Ban 1080 Party leader Bill Wallace, of Golden Bay, said for the past 10 years $350 million per year had been allocated to conservation and the public had got nothing from it.
''[The Department of Conservation] are currently preparing the NZ public for another massive aerial poisoning of our forests ... in response to yet another beech mast.
''Surely continual partial control makes a lot more sense than a sporadic and occasional dumping of a toxin that is capable of killing a fair percentage of everything, including endangered birds.
''1080 is a cruel, inhumane poison that effectively chemically strangles its victims to death over many hours ... but rats are the fastest to recover and remain at higher levels in poisoned areas.''
Mr Wallace, a former Doc employee, said money would be better spent setting up a network to prioritise areas where the greatest benefit would be gained and use self-resetting trap lines and commercial possum hunters.
''The money spent on the propaganda exercise Battle for our Birds last year probably would have set up a whole national park with traps. Doc are flying into these areas every three months to count rat footprints anyway.''
In a statement, Doc said Battle for our Birds killed 95% of rats and 85% of stoats last year and initial results also indicated ''significantly higher'' nesting success for rock wren, mohua, robin and rifleman.
''Some native birds [have] been lost to 1080 but these losses are outweighed by the benefits to the populations of these species.''
Doc scientist Graeme Elliott did not respond to requests for comment.
