An iwi-led conservation project in the Kaimai Mamaku Forest has recorded zero rat activity across more than 700ha of native bush.
The result is wide-reaching in its benefits for native wildlife, in particular, the chances of a successful North Island kōkako breeding season.
The North Island kōkako is a native bird with slate-grey plumage and distinctive blue wattles under its beak, and is known to sing for over an hour, the longest duet of any songbird in the world.
But predation from introduced species, as well as deteriorating forest canopy quality, left this taonga on the verge of extinction at the turn of the century.
