Contractors working in the Kia Wharite project area have been coming back with reports of increased bird numbers in recent years.
Independent contractor Jason Hart, manager of Back Country Contractors spends a lot of time in Whanganui National Park and surrounding reserves. Jason and his team have recently completed over 2000 hrs of goat hunting work in the northern part of the project area so have a good idea of the goings on in the back country.
Camping in pairs with tents they are flown into some of the most remote and rugged back country areas in NZ where they set up camp and base themselves for 10-12 days at a time.
“The work conditions can be extreme but the upside is you get to go into some very remote places and enjoy the great outdoors” says Jason.
Jason and his team have noticed an increase in birdlife throughout the Kia Wharite area. “We work all over New Zealand and feel that the bird life in here is better than or as good as anywhere else in New Zealand, it has really picked up in the time we have been completing our contract work and is similar to that of places like Pureora Forest Park which has been under pest control for many years showing the positive benefits of sustained pest management”
Other contractors are finding a different environment than that which they started working in many years ago. “The campsites are alive with kiwi screeching all night long, they’re keeping us up and that has never happened before” says Woody Reed, goat hunter.
This is great news for the future of Kia Wharite and these are just some of the positive results that the project is delivering.
