After more than 100 years, takahe to be reintroduced to Kahurangi National Park
Saturday, 5 August 2017
Trampers and mountain bikers on the Heaphy Track will soon have a chance to see takahe in their natural habitat.
After an absence of 100 years, 23 takahe are being reintroduced to the Gouland Downs area of the Kahurangi National park.
Environment Minister and Nelson MP Nick Smith said it was a massive conservation and tourism gain for Nelson.
'We dreamed when we established the Kahurangi National Park in 1996 that one day this might be possible but I did not think it would happen in my lifetime.'
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The new population is made up of eight breeding pairs and seven unrelated younger birds.
A further seven takahe are planned to be introduced to the park in January 2018. It is estimated that the Gouland Downs could eventually accommodate up to 40 breeding pairs.
Gouland Downs has been selected because of its tussock grasslands, the fossil remains showing takahe previously lived there and because of the extensive pest control operations that ensure the takahe are safe from predators.
'This is one of the most significant transfers and repopulations of a nationally vulnerable bird in the history of New Zealand conservation. The birds are to be closely monitored to track how well they establish.'
Smith said it was possible due to the hard work of the Department of Conservation Takahe Recovery Team that the population had grown to more than 300 birds.
Takahe were previously assumed extinct but were rediscovered by doctor keen tramper Geoffrey Orbell in 1948 in the remote Murchison Mountains in Fiordland.
The population continued to decline to just 118 birds in the early 1980s but dedicated conservation efforts have enabled its recovery.
The takahe population is now increasing by 10 per cent a year and the current goal of the recovery programme is to establish a second self-sustaining wild population in an area of its natural range.
Smith said the reintroduction of takahe to the park showed the potential of the Predator-Free New Zealand by 2050 goal.
It was a 'tourism bonus' that people would have a chance to see takahe in the national park.
'The area is much more accessible than the Murchison Mountains in Fiordland, or the few offshore islands where they reside.'
'The establishment of this second wild population of takahe in Nelson is a huge step for conservation. It powerfully illustrates that it is possible to pull a species back from extinction, it reinforces the value 20 years ago in creating the national park and shows the benefits of effective pest control.'