Kauri health survey Waitākere Ranges
A new kauri monitoring programme has been launched in the Waitakere Ranges.
Auckland Council workers are surveying healthy trees as part of their study into kauri dieback disease.
They are investigating the impacts of the disease on individual trees and the wider kauri population.
Auckland Council kauri dieback team manager Lisa Tolich said new remote sensing technology had given the council a good estimate of how many kauri trees spanned the ranges.
The team had drawn a sample of trees to survey.
“We are giving 3500 kauri in the Waitākere Ranges a full health check and will continue monitoring these specific trees for years to come,” Tolich said.
“The trees have been randomly selected from the overall population so field teams don’t know going in whether they’ll be assessing healthy or diseased trees.
“This is important because it means we can build a picture of what’s happening across the entire population – not just the areas where we know the pathogen is already present.”
Data collected will identify risks to tree health associated with the locations, environment and other factors such as changing climate.
Survey findings will help the council assess how well precautionary measures are working and if any adjustments are needed.
Funding for the monitoring programme comes from the Natural Environment Targeted Rate at an expected cost of between $650,000 and $700,000.
This includes the design and delivery of the Waitākere Ranges Surveillance programme between 2020-2022.
Environment and Climate Change Committee chair Richard Hills said the investment was another step towards helping protect and preserve kauri forests.
“Kauri dieback disease is unfortunately not going away and the more we can find out about the disease, through robust processes like our surveillance and monitoring programmes, the better placed we are to protect our native taonga now and for generations to come.”
Scam Alert: Bank cold calls
ASB is warning customers about reports of cold calls from scammers claiming to be from ASB. These scammers are trying to obtain personal information, including usernames, dates of birth, and verification codes sent to your mobile phone.
🛡️ The "Caller Check" Test
If you get a call from someone claiming to be from ASB and you’re unsure, just ask them for a Caller Check. You will then be able to verify the call through the app.
Remember, banks will:
❌ Never ask for your banking passwords, PINs, or verification codes
❌ Never need to know your full credit card number – especially the CVC
❌ Never ask you to download software or remotely access your device
❌ Never ask you to purchase gift cards or transfer funds.
If you have received a phone call and think your account has been compromised, call ASB on 0800 ASB FRAUD (0800 272 372), or visit your local branch.
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Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
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