MEDIA RELEASE

12 October 2017

Kakepuku ecology award for regional council

An organisation working to boost the ecology of Mount Kakepuku near Te Awamutu has presented Waikato Regional Council with a special Pukeko Award for its support.

The annual award from the Kakepuku Mountain Conservation Project was received by integrated catchment committee co-chair (south) Stu Kneebone on behalf of the council in Hamilton today.

The council was singled out for its ongoing financial support via the small scale community initiatives fund to create and service a 14-hectare rat trap grid.

The grid provides continual year round control and has resulted in no rats being tracked in the grid for over a year. This has led to more insects being seen in the tracking tunnels and robins now being able to breed undisturbed in the area, a report to the integrated catchment management committee said.

The Kakepuku project was initiated in 1995 by surrounding farmers and landowners. Since then a surviving population of North Island robin was translocated from Pureora, while NZ falcon have been raised and released in the area as well.

Council chair Alan Livingston paid tribute to the work of community organisations such as the Kakepuku project. “The council is committed to working closely with grass-roots groups to make biodiversity and environmental improvements.”

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