Firstly, a big shout-out goes to everyone who has continued servicing Ruahine Kiwi traps over the past year while the team has been busy reorganising. Robert Gibb, the newly appointed Project Lead, knows some of these dedicated individuals and looks forward to catching up with the rest in the near future. 

Ruahine Kiwi has been operating with multi-year baseline funding from Horizons for the past nine months. Their partner, Te Kāuru Eastern Manawatū River Hapū Collective, working with Mauri Oho who successfully secured DoC Community funding which includes the servicing of traps in the Northern and Eastern
Ruahine Ranges. These traps will include both the Mauri Tū and Ruahine Kiwi projects, and the funding contract was signed in July 2025.

The first priority under the Horizons funding was to recruit a Project Lead, and Robert Gibb stepped into this role in January. Since then, he has been building strong working relationships with all of Ruahine Kiwi’s strategic partners. 

After familiarising himself with Ruahine Kiwi’s existing trap lines and the project’s aspirations to reintroduce North Island Eastern Brown Kiwi into two areas—one on each side of the ranges—Robert developed an integrated spatial plan for pest management and environmental monitoring. Save the Kiwi is now collaborating with John Bissel to create a Pest Management Plan based on this spatial framework. 

The Pest Management Plan is expected to be received in early August, followed shortly by the appointment of a Fieldwork Coordinator to implement the plan and prioritise spring trapping efforts. The advertisement for this position will be posted soon on ENM’s social media pages. Interested individuals are encouraged to get in touch and keep an eye out for the listing. While over 2,000 traps are currently in place, more will be needed, and exciting developments in new stoat trap technology are anticipated in the coming months. 

Pest management efforts will be supported by a network of trail cameras, audio recorders, and vegetation photo points to provide robust environmental monitoring data alongside trapping catch data. Ruahine Kiwi extends thanks to both the Mazda Foundation and Air NZ’s Every Corner Project for supporting funding proposals that enabled the purchase of 15 AI trail cameras from Critter Solutions, 3 from 2040Ltd, and 12 DOC Audio Recorders from Alatō. These tools will kickstart environmental monitoring efforts. Ruahine Kiwi is also working with Manaaki Whenua (now part of the Bioeconomy Sciences Institute) to utilise their AI-driven species analysis software to interpret the large volumes of data generated. 

The Ruahine Kiwi Governance Group has been reactivated and is now meeting monthly. One of its key goals is to establish a timeline for transitioning to a Trust structure. The team is grateful for Rodney Wong’s support in setting the framework and guiding the development of documentation for both the Trust and the Governance Group. 

Ruahine Kiwi looks forward to attending the Ruahine Whio Collective’s annual hui in mid-August to share plans and reconnect with landowners through a dedicated hui. 

For further information, contact Robert Gibb at ruahinekiwi@source2sea.org.nz.