Oral Submission Presentation by Blake Foster - New Zealand ...

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event indicates that once the Twizel river flats are cleared, they should not be re-invaded often and hence should not be too difficult to keep clear in the future – as long as any wilding trees which do establish are removed before age 5-6, when they begin coning. This ‘stitch-in-time-saves-nine’ maxim must always be kept foremost in any management planning. Importantly, the incidence of re-invasion and need for timely removal should be diminished by the control and containment management options outlined above. Apart from removing wildings, particularly outlier trees, before they cone, the other major aspect of wilding control which should never be forgotten is the need for long-term commitment. Even if a first removal sweep can be carried out in good time, there will be some delayed germination of seed in the soil (although little takes places after 4 years) plus small seedlings will be missed. A second sweep is therefore needed within 4 years of the first removal (for contorta pine), and there is usually a need for a third sweep 4 years later to remove the last wildings. This sequence is needed if there is no other local seed source, which unfortunately there will be at Pukaki Downs due to the present strategy involving containment, not eradication. Therefore, if wildings are not to affect more land in and around Pukaki Downs, removal sweeps outside the containment area will be needed at least every 4 years for as long as seeding contorta pine trees remain in the locality. Within the containment area, the conifer forests could be managed, although contorta pine is not a favoured production species in New Zealand, and there is currently no ready market for timber or fibre. Such prospects are not improved by the forests being ‘wild’ and having had no previous management – leading to considerable stand variation within the forest. The other obvious management option is to target carbon credits via the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Although this author is not in favour of wilding-risk species (such as contorta) being managed for carbon gain, especially in high spread-risk environments, the financial gains from such management on the areas with lower spreadrisk could be used for control of wildings on the higher risk areas. If forest management is a long-term aim (as opposed to conifer eradication), then even better would be the gradual replacement of contorta pine in the containment area with a less spread-prone species. Such replacement would eventually suppress the resident contorta pine, but significant inputs would be required to ensure that the replacement species prevailed over the naturally regenerating and vigorous contorta pine wildings. Local community wilding control group. Recently, led by occupants of Pukaki Downs, local land owners affected by wilding spread have got together to form the Lake Pukaki Wilding Tree Management Trust. There are six other similar groups operating within New Zealand, and they have shown how collaborative action can make a huge difference to fund-raising opportunities and the mounting of large-scale and cost-effective wilding removal operations. Unfortunately, not all affected landowners around Lake Pukaki are members of the present Trust and this will affect the success of their management, as wildings have no respect for property boundaries. In addition, the L. Pukaki Trust is the only group to be proposing containment as an integral part of their management – all the others have targeted elimination of both wildings and the seed source trees. All the same, the formation of the Trust does give formal recognition to the seriousness of the wilding spread in the area, and sets the foundation for a worthwhile long-term control programme. This author wishes them all the very best in their endeavours. Recommendations On Pukaki Downs it is recommended that: • All wildings be removed in the near future from the upper Twizel river catchment (blocks 25-29), except in the most densely forested areas in the eastern margin of that area (blocks 9-13 plus 19). 13
• All wildings should also be removed from block 29, although planting it with a less spread-prone species is an option. • All wildings be removed from the steep slopes of the Rhoboro Range in the most north-western part of the station (block 30). • All wildings be removed in a 20m strip along the northern boundary with Ferintosh station and in a similar strip alongside SH80. • If finances allow (last priority) all wildings be removed from the steeper eastern scarp slopes (northern portion) of the Little Rhoboro Hills (block 20 and steeper part of 14). • Improved pasture and associated grazing (and/or arable cropping) be maintained where it is currently stopping wilding establishment - blocks 31 and 32 (both sides of SH80) and further to the west in parts of block 25). The north-eastern margin of block 31 would run out from the northern margin of DOC’s Dusky Reserve in order to maintain a treeless pasture margin. • Replacement plantings of less spread-prone species, such as radiata pine, its hybrid with Knobcone pine (P.radiata x P. attenuata) or ponderosa pine, be carried out along the eastern margins of the cleared areas in the upper Twizel river valley, either as 4-row marginal plantings along the western edges of blocks 9, 12, 13 and 19 (if retained in contorta pine), or as whole block replacement. • Replacement plantings of less spread-prone species, such as radiata pine, its hybrid with Knobcone pine (P.radiata x P. attenuata) or ponderosa pine (minimum of 4 rows), could also be carried out along the western margins of the lakeshore contorta pine forests in the south-eastern part of block 32. This will not be necessary where ponderosa or Corsican pine make up the current margin, or where adjacent pasture cover and grazing pressure is sufficient to stop significant establishment of wildings. • Replacement plantings or fertilising be carried out in the 20m marginal strips along the Ferintosh boundary (top of blocks 16 and 24) and alongside SH80. • Marginal strips (4 rows wide) be planted along the fenced north and western margins of the tree-less pasture-dominated block 31. • Blocks 9-24 (the pink and pink-striped areas on the map), including the corridor north of the Dusky Reserve between blocks 21 / 16 and 17 / 22 – 23, will become the containment area and could be managed for carbon storage. Initially, the dominant species would be contorta pine, but over time the aim should be to replace these with less spread-prone species. • Wilding removal sweeps be carried out before coning age (no more than 4 years apart) on all cleared or otherwise tree-less areas. • Long-term planning be initiated to ensure that the above to be implemented. Acknowledgement The author is most grateful to the residents of Pukaki Downs, especially Blake Foster, for their support during the field-work and the writing of this report. 14
Page 1 and 2: Oral Submission Presentation by Bla
Page 3: 16. The responsibility the NZ carbo
Page 6 and 7: REPORT TITLE AUTHORS CLIENT CLIENT
Page 8 and 9: Recommendations On Pukaki Downs it
Page 10 and 11: Project and client In April, 2010,
Page 12 and 13: History of wilding spread Pre 1970s
Page 14 and 15: is by the musterer’s hut at the m
Page 16 and 17: most depleted existing cover and it
Page 18 and 19: successfully on small trees close t
Page 20 and 21: ~ Herbaceous cover. Wildings have d
Page 24 and 25: Above. The clear corridor (pink-str
Page 26 and 27: Developments from Rural Delivery we
Page 28 and 29: We have sold the carbon credits thr

Oral Submission Presentation by Blake Foster - New Zealand ...

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