Forest and Bird are warning of a "megamast" in New Zealand forests, fearing without an injection of funding and predator control, "birds, bats, lizards, and insects will be decimated".
Chief Executive Kevin Hague said "climate data is telling us this year is shaping up to have the most widespread heavy seeding, with over 90 per cent of our beech forests affected".
A "mast" year means trees have an "extremely heavy" flowering and seeding production, triggered when the average summer temperatures are more than one degree above average.
"Historically this would trigger an abundance of food for native wildlife to make up for lean years, but now mast events boost rodent numbers, and in turn stoat numbers. When the seed is gone, the plague of predators turn to our native birds, bats, lizards and insects."
"There will be nowhere that will be safe," Mr Hague said.
He said that DOC need at least $20 million additional funding to respond to the predicted mast.
DOC's Amber Bill said in a statement they are planning to carry out predator control over 10,000 square kilometres.
"Additional funding of $81.2 million for predator control in Budget 2018 has enabled DOC to expand its predator control programme.
"DOC's predator control programme for 2019 is estimated to cost about $38 million. The current programme of more than 9,000 km2 of aerial 1080, and 660 km2 of ground control (mainly trapping) is as much as DOC staff and contractors can deliver this year."
She said their four-year plan will gradually expand the predator control programme to over 20 per cent of conservation land by 2022.
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