From Friday 1 July, the Te Manahuna Aoraki Project Board engaged ZIP to lead the development and implementation components of Te Manahuna Aoraki Project.
This is a significant milestone for all of our team, but especially for our newest members who have joined us from previous roles with our partner, the Department of Conservation (DOC). We are excited to welcome Adriana Theobald, Chloe Underwood, Doug Rands, Jolene O’Connor, Julia Gibson, Simone Smits, Tom Smits, and Geoff ‘Woody’ Woodhouse to ZIP.
Te Manahuna Aoraki Project is a partnership between mana whenua, the Department of Conservation, NEXT Foundation, Toitū te Whenua Land Information New Zealand, high country landowners, and other philanthropists and government agencies.
The project launched in 2018, with the vision to protect and revitalise the upper Mackenzie Basin and Aoraki Mount Cook National Park so native animals and plants can thrive. The 310,000 hectare project area includes mountain ranges, dryland tussock grasslands, Lake Pūkaki, Lake Takapō/Tekapo and the extensive braided river systems that feed them. The area is home to an extraordinary range of native birds, plants, reptiles and invertebrates – from New Zealand’s rarest wading bird, the kakī, to the endangered robust grasshopper.
This is an exciting time for ZIP, and we are thrilled by the opportunity to take on new skills, experience and pest elimination challenges across this diverse and spectacular landscape.
Over the next year, we will work to expand the alpine predator elimination in the Malte Brun Range, and turn our attention to eliminating other key threats to native species.
Keep an eye out for updates here, and on the Te Manahuna Aoraki Project website, Facebook and Instagram.