$1m Fund to Fight Wilding Pines

A new $1 million fund will back community groups, volunteers and landowners fighting wilding pines across the country.

Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard made the announcement Tuesday at the national Wilding Pine Conference in Southland. The money, available through the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme, will be spread over two years to support grassroots control projects.

It sits on top of $109 million already committed over the next three years to ramp up national control work.

"Wilding pines are a scourge on the productive heart of rural New Zealand, and there are plenty of people as passionate as I am about getting rid of them," Hoggard said.

Wilding pines choke productive farmland, threaten water supplies in sensitive catchments, strip out native biodiversity and raise wildfire risk. They spread fast and, left unchecked, are extremely expensive to remove.

Hoggard said community effort was already making a dent. "Volunteers, landowners and community groups, with help from contractors and councils, are already making enormous progress to tackle infestations. This initiative is about backing those local efforts."

The fund reflects a view that national coordination and local action aren't mutually exclusive. "With a problem as big as wilding pines, national coordination is essential, but I also believe in letting local people take charge of local issues," Hoggard said.

Expressions of interest are expected to open later this year.