New Zealand spent 14 years restoring Abel Tasman and its native wildlife

AI Representational Image The Abel Tasman National Park can still look much as visitors might expect from a New Zealand wilderness: forest, rivers, beaches and a coastline opening onto the sea. Yet beneath that familiar scenery, the park has undergone a long ecological repair. According to the Project Janszoon official website it began in 2012, parts of the park had lost much of their natural richness to introduced predators and invasive plants. Fourteen years of pest control, weed removal, habitat work, species recovery and education have since changed what can be heard and seen across the landscape. Native birds are returning to places where they have become scarce, forest plants are recovering and a wider community has become involved in looking after the park.A 14-year restoration effort began in New Zealand’s Abel TasmanThe Abel Tasman had the appearance of an intact landscape when Project Janszoon was established. Its ecological condition told a less reassuring story. Introduced pests were affecting native wildlife, while weeds were competing with indigenous vegetation. Some of the park's forests had become unusually quiet because birds that once formed part of the everyday s...