Aotearoa's native birds are taonga (treasures) shaped by millions of years of development on islands with no land mammals or predators.

Kiwi, kererū, tūī, ruru - they all evolved without fear of teeth.

In the last 150 years, we have seen the introduction of various predator species into this landscape - including possums, capable of stripping entire native canopies overnight. Rats take eggs before dawn, goats & deer chew through the forest undergrowth, and stoats move through the valley like shadows. Fallow deer also roam free, eating young native plant seedlings, and destroying soil habitat.

Fallow deer — one of the browsing species managed on the farm

On a farm this size - encompassing 3,000 acres of valley floor and hillside, the scale of the predator problem is large, requiring a well thought out plan, and tactical community involvement.

Aerial view across native bush and gorge — the scale of the land

Aligned with Aotearoa's Predator Free 2050 vision, Mangaroa Farms runs an active predator control programme across the property. Traplines run through native bush corridors, along waterways, and around the permaculture orchard and market garden. The work is constant and unglamorous - checking traps, maintaining bait stations, recording catches, and watching the data shift season by season.

Local legend Murray checks the Mangaroa Traps on a regular basis

Predator free and conservation work come hand in hand - replanting native forest provides the habitat, and the trapping protects the newly planted species.

The results show up in ways we don't expect. More birdsong at dawn. Kererū returning to the kahikatea. Insects in the orchard doing work that poison used to interrupt. Small seedlings growing beneath giants in the forest again. The ngāhere (forest) is remembering how to breathe.

The birdsong of the Tui is a clear reminder why this work is so important

Predator free efforts are the foundation beneath everything else. The orchard, the native restoration, the biodiversity monitoring - none of it holds without predator control. Every trap checked is a vote for what this land is becoming.

Habitat recovery — what predator control enables. The result is our ancestors being free to stand underneath huge old trees.

We’re incredibly grateful to our friends at Groundtruth, TrapNZ, and Trap and Trigger for all of their ongoing support with this important restoration work.