Glen Riley from Habitat Restorations Aotearoa discussed with me the need to reduce feral animals on the property (hares, possums, rats, stoats, and the occasional goats and wild pigs).

A local hunter Bryan Scott was coming onto the property regularly to shoot hares, but a more comprehensive program would be required to protect the new trees. 

I talked with Glen about installing a hare-proof mesh fence around the boundary line, attached to the existing 6-wire sheep fence, but he explained that it would still require monitoring for penetrations, and maintenance once there was an incursion point. Glen has started a trapping program to reduce concentration levels of feral animals. We’re using traps attached to trees in the indigenous forest for possums, and traps installed on the forest floor for stoats and rats.

The traps on the trees are a new design that uses a rechargeable battery to reset the trap after it has been triggered. This reduces required maintenance to a 6 month cycle for a changeover battery and bait top-up. Although the initial cost is significant, the reduced labour required to check and maintain the traps will have a long-term benefit for the control program.

With Bryan keeping the hare numbers down, and the protective tree guards around each tree, the young trees should get the start they need.