The Challenge
Fulton Hogan has been the national partner of the Takahē Recovery Programme since 2016. Alongside the Department of Conservation (DOC), Ngāi Tahu and the New Zealand Nature Fund, we’re working to ensure that takahē are never again considered extinct.
At the heart of recovery efforts is DOC’s Burwood Takahē Centre, located near Te Anau in the deep south. Here, more than 100 takahē currently reside at 200 hectare facility, which is divided into pens where the birds are monitored and managed.
To assist with management of Burwood’s population, DOC rangers often need to catch resident takahē to monitor their health or prepare them for release into the wild. Takahē are fast and most often cautious of humans, so catching the birds can be a difficult exercise.
Commonly, takahē are lured into smaller capture pens with supplementary food. With this method, rangers must balance being far enough away to avoid spooking the takahē, while also remaining close enough to close the capture pen gate without them escaping in the process.
Rangers often have to get particularly sneaky with birds that are extra cautious of capture pens, usually by hiding out of sight and sprinting for the gate at the right moment. Situations like this present risk of injury to rangers and are not always successful.
The largest areas of the Burwood centre are dedicated to allowing takahē to roam, where they will often create and defend territories. These large pens can create additional challenges, particularly when the area’s dedicated capture pen is not within a takahē’s own territory. In these instances, a temporary capture pen kitted with a basic drop gate is set up in the takahē’s territory to aid the capture process.
Current Drop Gate Design
The current drop gate is made of wood and a metal bar, making it heavy and awkward to move around. It uses pins attached to long pieces of string as the triggering mechanism, this means the ranger still needs be relatively close by to capture takahē.
The current drop gate design was created as a one-off solution to catch a particularly difficult pair of birds. The concept has since proven its effectiveness on multiple occasions, when the situation calls for it. However, due to its cumbersome design, it’s only used in one specific area with vehicle access. Rangers must also use the drop gate with extreme caution, as the metal bar could potentially injure a bird in the capture process.
Challenge Purpose
Design a drop gate to be used in permanent and temporary takahē capture pens, to allow DOC rangers to safely and efficiently capture takahē and undertake essential monitoring and species management.
The design must meet all budget and technical specifications outlined in this document.
Specifications
Key specifications are outlined below. If you require additional information or have any questions relating to the challenge please email takaherecovery@doc.govt.nz before (7th October 2024).
Budget: total cost must not exceed $2,000 per unit including materials and construction.
Dimensions: 1,000mm high x 1,000-1,500mm wide
Weight: Current design weighs 15kg
The new design should be as lightweight as possible to ensure easy transport to remote areas.
Mobility/flexibility: Design should be collapsible to ensure the gate can be easily carried by a ranger to remote areas only reachable by foot. Design should be adjustable to fit a range of openings (between 1,000-1,500mm).
Must be able to be secured between a range of fixings, including gate posts, waratahs, portable screens or fencing standards. Rangers should be able to utilise impact drivers, 8mm hex screws, wood screws, cable ties and other readily available materials to secure the gate to a fixing.
Quality: Design needs to be weatherproof (including in rain and high winds) to ensure it can be left in a takahē habitat for multiple days to allow takahē to become familiar with it. Any triggering mechanisms must be reliable to avoid spooking birds with a failed drop.
Materials: All design components should be readily available and easily sourced for construction and replacement. Any batteries must be easily replaced in the field, and any repairs should be able to be undertaken on site.
Safety: Design must ensure that if a takahē were to get in the way when the gate is released, it would not be harmed.
Remote triggering: Design should be remotely triggered, eliminating need for rangers to sprint to close the gate and allowing them to remain hidden when triggering the release.
Challenge Timeline
Challenge open: 6th September 2024
Deadline for submission of questions: 7th October 2024
Entries close: 14th October 2024
Judging period: 15th – 25th October 2024
Winner announced: 29th October 2024
Entry Information
- Open to all Fulton Hogan employees and students at NZ tertiary institutions.
- Submissions by individuals or teams welcome.
- All entries must meet budget and technical specifications outlined by this document.
- Be submitted in electronic form to takaherecovery@doc.govt.nz by 11:59pm, 14 October 2024.
- Include entrant name(s), position(s) and a contact phone number.
- Include a solution design and brief methodology, including sources for materials.
- The winning designer or team will be offered the opportunity to accompany the Takahē Recovery Programme team on an upcoming takahē operation at a wild population site.
- Each applicant warrants that it is the legal and beneficial owner of the intellectual property in the innovation.
- The successful applicant grants to Fulton Hogan and DOC and their respective successors and assigns a non-exclusive royalty free licence to use the successful applicant’s intellectual property in the innovation in perpetuity.