Excluding New Pests

Insect pests, invasive weeds and diseases present enormous risks to New Zealand forests.

In the event of a serious new pest incursion into New Zealand, potential damage to the productivity and biodiversity of forests will amount to many millions of dollars.

Scion provides the expertise to assist government agencies, forest growers and resource protection agencies to manage these risks in plantation, indigenous and urban forests.

In order to prevent unwanted organisms from entering or establishing in New Zealand, we focus our activities in the following key areas:

• Risk reduction 
  
• Incursion response 

Examples of our achievements

Pitch canker

Scion’s early detection of the fungal agent causing pitch canker (Fusarium circinatum) saved the New Zealand forest industry from huge predicted costs. In 2003, Scion identified F. circinatum in a shipment of Douglas-fir cuttings from the USA. MAF ordered the destruction of the imported material, being held in quarantine at the time. They also suspended all further shipments of Douglas-fir cuttings from the USA. Scion’s development of a rapid identification method for F. circinatum was pivotal in preventing an introduction of this potentially devastating disease.

White-spotted tussock moth

When the white-spotted tussock moth was discovered in Auckland in 1996, it prompted a major eradication operation. A relative of the notorious Asian gypsy moth, it posed a serious threat to fruit trees, common amenity trees and some native species. Forest health specialists at Scion assisted in the programme to eradicate the insect over 30 square kilometres of residential Auckland through carefully timed aerial and ground spraying. This was the first successful pest eradication ever undertaken over an urban area, and it established New Zealand’s international reputation for excellence in maintaining biosecurity standards.

Contact : Lindsay Bulman