Northland's Regional Council is ramping up its response to kauri dieback on private land.
Northland's Regional Council has boosted the budget for kauri dieback work by $200,000 a year. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
An aerial survey done last summer has confirmed at least 300 sites in the north where the disease is present.
Northland's Regional Council environmental manager Bruce Howse said the council had just boosted the budget for kauri dieback work by $200,000 a year.
"What we've found through the aerial surveillance is more information about where kauri dieback may be present, and as we find more information we're doing more to manage the spread of the disease," Mr Howse said.
The funding would pay for more staff and management plans to stop the spread, he said.
The staff would advise private landowners, and test their soil for kauri dieback .
However, the work would not involve Crown land.
The council is funded by ratepayers and could not tackle kauri dieback in Waipoua Forest or any other land in the conservation estate, Mr Howse said.
Iwi have taken the Department of Conservation to task for not doing intensive work to track the disease as it edges closer to iconic trees like Tāne Mahuta.
