A remarkable conservation milestone has been reached in Rodney, Auckland, where a male kiwi has successfully traversed 14 kilometres through a protected habitat corridor to reach Kaipara Flats—an area where kiwi had vanished for decades.

This extraordinary journey is a testament to the landscape-scale conservation efforts led by The Forest Bridge Trust, which has been working to create a safe and connected environment for kiwi between the east and west coasts north of Auckland. Since receiving Jobs for Nature funding through Save the Kiwi in 2020, the Trust has collaborated with over 1,000 landowners and local communities to establish extensive traplines, tipping the balance in favour of kiwi across 54,000 hectares.

By the early 1970s, kiwi had virtually disappeared from the Rodney District. Decades later, determined conservation efforts led to successful reintroductions at Tāwharanui (2006), Mataia (2013), and Maunga Tamahunga (2023). The translocation of kiwi to Mataia was particularly groundbreaking, marking the first time birds were released into a working farm environment. The farm’s owners—who would go on to found The Forest Bridge Trust—envisioned a connected landscape where kiwi populations could expand and intermingle.

“Our senior ecologist Dr Virginia Moreno took this vision and developed a GIS model based on the habitat needs, behaviour, and movement challenges of brown kiwi . Her study resulted in a landscape connectivity map with predictions for the routes that kiwi would use as they disperse. It also became the blueprint for how we’ve prioritised our trapping network.” says Matu Booth, Operations Manager of The Forest Bridge Trust.

The results have been significant. Kiwi numbers in Rodney are increasing, with birds occasionally skirting the predator-proof fence at Tāwharanui and establishing new breeding pairs in adjacent habitats. Meanwhile, a Mataia-released kiwi was recently observed on a trail camera 7km from its original release site—precisely within one of the predicted habitat corridors.

The latest wandering kiwi, first detected on a trail camera in the Dome Valley in August 2024, was confirmed on 26 January 2025 through further video footage and sound recordings. This bird, originally translocated to Maunga Tamahunga in 2023, has defied the high mortality rates common in areas lacking predator control. Its journey serves as compelling proof that trapping measures are effective and that landscape conservation is critical to protecting New Zealand’s taonga species.

With Jobs for Nature funding coming to an end, maintaining these hard-won conservation gains is at risk. Continued support is essential to ensuring kiwi thrive beyond these protected areas. The Forest Bridge Trust remains committed in its mission to protect and restore New Zealand’s unique environments, but we need your support to spread the message.

“We need the whole nation to get behind this ambitious mission to create a connected, protected landscape of healthy forests, waterways and thriving native wildlife alongside our nation’s biggest city,”

says Ana Christmas, CEO of The Forest Bridge Trust.

“Together we can ensure kiwi and other native species continue to thrive for generations to come.”

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