As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Sunday 29 April 2018

Forest and Bird says more needs to be done for Northland kauri


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."



No comments:

Post a Comment