SFF Project Summary
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Last updated: 06 April 2009
Commercial Worth of Wildings
Wilding Pines Newsletter 1
[PDF 165 KB]
www.wildingconifers.org.nz
NZ Plant Protection Journal - Abstracts
Project description
Improving the prevention, management and control of wilding conifers, particularly on privately managed land
The issue/opportunity
The spread of wilding conifers is causing concern, particularly on extensive hill and high country land in the eastern parts of the South Island. Although wilding conifers have been spreading for more than a century, the problem has only been recognised relatively recently. This has led to differing approaches and a number of agencies trying to deal with the problem. Consequently, the level of knowledge about wilding spread, and the cost-effectiveness of prevention and control strategies varies greatly. The SFF project presents a good opportunity to identify and fill the knowledge gaps, to advocate the true facts and 'best bet' management techniques more widely, and to promote collaboration between management agencies.
The context/background
Wilding spread threatens pastoral production and conservation values, and disrupts visual landscapes. Within its region, Environment Canterbury estimates 62,000 ha to contain wildings. Significant areas are affected in Otago (around 6,000 ha in the Queenstown area alone), Southland and Marlborough (around 50,000 ha affected on Molesworth station). Many landowners are faced with control problems, and to most private farmers, this is a new management issue. Consequently, fundamental questions relating to spread risk/prevention and operational control strategies, and post-control management have still to be answered satisfactorily.
This bid offers the opportunity to form and utilise a wilding conifer working group to oversee the project and assist it to meet its objectives. There has been a call for such a group before, but it has never materialised .
Methods
Consequent to a limited amount of past work, some people now have a good understanding of wilding conifer spread ecology and basic control strategies. However, these are not widely understood by all land managers, and there are still important knowledge gaps to be filled. There is also considerable promotional work to be undertaken, before the most cost-effective control can be carried out by all those affected by wilding spread. Standardised methods for recognising susceptible land, prioritising areas for control and predicting outcomes have yet to be perfected (addressed Objective 1). Many control techniques are being used to remove and kill standing trees, but these have not been standardised and much has to be learnt about the best tools for use on the wide variety of sites affected by wildings (Objective 2). Farmers, in particular, largely remain uninformed, and are questioning how to use limited resources for the most cost-effective control. In addition, once cleared of wildings, little is known about how to most effectively manage extensively farmed land in order to prevent reinvasion and bring it back into desired production or conservation use (Objective 3).
Information transfer will mainly be via annual newsletters, a dedicated website, plus field-days / workshops, and by articles and promotion released through farmer, DOC and Council media channels. Wilding maps will be sent to individual land managers in spread-susceptible areas. Awareness of the Project will be greatly aided by members of the Management Group representing all the major stakeholders and end-uses.
Latest update
The SFF Wilding Project has continued to make progress during this second 4-month period for 2008/09.
The wilding risk assessment maps and report are now complete and available on our website. The stem poisoning trial on Arapawa Island has been written up and a report posted on the website.
The trial shows that metsulfuron will be the major chemical for cost-effective poisoning of mature radiata trees. A 'best-bet' recommendation for stem poisoning radiata pine wildings of any size is currently being tested on Arapawa Island.
The pot trial to determine the best chemical mix for foliar treatment of D-fir is being written up and abstracts for two papers on this work have been submitted for scientific publication. Field trials of the most promising chemicals were established at three sites (Mid Dome, Queenstown and near L. Pukaki) in late November, 2008.
A first draft of the wilding control manual has been completed and handed out for comment to a sample of end-users.
A trial to determine vegetation sequences following a wilding fire on Mt Cook station was preliminarily assessed in December, 5 months after its establishment.. Wildings are only emerging where they were sown (i.e., no natural wilding regeneration seen) and none are emerging where grasses were sown. From 26-29 February, field assessments were made of D-fir invasion of mountain beech forest behind Queenstown, as well as on non-target impacts (mostly native species) of aerial spraying of D-fir wildings on Queenstown Hill.
Sites, agendas and contact people were finalised for the seven wilding control workshops being held from 25 March-9 April (Southland -1; Otago -1; Canterbury - 3 and Marlborough - 2).
Powerpoint presentations of the SFF wilding project were made to Environment Southland and DOC in Invercargill (4/5 December), the Hawkes Bay Regional Council in Napier (2 February) and a Diverse Species meeting of Future Forest Research in Christchurch (10 February), plus a field presentation on Flock Hill station on 18 February. The Hawkes Bay visit was covered in a Countrywide magazine article (March Issue, P 67).
The Project website has been maintained and improved, and continues to attract attention (110,000 hits to 10 March 2009).
Update
The SFF Wilding Project has continued to make progress during this first 4-month period for 2008/09. The wilding risk assessment maps are almost complete - their delay has been due to problems with validation related to the variability of data originally received, and difficulties with linking this to the LCDB2 spatial data base, where land use (mainly relative to grazing pressure) is inconsistently mapped.
Preliminary results from the stem poisoning trial on Arapawa Island support DoC findings that metsulfuron will be the major chemical for cost-effective poisoning of mature trees. The second repeat of the pot trial to determine the best chemical mix for foliar treatment of D-fir was sprayed in late October. It appears that glyphosate is more effective on D-fir than it is on pines.
A first draft of the wilding control manual has been completed. The annual meeting of the South Island Wilding Control Management Group took place on 9 July in Christchurch. The accounts for 2007/08 and the plans and finances for 2008/09 were approved and all final reports presented are now on the website. One presentation on wilding risk assessment was made at the NZ Biosecurity conference (NETS2008) in Hamilton on 23 July, and three presentations on Project research were presented at the NZ Plant Protection Society's annual conference in Paihia (August 12), and subsequently published in their 2008 journal. Assistance was given to community wilding control initiatives in the upper Waimakariri catchment, the L. Pukaki area and on Banks Peninsula.
The Project website - www.wildingconifers.org.nz - has been maintained and improved, with just under 47,000 hits over 16 months.
Update
Farmers, scientists and web designers are developing a website to provide farmers with information about the management of key weeds and pests in New Zealand. The website allows farmers to identify important pasture pests and weeds, as well as providing information about a range of management/control methods.
A key feature of this website is the 'pest alert'. This is a free email alert to which farmers can subscribe to inform them of regional pasture pest outbreaks. The alert will equip farmers with the knowledge to minimize potential production loss caused by the pests.
Update
The Project has continued to make progress during this third 4-month period for 2007/08. The wilding risk assessment DSS for new sites has been codified for combining with a high-resolution digital terrain model, LCDB-2 and the Project's database of wilding sources, in order to create a wilding risk map for the Canterbury region. Results from the pot trial to look at foliar absorption of chemicals by contorta and mountain pine and Douglas-fir have shown that sprays are absorbed through the cuticle and not via the stomata, which should allow more ready chemical uptake.
Spray application trials are now underway to determine the most cost-effective formulations and droplet size. A report on assessments of 14 sites where conifers have been managed or removed in the past has been written and is available on the Project website (www.wildingconifers.org.nz). This work indicates that there are ways by which wilding control can be manipulated to accelerate the recovery process towards native species.
Two successful wilding control workshops (total attendance around 70) were held at Tekapo and in the upper Waimakariri on March 7 and 17. The annual Newsletter has been written. An article on the Project has appeared in Rural News (March 18), and a powerpoint presentation was given to the NZ D-fir Research Co-operative in Timaru (March 11). Assistance was given to community wilding control initiatives in the Marlborough Sounds and upper Waimakariri catchment, and to wilding control strategies in Canterbury and the Queenstown Lakes District.
The Project website has been maintained and improved, to the level that it is being increasingly visited (over 11000 hits to date). Three papers on Project research were accepted for presentation to the NZ Plant Protection Society's annual conference (August 12) and publication in their 2008 journal.
Update
The South Island Wilding Conifer Management Group
The Project has continued to make progress during this second 4-month period for 2007/08. The two wilding risk assessment DSSs were completed and a report written (on wilding conifer website). Progress is being made towards using these plus the earlier GIS maps to construct wilding risk maps. These will focus on the Canterbury Region, where Environment Canterbury is seeking a similar objective, and has collected other useful data.
A stem-poisoning trial involving 18 treatments was established on private land in Queen Charlotte Sound, and a check just before Christmas (13-15 Dec) revealed impressive results after only 3 months. The pot trial to look at foliar absorption of chemicals by contorta and mountain pine and Douglas-fir, is also starting to yield interesting results which should lead to improved use of foliar sprays. Field assessments (12-13 Nov, 31 Jan, 18-22 Feb) of sites where conifers have been removed in the past, are yielding interesting data on vegetation successions following wilding control. It appears that the method of removal (burning, harvesting, fell and leave, machine mulching, chemical spraying and stem poisoning) strongly influences the type of vegetation recovery. The challenge is how to manipulate these to bring about desirable outcomes – such as a more rapid return to native species.
The Project website has been maintained and improved, to the level that it is being increasingly visited (over 1200 hits to date). An article on the Project's work has appeared in the Marlborough Express (22 Jan), plus promotion for the 7 and 17 March wilding control workshops has been published in the Malvern News (22 Feb), The Courier (Ashburton – 26 Feb), Timaru Herald (5 March), a High Country Branch Fed Farmers newsletter and a High Country Accord flier (February). On 15 Feb abstracts for papers on Project research results were sent to the NZ Plant Protection Society for possible publication in their annual journal.
Update
Mapping conifer areas and assessing wilding risk
The last of the data on seed sources and wilding affected areas is being received from contributors – for cataloguing and GIS mapping. During a field trip (Oct 10 -12) conifer stands and spread areas in large parts of the Canterbury and Otago were 'ground-truthed', plus drafts of risk assessment DSSs tested. Tables and maps of conifer species and wilding areas have been produced, and are available on the website. This is a 'first' for the whole of the S. Island. The next step of linking mapped areas to wilding risk was initiated.
Wilding control
A stem-poisoning trial involving 18 treatments was established on private land in Queen Charlotte Sound, and a pot trial involving contorta and mountain pine and Douglas-fir, was set up to look at foliar absorption of chemicals.
Vegetation successions associated with wildings
A review was completed on vegetation successions associated with wildings and planted conifer stands, highlighting the fact that there is potential for wilding removal practices to be modified to enhance the recovery of native ecosystems. Assistance was given in site selection for a Landcare Research wilding impacts trial at Mt Barker, near L. Coleridge
Information transfer
A dedicated website has been launched and is being updated regularly (www.wildingconifers.org.nz); it contains details of the publications and events listed above. The Project has been promoted by one TV interview (Canterbury TV, 'Robs Country', 3 Aug), and presentations to two seminars (Wellington, 26 July; Twizel, 31 Oct) and one public meeting (L Hawea, 5 Oct).
Update
The project has made good progress in this final 4-month period.
After unexpected earlier delays, an Agreement to form the Group has been signed by ten Parties, and five contracts were completed to enable funds to flow.
Data received from more than 20 contributors on seed sources and wilding affected areas were catalogued and GIS mapped, with areas calculated. This is a 'first' for the whole of the South Island. The next step of mapping levels of wilding risk was initiated by further work on risk assessment DSSs, which are nearing completion.
A review was completed on all wilding control techniques. These were summarised in a tabular DSS format to assist land owners in choosing the control methods most suitable for their circumstances. Another review on vegetation successions associated with wildings and planted conifer stands is nearing completion. A third report was written on native vegetation changes in grasslands after 20 years of invasion by contorta pine.
The Group was linked to the Southern Hemisphere Invasive Conifer Forum, after Project Manager, Nick Ledgard, gave a presentation to a workshop ('Pine invasions in S. America - patterns, trends and prospects') held in Bariloche, Argentina from May 10-12, 2007. New Zealand is regarded as a global leader in the management of wilding conifers.
A dedicated website has been set up to disseminate the information discussed above, and the Project itself has been promoted by over a dozen media articles, interviews and presentations.
