Civil Defence Minister Peeni Henare spoke to firefighters who battled the blaze near Lake Pukaki last week. The announcement comes a week after a mammoth fire tore through 3500ha of trees and scrub near Lake Pukaki, wilding pines aggravating its spread. “The events of last week demonstrate the importance of tackling the wilding pines issue.”Henare visited the scene of the fire the day a blanket of snow gave relief to firefighters after two days of battling the blaze, during which Smith discussed the wilding pines with him. But the recent fires near Lake Pukaki, only a few years after the devastating fires in Flock Hill, have shown that wilding pines threaten the ecosystem, the economy – and the community. Smith said about 75 people in the Mackenzie District had work clearing wilding pines through the Government’s nature-based jobs scheme.

Source: Stuff September 08, 2020 03:00 UTC