Glenfern Sanctuary

Glenfern Sanctuary on Aotea/Great Barrier island is where we first started developing conservation data management tools using ArcGIS Online, and continues to this day to be our favourite beta testing location.

Every system that you see on this website had its inception in one way or another within the pest proof fence of this tiny sanctuary at the outer reaches of the Hauraki Gulf.
The most rewarding thing about spending such a long time working in pest control is that you get to see the biodiversity gains that you helped create.
In this case the most famous gain that we began measuring is the return of the threatened seabirds that once thrived across the Hauraki gulf but are now limited to the few pest free islands and sanctuaries.
Most significant are the Black Petrel and Cooks Petrels. Quite famously now, Cooks petrels were locally extinct on Aotea but we convinced them to reintroduce themselves to the Kotuku Peninsula where they could safely breed once more, by calling them in using an acoustic attraction device.
Eventually they created a small colony and a few isolated nests, and the kaitiaki of Glenfern Sanctuary now monitor them and the Black Petrels using the system we created for them to measure this conservation success story.