Forest and Bird and the Northland
Regional Council will work together to improve wording on the council's
Regional Pest Management Plan following an Environment Court ruling.
The interim decision by the court
in February called for the two groups to work together to produce the final
wording for the plan - focusing on an effective strategy which could help
prevent the spread of kauri dieback.
Phytophthora
agathidicida (PA) is the pathogen which causes kauri dieback and can be
spread through a pinhead of soil. The microscopic spores attach themselves
to kauri roots, leech nutrients and starve the tree to death - there is no cure
for the disease and its origin is unknown.
Forest and Bird Northland conservation
advocate Dean Baigent-Mercer says while the plan relates to private land,
further steps need to be taken to protect kauri on public land.
"The two highest risks in
spreading kauri dieback in Northland are where there's people moving mud around
on their feet like the Te Araroa national walkway and DOC tracks,"
Baigent-Mercer says.
"The other situation is
where hunters take pigs or piglets from one spot that happens to be infected
with kauri dieback and release them in another area and spread the invisible
disease."
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