Glimmer of hope in fight against kauri dieback

Before vast numbers were felled to build the villas of Ponsonby and Grey Lynn for early European settlers, Auckland's Waitakere Ranges were covered in ancient kauri forests.This century they've faced another existential threat - this time in the form of kauri dieback, a fungus-like organism spread by just a pinhead of mud or soil that attacks the tree's fragile roots.There is no known cure.But a collaboration between mana whenua, scientists, Auckland Council and volunteers is providing a glimmer of hope.On Wednesday the last some 2000 kauri seedlings were planted in the ranges and it is hoped that the young trees will have some resistance to the disease.The scientific name for the kauri dieback, phytophthora agathidicida, translates to "plant destroyer; kauri killer".Kauri dieback has taken out some the last of the Waitakere's giants, including the thousand-year-old Aunt Agatha."Unfortunately that's since succumbed to kauri dieback, " Stuart Leighton said, lead ranger for west Auckland iwi Te Kawerau ā Maki."She's still there as a sort of dead skeleton tree now, but we did take seeds from that tree."Stuart Leighton and Sarah Killick.Nick MonroHe hoped the project would see Aunt Agatha's offspring thrive in the ranges.Seeds were taken from some 650 mother kauri trees, identified by scientists and iwi as being healthy and, hopefully, resistant to kauri dieback.Kauri dieback made it clear that something was very wrong with the overall health of the forest, Leighton said."When your biggest, oldest thing starts to die, then that's a real sign that we need to really start to focus our attentions on looking after this place."A Kauri seedling.Nick MonroAuckland Council's principal biosecurity advisor Dr Sarah Killick said they had learned a lot about kauri dieback through the project, and continue to discover more."We've discovered how the pathogen works - what it looks like, where it lives. We know it's a soil-borne pathogen and that's really important for us, so we know that because it lives in the dirt, the best thing we can do for kauri protection is to stop the dirt from moving between forests."Selwyn Insley.Nick MonroSelwyn Insley is the Māori Partnership lead for the Bioeconomy Science Institute, which collected the seeds and raised them at their Rotorua nursery."Specialist teams went up and collected the cones. The cones were then taken back to our nursery, dried and put into pots to grow up into the kauri trees that we see in the regional park today."He was very excited to see the young kauri trees return to their ancestral home.Some 2000 kauri seedlings are ready to repopulate the Waitakere Ranges.Nick Monro"The team that looked after these trees from seed to small seedlings, I'm just wrapped that they're here," he said."Seeing them in the environment, at the regional park at Te Kawerau ā Maki, Tāmaki Makaurau, I'm very excited."Some 2000 kauri seedlings ready to repopulate the Waitakere Ranges, maybe not for this generation but for those to come.