Pest-free Mahia plan gets $1.62m cash lift

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

The Government is backing a Hawke’s Bay Regional Council plan to make Mahia Peninsula possum-free with a $1.62 million funding injection announced by Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage.

The Predator-Free Hawke’s Bay Project builds on two existing projects and expands predator control work on to the Mahia Peninsula.

“The community wants to create a possum-free Mahia, and at the same time it will control feral cats, stoats and ferrets,” said Ms Sage.

“The Government is contributing $1.62 million through a Predator- Free 2050 Ltd investment over four years.”

The remaining $3.24m cost of the project will be shared by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (contributing $1.1 million), Aotearoa Foundation, Landcare Research, Department of Conservation, OMV NZ Ltd, Maungaharuru Tangitu, Zero Invasive Predators and landholders.

“The Predator-Free Hawke’s Bay project builds on the success of other ecological restoration projects such as Cape to City and Poutiri Ao o Tane. The development of low-cost control methods on farmland are important for the project’s long-term aim of scaling up control and eradication across 700,000ha of Hawke’s Bay,” she said.

Poutiri Ao o Tane has been tackling predator control and restoring plants and wildlife across Hawke’s Bay since 2011 and the Cape to City project since 2015.

“These projects have brought together DoC, landowners and farmers, iwi, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, Cape Sanctuary and Manaaki Whenua/Landcare Research, along with funding support from the Aotearoa Foundation.

“Now, with Hawke’s Bay Regional Council backing for the project through its long-term plan and regional pest management plan, pest control efforts in Hawke’s Bay are about to go to the next level.

“This funding decision recognises the collaborative and innovative work already under way by many committed farmers and community groups in the region, which has been integral to the development of the Predator-Free Hawke’s Bay Project.

“The project is the second of what are likely to be a number of PF2050 Ltd investments in collaborative, regional predator control projects, aimed at taking New Zealand closer to the ambitious goal of being predator-free,” she said.