Partners
The Kererü Discovery Project (KDP) is a partnership of five Wellington-based organisations:
• Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand (Coordinating Partner)
• The Wellington Zoo Trust
• Victoria University of Wellington
• The Karori Sanctuary Trust
• The Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai

Aims
These Founding Partners signed a Memorandum of Understanding in April 2007 agreeing to coordinate and collaborate on a set of sub-projects. The Three Year Plan adopted in June 2007 identifies three major objectives:
• Change people's behaviours to create an environment that ensures a sustainable future for Kererü
• Build a knowledge base of key information accessible to the community
• Combine individual strengths to provide a team that is more effective than the partners alone

Key messages of the project and the partners' sub-projects are:

• Backyard choices make a difference
• What's good for kererü is good for us
• The bird in your backyard is the bird in the bush
• Kererü are valuable for themselves
• It doesn't stop with kererü

These messages were developed because we believe that management of urban gardens is, in fact, likely to be increasingly important to
• Conservation of some endemic bird species which are under greater threat in wild and rural habitats from mustelids, possums and rats
• The survival of a number of plant species which are struggling or extinct in the wild
• Maintaining a reasonable quality of life for humans in the face of negative climate change effects
• Maintenance of useful levels of ecosystem complexity as growing human populations place ever greater pressure on wild and rural areas, potentially resulting in ever greater emphasis on fewer and fewer "economically useful" species.

Partners' sub-projects
1. The establishment of the website where interested people can register, log sightings of kererü and describe the plantings in their gardens. The resulting information database is used by the project described in 3 below. This project was managed by Te Papa and the site has recently been revamped thanks to a grant from the Wellington City Council.

2. The production of a documentary about the history and ecology of kererü, largely funded by the Royal Society. Te Papa has managed this project and commissioned footage from the NZ Film School for it.

3. A joint project between Wellington Zoo and Victoria University to research the behavioural ecology of kererü around Wellington using radio transmitters. A doctoral student carries out this research through Victoria University and Wellington Zoo coordinates the participation of schools (mostly in the collection of data).

4. The production of an interactive CD Rom game funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand. Te Papa worked with Chrometoaster Technology Ltd to develop the game and produce the CD Rom. The game won a TUANZ award in 2006.

5. Teacher training. Te Papa, Wellington Zoo and Karori Sanctuary Trust collaborated on a workshop to educate teachers in the use of the Project research and resources in their class rooms.

6. Feather cloak research. Analysis was conducted to identify the uses of kererü feathers in Te Papa's collection of kahu huruhuru. This will feed into a joint Te Papa/ GNS project using stable isotope analysis to identify the geographic origins of birds used for the cloaks.

Why kererü?
While kererü are not classified as endangered, like most NZ forest species, their numbers have declined dramatically as a result of habitat loss, competition and predation, all of which are a direct or indirect result of the successive waves of human arrival in New Zealand. Kererü were chosen as the focus species for the Project because:
• They are a key species for the survival of native forest ecosystems since they are the only remaining species capable of digesting the large seeds of some of the major canopy trees. Without kererü we may lose our native forests as we know them.
• They are a charismatic and highly visible species which many New Zealanders recognise and are fond of. This emotional link provides an opportunity to engage with schools and community groups about how healthy ecosystems function and how human activities impact on them both positively and negatively.
• Many iwi have particular cultural links with kererü. Historically, the species was important to Mäori in a number of ways.
• The Department of Conservation does not have an established programme to protect the species (because its numbers are recovering in some areas) so this activity is complementary to the Department's species-focused activities.
• There is anecdotal evidence that kererü are returning in greater numbers to the suburban areas of northern and western Wellington. There have also been some sightings in the eastern Miramar Peninsula. If there is population growth, finding out why and knowing how to support kererü in urban environments will help assure their survival and add to the social capital of the city. The knowledge thus gained can then be used by agencies in other locations to support kererü elsewhere.