The mighty kauri, an icon of the New Zealand forest, is under attack from a disease that has the potential to devastate its population. The disease, known as kauri dieback, was discovered just last year.
Officials are not ruling out closing parks if they cannot control it.
"It's quite a scary prospect that we could be losing the main sort of iconic canopy tree," says Alison Davis, park ranger.
The disease singles out kauris and attacks their roots, starving the tree of nutrients.
"It's new to science, so at the moment not a lot is known about the disease but we're doing a lot of research to find out as quickly as possible what it is and how we can control its spread easily," says the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's David Yard.
First formally identified last year, kauri dieback causes the tree to lose its leaves with branches soon dying and developing lesions that bleed.
The disease takes only a matter of months to take hold before lesions are seen, and the disease appears to be spreading with confirmed cases in the Waitakere ranges, Great Barrier Island and near Dargaville.
More worryingly, symptoms of the disease have been found all over the upper North Island, including the Waipoua Forest in Northland, home to the biggest kauri of all, Tane Mahuta.
"We're doing extensive consultation with stakeholders, particularly local iwi, because we appreciate it's of great concern to them," says Mr Yard.
Officials say they are not ruling out closing parks and reserves in the future if they cannot contain the spread.
But for now authorities are asking people to wash and spray their shoes before entering and leaving kauri parks. Whether that is effectively controlling the spread is yet to be seen.
It is now in the hands of the authorities to ensure that the forest will always have a king.
3 News