OUR STORY
We’re the oldest community-led kiwi conservation project in the world.
Just like any good big sister, we role model how to grow a project and care for it while it grows.
The Trust began when our local Kūaotunu community wanted to respond proactively to the threat of predators and start killing things to protect the kiwi residents on the peninsula. Almost overnight the project was born, bursting at the seams with volunteers, all a bit blood-thirsty for a stoat, weasel or feral cat kill.
Then we got a bit crafty. We innovated. We trialled different trapping methods. We helped invent the use of dogs to track kiwi and trialled the first fenced, predator-proof kiwi crèche. Some things worked, many failed, but we kept our eyes on the prize of helping the avian inhabitants on the peninsula thrive.
Read more about us, and our highs and lows of kiwi conservation in the book entitled ‘Project Kiwi’ published by Penguin in August 2016.
We are really proud of our past and what we have grown into today.
Project Kiwi is awarded Tohu Tiketike- Kiwi Project of the Year 2019
Author Sue Hoffart, Published by Penguin.
OUR MISSION
Locally, we want the kiwi population on the Kuaotunu Peninsula to thrive.
Regionally, we want the Coromandel kiwi population to thrive.
Nationally, we want all kiwi populations to thrive.
We invest time and expertise in people, to support their efforts in making kiwi populations thrive. We want other conservation groups and individuals to thrive.
Our mission is simple:
We want kiwi to thrive
OUR MODEL
OUR IMPACT
The recovery of kiwi is a national goal that requires the sharing of knowledge, skills and people to be realised. Having sustained its effort for over 25 years, the Trust has become specialised in caring for kiwi and has developed a strong mentoring role within the kiwi community.
The Trust is committed to building capacity and capability in other kiwi conservation groups, including the Department of Conservation, around the country, as well as maintaining its own project.
CLICK BELOW TO VIEW OUR PUBLIC DOCUMENTS:
Kiwi conservation is hard. It takes a lot of effort to sustain a population as predators are so widespread and often transient. Kiwi population growth of any size should be celebrated and shouted from the rafters.
In 1996, we began trapping predators.
Our kiwi population was estimated to be 535 birds.
In 2010 we crunched all of our data and estimated our population to be 600 birds.
Since 2005 we have released over 225 juvenile kiwi through the Operation Nest Egg programme. These have gone into managed spaces on: the Kuaotunu Peninsula, Motutapu Island, and the Whangapoua Forest. Our call survey data tells us our management is making a difference and we are growing our kiwi population - slowly.
We’ve killed massive numbers of predators and non-target pests over the last 25+ years – hundreds of stoats and feral cats, a handful of roaming dogs and one ferret. You can check out our trap catch data in our public documents below.
We want to be exemplary in every way.
Grounded in science, we make decisions based on what is best for kiwi as individuals and as a species.
Grounded in sustainability, we make decisions based on what is best for the Trust in order to be a legacy project.
The people recruited into the roles of governance and management are absolutely pivotal to our aspirations of remaining at the forefront of kiwi conservation.
Science + sustainability + people = kiwi.