The island is a recreation reserve controlled by the Department of Conservation (DOC) and administered by the Motuihe Trust.

[citation needed] During the First World War, the station was used as an internment camp whose most famous prisoner was Count Felix von Luckner and his crew of the commerce raider SMS Seeadler.

Then sailing to the Kermadec Islands he was recaptured (and escaped again),[5] though not before becoming something of an odd type of hero in the eyes of many New Zealanders, for the fact that his numerous and daring wartime escapades had killed only a single person.

The base remained a navy training ground until 1963, when its functions were moved to the North Shore mainland.

[citation needed] In early 2008, rat footprints were found in a tracking tunnel (a device to check for the presence of certain animals) on the island.

This set off a substantial effort by the trust and DOC to catch the rodent, which was feared to be part of a larger infestation.

Moth plant (Araujia sericifera), woolly nightshade (Solanum mauritianum) and Italian buckthorn (Rhamnus alaternus) slow the forest's regeneration and require constant management with the help of volunteers.