Latest news with #Pinuscontorta
Scoop
2 days ago
- General
- Scoop
Concerns The Battle Against Wilding Conifer Pines Is Being Lost, Amid Funding Uncertainty
Monique Steele, Journalist The fight to stop the remarkably rapid spread of wilding conifer pine trees continues, as Southland officials are warning the pines have caused a land-use and biosecurity crisis for the region. Around 2 million hectares of New Zealand were by wilding pines, like common offenders Pinus contorta and Douglas fir, and untreated areas expanded at a rate of about 5 percent each year. Pine seeds could travel tens of kilometres by wind and grew easily posing a difficult task for teams trying to stamp out infestations. A quarter of New Zealand would be covered in the unwanted pines without controls, according to the Ministry for Primary Industries website. In late July, the government announced an extra $3 million over three years for wilding pines controls in Molesworth and Mackenzie Basin areas, funded by the International Visitor Levy, adding to the $12m already allocated this financial year. Industry group Federated Farmers' pest animal and weed spokesperson, Richard Dawkins, said wilding pines posed an "ecological crisis" - and while the funding was welcomed, it fell short of what was needed. "The battle against wilding conifers is being lost," he said. "Some funding has been allocated over the years, but it's been patchy and nowhere near enough to tackle the problem properly." Southland Regional Council councillors were told this week the spread of Douglas fir in particular was accelerating across the region, and current investment and control methods were "inadequate" to keep pace with the scale of spread. Environment Southland's report author warned the cost of controls increased exponentially over time, once trees matured and seeded. "Without further intervention, vast areas of northern Southland could be overtaken within 30 years, resulting in irreversible environmental and economic loss," it said. "Wilding conifers are spreading at a scale and speed that outpaces current control budgets and operational efforts can contain." Biosecurity New Zealand coordinated the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme with landowners, industry groups and councils. Manager Sherman Smith said it was working to manage a dozen problematic species across 42 areas nationwide that threatened biodiversity. "They form a monoculture of these unwanted and pretty much useless trees," Smith said. "They shade out all the native plants and animals, they increase the fire risk warning because wilding pines are quite flammable and there are no fire breaks, so they can cause some significant increase in fire risk. "They can also reduce the amount of water that is going into streams, particularly in those drier areas of the country, which has some flow-on effects in terms of irrigation and hydro generation." Smith said they also had effects for tourism too. "Obviously it has quite a landscape impact, it cloaks a lot of the iconic New Zealand areas in these forests that are exotic, so collectively those impacts are worth billions to New Zealand if we allow these things to keep spreading." He said the programme prioritised areas, then developed plans with regional councils and landowners that contractors helped implement. "I think at peak, we had about 500 contractors on the ground. It's a little bit less than that at the moment, obviously with their funding being a little bit lower than it was at peak." More than $150m of government money has been committed to the programme since it was launched in 2016, with another $33m from landowners and communities. The government established a baseline funding model of $10m in 2023/2024, excluding top-ups, which deferred some work and prompted concerns by Southland officials. Smith said there had been some success in control areas where seeding trees were removed, then seedlings were controlled in three-yearly cycles before they coned. "We've got some really good success stories that are getting to the end of the journey and really at a point that we can hand back the management, to the landowner to manage as part of their day-to-day farming operations or land management work." But he said there was more work to do. "There are still some big challenges in front of us," he said. "We've done the first round of control across about three-quarters of our known infestations, so there's a quarter out there that we haven't started into yet and obviously the gains that we have made, we've got to keep on that maintenance to lock in those benefits that we've achieved." Smith asked farmers to check there were no "problem tree species" in their shelter belts and small woodlots, which were two major sources of the trees.
RNZ News
5 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
Concerns the battle against wilding conifer pines is being lost, amid funding uncertainty
Pine seeds could travel tens of kilometres by wind and grew easily posing a difficult task for teams trying to stamp out infestations. Photo: Central Otago Wilding Conifer Group The fight to stop the remarkably rapid spread of wilding conifer pine trees continues, as Southland officials are warning the pines have caused a land-use and biosecurity crisis for the region . Around 2 million hectares of New Zealand were affected by wilding pines, like common offenders Pinus contorta and Douglas fir, and untreated areas expanded at a rate of about 5 percent each year. Pine seeds could travel tens of kilometres by wind and grew easily posing a difficult task for teams trying to stamp out infestations. A quarter of New Zealand would be covered in the unwanted pines without controls, according to the Ministry for Primary Industries website . In late July, the government announced an extra $3 million over three years for wilding pines controls in Molesworth and Mackenzie Basin areas, funded by the International Visitor Levy, adding to the $12m already allocated this financial year. Industry group Federated Farmers' pest animal and weed spokesperson, Richard Dawkins, said wilding pines posed an "ecological crisis" - and while the funding was welcomed, it fell short of what was needed. "The battle against wilding conifers is being lost," he said. "Some funding has been allocated over the years, but it's been patchy and nowhere near enough to tackle the problem properly." Around 2 million hectares of New Zealand were affected by wilding pines. Photo: Central Otago Wilding Conifer Group Southland Regional Council councillors were told this week the spread of Douglas fir in particular was accelerating across the region, and current investment and control methods were "inadequate" to keep pace with the scale of spread. Environment Southland's report author warned the cost of controls increased exponentially over time, once trees matured and seeded. "Without further intervention, vast areas of northern Southland could be overtaken within 30 years, resulting in irreversible environmental and economic loss," it said. "Wilding conifers are spreading at a scale and speed that outpaces current control budgets and operational efforts can contain." Biosecurity New Zealand coordinated the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme with landowners, industry groups and councils. Manager Sherman Smith said it was working to manage a dozen problematic species across 42 areas nationwide that threatened biodiversity. "They form a monoculture of these unwanted and pretty much useless trees," Smith said. "They shade out all the native plants and animals, they increase the fire risk warning because wilding pines are quite flammable and there are no fire breaks, so they can cause some significant increase in fire risk. "They can also reduce the amount of water that is going into streams, particularly in those drier areas of the country, which has some flow-on effects in terms of irrigation and hydro generation." Smith said they also had effects for tourism too. "Obviously it has quite a landscape impact, it cloaks a lot of the iconic New Zealand areas in these forests that are exotic, so collectively those impacts are worth billions to New Zealand if we allow these things to keep spreading." He said the programme prioritised areas, then developed plans with regional councils and landowners that contractors helped implement. "I think at peak, we had about 500 contractors on the ground. It's a little bit less than that at the moment, obviously with their funding being a little bit lower than it was at peak." Photo: Supplied/Whakatipu Wilding Control Group More than $150m of government money has been committed to the programme since it was launched in 2016, with another $33m from landowners and communities. The government established a baseline funding model of $10m in 2023/2024, excluding top-ups, which deferred some work and prompted concerns by Southland officials. Smith said there had been some success in control areas where seeding trees were removed, then seedlings were controlled in three-yearly cycles before they coned. "We've got some really good success stories that are getting to the end of the journey and really at a point that we can hand back the management, to the landowner to manage as part of their day-to-day farming operations or land management work." But he said there was more work to do. "There are still some big challenges in front of us," he said. "We've done the first round of control across about three-quarters of our known infestations, so there's a quarter out there that we haven't started into yet and obviously the gains that we have made, we've got to keep on that maintenance to lock in those benefits that we've achieved." Smith asked farmers to check there were no "problem tree species" in their shelter belts and small woodlots, which were two major sources of the trees. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
11-06-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Wilding pines threat, funding on agenda
The rise of a new villain and a lack of funding are two challenges facing a trust dedicated to removing wilding trees in Northern Southland. The Mid Dome Wilding Trees Charitable Trust hosted a hui in Lumsden last week to discuss the challenges facing the trust. Those attending included Southland District Mayor Rob Scott, district councillors, trust members and Department of Conservation and Environment Southland staff members. The trust was formed in 2006 to deal with the spread of wilding pines in the Mid Dome area. The Mid Dome project area surrounds the Cupola and Mid Dome ranges, and comprises an area of 68,602ha about halfway between Invercargill and Queenstown. Trust chairwoman Ali Ballantine said during the last volunteer day the trust held to remove wilding trees she had been surprised to see how many Douglas fir seedlings were growing. While seeds were being dispersed from existing plantations the problem could get worse as more trees were planted for carbon farming, Ms Ballantine said. There were few rules to hold those planting trees accountable for the spread of seeds that caused the problems, she said. Something needed to be done to stop the planting of species in inappropriate places. "This problem is not going away — it's going to bankrupt us." Environment Southland biosecurity plants team leader Jolie Hazley said she had seen the numbers of wilding Douglas fir trees increase rapidly in the past 10 years. Wilding Douglas fir could be found throughout Northern Southland as wind carried the seed. Some were growing up to 14km from the nearest seeding trees, she said. Trust member Geoffrey Young said if the trees were allowed to keep growing it would lead to a "very real biodiversity loss". The trees could grow at altitudes of up to about 2400m. "You would have virtually no high-altitude tussock country anywhere in the country." Where land was grazed the seedlings would be eaten off but higher up there would be nothing to stop the trees taking over, he said. Ms Ballantine said the trust had made good progress in eliminating Pinus contorta and Pinus mugo but its work was being affected by a cut in funding. If the group had received the same level of government funding as in the past the task would have been completed by 2033, she said. "With a couple of years of inadequate funding, we're on the back foot again." Trust member Richard Bowman said it made economic sense to finish the job now. "A dollar spent today is going to save you $90 50 years down the track because you get on and fix the problem."
Otago Daily Times
05-06-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Wilding Douglas fir threat, funding on agenda
The rise of a new villain and a lack of funding are two challenges facing a trust dedicated to removing wilding trees in Northern Southland. The Mid Dome Wilding Trees Charitable Trust hosted a hui in Lumsden on Wednesday to discuss the challenges facing the trust. Those attending included Southland District Mayor Rob Scott, district councillors, trust members and Department of Conservation and Environment Southland staff members. The trust was formed in 2006 to deal with the spread of wilding pines in the Mid Dome area. The Mid Dome project area surrounds the Cupola and Mid Dome ranges, and comprises an area of 68,602ha about halfway between Invercargill and Queenstown. Trust chairwoman Ali Ballantine said during the last volunteer day the trust held to remove wilding trees she had been surprised to see how many Douglas fir seedlings were growing. While seeds were being dispersed from existing plantations the problem could get worse as more trees were planted for carbon farming, Ms Ballantine said. There were few rules to hold those planting trees accountable for the spread of seeds that caused the problems, she said. Something needed to be done to stop the planting of species in inappropriate places. "This problem is not going away— it's going to bankrupt us." Environment Southland biosecurity plants team leader Jolie Hazley said she had seen the numbers of wilding Douglas fir trees increase rapidly in the past 10 years. Wilding Douglas fir could be found throughout Northern Southland as wind carried the seed. Some were growing up to 14km from the nearest seeding trees, she said. Trust member Geoffrey Young said if the trees were allowed to keep growing it would lead to a "very real biodiversity loss". The trees could grow at altitudes of up to about 2400m. "You would have virtually no high-altitude tussock country anywhere in the country." Where land was grazed the seedlings would be eaten off but higher up there would be nothing to stop the trees taking over, he said. Ms Ballantine said the trust had made good progress in eliminating Pinus contorta and Pinus mugo but its work was being affected by a cut in funding. If the group had received the same level of government funding as in the past the task would have been completed by 2033, she said. "With a couple of years of inadequate funding, we're on the back foot again." Trust member Richard Bowman said it made economic sense to finish the job now. "A dollar spent today is going to save you $90 50 years down the track because you get on and fix the problem."
