IO5: Market access and risk management

Impact KPI-8 Forest protection and market access

By 2019 new tools and technologies will have been developed to quantify and mitigate impacts from the increasing risk to New Zealand’s forests from pests, fire and wind, and climate change, and will have been adopted by forest industries, land owners, and central and regional government.

Leading indicator	Progress
By 2016 Ministry for Primary Industries or forest growers will have adopted a new tool or method developed by Scion and Scion’s research partners to enable early detection and/or eradication, or improved control of a pest to New Zealand’s forests.	A test forest biosecurity model that allocates surveillance effort to plantations and high-risk urban areas was developed. The model will be used to allocate surveillance in three regions on a trial basis in latter 2016, to be fully adopted in January 2017 if successful.
By 2016 Scion will have identified radiata pine germplasm with improved resistance to at least one foliar disease.	Working for RPBC, Scion is screening 50 Pinus radiata genotypes to determine resistance to multiple pathogens. Potted grafts will be put in two or more forest sites with at least two different needle pathogens. Multiple-resistances or tolerances of clones to multiple needle diseases will be evaluated with the aim of identifying the most resilient clones for deployment in disease-prone areas. Analysis of host metabolites produced after artificial inoculation with pathogens showed chemical responses that may differentiate hosts resistant or susceptible to attack from red needle cast (RNC). Laboratory and field tests to screen P. radiata clones against RNC produced broadly consistent results, showing promise for eventual operational deployment of breeds resistant to RNC.
By 2016 Scion, with its research and industry partners, will have defined a strategy to reduce the use of phytosanitary treatments, specifically methyl bromide, by at least 30%, and this will be presented to the Ministry for Primary Industries for evaluation and subsequent adoption by industry.	Data from ~900 forest insects trapped since 2013 may support a fumigation-free period in cooler parts of NZ over winter when the likelihood of pest infestation of export forest produce is low. Tests by sub-contractor Plant & Food Research indicate that methyl bromide rates can be significantly reduced, perhaps by up to 40%, while still maintaining acceptable efficacy. Confirmation requires further work with infested logs.
By 2016 Scion will have: (1) supported forest industries to maintain access to cost effective herbicides and management options for the environmental certification of New Zealand forests, and (2) agreed with stakeholders research priorities for reducing wilding conifer impacts.	Meeting with forest growers highlighted key outcomes of the weeds research programme and identified future research priorities for forest weed management. The highest priority is ‘Licence to Operate’. Other priorities included reducing the risk of Douglas-fir spread and models that can better characterise spray drift in complex terrain.
By 2016 rural fire stakeholders through the Rural Fire Research Advisory Committee will have adopted new fire behaviour models or adopted enhanced data collection systems that lead to both improved firefighter safety and intelligence for making firefighting decisions.	A review of the Nelson/Marlborough forestry operations fire danger codes was completed and new guidelines are with forestry and rural fire managers. The first area plans in each of the Nelson and Marlborough regions, produced using the Strategic Tactical Fire Management Planning process, were completed, and work has started on the second-year area plans. An integrated framework was developed to assess after-fire economic impacts and is with the New Zealand Fire Service Commission.
By 2017 there will be examples for policy makers and forest growers using Scion’s knowledge of climate change impacts and resultant implications that provide guidance in managing risk and adapting to impacts of climate change.	Scion led the development of a climate change digital library called the Climate Cloud (www.climatecloud.co.nz) that holds ~1600 policy and end-user oriented climate change resources. The resource is used by both government and industry and is becoming the primary repository for climate change information in NZ. Scion’s involvement with the Climate Change Impacts and Implications (www.ccii.org.nz) MBIE research programme has developed interview-based evidence of sector awareness and used Scion’s core SLMACC funded research to analyse risk, impacts and adaptation options.
By 2018 options to reduce the impact of Phytophthora on radiata pine, kauri and one horticultural species have been identified.	Phosphite application in a spray trial carried out in 2011 and 2012 did not affect long-term spore release. There was no difference between sprayed and unsprayed treatments in the presence of Phytophthora in spore traps. Over 2015-16, a new phosphite/adjuvant combination was shown to significantly increase uptake by the plant. This should increase efficacy of phosphite for RNC control and will be confirmed in 2016-17. Copper has shown significant promise as an operational RNC control option and experiments will be done to test that potential.
Ongoing - the National Forest Herbarium and the Forest Health Collections and Databases remain viable and provide valuable information on the national forestry position for New Zealand.	Herbarium additions included 653 new specimens, 1274 specimens imaged and 1548 nomenclature edits to species. An interactive identification key for wilding conifers in NZ was developed in collaboration with Landcare Research and DOC. The key contains 10 common wilding pine species plus macrocarpa, European larch and Douglas-fir. It will be available soon as a smartphone app.