Good news for wilding control
23 May 2025
Kia ora koutou, we have a bit of news
The National Wilding Conifer Control Programme is to receive an additional $2 million of funding for control operations in the 2025/26 financial year (starting 1 July 2025). This has just been announced on the Beehive website in a joint statement by the Ministers of Agriculture and Biosecurity.
We are currently working with our Operational Advisory Group on planning control operations for next year and we’ll share more details once that is finalised. (This year's control areas are shown below).
In the meantime, it seems timely to share a few reminders of why this work is so important for all New Zealanders. This photo taken last week in the Mackenzie Basin, where Landslip Creek meets Lake Pūkaki, shows wildings spreading on both sides of the lake.
Aside from avoiding increasing control costs, effectively controlling wilding conifers avoids a lot of costs that affect us all:
- The security of water availability for hydro electricity generation and irrigation is helped when wildings are kept out of hydro lake catchments, such as around Lake Pūkaki, pictured above.
- Costs of fire prevention and control are lower when wildings are controlled.
- Reducing the spread of wildings onto productive pasture land reduces the costs on landowners to manage them.
- Iconic natural landscapes, rare native species and tourism locations are at their best and healthiest Zealand without wilding pines blocking views and shading out plants, like in this video in North Canterbury.
This map (click to view full size) shows where control operations are concentrated this year, with our baseline funding and the International Visitor Levy contribution announced in February.
Coming up
We'll send out a general Programme update soon. In the meantime...
If you are attending the National Agricultural Fieldays 12-15 June, look out for us at the MPI stand. We will be talking with farmers and landowners about how to protect their own and neighbouring land from wilding conifer infestations.
Nice to add this to some other good news shared this week on the Wilding Pine Network website!
Happy wilding-whacking to those heading out this weekend.
Sherman
Manager, National Wilding Conifer Control Programme
Biosecurity New Zealand
Wilding Pine Conference 2025, 14 to 16 October, in Twizel
Save the date and check out details at the Wilding Pine Network website. This is shaping up to be another cracking conference, with a focus on Innovation.
