The Cardrona Valley has a small population of kārearea living in the area. Little is known about how the species which makes conservation management of the threatened animal difficult. Thus, the team at Cardrona Alpine Resort has linked up with Parker Conservation, local Iwi, and the Department of Conservation to form the Cardrona Kārearea Conservation Project.

The Cardrona Kārearea Conservation Project will be lead by the team at Cardrona Alpine Resort, and will largely focus on collecting data on the kārearea in order to understand how best to protect the population. The initial plan is to gather knowledge of sightings, locate breeding pairs, locate and monitor nests, and gain insights on breeding population, habitat use and territory size. 

Think you might have spotted a karearea in the region? You can help by reporting your sighting here, the more details you are able to supply – the better!

The project will take place over the next five years to ensure that enough head-way is made for the project to hopefully make an impact. The kārearea project is just one project under The Cardrona Foundation’s four project goal to start a cycle of giving, well-being and conservation in the community. Read more about what they are doing here.

If you’d like to get up close and personal with kārearea in Queenstown, you can visit the Kiwi Park and say hello to Toa, the 17-year-old resident kārearea.