Photo by Bradley Shields
Help us restore a national taonga
Onetahua Farewell Spit is a hotspot of dune and wetland biodiversity. It is a
wāhi tapu – a sacred place, rich in Māori traditions and ancestral stori
wāhi tapu – a sacred place, rich in Māori traditions and ancestral stori
But it is not what it used to be...
Today, it is internationally renowned for its flocks of migratory shorebirds that visit to feed but not breed. For our tūpuna ancestors, Onetahua was a place of abundance – breeding birds and othertaonga species flourished in a range of unique habitats.
Today, the breeding birds have been lost or are in decline-threatened by the pests we introduced.
Possums, rats, stoats and feral pigs eat defenceless seabird chicks and eggs. They destroy habitat and food sources.With nothing to keep them in check, they’re out of control.
With 90 percent of New Zealand’s seabirds threatened with extinction we must act to protect our taonga for future generations. Pest Free Onetahua is an unrivalled mainland restoration opportunity to look after what we still have and
recover what has been lost.
But this will take vision, determination, and support, and that’s where
you can help.
Download the brochureToday, the breeding birds have been lost or are in decline-threatened by the pests we introduced.
Possums, rats, stoats and feral pigs eat defenceless seabird chicks and eggs. They destroy habitat and food sources.With nothing to keep them in check, they’re out of control.
With 90 percent of New Zealand’s seabirds threatened with extinction we must act to protect our taonga for future generations. Pest Free Onetahua is an unrivalled mainland restoration opportunity to look after what we still have and
recover what has been lost.
But this will take vision, determination, and support, and that’s where
you can help.
Photography by Bradley Shields and Rebecca Bowater
Photo by Bradley Shields
This project is community-led and ambitious
We aim to completely remove possums, rats, stoats and feral pigs from Onetahua Farewell Spit by 2025 and prevent their return. That includes suppression of pests in a halo outside the Spit and into Kahurangi National Park. This project is a springboard to pest free Kahurangi.
“Imagine, as the sun sets, thousands— maybe millions—of birds streaming in off the sea to their nests at Onetahua Spit. That’s what it used to be like – a raucous celebration of life. We can restore it. But first we need to get rid of the pests”
Sky Davies
Manager
TET Environmental Trust
Pest Free Onetahua
Sky Davies
Manager
TET Environmental Trust
Pest Free Onetahua