The government may be committing more than $20 million to ramp up pest control using 1080 in New Zealand but Te Urewera will remain free of the poison - for now. The battle for New Zealand's native birds is set to receive a $20.7 million boost in this year's budget and the aim is to squash a predicted boom in rat and stoat populations, predicted to follow heavy forest seeding, by backing aerial 1080 operations with on-going trapping and ground control programmes.
