A $45 million project to eliminate possums, rats and stoats from 100,000 hectares of South Westland is being touted as New Zealand’s largest and most ambitious predator-free project yet.
It is part of the country’s goal of being predator free by 2050.
The Predator Free South Westland project was launched by Conservation Minister Kiri Allan in Franz Josef on Thursday. It is an expansion of Zero Invasive Predators’ (Zip) successful work in removing stoats, possums and rats from a 12,000ha block in the Perth River Valley in South Westland since April 2019. The block was used to research how areas bordered by rivers, mountains and the sea could be protected from reinvasion.
Published in Christchurch Press and Stuff 11 March 2021
