At the end of June 2024 we had the opportunity to collaborate with DOC after extra funding was made available for most gain, this was used in Wye North sector of the Waihopai Management Unit for wilding pines/conifer control.

The Wye North sector acts as a buffer from the Branch Leatham and Turkeys Nest conifer  plantings. The Wye Hills block has been subject to conifer spread from this area for many years, and has a long-standing problem with conifer invasion. 

The Wye Hills block has been targeted for ground-based conifer control for many years. With the additional DOC funding SMLRT advised the most proficient way to use the DOC funding was to continue the uncompleted Wye Hills ABBA (Aerial Basal Bark Application) programme that had commenced in May-June 2024, resulting in the treatment of 7000 conifers

The object was to complete the original programme, this involved treating an additional area of approximately 100 hectares, which gave an overall treatment area of 1000 hectares.

The extra work saw approximately 800 further trees treated, being a mixture of contorta (55%), Monticola (30%) and Douglas fir (15%). There are still low numbers of non-coning trees present, with approx. 98% of coning-adult trees treated.

The map above show the areas in red that SMLRT have previously treated and  the black areas show what the DOC funding was able to complete.

As SMLRT has good knowledge of the area we advised then actioned the spending of the extra DOC funding. Our proven results as a community trust enabled us to be proactive instead of reactive in this high risk spread area.

John Oswald and Ket Bradshaw attended a meeting in Wellington with Simon Upton, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.

Discussions ranged over SMLRT’s recent operational work and advocacy in Wellington to MPI’s commitment (or lack of it) to tackling the Branch Leatham and future funding options. Mr Upton has been on record with his concerns over funding cutbacks to the NWCC (National Wilding Conifer Control) programme so in some respects we were speaking to the converted, but he was enthusiastic regarding our IVL (International Visitor Levy) proposal and said he would arrange a meeting with Tama Potaka, Minister of Conservation to discuss funding.

We are working towards the funding requirements for control in the Branch Leatham making sure they are available for the October Funding Summit. We are looking at a workshop to prepare a Branch Leatham Strategic Plan based around the infestation map. This plan needs to set out a proposed control strategy and take into account the continual creep of wildings.