Eliminating rats, stoats and weasels from the Miramar Peninsula was an epic collective effort
It relied on the support of 20,000 locals, and involved almost every business, school and kindergarten, every third household, hundreds of volunteers, Predator Free Miramar and technical experts. We are hugely grateful to our foundation partners Greater Wellington Regional Council, Wellington City Council, Predator Free 2050 Ltd, NEXT Foundation and Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika.
We are extremely proud to present this video as a marker of that milestone.
Now that we understand how we do this, we’re onto Phase 2 – west from the airport and stretching from Ōwhiro Bay to Wellington’s CBD.
The vision
We’re making Wellington the world’s first predator free capital city, a place where our native species and communities can thrive.
This involves the commitment of thousands – households, community groups and organisations are all working together to remove every single rat, possum, stoat and weasel from the entire Wellington area.
Our project is special because it moves beyond typical conservation with fences and offshore islands. Our work will see our precious native taonga living among a city where 212,000 people live, work and play, every day.
The ‘why’
A kākāriki spotted on Miramar Peninsula for the first time in living memory.Aotearoa New Zealand is internationally recognised as a biodiversity hotspot with 80,000 endemic species. However we also have the highest proportion of threatened indigenous species, with an estimated 68,000 native birds killed by introduced predators every night. For 85 million years our country was geographically isolated. This made our native species incredibly unique but also very vulnerable. Since rats, stoats and possums arrived, they have pushed our taonga to the brink of extinction. By removing these predators we give our manu (birds), invertebrates (like wētā), and lizards a fighting chance to survive.
In 2016, the Predator Free 2050 ‘moonshot mission’ was set. This aims to ‘protect our native species, improve biodiversity, create greater ecological resilience and restore unique ecosystems’. Our project is working to solve the urban piece of the puzzle.
In the 1980s there were only 10 pairs of tūī and kererū left in Wellington. Fast forward to today and the predator free movement is making a phenomenal difference. Wellington is bucking global trends and rewilding in front of our eyes with tūī, kākā and kererū now a daily sight for our tamariki! As well as significant ecological outcomes, we’re turning the tide on the sunk costs associated with long term predator control methods. Plus we’re creating positive social impacts by involving everyone, increasing wellbeing and building communities.
The plan
Our project covers 30,000 ha and an estimated 70,000 households. It stretches from Miramar Peninsula, over to the south-west corner of Mākara and up along the SH1 motorway through to the border with Porirua City.
Across this area we have 58 community trapping groups – that’s one for every suburb in Wellington and most of the reserves in between. Some of these volunteer groups were active long before our organisation began in 2018. We are already seeing a rewilding thanks to the ongoing efforts of trappers and the spill-over from Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne.
Our project gains permissions from households, businesses and landowners to create an intensive network that removes rats. We use a ‘remove and protect model’ in five phases:
- Miramar Peninsula (Phase 1): Phase 1 is complete! This was our first area because it’s been possum free since 2006 and as a peninsula it’s easier to defend against returning rats and stoats.
- Island Bay to CBD (Phase 2): Our second (and current) phase includes sections of the Wellington town belt, CBD and suburbia. We are currently installing and checking traps and bait stations suburb-by-suburb. If you live in Phase 2, you can sign up now!
- Phases 3, 4 and 5: Involves the central city and more rural terrain, with a mix of farmland, wind farms and regenerating forest. In these phases we will work closely with our friends at Capital Kiwi and coordinate with Porirua City’s control efforts as we near the upper border.
Our 30,000 ha project area will be approached in five phases, starting with Miramar Peninsula