Karaka Cove was the first local reserve to have a pest control plan put into action, with Auckland Council supplying all the traps.
At the end of January 2014 volunteers set out 23 bait stations and within three days the first possum was trapped; by the end of March traps had already caught 8 possums at the Weiti River end of the reserve. By September Pauline Smith reported that over a 20-week period 600 rat baits were taken from Karaka Cove bait stations and 16 possums were caught there in the same period, in just one Timms trap.
Volunteers continue to monitor the bait stations and trap lines.
Karaka Cove is well tracked, and has a very large Kauri tree in the gully. It is definitely worth a walk! (access is from Matheson Rd, Red Beach - see map).
