Halo Project

Orokonui Ecosanctuary - Te Korowai o Mihiwaka is at the heart of the predator free movement to the north of the city.

Within its predator-proof fence, Orokonui Ecosanctuary - Te Korowai o Mihiwaka provides a safe haven for native wildlife. As populations grow, species such as South Island kākā, kākaruwai/South Island robin and tīeke/saddleback spill over the fence into the surrounding landscape.

That’s where the Halo Project comes in.

Since 2016, the Halo Project’s Predator Free team has been working with communities, landowners and partners to protect wildlife and habitat across 12,500 hectares surrounding Orokonui Ecosanctuary - Te Korowai o Mihiwaka, stretching from east of State Highway One to the coast, and including West Harbour, Kāpuka-taumahaka/Mount Cargill, Aramoana and the northern beaches.

Across this ‘Zero-Density Zone’, an extensive network of traps targets possums and mustelids including stoats, ferrets and weasels, while also removing rats and other introduced predators. The aim is to bring possum numbers to, and keep them at, zero-density, where they are so scarce that the remaining animals cannot successfully reproduce.

In 2026, Predator Free Dunedin received $3.9 million of new investment from the Department of Conservation to take predator elimination to the next level. Over the next three years, the Halo Project’s Predator Free team will use this funding to focus on eliminating possums, stoats and feral cats across a connected landscape stretching from Port Chalmers to Orokonui Ecosanctuary - Te Korowai o Mihiwaka, out towards Aramoana Peninsula and north to the Blueskin Bay area.

This next phase builds on the work already underway through the Halo Project, bringing together landscape-scale predator control, improved detection and monitoring, rapid response, and the continued involvement of communities, landowners and volunteers.

You can help! If you live within the Halo Project area, there are plenty of ways to get involved, from trapping in your backyard and volunteering on community traplines to keeping an eye out for predators and reporting sightings. Every trap checked and predator reported helps protect native wildlife as it moves beyond the sanctuary fence and into our communities.

Visit the Halo Project website to find out more and get involved.

Key native species: Kererū, pīwakawaka, kārearea/falcon, titīpounamu/rifleman, tūī, korimako/bellbird

Target predator(s): Rats, mustelids, possums, feral cats

Website: haloproject.org.nz