The Thames Coast Possum Control Project

The Thames Coast Possum Control Project is a community project initiated by the Thames Coast Protection Society in February 1996 to protect the spectacular Pohutukawa forest of the Thames Coast from possums. It was the brain child of member Fin Buchanan and the initial set up of over 300 bait stations was done by two people employed on a Task Force Green project supported by Environment Waikato.
(click map for large image)

The Pohutukawa of the Thames Coast were identified in a survey by the Forest Research Institute in the early 1990s as a Pohutukawa stand of national significance. The Pohutukawa were also identified by the same survey as being of failing health due to the browsing of possums.

The Thames Coast Protection Society (TCPS) now employ a person (Bob Carr of Te Mata) for 2 days a month to supply possum bait, maintain bait stations and provide advice to landowners from Thames to Wilsons Bay. The bait is supplied to private landowners at a subsidised cost of $20.00 a bag. Some bait stations, on large properties with a long coastal frontage, are maintained by Bob. The project is currently funded and/or supported by Project Crimson, the Department of Conservation, Environment Waikato and the Societies own fundraising and there are now over 400 bait stations involved.

Other Complementary Possum Control

The Department of Conservation, Hauraki Area, has a project that maintains bait stations on the DOC land on the coast (Waiomu Te Puru Operation). The TCPS provided $8,000 to the Department of Conservation when DOC was setting up the Waiomu TePuru Possum operation to enable them to set up 500 extra hectares behind and between Te Puru and Thorntons Bay. Environment Waikato has a network of bait stations that they maintain in a large block of private forest between Waiomu and Te Puru. With these combined initiatives there is an unbroken line of bait stations right up the Thames Coast.

Conclusion

The success of the project is borne out by the current vibrant health of the Thames Coast Pohutukawa forest and the spectacular flowering of recent summers.  

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