We’ve been helping Project De-Vine Environmental Trust with their Wilding Pine Project. More than a quarter of New Zealand is at risk of being smothered by wilding pines - including ancient native landscapes, unique biodiversity and productive soils for high value sustainable land use. In the right place, conifers (aka pines) offer shelter and opportunities for recreation and income, but left to spread they become a pest - infesting farmland, native ecosystems and water catchments. Project De-Vine received funding from Jobs for Nature to remove wilding pines in Golden Bay,

Mature wilding pines were identified using the latest aerial imagery from LINZ. We then set up an ESRI Field Maps mobile app to help field workers navigate to the trees and record how may have been removed. After we field-tested the app with the Project De-Vine team, we made some additions; LiDAR elevation data was analysed to identify areas of land with a slope of over 55 degrees. These areas were added to the Field Maps map (yellow areas the image above) to aide navigation through difficult terrain. We also set up ‘Geofences’, which are no-go areas, specified by the land owners. Field workers receive a warning on their phones when entering these areas.

The project is ongoing and a team of five field workers has removed over 4000 wilding pines from native landscapes so far.