The bush is silent now. Gone are the sounds of axe and saw, the pounding of the stamping battery and the whistle of the logging trains. Gone also is the birdsong that echoed throughout this island before the habitat of many native species was destroyed.

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While the native bush is regenerating rats and cat, pigs and dogs are still decimating our remaining wildlife.

As custodians of the largest offshore island of New Zealand it behooves us all to follow the example set by a few pathfinders to help turn the tide on the reducing numbers of our native wildlife. The state of the environment at the turn of the millennium recorded that Great Barrier Island was still free of the imported predators, possum, stoat, ferret, weasel, deer, Norway rat hedgehog and mosquito fish (gambusia), that have devastated mainland native wildlife. While legislation has been enacted to protect this status it is hoped that further efforts will be made by the Territorial Local Authorities and the Department of Conservation to eradicate and control the remaining predators.

Great Barrier Island is already over-run by ship rats and the feral cat population is expanding at an unprecedented rate. We must all take some responsibility for the loss of species and be proactive in implementing control and eradication measures.