Local Focus: Tour operator creates 'feeder forest'

A Rotorua tour company is working hard to protect the area it operates in by taking action against pests like possums, rats and stoats.

"We're in the Dansey Road Scenic Reserve. It's ancient and original and after our first six months in operation we committed to restoring this forest to pre-human existence and we've done our best to remove every single predator out of the forest – all the possums, rats and stoats," said Rotorua Canopy Tours managing director Paul Button.

The task turned out to be much bigger than expected.

"We thought it would be a challenge but we didn't realise how big a challenge it is. In our first trapping operation, we trapped a 50-hectare area. Within the first night, we'd caught 200 animals - so within our first week we'd caught 800 animals and the forest we look after is 850 hectares. At that point we knew the problem was bigger than us," said Button.

When the project began, Button said the forest was silent, but that quickly changed as predator numbers dropped.

"The bird-life is prolific, you can hear them right now. We're feeding birds from our hands when we go on experiences. We've seen rare birds come back, the New Zealand falcons come back, we get kaka in the forest and we've heard from a lot of residents in the area that the forest is starting to feed other areas, the bird life is really prolific."

Local conservationist Tony Roxborough said the reserve has been classed a "feeder forest".

"A feeder forest is essentially a site that's managed for conservation purposes so you control the threats to those animals and the trees, the populations build and once they get to a certain level then they can spread out and into adjoining areas."

A thriving forest isn't just essential for the local wildlife, it also essential for us.

"Forests essentially eat carbon dioxide, that's what they need for their own reproduction, so having a forest like this is essential to try and keep a balance with those gasses that are warming the planet. In this particular case you've got a canopy, you've got emergence that are above the canopy, you've got an upper and lower storey so you've got a real thicket, a real mass of leaf material that's going to utilise carbon dioxide," said Roxborough.

For an adventure tourism business that operates within the forest, Button says they've had "very little impact" on the environment.

"We've done whatever we can to have the least impact as possible," he said.

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