Page 20 - 2008 NZ Subantarctic Islands

purchase the 1 square mile of property and won acceptance from

both. A survey of Wellington’s local citizenry in 1990 revealed 90%
support for the preserve. The Trust formed to purchase the land

raised the necessary money and the land was transferred to the
Trust in 1995. The Trust opened to visitors during that year so that

people could visit and understand what was being proposed.
There is an ambitious 500-year vision that guides the Sanctuary’s
development and management—that vision started in 1995 and

states that it will require 500 years of regrowth to bring the land
back to its condition prior to the arrival of Europeans.

Of course the new life envisioned for the area requires that all

non-native plants and creatures be removed permanently from
the area. Original species of birds, animals and plants which have

been lost to the area after 700 years of human intrusion must be
reintroduced and nurtured to self-sustaining populations.

The first and most expensive endeavor, after the land acquisition,
was the building of the predator proof fence around the entire

valley a 5.5-mile long structure completed in l998. At that time,
the Trust scientists declared the area predator-free except for

mice. Much research was required in the design of the fence. It
had to be able to repel cats, dogs, ferrets, possums, rats, and all

other mammalian predators completely! This meant scientists
and observers needed to determine how high a cat could climb,
how deep a dog or ferret could dig, how small a space a rat could

enter. All this work was done and the fence designed
appropriately. Since the original fence construction even mice

have been eradicated. Now the fence must be regularly
maintained to insure that it is intact. Ongoing monitoring must be

conducted to detect any penetration of the fence by any of the
said predators. Constant vigilance is the price of successful

restoration!
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