About the Project
This is what kauri dieback disease looks like
The Kauri RescueTM project otherwise known as Community Control of Kauri Dieback: Tiaki Kauri seeks to engage the public in refining new citizen science tools for the treatment of Kauri Dieback Disease, which is decimating kauri forests in northern New Zealand.
The project team comprises of scientists, social scientists, iwi and community groups and was initially funded for two-years from the Government's Biological Heritage National Science Challenge. It has subsequently been funded by Auckland Council.
The team recruits private landowners to work alongside scientists to treat their own trees with a chemical called Phosphite which has shown great promise in Kauri Dieback Programme-funded scientific trials, by enabling kauri to fight back against the Phytophthora agathidicida pathogen that causes the disease.
The initial pilot study involved a small number of private landowners to test and refine the methodology before expanding this to a larger group in the second stage of the project. The current phase 3 of the project encourages increased uptake by landowners in the Auckland Region.
The project will also encourage landowners to test other treatment techniques, encouraging both western science and mātauranga Māori methods, rigorously monitoring results and collecting data on all treatments so that their efficacy can be determined.
You can read more about the project on our Newsreel page.
Find out how you can join the team.
Check out our video which introduces Kauri Rescue
