Diseased trees felled

Press, 28 May 1981, Page 2

Diseased trees felled

PA Whangarei Diseased pine trees fell to chainsaw crews in the Puhipubi State forest yesterday as work began to protect Northland's multi-million-dollar forest industry. A mixture of copper-based chemicals was prepared to spray by air around the 20 hectares’ blighted section of the forest. The blighted trees are dying. The greenery has gone from most of them while the rest are a mixture of green and brown, with their needles falling.

The Forest Service officer in charge of containing the disease. Mr J. Norris, yesterday asked Whangarei firms for old tyres to feed a burnoff of undergrowth.

Asked how’ serious the disease threat was to the forest industry, he said that he could not say for sure.

The Forest Service is still baffled by the outbreak at Puhipuhi. Similar but smaller pockets of the disease have been discovered in other areas. The Forest Service has ordered a strict quarantine of a. big area of forests from Whangaruru to Ngunguru in Northland. Nobody is allowed into or out of the affected areas without close supervision. Everybody has to change clothing and footwear at check points and clothing and boots worn in the affected areas are immediately disinfected after use.

Among Mr Norris’ many problems yesterday was a pressing need to clearfell the whole of the affected areas. He said that all of the undergrowth and debris would be burned. *