Conservation Actions Habitat Protection New Zealand faces major challenges to conserve its many endangered plants and animals. Today about 30 percent of the country's land is under the care of New Zealand's Department of Conservation, which manages national parks and other protected areas. The Department is placing emphasis on protection of habitats, rather than captive breeding programs. Relocation to Reserves New Zealand has undertaken an intensive relocation and protection program to save the kakapo. Any kakapos surviving on inhabited islands of New Zealand are carefully trapped and relocated to protected refuge islands where all predators such as feral cats and rats have been eliminated.
Caretakers live on the island and human access is strictly controlled.
No boats are allowed to land, for fear that rats will be brought ashore. About 40 kakapos have been rescued. Their complex reproductive behavior continues to be a challenge to their survival, however. Little is known about the kakapo's role in its native habitat. Rescuing and relocating the kakapo has been an expensive project for the New Zealand government.