A recent conservation operation in Kahurangi National Park has sharply reduced rats and stoats across an area of about 73,846 hectares, New Zealand’s Department of Conservation said on September 15.
Friends of Flora volunteers checked 1,342 trap boxes in the Flora area and found just one rat. Tracking tunnels placed across the wider area recorded no rodent footprints or detections.
The work followed a beech mast, or a year when beech trees produce a great deal of seed. Those seed surges can feed a rise in rodents, which in turn gives stoats more opportunities to hunt native wildlife.
The monitoring gives conservation workers a clearer stretch of time to protect the park’s plants and animals, including vulnerable native birds.
