New Zealand’s forest owners are having a huge impact on the country’s pest control. A new survey shows almost $4 million was spent by large forest companies controlling over 160,000 pest animals across 1.4 million hectares of plantation forest in 2025, with activity reported across 77% of the national forest estate.
The New Zealand Forest Owners Association (NZFOA) says the sector’s contribution is often overlooked in the national debate about who is responsible for controlling pests across private land.
The survey comes as Federated Farmers calls for greater responsibility from forestry and other land managers, identifying neighbouring forestry and Crown land among sources of pest reinvasion onto farms.
NZFOA Chief Executive Dr Elizabeth Heeg says forest owners already take a proactive role in tackling pests that affect both production forests and the wider environment.
“These figures show forest owners’ significant investment in reducing pest pressure, often in places where neighbouring farms, waterways, reserves and native bush also benefit,” says Dr Heeg. “Pest control at this scale not only protects forests, but reduces pressure on native vegetation, wildlife and adjacent land.”
Possums made up the largest recorded group, with nearly 90,000 controlled during 2025. The survey also recorded nearly 30,000 goats, 15,000 pigs and 11,000 deer, alongside 17,000 rats, mustelids, chamois and other pests.
Deer, goats and other browsing animals can damage plantation forests, particularly young trees, affecting tree establishment and growth. Pests such as possums, rats and mustelids can also affect native wildlife and vegetation within and around plantation forests.
Smaller-scale forest owners, including farm foresters and woodlot owners, are likely to add further to the overall figures, with the survey not fully capturing the contribution of this group. NZFOA Environment Manager Rachel Millar says pest control cannot be treated as an isolated property-by-property problem.
“Pests don’t recognise property boundaries, so neither should pest control,” she says. “Forest owners are already doing substantial work, but there is an opportunity to make that work more effective by co-ordinating it across neighbouring properties and the wider landscape.
“This new data provides forest owners with a better way to track progress, identify gaps and work more closely with councils, neighbours, contractors, hunting clubs and conservation groups.”
Hunting is another significant part of pest control in forests, with forestry companies issuing more than 8000 hunting permits during 2025, according to the survey.
“Managed hunting access is an important part of pest control on forestry land,” says Dr Heeg. “When it’s well managed, hunting gives companies a practical way to reduce pest numbers while keeping people safe around forestry operations.”
Better co-ordination between forest owners, farmers, councils, conservation groups, hunting organisations and other land managers could help prevent pests simply moving from one controlled area into another.
The survey provides a clearer picture of forestry’s contribution, but Dr Heeg says this is only one component of a much larger landscape issue requiring collective attention.
“Forest owners are already doing their part. The challenge now is to make pest control more co-ordinated across the landscape, so that the work being done on one property isn't undermined by reinvasion from another.”
