{"id":221788,"date":"2026-01-07T17:33:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T17:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/221788\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T17:33:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T17:33:06","slug":"5-9-million-fence-to-protect-wellington-forest-from-pests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/221788\/","title":{"rendered":"$5.9 million fence to protect Wellington forest from pests"},"content":{"rendered":"

But it is under threat from deers, pigs and goats eating its undergrowth<\/p>\n

Greater Wellington Regional Council is spending a decade building a fence to protect thousands of hectares of native forest from pests.<\/p>\n

RNZ was given a look at the area of Wainuiomata Regional Park which was normally roped off to the public due to its proximity to the capital’s water source.<\/p>\n

Driving through the native bush, r\u0101t\u0101 trees estimated to be hundreds of years old were in full bloom – offering spots of bright red amongst shades of light and dark green.<\/p>\n

But underneath the tree canopy was a problem that had been brewing for years.<\/p>\n

\"Keeping<\/p>\n

\n

Photo: RNZ \/ Mark Papalii\n<\/p>\n

The forest floor’s undergrowth had been largely cleared of almost everything besides plants that tasted bad to pests or were difficult to eat for pigs, goats and deer.<\/p>\n

The regional council’s delivery director Jack Mace told RNZ that prevented future plants and trees from being able to grow after older ones died.<\/p>\n

“We are controlling possums in here and we are now increasingly controlling deer, pigs and goats.”<\/p>\n

Mace said there was a “constant wave” of pests coming in from lands near the water catchment.<\/p>\n

“So, what we are looking to do is to build a deer, pig and goat-proof fence around the whole valley so we can effectively eradicate them around that whole area.”<\/p>\n

\"Keeping<\/p>\n

\n

Photo: RNZ \/ Mark Papalii\n<\/p>\n

The fence was set to cost $5.9 million over a 10-year period and would protect 7400 hectares of forest.<\/p>\n

He said it was not a Zealandia-style fence but more a fence built specifically for larger pests.<\/p>\n

“Our fence that we’ll build won’t be sufficient to keep predators like stoats and cats out.”<\/p>\n

Mace noted there was a business case to fence off part of the area which would protect it from all pests<\/a> but that would need central government funding.<\/p>\n

\"Keeping<\/p>\n

\n

Photo: RNZ \/ Mark Papalii\n<\/p>\n

The forest has been home to the North Island brown kiwi for 20 years ago, a population that had been increasing due to predator controls.<\/p>\n

He said the richness of the forest was incredible.<\/p>\n

“Hundreds and hundreds of species down here. What’s special about this area is that we have got six or seven different forest types.”<\/p>\n

Recently workers in the forest had found critically endangered species such as New Zealand’s only indigenous fully parasitic flowering plant Dactylanthus and short-tailed bats.<\/p>\n

“Even where we have been in here for over a hundred years, we are still finding things.”<\/p>\n

The project is due to be completed by 2034.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But it is under threat from deers, pigs and goats eating its undergrowth Greater Wellington Regional Council is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-221788","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}