Planted in the right place, and properly managed, some introduced conifers can:
In the wrong place, certain species of conifers are a major threat to New Zealand's ecosystems, land, and farms.
While plantation forestry is typically planted between 600 to 1,100 stems per hectare, self-seeded Pinus contorta and other wilding conifers grow as densely as 10,000 stems per hectare if not controlled. This is too dense to walk through,
It's estimated 25% of New Zealand would be covered in unwanted wilding conifers within 30 years if they were left to spread. Wilding conifers currently affect more than 2 million hectares of New Zealand. Despite past control efforts, they were spreading across about 90,000 hectares a year before the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme was established.
Wilding conifers are self-seeded trees. Most of New Zealand’s wilding conifers are the legacy of plantings between the 1800s and mid-1900s. The worst, fastest spreading wilding conifer species is Pinus contorta or Lodgepole pine – declared an unwanted organism in 2010.
Learn more about high-spreading species in the 'Wilding conifer quick ID guide' [PDF, 188 KB]
Wilding conifers include other species of pines, firs and larch (any type of conifer) that spread where they are not wanted and are hard to control.
In different locations, wilding trees grow at different rates and in different densities. Often they are in terrain that is hard to get to.
Controlling the spread of self-seeded wilding conifers is important if we're to protect our ecosystems, iconic landscapes, farms and our lakes
Wilding conifers are controlled in New Zealand using several methods including:
The National Wilding Conifer Control Programme helps test and trial proposed control methods and produces good practice guidance for using new methods.
Protecting the surrounding environment, people, and property near the wildings while doing the control work is a priority. A lot of planning goes into selecting the safest and most effective control method for each site. This includes considering:
Drones that can spray precise targets are being trialled to control scattered trees, or those that can’t be safely reached with other methods, using the lowest possible amount of herbicide.
Drone vs wilding pine – YouTube (2.03)
In 2014 a cross-sector group, led by Biosecurity New Zealand, developed a national strategy. It recommended a coordinated and collaborative approach – combining efforts around the country and working together would increase the chances of stopping the spread and removing wildings.
'The right tree in the right place: The New Zealand wilding conifer management strategy 2015–2030' provides the framework for the national programme:
The wilding conifer management strategy 2015–2030 [PDF, 1.3 MB]
The majority of actions recommended in the original strategy have now been delivered or integrated into the ongoing programme. Biosecurity New Zealand is currently engaging with partners in preparation to refresh the National Strategy looking beyond 2030.
The National Wilding Conifer Control Programme was established in 2016, to deliver the aims of the national wilding conifer management strategy 2015–2030. The programme is a partnership between central and local government agencies with the farming and forestry industries, landowners, the community sector, and a wide range of stakeholder groups.
Find out more about the national control programme – Wilding Pines
Partner contributions to the programme, in funding or in-kind support, have totalled more than $25 million between 2016 and 2025, from councils, community trusts, landowners and others.
Many other wilding control efforts are not reported, including volunteer hours, landowners controlling wildings on their own land, iwi and community trusts and industry working together in special places. This work is important, limiting the spread of wildings and protecting unique landscapes and habitats.
Around 75% of the known infestation has received at least one round of control work through the national programme.
In the programme's first year (2016 to 2017) the partners controlled and prevented the spread of wilding conifers across around 1.2 million hectares of New Zealand's high country. Its success was due to the funding support and commitment of all involved – wilding tree management groups, landholders, and central and local government.
The programme carried out control work over a further 371,000 hectares in 2017 to 2018.
From July 2020 to June 2021, the wilding conifer work programme and partners spent almost $40 million on control, delivering work on 817,000 hectares.
Eight new management units (MUs) were brought into the programme. MUs are geographical areas used by the programme to divide up regions into smaller areas, for the purpose of planning control work. The programme had active MUs across 80% of the known infestation area.
The programme's work to improve wilding conifer management included:
In the first year of $10 million annual baseline funding, the programme's work included:
For the 2025–26 financial year, the Ministers for Biosecurity and Agriculture jointly announced an addition $2 million for control operations in addition to $10 million baseline funding, bringing the programme's budget for this year to $12 million.
Tackling wilding pines to boost resilience – Beehive
In addition, the Minister for Conservation announced an additional $3 million from the International Visitor Levy for control operations to protect landscapes and biodiversity in the Mackenzie Basin in Canterbury and Molesworth Recreation Reserve in South Marlborough.
