Funding boost for Karioi

The Karioi project is stoked to be back out there trapping and monitoring seabirds – and we’re getting a funding boost!

Predator control work on 2,500ha of private landowner and public conservation land is back on track just in time for this year’s ōi / grey faced petrel breeding season. Recently, there have also been more frequent sightings of kaka on the mountain, and little blue penguins are also attempting to breed.

Our burrow buddy team is all ready for this year’s Ōi / Grey-faced petrel season. Our highly-skilled team includes a new Raglan resident, Poppy the species dog. We’ll be on the ground looking after the burrows until the end of the year using cameras, notebooks and noses (both human and canine).

The Waikato Regional Council recently announced that they have granted $464,756 (over 4 years) to the Karioi Project to contribute to staffing costs (average of 2.5 FTE per year), infrastructure costs to expand the trapping and bait station network on Karioi and coordinate a seabird monitoring programme.  It will also help to fund our volunteer programme and the Karioi backyard trapping programme that supports every household in Whāingaroa to trap in their own backyard.

Volunteer Meg, aka “Auntie/Anti Litter” checks the traps along Wainui and Whaanga Roads for the Karioi Project. While she cleans up the pests, Meg also picks up litter!

Karioi Project leader Kristel van Houte said having four years of funding was invaluable to the project. “It enables us to really plan, expand and implement not just one year ahead but for the next four years.  Having that certainty enables us to connect people to nature and to protect biodiversity at a landscape scale.”

The Karioi Project has a whole lot of activities planned for volunteers. Be sure to check out the Karioi Project facebook page for photos and more information.