Kaipara Kiwi

There is evidence of brown kiwi in the area in the 1950’s but with the change of land use and the explosion in pests and predators the birds were no longer able to live here.
The Mataia Restoration Project, 400ha of native bush and salt marsh and 900ha of farmland and forestry at Glorit, began in 2006. The aim of the project is to restore and enhance the considerable ecological values of the area and this has resulted in an explosion of “recovery”.
An intensive pest and predator control programme has reduced possum, stoat, ferret, weasel, cat and rat numbers to a level where they pose a much reduced threat to such vulnerable species as kiwi, fern bird, bittern and banded rail.
Dogs are one of the greatest predators of kiwi in the north. For this reason, only working farm dogs that have undergone kiwi aversion training will be allowed on the property.

A shade cloth fence, to keep the kiwi within the predator and pest controlled area, has been erected around the entire boundary of the property, and it is envisaged that this will be an added deterrent to dogs.
In our local community and surrounding area, we are beginning a programme to create further safe habitat for kiwi. When this is in place we will be able to remove the fence and let the kiwi re-establish themselves in what was part of their former territory.