Eradication scheme could be in jeopardy

MARK HOTTON/149119

COMPLEX ISSUE: Dr Jan Wright, left, talks to Ali Timms about wilding pines.

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A $10 million project to eradicate wilding pines in Northern Southland could be jeopardised if the Emissions Trading Scheme is introduced.

The project relies on felling the original 250ha plantation on Mid Dome, where the wilding pine seedlings come from, but that could cost $3 million in carbon charges.

Pinus contorta and other exotic conifers planted on Mid Dome, near Five Rivers, from the 1940s to the 1980s to reduce erosion have spread across 16,000ha and threaten more than 100,000ha of high-country grasslands..

A charitable trust, formed in 2006, has secured funding for some of the $10m needed to fund the 12-year project and has already removed thousands of trees during the past two years.

But Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright warned yesterday that work could be undone if the ETS is approved in its current state.

Her speech at the New Zealand Biosecurity Institute's 59th NETS conference in Queenstown yesterday outlined how the ETS could prevent future wilding pine eradication. Felling trees would generate a charge because it was removing carbon sinks.

A bill to amend the ETS brings bad news for those struggling to control wilding pines, because they faced the prospect of felling wilding pines and being forced to cover a carbon liability, she said.

"This is all very complex and my staff and I have struggled to get our heads around it."

Another option would be to let the trees spread and lose unique landscapes, while earning carbon credits that could be sold, she said.

She has suggested to the committee reviewing the ETS that it establish how wilding pines will be affected by the future need for carbon sequestration (the long-term storage of carbon).

While an exemption might be available, it would probably still not allow the intentional felling of the original 250ha of pines planted on Mid Dome before 1990, Dr Wright said.

The idea of having to pay for carbon credits to remove wilding pines has outraged the chairman of the charitable trust trying to eradicate the "woody weeds".

Ali Timms, who is also heads Environmental Southland's environmental management committee, said letting the pines continue to spread would lead to more high-country landscapes disappearing and the smothering of recreation areas, while affecting farming, reducing water yields for hydro electricity schemes, and increasing the fire risk.

The ETS was a "failed and inadequate" piece of legislation and had come as a "bolt from the blue", she said.

LINZ had already cancelled one seed source removal programme because of concerns over the ETS, which could set the whole project back two years, she said.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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