Kea Credit Methodology

The credit: 

Each credit for Kea supports the installation of one new trap and maintains it for one year, protecting 33 new hectares of Kea habitat. 

 

1 credit = $700 = 33 new hectares of protection

 

The project:

 

Kea are listed as nationally endangered, with the estimated population remaining at less than 5,000 3,000-7,000 birds. Kea is taonga for mana whenua and is greatly impacted by introduced mammalian predators.

 

Kea are extremely intelligent and are the world's only alpine parrot. 

 

This project will include the installation and maintenance of DOC 200 traps in the alpine environment, primarily targeting stoats and, to a lesser extent, rats. 

 

Southern Lakes Sanctuary (since 2021), Matukituki Charitable Trust and the Department of Conservation have been collectively working for 11 years to protect Kea in the Matukituki Valley and are looking to expand their trapping network to build on their fantastic project success to date. Over the past year, 686 predators have been eliminated from the Matukituki Valley with over 700 volunteer hours, in addition to Southern Lakes Sanctuary staff time.  

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This project will install uses kea-proof DOC 200 traps for mustelids (and, to a lesser extent, rats) to catch predators on public conservation land in the alpine areas of the East and West Matukituki (Cascade Saddle area) valleys. Trap spacing is as close to 1 trap per 100 metres as possible, along transects as possible, given difficult alpine terrain.  National data to date has confirmed that kea struggles to successfully fledge chicks in areas with no or minimal pest control. All traps are located in the alpine environment. Traps will be strategically placed based on prior monitoring to confirm the best location for Kea protection. For this reason, your GPS coordinates for these credits may change slightly after purchase based on final trap placements. 

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The Kea Conservation Trust has been completing annual Kea population surveys monitoring in the West (ie. Shotover Saddle, Cascade Saddle, Liverpool Hut, Gloomy Gorge, Aspiring Hut) and East Branch (Albertburn Saddle, Duncan's knob, Wilmot Saddle) of the Matukituki valleys, since 2016 - survey sites may be limited based on weather events. The aim of these annual surveys is to identify breeding pairs, the success of breeding and changes to the population over time. It is estimated that there may be as many as 100 individual kea in the Matukituki valley. Past data confirms that kea struggles to successfully fledge chicks in areas where there is minimal or no pest control. 

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Kea has a much wider home range than just 33 hectares. This credit is for effective predator suppression of stoats over 33 hectares of Kea habitat. This credit will also help protect other alpine species, such as Rock Wren and, to a lesser extent, lower alpine birds (Whio and Mohua) by providing a reinvasion buffer in the alpine.

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Funds from your credit purchase are required to be spent on;

• Transport

• Monitoring equipment (cameras, SD cards, tracking tunnels)

• Bait, lure and trap maintenance supplies

• Staff health and safety equipment

• Field crew wages

• Project support costs

 

Date - Sale 1 Sept - End 2023  

Credit action 1 Jan - End of 2024