Vision: The right tree in the right place
In the right place, conifer trees have benefits for New Zealand. They provide timber, store carbon, decrease erosion, filter soil nutrients, improve water quality, and provide shelter and shade for stock. In the wrong place they are a major threat: to our ecosystems, landscape and farms. They out-compete native plants and animals, remove up to 40% of water from a catchment, limit productive land use options on high country farms and severely alter natural landscapes. Wilding conifers may also increase the risk of wild fires and harbour disease. Without decisive action, preventing them from spreading further would soon be beyond our grasp.
Aim: Prevent the spread of wilding conifers, and contain or eradicate established areas of wilding conifers by 2030.
Approach: Improve management of wilding conifers through:
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- individual and collective responsibility being recognised
- cost-effective and timely action
- prioritisation of wilding management
- coordination of policy, operations, communications, research and best practice
Outcomes for New Zealand:
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- Collaborative action: Key parties collaborate to minimise the negative economic, environmental and landscape impacts of wilding conifers including land occupiers, researchers, regulators and communities.
- Beneficial conifer plantings continue: wilding conifers are pests, but planted conifers are valuable resources – radiata pine and Douglas fir are New Zealand’s third-largest export earner after dairy and meat
- Prevent the spread: Limit the risk of conifer spread from high risk plantings and prevent or reduce the spread from new and existing conifer plantings and from wilding infestations.
- Wilding conifer management and control is timely and effective: Effective control includes an approach that:
- protects conservation values including native ecosystems and plant species
- protects iconic landscapes for local communities and tourists
- supports New Zealand’s brand of responsible natural wood products
- protects productive farming and forestry land
