The pathogen is given the interim name of Phytophthora taxon agathis (PTA), a new water mould species and the primary cause of Kauri Dieback.

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) (now MPI) biosecurity team assess the outbreak of PTA and declare the PTA pathogen an ‘unwanted organism’ and initiate a response to determine the management options

The Kauri Dieback Programme is established as a partnership between the Department of Conservation, MAF (now MPI), regional and district councils and Iwi across kauri lands

Tangata Whenua Roopu (TWR) established as a group to facilitate Māori involvement in the Programme, with an allocated budget from MAF (now MPI) of approximately $180,000 per annum.

Five year funding for the programme is set at approximately $2 million per annum from all sources (MAF and programme partners).

Research conducted to develop diagnostic and sampling protocols for surveillance activities.

Hygiene methods tested to determine efficacy of a number of types of disinfectants.

Hygiene protocols are developed and 200 hygiene stations are produced and implemented.

Plantation History Study conducted with key members of Te Roroa to ascertain possible links between kauri nurseries, plantations and their practices in connection to the spread of the disease.

Kauri Dieback Hotline set up to provide advice and kauri inspections to landowners.

Field ID guide produced for public

Care for Kauri Guide published for landowner and community advice

Cultural Effects Assessment carried out by Te Roroa.

Research to seek a better understanding of public values, attitudes and likely responses to required behaviours and messages completed. Results suggest that the disease is not well understood.

Centralised system established for ordering and distributing hygiene supplies

Soil sampling programme developed to optimise the likelihood of detected PTA.

Preliminary investigation is conducted into kauri genetics

First research looking at Phosphorous acid and its effect on PTA. Trunk injections showed to have the most promise.

‘Keep Kauri Standing’ Programme branding and communications are designed and rolled out to drive consistency, awareness and compliance

First contract to undertake first phase of Kauri Dieback soil sampling completed. The beginning of a key ongoing multi-phase initiative for the programme

New Keep Kauri Standing website is launched

Cultural Impacts Assessment completed which informed iwi engagement principles in working with Tangata Whenua.

Cultural Health Indicators Project (Phase 1) completed. A literature review followed by an extensive interview process with a number of cultural experts identified a robust set of values and indicators for kauri.

Aerial surveillance across Waitakere and Hunua ranges begins to identify kauri stands and possible infected sites

1,200 visitor survey completed in the Waipoua by Te Roroa and DOC staff to understand public perceptions and inform communications and behaviour change initiatives

Invitro and glasshouse trials begun using phosphite as a potential control completed with results indicating that there is sufficient evidence of potential effectiveness to control PTA. Field trials recommended.

Kauri2000 trust works with the programme to distribute 10,000 bookmarks ahead of Rugby World Cup to raise awareness with visiting tourists

Te Papa invites team to work on information for their Kauri display

Aerial surveillance suggests Hunua is likely disease free

Central system established for producing, ordering and supplying programme signs and collateral

Five-year field trials of phosphite injections on juvenile kauri trees commence.

First mountain bike prototype cleaning station is installed in the Hunua Ranges

Glen Osborne helps the programme develop a Kauri Dieback Disease DVD to drive awareness of the programme

Auckland Council roll-out bus shelter campaign to raise awareness of Kauri Dieback disease

Based on international and domestic visitor learnings programme messaging is updated

Coopers Creek Vineyard come on board as a collateral partner and create their Lone Kauri brand to help build public awareness

New cleaning stations are trialled by Auckland Council in the Waitakere and Hunua ranges, making the cleaning experience easier for users

Kauri Protection zones are implemented by Auckland Council in the Hunua and Waitakeri ranges

‘Kids for Kauri’ programme is established to raise awareness with primary children in the West Auckland region

Second round of aerial surveillance commences including Great Barrier Island and Coromandel

Work commences on risk assessment of PTA spread by rural stock movement and invertebrates

Bivouac Outdoor comes on board as a collateral partner to help raise awareness of disease with relevant customers using Kauri Dieback programme tools and branding

Research conducted into feral pigs as a vector of the disease

New Te Reo signage and education tools created by the programme

Auckland council and the McCahon House Trust hold a public seminar on kauri dieback as trees at McCahon house succumb to the disease.

Waikato Regional Council and the Kauri 2000 Trust work on a radio campaign to build awareness of the disease

The Healthy Trees, Healthy Future Project begins to establish an enabling technology platform to advance knowledge of pathogen-host interactions. This will underpin knowledge around understanding the mechanisms to inform genetic tolerance of kauri to PA with the intent to develop a greenhouse screening tool to identify kauri tolerance lines. 

Research into determining the efficacy of a variety of treatments to deactivate oospores of PTA completed. The use of high temperatures and alkaline solutions were found to reduce oospore viability.

Review by Independent Quality Assurance New Zealand proposes a nationally consistent approach and statutory basis to secure commitment and funding from partner agencies

Business case for next funding phase is developed based on the advice from the report and insights from programme partners.

Second phase of soil sampling activity gets underway in Northland, Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty based on tracing the historical pathways that may have occurred when the former NZ forestry service was in operation, a number of positive sites were found during this work

Phase 2 of the Cultural Health Indicators Project completed. A monitoring framework developed which serves as a guide for the collection and analysis of monitoring data and information for kauri ngāhere to measure disease status and state of forest health & resilience.

Simco provide new spray guns across wash station sites.

NZTA and the programme partner share learnings with regards to road management vehicles spreading the disease

Landcare Research completes work to better understand the pathology, biology and ecology of PTA.

Feral pigs confirmed as a vector for the disease, programme prepares to establish relationships and tools with hunting bodies to help control spread

Historical research suggest kauri dieback may have been in the country for over 50 years

3077 people surveyed as part of Auckland Councils ongoing ‘Peoples Panel’ survey. 82% confirm they are aware of the disease.

Tindal and Aotearoa Foundations grant the programme $480,000 over 3 years as a contribution to protecting kauri on private land and supporting community groups.

Business case for next funding phase is developed.

Budget bid is successful and Government allocates $26.5 million to fight kauri dieback disease. $21.6 million allocated to DOC – spread across four years and  $4.9 million over four years, was allocated to the kauri dieback programme (this combined with partner agency contributions brings the annual budget of the programme to approx. $2 million)

A 10-Year strategy is developed setting out the overall vision and outcomes for the programme.  With a focus on four key goals: 

• Delivering effective operations – the work on the ground 
• Building knowledge and tools – science, surveillance and decision-support 
• Engaging and enabling people and communities – behaviour change and communications 
• Managing the programme – aligning efforts of the partners

Research looking into the factors that influence people’s responses, perceptions and attitudes towards kauri dieback controls completed. Overall high level of awareness (75.7%) and past compliance with stations (88.9%) and track usage (78.2%). A focus on positive messaging, education, publicise compliance rates to reduce scepticism and demonstrate positive social norm.

Ecological long term monitoring looking at the ecological impacts of kauri dieback on kauri and kauri forest ecosystems begins.

Aerial surveillance programme continued, targeting rural landscapes in the Kaipara and other parts of Northland

Rāhui placed on Pukekaroro and Pukeareinga in the Kaiwaka area to prevent the spread of kauri dieback disease by mana whenua ,Te Uri o Hau

Kauri Dieback is discovered on the Coromandel Peninsula and Notice to close the Hukarahi Conservation Area was signed by the Hon Nick Smith, Minister of Conservation, under Section 13 (1)(c) of the Conservation Act 1987 on 25th March 2014.

The pathogen is formally described in the scientific literature and is named Phytophthora agathidicida. PTA is now PA for short. 

DOC begins installing prototypes of new cleaning stations at four key tracks. This includes monitoring and assessment to measure compliance. New stations are a step change in design helping forest users comply with minimal effort.

Regulatory Tools report is commissioned.

Five year Phosphite field trials looking at the efficacy of injecting large mature trees with phosphite to slow the onset of the disease and hence reduce disease impact on kauri begins

Field trials to determine efficacy of using phosphite as a trunk spray on disease symptoms as well as investigating lower injection rates on toxicity and efficacy begins.

Additional Oospore Deactivation research completed and shows that high temperatures for pronounced periods will reduce oospore deactivation.

Research looking at the use of dogs to detect PA underway.

An analysis of historical soil samples concluded that PA could potentially survive in soil for many years, even in the absence of a suitable host.

Remote sensing project to distinguish between kauri and non- kauri and also to measure the state of health of kauri using LiDAR and Hyperspectral sensors, begins.

Research into determining what factors may influence phosphite treatment efficacy and the potential impacts phosphite may cause due to trunk injections, begins.

Best Practice Guidelines developed for the safe disposal of contaminated kauri material.

Conservation Minister Maggie Barry closes Albany Scenic Reserve which was one of the earlier detections of the disease

DOC surveyed over 750km of tracks to collect data for the Recreation project aimed at targeted solutions for their track network

Follow up ground truthing of sites identified by aerial work commenced, new positive sites found in the far north including Herekino forest near Kaitaia and in the Totara North and Waipapa areas. New positive sites found in the Whangarei area including Mt Manaia and Pohuenui reserves.

Work continued to complete a National database to hold all records of surveillance data so far

The closure of tracks in Logues Bush Scenic Reserve near Wellsford, is supported by a rāhui down by local iwi Ngati Manuhiri

Fencing projects were completed with the support of the Tindal and Aotearoa Foundations funding

Ambassadors introduced at key and iconic Kauri sites to help monitor and build compliance with forest visitors

Kauri Dieback Symposium held to share learnings and research across the programme between partners, tourism operators and community groups

First Kauri Karnival is held in West Auckland with support from the programme

The programme works with LEARNZ to create and run a virtual field trip with schools and communities across New Zealand, raising awareness with year 11-12 students

Auckland Council, Treescape and the New Zealand Arboriculture Association collaborate to hold a kauri dieback workshop for arborists

Review of cleaning station prototype designs.

Kauri Mapping Project underway to develop a geodatabase that will include information showing where kauri are located, level of abundance and maturity, and the type of ecosystem kauri resides in. In addition, information that informs the type of human vectoring that may have occurred in the past

Chinese Conservation Education Trust and the Kauri Dieback Programme announce collaboration to raise awareness and education with Chinese tourists

Colmar Brunton research commissioned with the public to better understand awareness and the tools needed in order to help build behaviour change. 90% of those surveyed sight management of the disease as ‘important’ or ‘very important’. 67% had unprompted awareness of the disease compared to 31 per cent in 2011. However there were no significant increase in compliance behaviours.

New diseased sites detected near Kaipara Harbour; at Ruawai, Tinopai and Kaiwaka. , and at other private sites near the Warawara Forest.

Kauri GIS mapping and field app project gets underway using all data to date, help in the National database to help continue mapping and monitoring the spread of the kauri dieback disease.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of kauri dieback signage completed. Recommendations made to increase the effectiveness of signage.

First stage of the Iconic Tree Project completed to define what an iconic tree is. A desktop review was carried out to identify publically known trees as a pre-cursor to defining what an ‘iconic tree’ is.

Results from the long term monitoring programme suggest that there are differences in the forest composition between infected and non-infected stands as well as differences in the mycorrhizal fungi community.

Testing soil samples taken from beneath Agathis species in New Caledonia that were showing similar symptoms to kauri dieback, concluded that the pathogen causing the disease symptoms was not PA but a closely related species.

Decision Support Tool developed to aid in decision making around what factors you need to consider to prioritise and select the most appropriate mitigation measure for infected sites.

Independent Quality Assurance New Zealand review of the current state of knowledge within the Kauri Dieback Programme is completed.

An epidemiology review of our field data is completed. A number of gaps in the type of field data that is collected was found and areas to consider investment was recommended.

A scoping study to assess the feasibility of using phosphite as a barrier treatment to contain disease foci and to prevent incursions of PA into new areas is completed. High up-front costs and a number of uncertainties are potential barriers that need to be considered for future research.

A pilot study (Phase 3) to test the principles and practicalities of using the Kauri Cultural Health Indicator (CHI) Monitoring Framework completed. A number of recommendations were made to refine the framework before rolling it out.

Aerial surveys commenced for the entire Waikato region using different methodology and advanced technology aimed at capturing imagery for all of kauri-lands and then using it to prioritise sites for ground truthing and future operational management

Waitakere Ranges Monitoring project is undertaken by Auckland Council. Increase in number of infected trees from 7.9% in 2011 to 18,95% infection in 2016. Current measures are not working and human vectoring identified as main risk to spreading the disease.

Geo database project commenced, to provide a GIS layer that estimates where kauri are present and their potential abundance, also any known historical vector pathways and other human disturbance

DOC begins programme of work to upgrade tracks across 200 of its sites to help protect Kauri

More fencing projects were completed with the support of the Tindal and Aotearoa Foundations funding

Aerial surveillance continues over the Waipoua Forest and Coromandel

The Waipoua Tactical Plan commences, led by local mana whenua Te Roroa

First Restricted Place Notice and a Directions Notice (Biosecurity Act, 1993) used to help contain the pathogen on a high risk private site

DOC and Te Roroa work together to install new wash station with automated components at Tane Mahuta site

Controlled Area Notices (CAN) plan and the development of a National Pest Management Plan (NPMP) announced by Damien O’Connor, Minister for Biosecurity, and Eugenie Sage, Minister of Conservation for roll out and implementation in 2018

Laboratory trials testing natural products and biological control agents to determine their effectiveness against kauri dieback completed. Three products showed a degree of efficacy against PA. These will be selected for field trials.

Best Practice Guidelines developed to determine the disease status of an area.

Best Practice Guidelines developed for land disturbance activities & vehicle and machinery hygiene.

Best Practice Guidelines updated for tree pruning and removal.

An investigation to look at the role historical forestry operations (e.g. kauri plantations, nurseries, trials, practices, logging) play in the introduction & spread of kauri dieback is completed. A likely entry pathway into NZ could not be identified and Waipoua Forest Nursery and general logging activities likely aided in the spread of kauri dieback.

Research into developing a diagnostic/predictive tool that will determine when phosphite-injected trees require re-treatment failed to result in a viable tool.

The first stage into identifying traditional Māori medicines (Rongoā) which could be used to improve kauri and kauri forest health and to reduce the impact of kauri dieback is completed. A number of Rongoā were recommended for field trials.

A report into identifying high risk human activities and address which areas require future management was completed. There was an inconsistency of peoples understanding of kauri dieback. All user groups could benefit from type specific information and education.

Research looking at developing temperature treatment protocols to kill oospores in nursery plants and associated potting mix and soil begins.

The development of a science and mātauranga Māori plan that identifies how mātauranga Māori and Western Science is delivered, integrated and reviewed in the programme begins.

The first draft of the science roadmap outlining the strategic direction of the science is completed. Further review is ongoing.

Hunua Ranges Monitoring Project is undertaken by Auckland Council

Aerial surveillance continued using new methods and covering all of Northland and parts of Auckland, ongoing ground truthing of suspect sites.

Field collection App and GIS viewer available to all programme partner staff.

A field manual was developed for partner staff to aide with soil sampling

The programme work with NZTA to compile robust procedures for cleaning machinery and personnel during the construction of the new section of State Highway One

More fencing projects were completed with the support of the Tindal and Aotearoa Foundations funding

Increase in ambassadors on tracks during peak summer period across; Waitākere and Hunua Ranges Regional Parks, several Northern regional parks, Kaipātiki local area parks and on Waiheke Island.

Kauri Dieback Website is redesigned to help optimise user and public experience and management of guides, research and wider information

5 years of field trials completed to determine the effectiveness of phosphite injections in juvenile kauri trees. Trunk lesions on infected trees successfully healed following treatment. Further work required to determine long term effectiveness and other associated issues. 

A Strategic Science Advisory Group (SSAG) is established to support the kauri dieback programme. The SSAG works across government agencies, Crown research institutes and other research institutes to maintain oversight and ensure any kauri dieback disease related research is cohesive and complementary.

Updated aerial surveillance is completed across all Kauri Lands. The aerial surveillance has involved taking nearly a million photographs and covering around 40,000km - equivalent to one circuit of the Earth.

Ongoing ground surveys are prioritised in support of the aerial surveillance

Auckland Council closes high risk tracks in the Hunua and Waitakere ranges as part of the CANs roll out

New wash station designs rolled out across key DOC sites

Behaviour change approach developed to support new wash stations. Supported by the introduction of a Behaviour Change ranger at DOC to roll out trial funded by the programme. Results expected in Jan-Feb 2019 which will inform overall programme communications and design approach.

The project is responsible for delivering a: 

• Strategy refresh – to deliver early improvements to the programme 
• Development of a National Pest Management Plan and Management agency.

Development of a NPMP for kauri dieback is underway along with options for a management agency.

DOC include Kauri on native threatened species list for the first time

Development of an engagement framework using tikanga to identify rongoā as an exemplar begins.

A Desktop review to look at research opportunities in developing an alkaline-based tool. Previous funded lab-based research found that exposing oopsores to PH 9 or 10 was effective in killing oospores.

Five year field trials looking at Alternative Hosts begins. This is to determine if other plant species can host the pathogen.

Final stage of the Cultural Health Indicators Project begins. Using citizen science (mana whenua) to assess and measure health, resilience and disease status of kauri forests using Cultural Health Indicators - 3 year field monitoring.