Tait Communications Highlights Decade-Long Support for Matukituki Charitable Trust on World Conservation Day

Reliable Radio Communications Help Keep Volunteers Connected and Safe in Remote Alpine Terrain.

To mark World Conservation Day, Tait Communications has drawn attention to its ongoing partnership with the Matukituki Charitable Trust, a volunteer-based organisation that has worked since 2013 to protect and restore native plant and wildlife populations in the Matukituki Valley, part of Mt Aspiring National Park in New Zealand.

Operating in partnership with the Department of Conservation and the Southern Lakes Sanctuary Trust, the Matukituki Charitable Trust has pursued a long-term programme of predator trapping, fencing and seed monitoring aimed at returning the valley to a state capable of sustaining growing native species populations and, eventually, supporting species translocation. Over the past year alone, the Trust has removed 479 predators from the valley, supported by volunteers who contributed more than 550 hours of fieldwork.

The Trust recently confirmed it has met the central goal it set in 2013: reducing predator numbers to a level that allows native birdlife to thrive. Regular sightings of kaka, kea, kereru and kakariki are now reported across the valley, alongside recently released populations of mohua, an indication of the recovering ecological balance in the region.

Communications equipment has played a supporting role in enabling this work to be carried out safely. Over the past ten years, Tait Communications has donated nine handheld radios, comprising TP8100 and TP9300 models, which have served as the primary form of communication for volunteers working alone in the valley's alpine terrain. The radios are used alongside personal locator beacons carried by volunteers for emergency situations. Since being deployed, the equipment has supported operations in which more than 10,000 predators have been trapped and volunteers have logged in excess of 8,000 hours of service.

Tait Communications said it remains proud to support the Matukituki Charitable Trust with reliable communications equipment, helping ensure volunteers can stay connected and safe as they continue their conservation work in the Matukituki Valley.