Sponsorship
You can help us by sponsoring the Trust through annual contributions to our mahi. Please either email us at or pop into the Bluff Service Centre and we can discuss sponsorship options. You’ll receive a tax-deductible receipt for your donation and we’ll send you a friendly reminder each year to renew your sponsorship.
Our pest animal control network consists of 473 rat bait stations, 493 rat traps, 301 possum traps, and 162 mustelid traps; that’s 1,429 in total. 26 control lines (each line has multiple traps/bait stations) make up the network within the 640 hectares outside the Bluff township. Volunteers work an average of 160 hours per month on the control lines.
Norm Irwin installing a mustelid trap.A lot goes into sustaining our network. The traps and bait stations require cleaning and maintenance (both of which require hand tools) and occasional replacement as well as lure and baits. The lines require periodic clearing that requires the use of cutting tools and petrol powered chain saws. Due to exposure to coastal weather, trail and trap/station markers require replacement. The tools and supplies that are used for maintenance, cleaning, and clearing have to be regularly restocked. We provide petrol vouchers to reimburse volunteers who use petrol powered chain saws. As technology advances, we replace traps and bait stations with better performing models and this is quite costly. We’ve already replaced all the original possum traps and the original bait stations once and the newer models work well, protect the baits from exposure to coastal weather, secure baits inside the stations and off the tracks, and are use-friendly for our volunteers. Over the 640 hectares that comprises our control network, our volunteers use backpacks, frame packs, bumbags and carry bags to haul replacement traps/bait stations and all the supplies, tools, baits, and lures they need to maintain their traps/bait stations and track lines. This puts a lot of wear-and-tear on their packs and bags and they require periodic replacement.
