Community Feedback 

Onetahua Farewell Spit and the surrounding area is valued by the local community. They love the landscape, wildlife, solitude, remoteness, history and the affordable lifestyle. Family connections are valued here, as well as being 'a food basket' and a place to farm. 

Residents want the area to remain quiet with nature enhanced. They would like less pests and weeds, more ecotourism, better roads and cycleways and more community connections.

90% of those surveyed were supportive of Pest Free Onetahua  - but they also recognise it's an ambitious task that must be carefully planned and perhaps done in stages. 

Most people agree rats, stoats, possums and pigs are the worst pests. A few want pigs to remain to support hunting activities. Their main concerns were:
- will funding be adequate to do the job and maintain the gains?
- will enhanced conservation values lead to more restrictions on access and activity?
- will it create community division?
- they were concerned about use of 1080, especially near waterways and it's effect on the landscape and native species?
-what will be the effect to their privacy, lifestyle and farming operations?

Most people were happy to have pest trapping carried out on their private land, but wanted good communication about progress. Some are excited about the opportunity for increased employment in the area. Some want more freedom and less restrictions to live and farm as one chooses.