Report a tree pest or disease in New Zealand: kauri dieback, myrtle rust and who takes the call

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It sets out how Tiakina Kauri, the kauri protection programme inside Biosecurity New Zealand, and the Department of Conservation, called DOC, describe reporting two tree diseases, with the date each page shows where it shows one. For the wider country-by-country picture see tree pests and diseases.

Kauri dieback: who takes the report

On its Tiakina Kauri report page, the programme says kauri grow naturally in the upper North Island: Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel and the Bay of Plenty. It splits reporting by who manages the land.

Where the sick kauri is	Who the page names	Phone and form as the page gives them
Public conservation land, which is land managed by DOC	The local DOC office	The DOC kauri page gives 0800 ASK DOC (0800 275 362) for symptoms seen on public conservation land.
Private or council land, Auckland	Auckland Council	09 301 0101
Private or council land, Bay of Plenty	Bay of Plenty Regional Council	0800 884 880
Private or council land, Northland	Northland Regional Council	0800 002 004, and an online biosecurity incident form
Private or council land, Waikato	Waikato Regional Council	0800 800 401, and an online kauri health concern form
Outside the upper North Island	Tiakina Kauri	By email, at the address on the report page

The report page gives no date.

What the agency asks the reporter to include

For areas outside the upper North Island the report page asks for the reporter's name and the location, with GPS coordinates if possible. It says Tiakina Kauri will register the kauri location and give advice on next steps. The page says reporting sick kauri helps in understanding where the pathogen is in Aotearoa. The pages read for the council and DOC routes list no further details to include.

Myrtle rust

On its DOC myrtle rust page, DOC says a sighting is reported by taking a photo of the rust and the plant it is on and posting it to the iNaturalist website or app, labelled as myrtle rust. For a find on public conservation land it names the local DOC office. It says to avoid contact with heavily infected plants, not to collect samples because that might spread the disease, and to wash clothing, bag and shoes or boots on getting home. The page says the disease affects pōhutukawa, mānuka, rātā, swamp maire and ramarama, and exotic plants including bottlebrush and lilly pilly.

Pests and diseases the agencies name

The two diseases above are the ones these agency pages ask the public to report. The National Plan rules summary says ten rules came in on August 2, 2022 under the plan for the soil-borne pathogen Phytophthora agathidicida. Its Rule 8 covers cleaning visible soil and organic matter off tools, cars, bikes, sticks, shoes and gloves before entering and when leaving a kauri forest. That rule, and the Tiakina Kauri line that moving soil by vehicles and people carries a risk of spreading the pathogen, are set beside the other pests in the biosecurity table by pest. For council tree rules in New Zealand see council tree rules in Australia and New Zealand.