BIODIVERSITY
TOURISM, BUSINESSES AND RESIDENTS KICK OUT INVASIVE SPECIES
ROTORUA, NEW ZEALAND
By choosing to support businesses involved in rehabilitating New Zealand’s flora and fauna, your trip saves exclusive species and contributes to the region’s legacy of responsible tourism. In Rotorua, Aotearoa New Zealand, fighting invasive species is quite popular.
What's
changing
Invasive predators introduced to islands worldwide have often devastated native flora and fauna. Seven hundred years after the arrival of humans to the region, more than 40% of New Zealand’s native bird species are at high risk of extinction. Limiting the presence of non-native mammals like rats, stoats and possums is crucial for protecting threatened species.
What's already
possible
In Rotorua, safeguarding native birds and other wildlife in the Okere Falls reserve is a community effort. Predator Free Okere Falls, established by a group of passionate locals, is led by the Te Mauri o Okere Awa Charitable Trust and aims to eliminate pests from backyards and reserves by 2025. Tourism businesses like Rotorua Rafting, Rotorua Ziplines and Kaituna Cascades assist with pest controls needed to meet that goal.
Seizing
the opportunity
Organizers have established three project zones, each with a dedicated leader. Placing and monitoring chew cards baited for predators, supporters identify which predators are present. The cards indicate where to set traplines to catch common pests that prey on bird eggs or compete for the same resources as threatened species. Rotorua Rafting is heavily involved in the initiative, monitoring two traplines within the reserve. Being part of the Te Mauri o Okere Awa Charitable Trust, the project is also installing native plants that support the revitalization of native bird species. In one project, Rotorua Rafting's contribution alone resulted in 2,000 native species being planted in just one day.
Standout
tactic
The organization has started a trap library where people can rent traps for use on their own properties. One landowner worked with experts from the program to remove 243 possums, 138 rats and additional mice, ferrets and stoats from his property.
How
it helps
In areas along the Kaituna River, where traps have been placed the longest, pest numbers are dropping. Native bird counts are increasing in number and variety. In areas where the program has eradicated many pests, undergrowth and Pohutukawa trees have been regenerating at impressive rates. The program also seems to support dabchick populations upstream on Lake Rotoiti. Bird counts on the lake, performed from electric boats, have reported increases. Other New Zealand lakes have reported similar improvements in dabchick populations after starting predator control programs, likely due to having fewer rats that eat dabchick eggs.
Diving
deeper
How can pest-control programs include measures to ensure that removing certain predators does not create an ecological imbalance, leading to other predators moving in and replacing them?
Increasing
impact
If more residents joined, even only to remove weeds and plant native species on their own properties, programs to remove invasive species would move quicker towards restoring the health of the wider ecosystem.
Traveling
better
Travel is inherently carbon intensive. Whether you are taking a mini-break or an annual vacation, consider ways to minimize your impact by staying longer in one place, reconsidering how you travel to the destination, and supporting businesses that are working to make their community and the world a better place.
