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SMLRT’s Andrew Withers gave an excellent presentation and many people talked to him about his ideas - it was good exposure for our Trust. The Nuisance presentation by Simon Hodgson from Aoraki Tree & Scrub was on at the same time so we missed listening to it - Pete Oswald Project Manager, Central Otago Conifer Control Group gave a summary of points and the presentation will go up on the Wilding Pine Network website Excellent presentation from the funding strategist - Cheryl Spain, Executive Director of the Gift Trust - who the Wilding Pine Network will be working with to move forward with the Funding Summit. Frost Flats in the Central North Island - radiata pine isn’t a problem seeding from Kaiangaroa because it can’t grow in the frost flats - needs to be mounded above the frost - so this led onto using Contorta pine for shelter belts and the legacy of this decision means there is a constant programme to “mop up” the resulting infestations. There was much more history on contorta and the great success to control infestations in the central plateau - and the awareness that it was a problem in the 50s well before it was planted/seeded into the Branch Leatham as well. NEW TECHNOLOGY’S IMPACT FOR THE FUTURE Wind modelling from Scion, Jiawei Zhang - we would like to model the Branch Leatham seed rain into Molesworth - we need to show visually what it would look like as well as the costs to control the resulting infestations. New drone technology including hybrid battery/petrol models that can take a bigger payload
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