By Rosaleen Mcabrayne
OHOPE - Ohope Beach residents are forming a local army to wage war against possums and, hopefully, to bring native birds back to the area.
The settlement has one of the largest natural coastal pohutukawa forests left in the country and has battled possums for a long time.
Efforts by
the Department of Conservation, the Whakatane District Council and the regional council, Environment BOP, have had an impact on the possum population in surrounding native forests and reserves, but the pests have moved to the scenic escarpment above Ohope Beach, behind houses on Pohutukawa Ave.
Not only are they frightening off native birds, but they are munching through fruit trees, shrubs and garden plants, and are even ransacking rubbish bins.
Don Peters, who has lived in the area for 25 years, says he has caught up to four possums a night with one trap on his section.
On Saturday, he and other residents will lay bait in about 30 special stations along a 2.5km strip between the old Ohope Hall and the Maraetotara Reserve.
The bait laying, organised by Meg Collins, chairwoman of the Eastern Bay of Plenty Forest and Bird Protection Society, is one of the first urban self-help possum control projects in the country.
The society has received a large anonymous donation from a resident for pest control.
The bright-orange bait stations will be set up in trees by the regional council pest officer, Craig Mill, and regularly stocked with a cinnamon-flavoured poison that is considered safe for urban areas.
Environment BOP is supplying the bait stations, the society is providing the bait and residents supplying their land and time.
Meg Collins expects tui and bellbird numbers to increase first and other native birds to return to backyards later.
