Wildlife Conservation & Management in Tauranga

Wildlife conservation around Tauranga

Community trusts do much of the hands-on conservation work near Tauranga. The Ōtanewainuku Kiwi Trust was set up in 2002 by Te Puke Forest and Bird and local residents in response to declining North Island brown kiwi numbers. It runs pest management in the unlogged Ōtanewainuku Forest, 20 km south of the city, which benefits kōkako and more than 300 native plant species.

On the coast, the Western Bay Wildlife Trust focuses on seabirds and shorebirds. It monitors little blue penguins and grey-faced petrels, restores habitat and runs wildlife rescue across the western Bay of Plenty. Further inland, DOC lists whitehead, whio, kākā, kōkako and kiwi among the birds of the Kaimai Mamaku Conservation Park. It notes that only small remnant populations of kiwi and kōkako survive in the northern Mamaku.