Forest and Bird says it has evidence of how much damage possums are causing to the country's northern forests – and they say it's worrying.
The organisation has released footage showing 116,000 hectares of native trees in Russell, Otangaroa and North Whangaroa rapidly turning into 'bleached skeletons'.
Chairperson of the Northland Conservation Board Mita Harris says the forests are in a really bad state.
"It breaks my heart because it wasn't that long ago that we had pristine forest right throughout Tai Tokerau," he said.
Over the past 40 years possums have destroyed thousands of trees in Northland including totara, northern rata, puriri, and pohutukawa.
The development leaves the Department of Conservation (DOC) with a narrow window of opportunity to bring these ghost forests back to life.
The destruction is not just occurring in Northland either, with Forest and Bird saying this is just one example of native forests around New Zealand that are under threat.
Northland conservation advocate for Forest and Bird Dean Baigent Mercer says the environment report just confirms the disaster that is happening around the country.
"It's a really clear example in Northland where the continued underfunding of DOC has allowed these precious forests to just melt away before our very eyes," he said.
He says DOC needs a serious increase in funding to control pests and bring the bush back to life.
"What we need is an emergency package that is funded directly from central government and the minister to turn this crisis around.
"It needs to be a 10-year commitment and then be revised at the end of that."
Conservationists say it's not only the trees, with native birds and lizards also under constant attack from cats and ferrets.
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