A $21 million conservation push has transformed Abel Tasman National Park, with the project now handed back to the Department of Conservation and iwi after meeting targets set 14 years ago.
Project Janszoon, launched in 2012, has extended a trapping network across 90% of the park, wiping out tens of thousands of pests, removing wilding pines and weeds, reintroducing native birds and restoring lowland forest.
The trust set out to restore the park’s ecosystems, funded by anonymous donors later revealed as Auckland couple Neal and Annette Plowman. It worked alongside the Department of Conservation (DOC), the Abel Tasman Birdsong Trust and iwi, and was assisted by many volunteers along the way.
The focus on Abel Tasman came from Nelson man Devon McLean, who had previously worked with the Plowmans restoring Rotoroa Island in the Hauraki Gulf from a working farm into an ecological destination.
Devon says the park had been on a deteriorating path.
“The bird life was not strong, there were species that had disappeared, the weeds were out of control and the wilding conifers were rapidly increasing in numbers.
“Our starting point was really stop the negative influences, restore by bringing back some of the species, plants and birds that were missing, and future-proof the thing.”
Project Janszoon science advisor and operations manager Ruth Bollongino says the national park was known more for its beaches than its ecology 14 years ago.
“There were a number of native bird species that got lost, whio, kaka, pateke or brown teal and we wanted to bring those back, which we have. But there were also some native species that are rat sensitive, like robins, brown creeper and riflemen that are still present in the park but they were limited to the higher elevation areas and our goal was to allow them to come down to the sea again.”
Ruth says the results are now visible across the park.
There are regular reports of robin near the coast at Anchorage, pateke swimming in Wainui Inlet and kaka waking people in Bark Bay.
“We have done the heavy lifting like putting in all the trap lines, getting the pest numbers down and bringing back the native bird life.
“We have reached these targets that both sides agreed upon and now it’s time for us to step back and time for DOC to take on the project and maintain this for the future and keep the momentum going.”
Volunteers gathered at Anchorage in late June for a final celebration of the work.
Restoration assistant Lesa Heaton told volunteers they had “achieved a monumental victory for nature” by transforming 14 dune and beach environments across the park.
“You haven’t just changed the landscape – you have brought birdsong back to the coast.”
The trust officially handed over the project to DOC and manawhenua on Tuesday, 30 June.
