Kauri conservationists fear bureaucracy will suck up new funding from Budget 2021.
Over the Waitākere forest canopy it s not hard to see the damage kauri dieback has done.
Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
A total of $28 million has been allocated for a National Pest Management Plan to fight kauri dieback.
Government departments started working on the plan in 2017 but it is still incomplete.
The pathogen is threatening kauri with extinction and it is not known exactly how far it has spread.
Northland Regional councillor Jack Craw said he was grateful the funding was allocated but it was manifestly inadequate .
The bulk of the money should go to community conservation groups and iwi who did the grassroots and treeroots work, he said.