Date: 11th January 2024
(On Private Land)
The Hidden Hills Residents Association are a passionate group of property owners who are focusing on local pest management and environmental enhancement. The group were keen to start a neighbourhood trapping project. In 2023 they initiated a Rabbit Management Project and want to continue with their local focus of pest eradication and increasing biodiversity within the area.
The aim of this group’s work is to decrease the number of introduced mammalian pests which are resident in, or moving through, the Hidden Hills area in Wānaka. Target species are possums, rats, hedgehogs, stoats and ferrets, with a focus on the first three because they are likely to be in higher densities in the kanuka-dominated habitat, based on trapping data from the Mt Iron trapping project over the last four years.
Decreasing the number of predatory species will greatly benefit native birdlife, skinks, geckos and invertebrates who live in the Hidden Hills/Little Mt Iron area. By trapping in the Hidden Hills, the group will also be contributing to the creation of a safe corridor of native kanuka forest from the Clutha River up to Hikuwai Conservation Area, up through the Hidden Hills and across Little Mt Iron to Mt Iron.
We applied for funding from the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival Trust in August 2023 and were successful in getting a grant to cover the cost of buying possum and rat traps. Megan is getting lots of Hidden Hills residents on board and the project has now been boosted by a gift of five DOC 200 boxed traps from Southern Lakes Sanctuary.
Trapline Coordinator: Megan Davies
Posted in: Trapping Groups