A new $1 million community funding programme to back grassroots wilding pine control has been announced by the government.

Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard, speaking at the national Wilding Pine Conference in Southland on Tuesday, said the fund would be available from the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme to support community-led control projects.

It comes on top of $109 million being invested over the next three years to ramp up control work nationally and get ahead of the spread.

More than 2 million hectares of New Zealand are affected by wilding infestations, with untreated areas expanding by an estimated 5% a year.

“Wilding pines are a scourge on the productive heart of rural New Zealand, and there are plenty of people as passionate as I am about getting rid of them,” Mr Hoggard said in a statement.

“Volunteers, landowners and community groups, with help from contractors and councils, are already making enormous progress to tackle infestations. This initiative is about backing those local efforts.”

Wilding pines threaten productive farmland, water supplies in sensitive catchments, native biodiversity, and increase the risk of wildfires.

“With a problem as big as wilding pines, national coordination is essential, but I also believe in letting local people take charge of local issues,” Mr Hoggard said.

Expressions of interest in the new community funding programme are expected to open later this year.

The National Wilding Conifer Control Programme is a collaboration across central and local government, working with landowners, industry, Iwi, researchers, contractors and community organisations to remove and prevent the spread of invasive wilding conifers such as pinus contorta.

A national pest management plan is also being developed to establish a long-term framework for managing wilding conifers, including more consistent rules, responsibilities and cost-sharing arrangements. — Allied Media