Wilding Control February 2025 Newsletter

Kia ora koutou,

2025 has kicked off at pace. Some updates and show-and-tell to share with you:

New social media videos to share
Planting forests on crown land - what is proposed
Powerful pictures from some 2023/24 operations
Pushing back Pinus contorta at Lake Pūkaki
Updates on operational direction and tools
Remembering Peter Oliver

Sherman Smith,
National Wilding Conifer
Control Programme Manager at Biosecurity New Zealand

Sherman says...

Is it too late for Happy New Year?

Well I hope that you have had some time out during the “summer” so far, or will get some before it is over.

One positive of unusually wet weather was a slowing of the fire season at least for some fire and emergency crews. However, since wet weather boosts vegetation (fuel) growth, let’s keep the risk of fire top of mind.

To help with this, a new social media short video gives seven quick tips to avoid making fire during control work (or when using any tools outside on a dry day). See below and please share with your networks.

2024 Highlights
During my break I reflected on what an extraordinary year 2024 was for the Programme and what we all collectively achieved:

We received funding from new sources – more than half the 289,000 hectares of control work delivered in 2023/24 was through partner funding – most of this from the International Visitor Levy; New government Ministers were brought up to speed, meeting several groups and seeing the issue first hand; we completed trials and guidance for new control and monitoring methods; and maintained a strong health and safety record.

All this despite organisational change, cost and budget pressures affecting so many - truly impressive.

2025 Focus
In 2025 we will continue pursuing opportunities to fund more control work, both in the short and long term. We’re also being challenged by our Governance Group to look hard at our operational priorities, and examining ways to deliver the greatest possible outcomes.

Peter Oliver Remembered

We were sad to hear of Peter Oliver's passing early in the new year.

As a leader in the forestry industry and a member of the Wilding Pine Network Peter made valuable contributions to the National Programme and wilding management more broadly. A generous contributor of his time and his points of view, he was extremely professional and calm in dealing with people. It will certainly be a loss not having Peter in the room.

Our heartfelt condolences to Peter's family, friends and colleagues.

Our wider BAU will include providing input into policy work such as the Request for Information process on afforestation (see below), overseeing health and safety, progressing research projects and continuing to educate people about wildings.

Here’s to another year of, as someone said to me recently, grabbing wildings by the cones!

Fire-wise guidance for every occasion

Working outdoors? WATCH THIS

PLANNING AN OPERATION? Get the Guide

NEW CREW? Show the full training video

Request for interest in afforestation on Crown land

The Government is looking for partners to plant trees on Crown-owned land that has low conservation and farming value.

A Request For Interest (RFI) in afforestation on crown land is open until 28 February, seeking feedback from potential investors on whether there is interest in planting new exotic or native forests on Crown land with low value in terms of productivity or conservation value.

The RFI is not in relation to any specific land parcels and the process does not guarantee that any proposed planting would go ahead.

Before deciding if any partnerships would be entered into, the potential risks and how these can be managed, including wilding conifer spread, will be considered.

Feedback closes 28 February
More information is available on the MPI website: Partnering to plant trees on Crown-owned land: Request for Information | NZ Government
Proposals or any questions can be sent to RFI@mpi.govt.nz.

What a difference $7m made

For the 2023/24 financial year the Programme was allocated a one-off package of around $7 million of Conservation funding, from the International Visitor Levy. This roughly doubled the year's maintenance control operations.

Partners have shared with us some great photos of where some of this control work was delivered. A sample below - more and full size photos on the website See more...

Bay of Plenty

This biospatial image from Bay of Plenty Regional Council shows a 'before' view of where ABBA work was done on wilding spread into the Kokamoka Valley (Rangitaiki MU).

Central North Island

Wildings clinging to the cliff faces above the Taruarau river were taken out with Aerial Basal Bark Application (ABBA) work (Kaimanawa MU).
Image from DOC Hawke's Bay (modified to highlight the wildings)

Otago
(Images below from DoC/ORC)

Snow didn't stop this hardy crew taking wildings by the cones at Eastburn, in the Kawarau MU.

Pinus contorta on the ridgeline at Coal Pit Saddle. More than 2500 wildings trees controlled here. In another year this one would have sent out seed towards the Nevis Valley.

Pushing back contorta at Ferintosh Station

Protecting Aoraki Mount Cook and clearing the views to the mountain and Lake

Birds eye view of Ferintosh control and Lake Pukaki

Photo of mechanical mulcher in action at Ferintosh

The teams at Environment Canterbury, Biosecurity New Zealand, and Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand, have been working closely on the removal of significant dense stands of wildings, mostly Pinus contorta, on Ferintosh Station, next to Lake Pūkaki.

Having this work underway is a key step in controlling one of Mackenzie’s worst wilding infestations - which extends along Lake Pūkaki towards Aoraki Mt Cook National Park.

The operation is pushing the northern extent of the infestation further back down the western side of the lake road away from the maunga (mountain).

This is a challenging site and the control work has been carefully planned with input from all the partners involved. Read more and see full size photos (spotted the machine yet?)

Where would we be without W.C.I.S.

Our Wilding Conifer Information System (WCIS) handles masses of data every day thanks to the geospatial experts at Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ). The team has continued providing seamless support to the Programme over the last year in the midst of staff changes, and a major upgrade of both software and hardware.

Improvements that have been made help our Programme partners and contractors by making the system faster and more responsive, and help out the teams at LINZ and BNZ with more efficient admin functions at the ‘back end’.

Next in the pipeline we are exploring some developments in the infestation mapping capabilities of the program, and how these might link with other remote sensing and machine learning technologies in future to help keep our infestation map up to date.

Welcome back to Beth Lawson our WCIS whiz, after your time out making a whole other person!

And thanks to Sarah Giles who more than held the fort for Beth.

Operational Advisory Group update

A summary from the Operational Advisory Group’s meeting in October 2024 is now available on the website.

On the agenda were: Discussions around the high-level approach to future control work, including reviewing previous reports on prioritisation of wilding conifer sites; work that was delivered over 2023/24; new good practice guides, which we shared in December and are linked again below. Read more...