Why did the possum cross the road…..?

…..to reach the highly palatable native trees.

At least they did, until Ngā Uruora volunteers started trapping them!

Ngā Uruora is a small community group looking after 292 hectares of outstanding natural landscape on behalf of all New Zealanders.

Locals will be familiar with the highly erodible landscape, most notably via the occasional boulder that falls onto what is now SH59. In recent years, however, we have noticed other things on the highway – roadkill in the form of possums.

Possums have never featured highly in our trapping records. In fact, we’ve had very little evidence of them on the escarpment over the years. Then, in 2023, Ngā Uruora volunteers noticed severe possum browse on some of the escarpment’s most palatable native plants, including threatened species growing up the Waikākāriki Gully.

So, we sprang into action.

We bought new flipping timmy possum traps, dusted off unused timms traps and resurrected the trap line up the Waikākāriki Gully. In the following twelve months we trapped more possums on the escarpment than we had in the previous twelve years.

Fast forward to 2026 and we have joined forces with Predator Free Paekākāriki to actively trap the station escarpment, across the road from Steam Inc. This is complementing the weed control Ngā Uruora got a grant to fund this year, as well as recent roadside maintenance by NZTA that has removed weeds creating a hazard along the highway.

Predator Free Paekākāriki has been trapping at Steam Inc since 2023, but the change in approach seems to be working! Last week, their trapper got three female possums out of three traps!

This is great news for the regenerating native vegetation on the station escarpment. By reducing possum browsing pressure, we hope to give native vegetation a better chance to regenerate and outcompete the weeds, while helping prevent possums from gaining a stronger foothold in the wider environment.

This is a great example of what community conservation can achieve through collaboration. Ngā Uruora and Predator Free Paekākāriki are contributing to a connected network of conservation across our landscape.

Thank you so much to Predator Free Paekākāriki for their support.

If anyone else is keen to take up the challenge of trapping and help protect the escarpment, we’d love to hear from you.