An exciting year ahead
Five years into Project Janszoon it is a good time to reflect on the great progress we have made with our partners in restoring this wonderful Park.
I joined Project Janszoon mid year and while I have worked with the project since its inception in a previous role with DOC it has been wonderful to see firsthand the headway that has been made.
In these first few months I have enjoyed meeting so many people who are involved in the project. From iwi, students, those who work or live in the Park, and the passionate volunteers and locals who contribute so much, I have been welcomed and for that I say thanks.
We are into an exciting phase with restoration and translocation programmes underway. When the project started out we were mostly focused on the problems. To get to a stage where nearly 20,000 ha of the Park’s 22,500 ha is stoat trapped and hundreds of thousands of wilding pines have been poisoned are significant milestones although controlling introduced predators and weeds remains a priority.
The best indication that predator control is working is the success of our bird populations, and news we have been given the green light to translocate more pāteke/brown teal to Hadfield Clearing next year is encouraging. We are also working with iwi towards returning tuatara to Tonga Island in 2018 which is exciting.
I would like to acknowledge the incredible progress that has been made under Devon McLean’s stewardship. Devon will remain involved as a trustee and along with the great Project Janszoon team I am committed to keeping the momentum up.
Wishing you all the best for the Christmas break, I hope you get a chance to get out into the Park and look forward to working with you next year.
Bruce Vander Lee, Project Janszoon Director
