New Plymouth District Council funds tracking gear for Kaitake kiwi

Kaitake Ranges Conservation Trust chairman Pete Morgan using a kiwi tracker with Kaitake Community Board chairman Graham Chard at Lucy’s Gully.

Funding from New Plymouth District Council will make kiwi easier to track in Kaitake.

The $3000 grant was given to the Kaitake Community Board, which brought the tracking equipment to help care for the environment. The gear was then gifted to the Kaitake Ranges Conservation Trust.

The Kaitake Ranges, inland from the coastal town of Ōākura, are part of Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki/Egmont National Park. As well as the mayor and councillors representing four wards and the district, five community boards give smaller communities another voice on issues that matter to them and keep an overview of council services.

They are the Kaitake Community Board, Clifton Community Board, Inglewood Community Board, Puketapu-Bell Community Board and Waitara Community Board.

Kaitake Community Board represents the centres of Ōmata, Ōākura and Ōkato, as well as a large rural population around communities such as Tataraimaka, Pitone and Hurworth.

In an emailed press release, Katake Ranges Conservation Trust man Pete Morgan said the equipment is used to track monitored kiwi.

“They also detect health issues and study their behaviour, including feeding times and whether the males are nesting.”

The trust has worked with other community groups and local iwi to release 31 adult North Island brown kiwi in the Kaitake Ranges over the last three years and keeps them safe via a network of 827 traps.

Trust volunteers are currently tracking 14 kiwi, each fitted with a small radio transmitter with its own radio frequency which tracks their location and sends information about the activity and breeding status of the kiwi.

Kaitake Community Board chairman Graham Chard said the natural environment is at the heart of the Kaitake community, and residents are passionate about protecting it.

“Saving our kiwi and restoring our natural ecosystems helps us to build a sustainable lifestyle capital for our tamariki and future generations,” said Kaitake Community Board chairman Graham Chard.