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On this page:
- Pest plants managed by the NIPR programme
- How you can help
- About the 9 pest plants
- Two successful eradications
Pest plants managed by the NIPR programme
Some of the world's worst weeds have made their way to New Zealand. The National Interests Pest Responses (NIPR) programme is working to get rid of or control them. We work with regional councils and the Department of Conservation to stamp out these plants at more than 500 sites across New Zealand. By working together, we will be successful in protecting the mauri of our land and waterways from pests like these.
There are 9 pest plants in the NIPR programme. These plants were chosen because they could have devastating impacts on our economy, environment, social, and cultural values.
- Salvinia or kariba weed
- Water hyacinth
- Manchurian wild rice
- Cape tulip
- Pyp grass
- Phragmites
- Hydrilla
- White bryony
- Johnson grass
The 9 plants in the NIPR programme are hard to eradicate
The ways these plants grow and spread can make it hard to get rid of them completely.
The seeds and rhizomes (underground stems) of some of these plants can lay dormant for up to 20 years. That means we need to continue to monitor sites and look for new growth for many years after the last plant has been removed. It's only after this time we can declare it eradicated.
Some of these plants grow in, on, or around water, on cliffs, and on remote islands. People working on the programme often need to use boats, helicopters, abseilers, sniffer dogs, and specialist equipment to access, find, and remove plants.
Water hyacinth seeds and fragments are easily spread by water, wind, and machinery. It spreads rapidly – 25 plants can form a one-hectare mat in a single growing season. Salvinia also grows fast – it can double in size in 8 days.
Two successful NIPR eradications
Rainbow lorikeets and hornwort have been eradicated through the NIPR programme.
We successfully got rid of wild populations of rainbow lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus) from New Zealand in 2014.
Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) is a submerged freshwater weed. It is still present in the North Island but it was declared eradicated from the South Island in 2013.
How you can help the NIPR programme
It takes all of us to protect what we’ve got. You can help by keeping an eye out for these 9 pest plants. These plants are all Notifiable Organisms under the Biosecurity Act 1993. If you think you see one, you must report it by calling the pest and disease hotline on freephone 0800 80 99 66.
