Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne, formerly known as the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, is a protected natural area in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, New Zealand, the first urban completely fenced ecosanctuary, where the biodiversity of 225 ha (just under a square mile) of forest is being restored. The sanctuary was previously part of the

water catchment A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, th ...

area for Wellington, between

Wrights Hill Wright an occupational surname originating in England, meaning worker or shaper of wood. Wright or Wrights may also refer to: Places Earth Australia * Wright, Australian Capital Territory * Division of Wright, federal electoral division in ...

(bordering

Karori Karori is a suburb located at the western edge of the urban area of Wellington, New Zealand, from the city centre and is one of New Zealand's most populous suburbs, with a population of in The name Karori used to be Kaharore and is from th ...

) and the

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

wind turbine on Polhill. Zealandia Sanctuary map

Most of New Zealand's ecosystems have been severely modified by the introduction of land mammals that were not present during the evolution of its ecosystems, and have had a devastating impact on both native flora and fauna. The sanctuary, surrounded by a

pest-exclusion fence 280px, Xcluder pest-exclusion fence around the perimeter of Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari in New Zealand A pest-exclusion fence is a barrier that is built to exclude certain types of animal pests from an enclosure. This may be to protect p ...

, is a good example of an

ecological island An ecological island is a term used in New Zealand, and increasingly in Australia, to refer to an area of land (not necessarily an actual island) isolated by natural or artificial means from the surrounding land, where a natural micro-habitat exists ...

, which allows the original natural ecosystems to recover by minimising the impact of introduced flora and fauna. The sanctuary has become a significant tourist attraction in Wellington and is responsible for the greatly increased number of sightings of species such as

tūī The tūī (''Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae'') is a medium-sized bird native to New Zealand. It is blue, green, and bronze coloured with a distinctive white throat tuft (poi). It is an endemism, endemic passerine bird of New Zealand, and the on ...

and

kākā The New Zealand kākā (''Nestor meridionalis'') is a large species of parrot of the family New Zealand parrot, Strigopidae found in New Zealand, New Zealand's native forests across the three main Islands of New Zealand. The species is often kn ...

in city's suburbs. Sometimes described as the world's first mainland island sanctuary in an urban environment, the sanctuary has inspired many similar projects throughout New Zealand, with predator-proof fences now protecting the biodiversity of many other areas of forest. Examples include the lowland podocarp forest remnant of

Riccarton bush Riccarton is a suburb of Christchurch. It is due west of the city centre, separated from it by Hagley Park. Upper Riccarton is to the west of Riccarton. History On 12 April 1840, the ship ''Sarah and Elizabeth'' landed Herriot, McGillivray, ...

/Putaringamotu, the

Bushy Park Bushy Park in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is the second largest of London's Royal Parks, at in area, after Richmond Park. The park, most of which is open to the public, is immediately north of Hampton Court Palace and Hampton ...

, and the Maungatautari Restoration Project enclosing an entire mountain.

History

Historically about 60% of the Wellington region was covered with broadleaf forest. Karaka,

kohekohe Kohekohe (''Didymocheton spectabilis'') is a medium-sized tree in the Meliaceae family, native to New Zealand. It is found in lowland and coastal forests throughout most of the North Island and also occurs in the Marlborough Sounds in the no ...

, ngaio and

nīkau ''Rhopalostylis sapida'', commonly known as nīkau, is a palm tree endemic to New Zealand, and the only palm native to mainland New Zealand. Etymology is a word borrowed from the Māori language; cognates of this word in the closely related E ...

trees were common but there were also rātā,

rewarewa ''Knightia excelsa'', commonly known as rewarewa (from Māori), is an evergreen tree endemic to the low elevation and valley forests of New Zealand. It is found in the North Island and at the tip of the South Island in the Marlborough Sounds (4 ...

and tawa with occasional podocarps like

kahikatea ''Dacrycarpus dacrydioides'', commonly known as kahikatea (from Māori language, Māori) and white pine, is a Pinophyta, coniferous tree endemism, endemic to New Zealand. A Podocarpaceae, podocarp, it is New Zealand's tallest tree, gaining hei ...

and

rimu ''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a species of tree in the family Podocarpaceae. It is a dioecious evergreen conifer, reaching heights of up to , and can have a stout trunk (botany), trunk up to in diameter. It is endemis ...

. The whole sanctuary valley was covered with this sort of forest until European settlement of the area and the large fires in 1850 and 1860 that cleared the land to be used for farming. Following the discovery of alluvial gold in the Kaiwharawhara stream in 1869, there was a small 'gold rush' in the area. This was soon replaced by quartz mines, but poor returns and the completion of the waterworks dam in 1873 lead to the end of mining in Karori. Parts of the area continued to be farmed up until 1906 when the remaining catchment was purchased for the water works. The upper reservoir, retained by a concrete gravity arch dam, was completed in 1908. From this point, as the whole valley was a protected water catchment area for Wellington city, the slopes were re-vegetated with introduced trees and the native forest also began regenerating. The upper dam was decommissioned as a reservoir about 1991, the lower one in 1997.

Jim Lynch James Robert Lynch (August 28, 1945 – July 21, 2022) was an American professional football linebacker who played in both the American Football League (AFL) and the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs. He ...

promoted the idea of a wildlife sanctuary. The "Natural Wellington" project identified the reservoir catchment as having special significance because it is a large self-contained habitat suitable for a wide variety of native plants and animals. In 1993 a feasibility study was carried out by the Wellington regional and city councils and after public consultation in 1994, the idea of a sanctuary was given the go-ahead. The Karori Wildlife Sanctuary Trust was formed in mid-1995 to implement the proposed 'mainland island' wildlife sanctuary. The land was transferred from the

Greater Wellington Regional Council Wellington Regional Council, branded as Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC), is the regional council overseeing the Wellington Region of New Zealand's lower North Island. It is responsible for Public transport in the Wellington Region, p ...

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a Territorial authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the city of Wellington, the country's capital city and List of cities in New Zealand#City councils, third-largest city by popul ...

in 2004. The Karori Sanctuary Trust became a

council-controlled organisation Council-controlled organisations (CCOs) and council-controlled trading organisations in New Zealand are what were formerly known as ''local-authority trading enterprises'' (''LATEs''). Introduced under Sections 6 and 7 of the ''Local Government Ac ...

of Wellington City Council in October 2016, and is part-funded by the council.

Pest-exclusion fence

The most crucial aspect of the sanctuary is a

, designed to exclude 14 species of non-native land mammals ranging from

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

mice A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

, which encircles the perimeter of the sanctuary. Construction of the fence was completed in late 1999 and all mammalian pests within the perimeter were then eradicated over a nine-month period. This predator-proof fence is of great conservation significance, being a world first design to bar all terrestrial mammals from mouse size up. Karori Wildlife Sanctuary Fence 02

Species to be excluded by the fence

Black rat The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is n ...

Cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

Fallow deer Fallow deer is the common name for species of deer in the genus ''Dama'' of subfamily Cervinae. There are two living species, the European fallow deer (''Dama dama''), native to Europe and Anatolia, and the Persian fallow deer (''Dama mesopotamic ...

Ferret The ferret (''Mustela furo'') is a small, domesticated species belonging to the family Mustelidae. The ferret is most likely a domesticated form of the wild European polecat (''Mustela putorius''), as evidenced by the ferret's ability to inter ...

Goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

Hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live Solitary animal, solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are precociality, able to fend for themselves ...

Hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduction. The ...

Mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

Norway rat The brown rat (''Rattus norvegicus''), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat and Norwegian rat, is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest muroids, it is a brown or grey rodent wi ...

Pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

Rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

Possum Possum may refer to: Animals * Didelphimorphia, or (o)possums, an order of marsupials native to the Americas ** Didelphis, a genus of marsupials within Didelphimorphia *** Common opossum, native to Central and South America *** Virginia opossum ...

Stoat The stoat (''Mustela erminea''), also known as the Eurasian ermine or ermine, is a species of mustelid native to Eurasia and the northern regions of North America. Because of its wide circumpolar distribution, it is listed as Least Concern on th ...

Weasel Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets, and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slend ...

The fence design was arrived at after trials with the various species to be excluded. Its main features are a small mesh size (to exclude animals down to the size of a mouse), a curved top-cap (to prevent animals climbing over) and an underground foot (to prevent animals burrowing underneath). File:KWS fence scale.jpg, Mesh size File:Karori Wildlife Sanctuary Fence 04.jpg, Top cap detail File:Karori Wildlife Sanctuary Fence 03.jpg, Footer

In terms of its meeting conservation goals, the sanctuary has met with considerable success due to the design of the perimeter fence. The fence and ongoing monitoring have successfully kept the sanctuary free of all but the smallest species – the

house mouse The house mouse (''Mus musculus'') is a small mammal of the rodent family Muridae, characteristically having a pointed snout, large rounded ears, and a long and almost hairless tail. It is one of the most abundant species of the genus '' Mus''. A ...

. It is thought that small defects in the fence mesh (damaged during construction) allowed mice to re-enter the sanctuary. Modifications to the fence have been considered in an attempt to permanently exclude mice, but meanwhile, mouse numbers are monitored and controlled. There have been occasional breaches of the fence by weasels and rats, these occasional incursions are not unexpected (for example resulting from storm damage bringing trees down upon the fence), and are picked up by on-going monitoring with tracking tunnels.

Restoration

The flora and fauna in the sanctuary are recovering from its pre-managed degraded state. Although the original primary forest has been regenerating since 1906, it is still only in the early stages of

succession Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence. Governance and politics *Order of succession, in politics, the ascension to power by one ruler, official, or monarch after the death, resignation, or removal from office of ...

with small hardy trees such as mahoe dominating. Members of the original flora that are missing from the site, or rare, include large

podocarp Podocarpaceae is a large family of mainly southern hemisphere conifers, known in English as podocarps, comprising about 156 species of evergreen trees and shrubs.James E. Eckenwalder. 2009. ''Conifers of the World''. Portland, Oregon: Timber Pres ...

species such as

, matai, miro,

, and

tōtara ''Podocarpus totara'' (), commonly known as the , is a species of Podocarpus, podocarp tree endemism, endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island, South Island and rarely on Stewart Island, Stewart Island / Rakiura in lowland, ...

, are being re-established.

Northern rātā Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

has also virtually disappeared from the valley and a number of seedlings have been planted. A wide variety of native trees, of benefit to native fauna, is already present. This includes a mature colony of the New Zealand fuchsia () (''Fuchsia excorticata'').

Species

* Native birds that have been released in the sanctuary since 2000 include: ** Bellbird, New Zealand () (''Anthornis melanura'') **

Brown teal The brown teal (''Anas chlorotis''; ) is a species of dabbling duck of the genus ''Anas'' native to New Zealand. For many years it had been considered to be conspecific with the flightless Auckland teal, Auckland and Campbell teals in ''Anas auc ...

() (''Anas chlorotis'') (four pairs released 2000-11-03) **

Kākā The New Zealand kākā (''Nestor meridionalis'') is a large species of parrot of the family New Zealand parrot, Strigopidae found in New Zealand, New Zealand's native forests across the three main Islands of New Zealand. The species is often kn ...

, North Island (''Nestor meridionalis'') (three released 2002-08-24) **

Kākāriki The three species of kākāriki (also spelled ''kakariki'', without macrons), or New Zealand parakeets, are the most common species of parakeets in the genus ''Cyanoramphus'', family (biology), family Psittaculidae. The most commonly used name ' ...

, red-fronted parakeet (''Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae'') (23 released 2010-July-02) **

Little spotted kiwi The little spotted kiwi or little grey kiwi (''Apteryx owenii'') is a small flightless bird in the kiwi family, Apterygidae. It is the smallest of the five kiwi species, at about , about the size of a bantam. It is endemic to New Zealand, and ...

() (''Apteryx owenii'') (20 released 2000-07-04) ** Pigeon, New Zealand () (''Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae'') (10 released 2002 to 2005) ** Robin, North Island () (''Petroica longipes'') (40 released 2001-05-11) ** Saddleback, North Island () (''Philesturnus rufusater'') (39 released 2002-06-16) ** Scaup, New Zealand () (''Aythya novaeseelandiae'') (one pair released 2002-05-03) **

Stitchbird The stitchbird or hihi (''Notiomystis cincta'') is a honeyeater-like bird endemic to the North Island and adjacent offshore islands of New Zealand. Its evolutionary relationships have long puzzled ornithologists, but it is now classed as the ...

() (''Notiomystis cincta'') (30 released 2005-02-17) **

Takahē The South Island takahē (''Porphyrio hochstetteri'') is a Flightless bird, flightless swamphen indigenous to New Zealand and the largest living member of the Rail (bird), rail family. It is often known by the abbreviated name takahē, whic ...

, South Island (''Porphyrio hochstetteri'') (two released 2011-01-28) **

Tomtit The tomtit (''Petroica macrocephala'') is a small passerine bird in the family (biology), family Petroicidae, the Australasian robins. It is endemic (ecology), endemic to the islands of New Zealand, ranging across the main islands as well as s ...

, North Island () (''Petroica macrocephala toitoi'') **

Weka The weka, also known as the Māori hen or woodhen (''Gallirallus australis'') is a flightless bird species of the rail family. It is endemic to New Zealand. Some authorities consider it as the only extant member of the genus '' Gallirallus''. ...

, North Island (''Gallirallus australis'') (four pairs released 2000-06-16) ** Whitehead () (''Mohoua ochrocephala'') (released 2001, 2002) **

Rifleman A rifleman is an infantry soldier armed with a rifling, rifled long gun. Although the rifleman role had its origin with 16th century hand cannoneers and 17th century musketeers, the term originated in the 18th century with the introduction o ...

() (''Acanthisitta chloris)'' (60 birds released 2019) * Other native animals that have been released since 2000 include: ** 70

tuatara The tuatara (''Sphenodon punctatus'') is a species of reptile endemic to New Zealand. Despite its close resemblance to lizards, it is actually the only extant member of a distinct lineage, the previously highly diverse order Rhynchocephal ...

, (''Sphenodon punctatus''), from Stephens Island (released December 2005). ** 100

giant wētā Giant wētā are several species of wētā in the genus ''Deinacrida'' of the family Anostostomatidae. Giant wētā are endemic to New Zealand and all but one species are protected by law because they are considered at risk of extinction. The ...

() (''Deinacrida rugosa'') (2007) ** 21 Hamilton's frog (previously

Maud Island frog __NOTOC__ The Maud Island frog (''Leiopelma pakeka'') has been recently been synonymised with Hamilton's frog (''Leiopelma hamiltoni'') Description ''Leiopelma pakeka'' was a small terrestrial frog, growing to 5 cm in length, and is mediu ...

) () (''Leiopelma hamiltoni'') (2006) ** ~100 spotted skink (''Oligosoma kokowai'') (2016) ** 200 New Zealand freshwater mussel () (''Echyridella menziesii'') (2018) * Other native species that are naturalised without needing transfers from outside the area include: **Birds *** Black shag () (''Phalacrocorax carbo novaehollandiae'') *** Fantail, North Island () (''Rhipidura fulginosa placabilis'') *** Falcon, New Zealand () (''Falco novaeseelandiae'') ***

Grey warbler The grey warbler (''Gerygone igata''), also known by its Māori name or outside New Zealand as the grey gerygone, is an insectivorous bird in the family Acanthizidae endemic to New Zealand. It is sometimes known as the teetotum or rainbird. I ...

, New Zealand () (''Gerygone igata'') *** Little black shag () (''Phalacrocorax sulcirostris'') *** Little shag () (''Phalacrocorax melanoleucos brevirostris'') *** Pied shag, New Zealand () (''Phalacrocorax varius varius'') ***

Morepork The morepork (''Ninox novaeseelandiae''), better known as the morepork owl, and also known by numerous other onomatopoeic names (such as boobook, mopoke or ruru), is a smallish, brown owl species found in New Zealand, and to the northwest, on No ...

() (''Ninox novaeseelandiae'') ***

Silvereye The silvereye or wax-eye (''Zosterops lateralis''), also known by its Māori name tauhou, is a very small omnivorous passerine bird of the south-west Pacific. In Australia and New Zealand its common name is sometimes white-eye, but this name is ...

() (''Zosterops lateralis'') ***

Shining cuckoo The shining bronze cuckoo (''Chalcites lucidus'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae, found in Australia, Indonesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. It was formerly placed in the genus ''Chr ...

() (''Chrysococcyx lucidus lucidus'') ***

Tūī The tūī (''Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae'') is a medium-sized bird native to New Zealand. It is blue, green, and bronze coloured with a distinctive white throat tuft (poi). It is an endemism, endemic passerine bird of New Zealand, and the on ...

(''Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae'') ** Reptiles *** Raukawa gecko (''Woodworthia maculata'') *** Ngāhere gecko (''Mokopirirakau aff. granulatus 'Southern North Island) ***

Brown skink The brown skink (''Oligosoma zelandicum'') is a species of skink native to New Zealand. Distribution The brown skink is relatively numerous and is found from Taranaki to Wellington in the North Island and in the Marlborough Sounds, Nelson an ...

(''Oligosoma zelandicum'') *** Northern grass skink (''Oligosoma polychroma'') ***

Copper skink The copper skink (''Oligosoma aeneum'') is a skink of the family (biology), family Scincidae that is endemism, endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. Taxonomy and systematics The number of skink species endemic to New Zealand is not yet kn ...

(''Oligosoma aeneum'') *** Ornate skink (''Oligosoma ornatum'') * Non-native species ** Perch. In 2021 the water level in the lower reservoir was reduced by to enable eradication of the introduced

European perch The European perch (''Perca fluviatilis''), also known as the common perch, redfin perch, big-scaled redfin, English perch, Euro perch, Eurasian perch, Eurasian river perch, Hatch, poor man's rockfish or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the ...

which were eating native fish species and polluting the water with algal bloom.

Awards

In 2023, Zealandia won the Supreme Tourism Award at the New Zealand Tourism Awards. It also won the Airbnb Tourism Excellence Award for Small to Medium businesses. The chief executive of Tourism Industry Aotearoa, Rebecca Ingram, said about the award: "Zealandia is everything we love about tourism: protecting our wildlife, telling our unique story, thrilling visitors and beloved by its community."

References

External links

ZEALANDIA

Karori Sanctuary Trust

Some thoughts on predator exclusion fences
;News
''Meet the Locals'' (TVNZ) segment on KWS

''Asia Downunder'' (TVNZ) segment about Zealandia
* {{Authority control Articles containing video clips Nature reserves in New Zealand Protected areas of the Wellington Region Tourist attractions in Wellington City Wildlife sanctuaries of New Zealand Parks in Wellington City Urban forests in New Zealand Birdwatching sites in New Zealand