The kauri are dying

SICKLY SYMPTOMS: This tree exhibits the weeping welts of a kauri with dieback disease.

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Do you remember kauri trees in the Waitakere Ranges? That’s a question people could be asking in 20 years if scientists fail to halt a mysterious disease destroying the kauri population.

Auckland Regional Council biodiversity scientist Nick Waipara is researching the soil pathogen at the root of the problem.

He says very little is known about kauri dieback disease, phytophthora taxon agathis.

But he hopes a concerted effort by the regional council and other government departments will stop it.

"It is insidiously creeping through forests and killing all kauri," he says.

"But the regional council is the only organisation to do anything on a big scale.

"The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry discovered the organism, but their response has been zero to date.

"We’ve gone to central government to try to get them on board and get a more co-ordinated effort."

Regional councillor Sandra Coney says the kauri forests of the Waitakere Ranges are only just starting to recover after being ravaged by the timber industry during the early-1900s.

"What we see today is just a remnant of what used to exist," she says.

"I remember seeing many of these trees as a little girl, when they were only little saplings and now they are growing above the canopy."

The disease spreads through soil and Ms Coney says trampers and feral pigs carry the pathogen to other forests.

Starting from October the regional council is stepping up efforts to deal with both.

"From this month onwards there will be three pig hunters contracted to do more intensive hunting," she says.

"And to coincide with the beginning of the tramping season we will have cleaning stations around the forest to help people clean their shoes.

"We really want people to cooperate with us so that we can limit where it is.

"We have to do everything we can think of to stop the horror scenario of there no longer being a kauri forest."

Tips for trampers: Make sure you have clean shoes when you go into the Waitakeres; always wash your shoes and remove soil from the tread when you return; stay on the track, do not go into the bush or into streams because water can carry the pathogen to other parts of the forest; keep your dog on a leash at all times; report any suspicious signs on kauri to the Auckland Regional Council.

- © Fairfax NZ News