4 August 2022
Forest & Bird and the Lake Rotoiti Scenic Reserves Board are initiating a pest control project to save the iconic Pohutukawa in the lakeside reserves.
The alarm was raised when the skeletal remains of trees were noticed around the lake and old, large trees suddenly died over the summer of 2021 from possum browsing. Pohutukawa are a favourite food for possums who will intensively browse a tree, returning night after night to the same tree, systematically stripping it before moving on to another one of the same species. With this kind of treatment, it is little wonder that the tree, and sometimes whole forests, die so quickly. Without possum control we risk losing pohutukawa in reserve areas over time.
Read more about the project here.