Tongariro 1080 drop to include deer repellent | Manawatu-Wanganui News | Local News in Manawatu-Wanganui

A 20,000ha stretch of the Tongariro Forest Park will be targeted in an extensive aerial drop of 1080 poison bait. But deer repellent will be used in at least some of the park.

The drop is planned for next month to prevent the spread of bovine TB as well as forest predators, which have been damaging birdlife.

The forest covers a triangle of land adjacent to Tongariro National Park, and between State Highway 4 and SH47, from National Park in the south to near Owhango in the north.

Nick Poutu, technical support officer for the Department of Conservation, said the main objective of the deer repellent was to protect some prime winter deer habitat that was accessible and popular with hunters.

"The use of the repellent in this area is intended to protect recreational hunters' interests in the forest," Mr Poutu said.

He said DoC had held discussions with Hunters and Habitats, Game and Forest and the Animal Health Board and had signed off on the use of the specially treated 1080 baits over 3000ha of the forest park.

He said the aerial bait drop was an important goal for DoC, reducing the rat numbers in the forest as well as reducing the ferret and stoat populations from secondary poisoning.

"These predators have been responsible for a great deal of the local kiwi population recently, with large numbers of monitored adult kiwi succumbing to ferrets in the last couple of years," Mr Poutu said.

He said DoC would be monitoring the survival of kiwi chicks after the bait drop to see if it gave them any respite from stoat predation.

While the decision to use repellent with the bait recognised the high value of red deer in the Tongariro Forest to recreational hunters, "it is a very costly one and not something we can apply at all places".

"There are complex considerations to work through in terms of the biodiversity impacts of protecting the deer population and many sites wouldn't be suitable for repellent, as the impacts of the deer browse are too undesirable," Mr Poutu said.

"Aerial drops of 1080 have been used over some significant tracts of land in the central North Island and there are still plenty of deer and hunting opportunities in the region, even in those areas that have been treated.

"The use of repellent bait is appropriate in certain areas."