A trust set up following an oil spill half a world away is helping save a colony of sooty shearwaters, otherwise known as muttonbirds, at Taiaroa Head, on Otago Peninsula.
The colonies are some of the last remaining mainland nesting sites for the birds in New Zealand.
The Lukenbach Trustee Council, set up as a result of the oil leaking from the sunken vessel Jacob Lukenbach off California, is helping fund fencing of one of the colonies, about 1000 pairs, on land covenanted by the Department of Conservation and the land's owner Perry Reid, of Nature's Wonder.
The leaking oil was known to have killed sooty shearwaters and other seabirds since 1972.
Doc Taiaroa head ranger Lyndon Perriam said the colony's sooty shearwaters migrated annually up off that part of the United States coast and some had come into contact with oil.
That the colony at Taiaroa Head still existed was probably due to the predator control work that was done to protect the albatross, he said.
While mainland colonies were scarce, the birds thrived on New Zealand's off-shore islands.
The birds nested by burrowing into the hillside so were at risk from rabbits, stoats and ferrets. A fence would help prevent rabbits from accessing the burrows and also keep grazing animals away.
Mr Reid said he had joined with the trust to help fund the project because it would protect the area's wildlife for future generations.
Once the fence was up, he also planned to electrify it to ensure ferrets and weasels did not get through.
He believed the project would cost about $150,000.
