Government buys Kaikoura Island

By BRIAN RUDMAN

The Government has stepped in to save a Hauraki Gulf jewel from falling into foreign hands by buying Kaikoura Island for $10.5 million.

The 564ha island was purchased with the help of the ASB Trusts after a long campaign by the Native Forest Restoration Trust to bring it into public ownership.

Conservation Minister Chris Carter said: "As a critical natural area close to Auckland, of course it was going to be expensive, but I felt if we didn't buy it we might never get the chance again. I'm delighted."

Today Mr Carter will attend the Auckland Mayoral Forum to ask civic leaders to make good on earlier promises to help pay for the island.

So far the only local contribution has been $250,000 from the regional council, and Mr Carter hopes for a further $750,000 from local councils.

He said he had been ringing the mayors pointing out it was local body election year and "it would be a really nice gesture for Auckland territorial bodies to be seen working together".

"The Government has been very generous to Auckland. We've helped with Westhaven, we've given $1.6 billion over 10 years for transport," Mr Carter said.

"This is a way of Auckland helping itself a little bit."

The Government money comes from the Department of Conservation's new "public wildlands programme" designed to protect a wider variety of valuable natural areas.

The ASB Trusts have contributed $2 million towards the purchase and are offering more if the local bodies come up with "a substantial sum".

The trusts' donations chairman, Brian Lythe, said there was interest in the possibility of a local Outward Bound centre on the island or similar educational facilities.

The trusts had a "strong desire that the youth of the region be able to access and to enjoy such a unique outdoor experience".

Geoff Davidson, a spokesman for the forest restoration trust, says the island will become "a sanctuary for all those species that are struggling on Great Barrier".

He says that once the island is free of predators, species such as kiwi and tuatara could be introduced.

Kaikoura, the seventh-largest island in the gulf, nestles just off Great Barrier Island at Port Fitzroy, which attracts 10,000 yachts and pleasure craft each summer.

Home to the endangered brown teal and kaka, Kaikoura Island has been heavily degraded by a century of farming and the presence of fallow deer, wild pigs, wild cats, kiore (native rats) and ship rats.

Access is via a small airstrip or wharf.

The island will be protected as a Crown-owned reserve and managed by a trust representing various interested parties.

DoC will fund the various biosecurity programmes and the trust will raise money for other activities.

The island was bought by locally owned Westy Holdings in 1995 for about $2 million.

It is understood that Westy turned down an offer for $12 million from developers, in favour of the lower Government offer, because of the educational and conservation plans.

Director Don Fasher declined to comment on the sale.

* Other purchases under the public wildlands programme include Birchwood Station, North Otago, 23,783ha ($10 million); part of Poplar Station, North Canterbury, 4000ha ($1.8 million); Canaan Downs, Nelson, 758ha ($1.8 million); Waikawau Bay, Coromandel, 149 ha ($3.5 million); and Knuckle Pt, Northland, 378ha ($2.7 million).