1080 drop 'business as usual'

Photo / File

A large-scale drop of 1080 poison over 4000 hectares in three Northland forests is due to start today.

The Kauri Coast Department of Conservation operation will see 1080-laced pellets scattered over parts of the Waima, Waipoua and Mataraua Forests. Today sees the 'pre-feed' spread of non-toxic grain pellets bait to give the targeted species a taste for it before the deadly stuff is dropped a couple of days later.

About 1kg of non toxic pre-feed bait will be spread per hectare, then 2kg of 1080 cereal pellets per hectare - with two helicopters working six hours a day.

Local iwi Te Roroa and owners of adjacent properties have known about the drop well in advance and are generally supportive, Kauri Coast conservation services manager Luke Archbold said. The three neighbouring forests contain the largest number of kauri left in New Zealand and are at the heart of a proposed Kauri National Park.

"This is business as usual, we've been doing it for many a year," Mr Archbold said.

While he acknowledged there was some controversy over the use of 1080 in New Zealand, "at the moment 1080 is still the best toxic treatment."

Far North Forest and Bird chairman Dean Baigent-Mercer hails 1080 with saving forests where it is used. "The native forests in Northland that receive biodegradable 1080 aerial baits are the few of our forests not in freefall collapse. Volunteer trapping projects, although excellent, only cover a tiny proportion of Northland's native forests," Mr Baigent-Mercer said.

The overall impacts of using biodegradable 1080 are significant and positive and DoC deserved congratulations for its use, he said. Ideally, the targeted species - rat, stoats and possums - should be hit every three years, Mr Archbold said.

Rats in particular have increased at an alarming rate this year, with tracking tunnels showing a record high rate of 80 per cent. The past highest rate was 46 per cent.