Canterbury hiking guides redeployed to protect critically endangered parrots

Thursday, 6 May 2021

A wild kakariki karaka in the Hurunui South Branch of Lake Sumner Forest Park.

New Government funding will allow out-of-work Canterbury hiking guides to be employed to protect the country’s rarest parakeets.

Acting Conservation Minister Ayesha Verrall announced the new $1.15 million project this week, which will keep 10 staff from outdoor guiding company Hiking New Zealand employed over 18 months.

Once found throughout New Zealand, the kākāriki karaka – or orange-fronted parakeet – is now critically endangered, with just 300 left in the wild.

Almost all live in a 30-kilometre slab of beech forest across Arthur’s Pass National Park and Lake Sumner Forest Park.

Hiking NZ guides head into Poulter Valley – a kakariki stronghold.

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The orange-fronted parakeet/kākāriki karaka is New Zealand's rarest forest bird.

“Orange-fronted parakeets have been thought to be extinct twice, and without extensive predator control, this vulnerable taonga species again faces a similar fate,” Verrall said.

The workers would focus on predator control across 30,000 hectares of kākāriki strongholds in the two parks.

“The investment means Hiking New Zealand can keep their guides employed and expand their skills into conservation mahi like tracking, tunnel monitoring and trap setting.

“Workers will also spend some of their time on wilding conifer control work.”

The project would collaborate with local iwi to offer employment and training opportunities, and provide skills and experience that could lead to a career in conservation.

“This is very much about laying the foundations for a better future,” Verrall said.

“Not only are we keeping people employed and getting work done that is critically important for our biodiversity, [but] projects like this ensure businesses can be part of our economic recovery once international tourism resumes.”

Hiking New Zealand co-director Dan Murphy said the company was largely in hibernation while international tourists were unable to visit due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Without this Jobs for Nature project, we would have had to lay off most of our guides.

“It’s huge getting this contract – as a business you suddenly feel useful again.”

He said the project was an opportunity to add a conservation element to the business long-term, which could create year-round work for seasonal staff.

The programme would build on work by the Department of Conservation (DOC) and Ngāi Tahu to protect and grow the fragile kākāriki karaka population, which included captive breeding at Christchurch’s Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust and maintaining a pest-free population on Blumine Island.

The main threats to kākāriki karaka were introduced predators and habitat loss, and DOC reported the birds were especially vulnerable to rats and stoats.

In 2001, 85 per cent of the population in one valley was lost to a single rat plague.