The Department of Conservation has boosted predator control efforts in the Maungataniwha Native Forest in inland Hawke's Bay with an $18,000 grant to the Forest Lifeforce Restoration (FLR) Trust.
The trust runs an extensive predator control operation, described by DoC as "ambitious", in two sanctuary areas comprising 1000ha of native forest.
The sanctuaries have been created to provide safe breeding areas for such threatened native plants and animals as kiwi, whio (blue duck) and kakabeak (Clianthus maximus), a native shrub with a striking curved red flower shaped like a parrot's beak.
The FLR Trust will use the DoC grant to extend an existing network of traps and bait stations that target predators such as rats, stoats and possums which cause havoc with these native species of flora and fauna. Bird counts and trapping figures provide an indication of the programme's success.
Trust chairman Simon Hall extended his thanks to DoC for the grant and said it was another step in the direction of the national Predator Free by 2050 vision.