27 Dec 2010

30 years' more work forecast by tree project

8:00 pm on 27 December 2010

Project Crimson, a programme to restore the pohutakawa and the rata, says the work needs to continue for 30 more years.

The project was launched in 1990 after the discovery that 90% of coastal pohutakawa had disappeared because of possum damage and logging.

Although 500,000 trees have been planted by thousands of volunteers since then, executive director Bridget Abernethy says the programme will need to keep going another 30 years.

She says planting has to keep pace with the trees that continue to be felled in urban areas and those whose roots are wrecked by wandering stock in rural areas.