October 2018

An invitation - to Great Spotted Kiwi Supporters

Hi All GSK supporters,

A great kiwi morning tea at DOC . Oct 26th - 10am.
Bring a gold coin and some light food to share.
Regards Chris

Trapping Workshop Invitation

Top of the South Community Trapping Workshop

When: 27th October, 8.45am-4pm

Where: Headingly Centre Richmond

What:

· learn what other trapping groups in our region are doing

Learn how to set up and run effective trap lines

Learn about predator control strategy development in our region

The day will include presentations, workshops, information and assistance for anyone involved with, or wanting to get involved with, invasive animal predator control in the Top of the South. Organised this year by the Tasman Environmental Trust and supported by Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council.

Free event, but registration required. To register please contact info@tet.org.nz

Rat Control - trial using Goodnature A24 traps

Back in July I discussed the Windy Hill A24 trial on Great Barrier Island. The full report includes a financial assessment. This is a very comprehensive report and is essential reading for anyone trying to control rats by trapping alone.

Here in the Nelson Lakes National Park one of the core research projects of the Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project (RNRP) is rat control.

From 1998 to 2000, brodifacoum (Talon) in Philproof bait stations was used to great effect however following the DOC review of this poison a change to trapping was trialled. Initially this utilised 1042 Victor Professional snap traps in coreflute tunnels in a 100 m X 100 m grid in the core area of 825 ha. Rat trapping was also carried out in the Big Bush area with the Friends of Rotoiti (FOR) covering the St Arnaud village area in between. As this trapping failed to keep rats below the tracking target of 5% the number of traps was increased in 2004/2005 by reducing the spacing to 50 m along altitudinal lines 100 m apart. Continued failure to reach the target tracking rate saw the RNRP grid shut down in 2007 however FOR has continued with the grid of approximately 300 traps around the village and its immediate surrounds in the National Park.

The failure of both the RNRP snap trap and Windy Hills A24 projects demonstrates the difficulty of effectively controlling rats by trapping alone.

More details of RNRP rat control can be found in the RNRP Annual Reports in the About Us section on our website: www.friendsofrotoiti.com . The research paper “Responses to pest control in Nelson beech forests” by Kelly Whitau analyses 20 years of rat control and will be available in August 2019.

Regards

Peter Hale, for FOR Communication Group

Volunteer Hours

Click here for details about the volunteer efforts of Friends of Rotoiti members