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The NZ Lotteries Commission announced funding that will help the Abel Tasman Birdsong Trust in partnership with Department of Conservation (DOC) begin work to control and eradicate wilding pines from Abel Tasman National Park.
Chairman of the Birdsong Trust, Kim McGlashen, welcomed the decision and said "it is great news and marked the first stage of what he hoped is a multi year programme to control wilding pines in the park. To date the Birdsong Trust have been working on smaller projects, but this gives the trustees and the community a chance to tackle a significant problem for the park."
The Abel Tasman National Park Management Plan (2008) lists a number of animal and plant pests that are a major threat to the park. On top of the list of significant and widespread weeds are wilding pines, that have up to now, not been funded by DOC.
The Birdsong Trust plans to use money raised from the Birdsong Fee, donations and Lotteries Commission to begin a long-term commitment to controlling the spread of pines over a number of years.
Motueka Area Manager, Martin Rodd, is thrilled with the news and is looking forward to working with trustees and the community to achieve its goals.
In the first year, wilding pines around Tinline, Holyoake's Clearing and south of Bark Bay will either be poisoned or felled. Trees will take about 12 months to die and will add some autumn colour to the landscape for a couple of years.
Any trees within two tree lengths of the coast, established walking tracks or buildings, will be felled so they do not pose a risk to people or property. Some tracks will have to be closed off for short periods while this operation is underway for safety. Delays to walkers and visitors on the tracks will be minimal and only for short periods of time
The main concern with tree poisoning is the short-term visual impact of dying trees on the landscape. Notices and information will be posted to keep visitors informed of the operation and Martin Rodd is confident that the public will accept a short-term 'colour contrast' given the long-term benefit of having the park clear of pines.
Pines close to walking tracks will be felled so they will not pose a risk to walkers. However, outside those areas where there will be dead and dying standing trees, anyone walking off track or hunting will have to be especially careful. It is expected that standing trees will rot and deteriorate slowly over 8-10 years. Even in calm conditions limbs and branches could fall, posing a risk to anyone nearby.
A number of historic introduced trees at Totaranui and Bark Bay are protected where they have been identified in the park management plan. The removal of pines and the associated seed source is a significant step in preserving the regenerating native forests in the park and will prevent exotic pines dominating the landscape in the future.
The work on pine control is likely to commence in the late spring 2011. It is expected that they will become noticeable over the summer months of 2012 and beyond.
The programme of initial control of coning trees will take five years. In a further 5-6 years additional control will be required to remove growing trees missed in the first round before they start producing seeds again.
The vision is that in 25 years there will be no wilding pines left growing inside the park.