Posted: 07 August 2006
Yellow 'dust' only pine pollen
Yellow, sulphurous-looking dust that has been sparking pollution complaints in Whangarei is just pine tree pollen.
Every year about this time Northland Regional Council staff take calls from people worried local industries might be behind the sprinklings of yellow sulphur-like dust appearing on parked cars and seen floating in puddles.
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A pollen cloud from a pine plantation.
Paul Baynham, the Council’s Air Quality Team Leader, says the dust is just pine pollen, a perfectly natural phenomenon- albeit an annoying one for allergy sufferers.
Mr Baynham says while the pollen can be seen all over the region, it tends to generate more complaints in Whangarei because people mistakenly assume it comes from industries based around the city.
The pollen season is also a bonus for the region’s possums, which attack the growing tips and male catkins of pine trees, causing damage from which young trees may never recover.
Council staff say with that in mind, it’s a good idea for landowners to concentrate pest control efforts around pine trees over the next few weeks to target any possums gathering to feast on catkins.