They will be there for six weeks, doing groundwork for the Maukahuka / Auckland Island Restoration programme, the ambitious effort to remove feral pigs, feral cats, and mice from this 46,000-hectare World Heritage site so its extraordinary wildlife can recover.
Ranger Blake Hornblow, one of the team, has written his first account for the DOC Conservation Blog, and it is well worth a read.
His opening night involved 50-knot winds, 40 mm of rain draining into his tent, and a female sea lion calling for her pup in the dark outside. He has since been mapping white-capped mollymawk colonies by drone along the island’s western cliffs, and found Gibson’s albatross sitting on failed nests with feral pig rooting tearing up the ground nearby.
The blog will be updated over the coming weeks as the team continues their work. If you have ever wanted to understand what it is actually like to be on one of the most remote and ecologically significant islands in the Southern Ocean, this is your chance to follow along.
The Maukahuka programme is a collaboration between DOC and Ngāi Tahu to return this island to its natural state, safeguarding habitat for more than 500 native species, over 100 of which are found nowhere else on earth.
NZ Nature Fund is raising funds to help make it happen, and you can be a part of this legacy project.
We will share further updates as Blake and the team continue their work. In the meantime, follow the DOC Conservation Blog for dispatches from the field.
