Funding cuts: when good pines could go wild

Wilding Pine Network coordinator Jo Ritchie on a survey flight earlier this year. (Image: Wilding Pines Network)

Fri, 23 Dec 2022

New Zealand’s efforts to control wilding conifers and the resulting economic damage will be thrown into reverse under planned funding cuts, an advocacy group says. And the problem could be worsened by trees spreading from forestry carbon sinks.The systematic control of wilding pines started in 2016 with the creation of the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme, managed by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).This followed decades of sporadic efforts to deal with the problem. A 2014 MPI paper said wilding pines were spr...

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