Forestry workers in the thick of a 1080 drop yesterday on Auckland's Hunua Ranges say bait laced with the poison fell so close they could smell it.
"We could all smell it - that's how close it was," said logging contractor Mark Nyhoff of squares of poisoned cereal Auckland Council has used to eradicate pests in 21,500ha of parkland and some adjoining private blocks. "It was quite a sweet smell - a bit like cinnamon."
Mr Nyhoff, heading a 10-member crew clearing exotic trees at the northwestern edge of the ranges, claimed one of two helicopters breached an exclusion zone agreed between the council and the landowner.
"We were about 20m from where the chopper came through and he turned and his bucket swung over towards us, so he was pretty close.
"My guys weren't too happy."
He said he was disappointed not to have been notified about the operation before it began, just before 8am.
"They were supposed to notify us 24 hours prior, but we got a ring from the forestry company while they were dropping it."
Council regional and specialist parks manager Mace Ward said the land was treated at the owner's request, with the exception of where contractors were working.
He said "setbacks" were in place there.
The council had contacted the block's forestry manager by text and email on Sunday morning and phoned him yesterday morning to make sure he was aware of the operation.
"Upon answering, he confirmed that he'd received yesterday's [Sunday] notifications and was carrying out his contractor notifications," Mr Ward said.
"Mr Nyhoff also received a general stakeholder update email from us early this morning as he has requested to be on our database."
The 1080 drop was the final phase of an operation the council says is needed to protect the forest canopy from possums and to safeguard the eggs of native birds, such as the endangered kokako, from rats and stoats.
The council says all parkland and reserves in the ranges will remain closed for at least the rest of this week, depending on the weather, while tracks are cleared of any poison bait.
