Kiwi in the Capital

Capital Kiwi all started when birds like the kākā and tīeke were spilling over the Zealandia eco-sanctuary fence into the Waimapihi Reserve. Little was being done to protect them from predators, so Paul Ward and a few others got together and started trapping the rats, stoats and ferrets that threatened the vulnerable birds. “The kākā flying around us at the moment are the largest wild flock in the North Island,” Paul says proudly. Within a year, 70 other community trappers joined the effort. That’s when the seed of his grand plan to establish a kiwi population within Wellington’s surrounding hills was sown. “If you can have a bird like the kākā come back, could we bring back our national symbol, our taonga ?” 

From Waimapihi, he set his sights on the 23,455 hectares of wind-swept hill country on the city fringes. “We had conversations in marae with iwi , in woolsheds, I got the handshake test in farm kitchens, and village halls... people thought we were mad.” The initiative gained traction, and traps started to be deployed on the ground in 2018. Within six years, there were 4,600 of them. 

New Zealanders are no strangers to conservation efforts, but Paul and the Capital Kiwi team set out to do things differently. “There was this profound shift from guardianship being something a DOC ranger did somewhere far away, to something that’s done by us. Mountain bikers, four-wheel drivers, trail runners,  mana whenua and families.” 

In 2022, after years of mahi , the first kiwi to walk the Wellington hills in a hundred years were released. Now, over 200 birds call Te Upoko o te Ika home. Capital Kiwi’s conservation approach is a departure from the intensive care response for which New Zealand is world-famous. Traditionally, rangers remove the eggs, incubate them, and rear them in a predator-free environment. “From a Te Ao Māori perspective, you’ve severed the whakapapa connection between the chick and the parents. Our response is the opposite; it’s restoring a large-scale population to the wild where they can do all those things naturally. And place a network protection against that landscape.” 

“[Another] massive point of difference in Wellington is the role mana whenua have played.” Working closely with local iwi and those iwi who have gifted birds has been key to the project’s success. 

The human response to the birds’ return has been profound. “It’s becoming part of Wellington’s identity,” says Paul. “This is world-leading mahi. It’s not just a biodiversity achievement, it’s cultural, it’s economic... We were on the front page of The New York Times, National Geographic, and Leonardo DiCaprio shared Tweets.” Paul was also recognised as a Nature Hero alongside legends like Jane Goodall. 

The business and tourism opportunities that flow from the project have also been significant and are starting to bear fruit. Local trap manufacturer Goodnature is a perfect example of the conservation industry burgeoning in the capital. Paul thinks Wellington’s place as a wild, nature-connected city will play an increasingly important role in its future. “Having a bird like the kiwi living back in our lives means we experience their mana , we have a relationship with them that then demands we look after them... We’re not separate from nature, we’re living with nature.” 

Wellington’s bird song continues to grow louder thanks to projects like Capital Kiwi. “We’ve got a better dawn chorus in Aro Valley and Miramar, and Island Bay than we do in most of our National Parks, and that’s Poneke people power.”