Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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Contorta pine trees were meant to be our friend.

Introduced from North America and planted with abandon across Aotearoa for erosion control, timber and shelterbelts, contorta have rapidly adapted to our environment and spread at an alarming rate into farmland and conservation land. They now infest nearly a million hectares of the South Island. As Frank Film discovered, they’ve become our worst weed.

Watch Frank: South Island Stories episode 2 as we explore how to tacklce our worst weed

Find us everywhere @frankfilmnz

#FrankFilm #FrankSouthIslandStories #SouthIsland #WildingPines #Contorta #Conservation #BiodiversityConservation #ProtectOurNature #InvasiveSpecies #pestmanagement

Thanks to:

Nick Ledgard
Ray Goldring
Maree Goldring
Aiden King
George Ormond
Tony Benny

Archive Supplied by:

Tiaki Maniatoto
Environment Southland
Nick Ledgard
Richard Bowman
Wilding Pine Network
Boffa Miskell
Ministry for Primary Industries/Tony Benny


Director, Producer and Camera: Gerard Smyth
Second Camera: Bill Morris
Line Producers: Kirsty Cooper & Antony Miller
Editor: Tracey Jury
Research: Bill Morris
Colour & Online: Mike Kelland
Audio Post: Chris Sinclair

Funded by NZ on Air