Kapiti: thinking big

Forest and Bird, Issue 279, 1 February 1996, Page 21

Kapiti: thinking big

AVING SHOWN that one species of rodent can be eradicated with just one application of bait on islands up to 230 hectares, and having been successful on 16 islands in the past 12 years, the next move is to either larger islands or those with more than one rodent species. This second phase is about to begin with Kapiti Island, scheduled for treatment later this year. At almost 2,000 hectares and containing both Norway rats and kiore, Kapiti is a big challenge. Two sets of trials over some 20 percent of the island with non-toxic bait has shown exactly how vulnerable each species is, and how reliable our methods are. There are of course several

important endemic species on Kapiti and care will be taken to cause them as little harm as possible. One issue which has caused considerable internal debate within DoC, is the presence of weka on the island. It is unlikely that weka were naturally present on Kapiti — the present population dates from introductions earlier this century — and their presence may make it harder to establish several threatened species on the island. However at this stage DoC has decided to retain Kapiti's weka. There will only be one chance for these big islands so it is essential that everything is thoroughly thought through beforehand.