I gave myself plenty of time and
took more stuff with me than anyone could possibly need. The plan was to be at
the home of volunteer organiser, Willow, for 845am to meet up with other
volunteers. We then lift-shared to the base location at Piggot’s campground
(hut) right in the middle of the ranges.
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| I found myself in the middle of nowhere, or the Hunua Ranges to be precise |
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| The hut at Piggotts campground |
There, we had to bag up possum
bait into 200-gram portions before we were put in pairs and allocated a couple
of trails to walk. There were eight of
us in total.
Willow said that I should go with him for my first time out so he could assess my walking abilities, but
the other volunteers disagreed.
Something to do with him being known as ‘the mountain goat’ and ‘the
machine’! The others worried that I may
get scared off and never return again.
But, so it was that I went tramping (as it’s called in NZ) with
Willow. I was advised to take my smaller
rucksack for the trek as this would limit the amount of bait, and therefore weight, that I would be
able to carry. I took ten bait bags,
which along with my lunch, some water and spare clothing, didn’t weigh me
down too much.
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| This board explains the aims of the project - to increase the kokako numbers in the Hunuas from just one breeding pair (1996) to hopefully 50 pairs by 2020. |
I’ll try to explain it clearly. There are marked trails on the Ranges, then
there are the bait trails only marked on the maps belonging to the rangers and
the council, and marked with bright pink ribbon and arrows attached to
trees. From what I experienced today,
these trails are just about passable! I think Willow kind of eased me in gently
with the first one. It was steep to
start off with but then there was a clear track to follow. But the route back was pretty hairy as far as
I was concerned. To be effective for pest control the trails need to be
approximately 50 metres apart, so they must follow the contours of the land as
close to the neighbouring trail as possible.
This means they may be across a stream, on a steeply slanting
mountainside, have foliage covering them, or all of the above! I was sometimes walking, sometimes
sliding/falling and several times flat on my backside. The recent heavy rains had added to the
slippery conditions on the trails and although I tried my best not to stand on
any exposed roots or get my ankles caught up in vines, it was nearly impossible
because I couldn’t see where I was putting my feet most of the time! All of
this whilst also learning how to check and restock the bait stations and
set some spring traps along the lines. I
was provided with gloves for handling the bait and the stations were separated
at 100m intervals along the trails. The
process was quite straight forward and there was a distinct difference between
the amount of bait being taken on the boundary track (all gone) and the amount
missing on the internal track we covered (minor amounts or none taken). This would indicate that the numbers of
possums, rats and ground predators are much lower within the centre of the
reserve, so the poison is doing its job.
Sadly, using bait is not an instant method of pest control. I didn’t ask for the gory details, but I will
have to live with the fact that it is not a pleasant and speedy death for the
target animals concerned. However, you must
balance that against the mass destruction of the native bird species that
nearly wiped them out.
Most extinctions or near
extinctions in New Zealand are due to the introduction of ground predators,
like possums, rats, domestic pets etc by European immigrants since the 1800s. The large array of ground-nesting and
dwelling birds in New Zealand only evolved that way because they didn’t need to
worry about ground predators as none existed prior to this immigration. You see the issue? It’s not the possums’
fault or the cats' fault. They’re just
doing what comes naturally. It’s us humans again, messing around with nature
and nearly wiping out some unique and fascinating creatures that were getting
on fine without our interference, thank you very much. So, it’s a choice between controlling the
predators by whatever means is currently available to us or leaving the
indigenous species to perish, never to return.
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| A kokako (not my image!) |
Enough preachy stuff, back to
the trek. Willow told me that everyone
usually returns to the hut where we’d started for lunch around 130pm. But we got delayed fixing a broken trap and, let’s
face it, I probably slowed the pace down for Willow quite a lot. So, it was 215pm by the time we got back,
just under four hours after setting off!
Some of the other volunteers had already been back for an hour! I was a
muddy, sweaty mess in desperate need of the cup of tea I was offered. But, I’d made it and hadn’t given up, despite
my legs telling me to several times, so I was happy with that. As the youngest in the group I wasn’t about
to get shown up by my seniors who were clearly much fitter than me! It was definitely a good workout, no need for
the gym on a tramping day. I’d done my
steps for the day and according to my Fitbit the equivalent of 71 flights of
stairs. Didn’t get to see any kokako though, but I'm told that is a very rare treat.
Having eaten my lunch, I was
getting cold now we had stopped moving, so I was relieved when I was offered a
lift back to my car. It was a full day
out. I got back to the cottage about
415pm and, having peeled off my sodden clothing and dumped every last bit
straight into the washing machine, I stood underneath a hot shower until I felt
warmed through again. I don’t think I will
have any problems sleeping tonight.
Walking tomorrow may be an issue though…
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