These kōkako are part of the Pirongia colony. Photo: Bernie Krippner.
The Pirongia Te Aroaro o Kahu Restoration Society will celebrate its 21st birthday on November 4.
The organisation, led for many years by Waipā councillor Clare St Pierre, was set up to restore native flora and fauna on Mt Pirongia.
At that time the mountain’s forests were the domain of possums and pest mammals and native bird numbers had plummeted.
The society’s initial aim was to re-establish robins – pitoitoi – and kōkako.
It has since expanded to cover 1300ha across the eastern slopes of the mountain and has 2500 bait stations placed along 250 km of access tracks.
A total of 54 kōkako from Pureora and Tiritiri Matangi were reintroduced from 2017 to 2022 and are breeding.
Last summer 16 breeding pairs found in the society’s predator control area. Seven nests were monitored and these produced 11 fledglings.
The society also has another area of bait stations covering 1000ha in North Pureora Forest Park.
Today, as well as baiting and trapping, volunteers look after Dactylanthus – pua o te Reinga – plants, monitor long-tailed
bats, watch kōkako nests, do restoration planting and look after an envirocentre in a 100-year-old school building on Rangimarie Reserve in Pirongia village.
The birthday celebration will be held at the Pirongia Memorial Hall.
