New Zealand Carbon Farming (NZCF) is a key sponsor of Perry Outdoor Education Trust. They recently hosted DOC on one of their forest estates in the Waikato region to take a first-hand look at their predator and wild animal control programme. NZCF is one of the largest contributors to Aotearoa New Zealand’s climate change efforts, with more than 31million tonnes of carbon removed by its forests over the last 13 years.
NZCF also works with over 6,000 local landowners and farmers, returning more than $139 million to the rural sector. On its own conservation estate, NZCF actively manages a nurse crop of exotic trees to create the conditions for transition to a biodiverse native environment. Predator and wild animal control is a vital part of this programme.
NZCF operates one of New Zealand’s largest private predator and wild control programmes in the country, investing over $2million a year to remove thousands of these animals, with 28,000 animals removed annually in the last 2 years. The organisation is also trialling a range of wild animal exclusion methods, including the establishment of fenced exclusion areas and buffer zones. The professional programme also includes predator control, with the use of 1500 NZ AutoTraps AT220s and anew trial of the AT520-AI, which employs machine-learning and remote connectivity. For further details visit www.nzcarbonfarming.co.nz and www.nzautotraps.com.
This article was extracted from the Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai newsletter, December 2024