07/04/2026
Put the kettle on and enjoy a great listen! Ollie is engaging, interesting and a real champion for biodiversity. Thanks Conservation Amplified for promoting our work!
Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust
Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust
Possums are one of the most widespread and damaging pests in Aotearoa NZ, with an estimated ~30 million around the country.
They compete with native species for food and habitat, prey on wildlife, eat LOTS of foliage, and put pressure on ecosystems, farms, and the wider economy.
As Ollie Rutland-Sims puts it, if we did nothing, “the supermarket shelves would be empty” for our biodiversity.
Most of the time, we respond by controlling possum numbers. But on the Banks Peninsula, a different approach is taking shape.
In our latest People Helping Nature Podcast episode, we sit down with Ollie Rutland-Sims from Pest Free Banks Peninsula - a project working to eliminate possums using a rolling frontline approach built on the idea that offence is the best defence.
At the time of recording:
~14,000 hectares have undergone knockdown
~5,800 hectares are already in defence (possum-free)
Their approach follows a four-phase blueprint:
knockdown → mop-up → surveillance → defence
And the numbers are starting to stack up, with elimination costing roughly the equivalent of three suppression cycles.
It’s not easy. The last animals are the hardest to remove, and success depends just as much on people and coordination as it does on tools. But it’s working - and it could provide a blueprint for tackling possums at scale across Aotearoa.
Learn more: listen to the podcast episode - https://conservationamplified.org/podcast/eliminating-possums-from-banks-peninsula-a-blueprint-for-nz-with-ollie-rutland-sims-pest-free-banks-peninsula
