As you read this, possum and rat numbers are already decreasing in one part of the Pukenui Western Hills Forest.
Pest animals and pest plants are a scourge and an economic dead weight to all New Zealanders.
Including private land, the Pukenui Western Hills Forest, right on the boundary of Whangarei city, is deemed to be the largest piece of contiguous forest in the Whangarei district - close to 2000ha. The trees are in reasonably good condition (apart from the skeletons of possum-chewed rata), but, like so much other New Zealand bush, it is as silent as the grave. And this is a fair analogy, as every minute stoats kill kiwi chicks, possums eat native pigeon eggs, rats eat lizards and insects and mice eat seeds that should be the next generation of trees. Without active intervention, Pukenui Forest will retain its sombre silence.
In the latest edition of Kararehe Kino, the official magazine of the Landcare Research Institute, is an article by well-known ecologist John Innes. John and his research team have found that another of our native birds, the tui, was in unnaturally low numbers in and around Hamilton city.
The birds have never bred in the city but instead, in spring, would fly up to 20km to nearby native bush to try to raise their young.
