow at 4 per cent per year.
* Results from long-term monitoring at Tongariro Forest Kiwi Sanctuary in the central North Island show that the survival of kiwi chicks to six months of age doubles in the two years after 1080 use compared to other years.