Wilding conifers on the ground will not wait for funding to catch up
Date: 9th December 2022
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment released a report in October 2022 – entitled Environmental reporting, research and investment – Do we know if we’re making a difference? It’s a big read but pages 29-31 are worth checking out.
Wilding conifers as used as one of two examples to evidence the gaps between evidence and action (the other species used was alligator weed). The report acknowledges the seriousness of the issue: “Farmers were seeing productive land invaded, tourism operators were complaining that iconic landscapes and views were disappearing, and settlements began to be threatened by the risk of forest fires”. It also acknowledges the national programme a d the collective partnership that has resulted in significant investment and work being undertaken.
However more importantly, it warns that as long as non-sterile trees are being planted “there will be an ongoing battle to control wilding conifers. Given the scale of the problem, funding will need to continue
into the long term if the objective of handing land back to regional councils and landowners to
manage is to be safely achieved. Crown funding from Budget 2020 will drop significantly in 2024,
but wilding conifers on the ground will not wait for the funding to catch up‘.
If further states that ” Without adequate ongoing spending, there is a genuine risk that the gains, and funding, will be wasted as the wildling conifers will simply reinvade. The National Wilding Conifer Control
Programme has forecast that over $200 million is required out to 2031 to control 95% of known
infestations. Separate recent modelling has estimated that at least $400 million will be needed to
remove all known wilding conifer infestations if action is taken now and costs are not deferred into
the future. Any delays will see costs increase”.
It points to the experience many people have had of what will happen if we delay action and uses photos from the Clarence River (below) taken three years apart to evidence the speed at which wilding conifers can spread and grow.
These are simple and compelling words that out politicians and decision makers need to carefully consider. Do they really think it’s worth losing the considerable sunk investment to date as well as the cumulative losses that will occur as a result of reduced funding for the relentless march of wildings through our natural and productive landscapes and what about the considerable skill and experience of contractors, volunteers and landowners as well as agency personnel – employment in this space is both social and environmental investment in the present and reduced control investment in the future if we can arrest the spread in time.
Wilding conifers on the ground will not wait for the funding to catch up if the reduction planned for 2023 is not addressed.
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