![]() ![]() Unlike commercial plantations, wilding conifers grow in irregular patterns with no firebreaks and are often impenetrable and difficult to access. This process, along with dead pine needles and limbs on the forest floor, increases the susceptibility to fire outbreak, while also causing fire to burn longer and hotter. In his book, The Living Planet, Sir David Attenborough explains how conifers create dry, barren areas by controlling moisture levels in the soil. Clean burn of wilding tree slash along the western shoreline of Lake Pukaki following the mechanical control of wilding trees in 2011 However, due to climate change, wildfires are becoming more rampant and last year’s fires on the shores of Lake Ohau and Lake Pukaki were a sobering reminder of the devastation fire can cause. Historically, New Zealand has had low wildfire frequencies. The spread of these self-sown trees has a dire effect on natural ecosystems and creates severe implications for fire control. Wilding conifers infest over 1.8 million hectares of New Zealand. House on Pukaki Downs that avoided fire due to large, low-cut green lawn ![]()
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