Area Under Management

Overview

Rotoehu Ecological Trust currently manages around 1367 hectares of native bush in Rotoehu Forest and Rotoehu Forest West, located around 30 minutes North East of Rotorua on Rotoehu Road. While Rotoehu Forest comprises of some 3,500 hectares, the Trust manages land comprising of Rotoehu Forest (Pongakawa Ecological Area, Otari Block, RF1 and RF2) and Rotoehu Forest West.

Rotoehu Forest has sites of significance for Ngati Makino, Ngati Pikiao, Ngati Awa & Tuwharetoa ki Bay of Plenty. Ngati Makino have an active role in supporting the work of DOC in relation to kokako recovery.

The 2019 kokako census report for our management areas and surrounds can be downloaded here  

The 2023 kokako census report for our management areas and surrounds can be downloaded here.   

BlockArea (ha)km of trackBait stationsTrapsKokako 2019Kokako 2023
PEA143761.05780143224*
PEA216818.317804670
PEA2b26130.126524685
RFW364.1390712
Otari947.281711824
RF1515.5570411
RF232033.931902243
TOTAL1367159.9151771286469

* denotes a subsample method was used

Pongakawa Ecological Area

Pongakawa Ecological Area (PEA) is an Ecological Reserve of public conservation land managed by the Rotorua Department of Conservation Office. Originally subject to native logging back in the 1940-1970’s, Te Puke Forest and Bird were instrumental in getting the area set aside for conservation purposes after North Island Kokako were found to live there. PEA is divided into three main areas: the Main Block (439 ha) protected in 1990, Block 2a (168 ha) protected in 2008 and Block 2b (261 ha). Block 2b was added to our management area in 2020 with the first ground based pest control operation undertaken in Spring 2021.

Pongakawa Ecological Area forms part of the wider Rotoehu Forest, which connects almost all the way to the Manawahe kokako population. Because of the historic native logging, many of the larger trees are missing from the canopy, and the understory is more scarce due to browsing by deer, wallabies, pigs, rabbits and possums. PEA is surrounded by farmland and plantation forest, with the whole area being subject to spasmodic pest control once protection was established. Volunteers work to keep the track network open for ground control pest operations in order to protect that 235 odd kokako who call this patch of bush home.

Otari Block

The Otari Block was added to the Trust’s management area in late 2015 after a walk through survey showed that there were kokako in the block. It is situated adjacent to the main part of Pongakawa Ecological Area in the North East, and is home to around 20 kokako. Otari is a relatively intact piece of lowland forest, that does not appear to be logged and has a good understory. RET believes that this is due to the terrain of the block – essentially a valley system, with another lower ridge running down the middle. At the present time the Trust’s trapping network is providing protection to the native species in the block

Rotoehu Forest West

This block was added in 2018 to extend as far West as we possibly can on DOC land. To the west of this block is Plantation forest and a large tract of native under Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata.

Rotoehu Forest (RF) 1 and 2

These blocks have been added in 2022 and will be included in our 2022 ground based pest control operation. These form part of our goal to reach the Kokako Recovery Groups goal of populations containing 500 pairs of kokako and 2000 ha under management.