Get ready for an eruption of rats, stoats and other predators that threaten our native birds.
Forest and Bird is predicting a bumper beech masting season next autumn, which means more food for predators leading to larger populations.
The environmental group's advocacy manager, Kevin Hackwell, said it was a real issue.
''All the indications are it's heading for a ... bigger masting than last time.''
Last year, rat and stoat numbers rose dramatically due to the amount of available seed.
As a result, the Battle for our Birds initiative was launched by the Department of Conservation and TBfree New Zealand to try to curb the number of native bird deaths caused by predators.
In anticipation of this, the Government delayed making Doc appointments after restructuring in 2013 to launch Battle for our Birds at a cost of about $21 million over five years.
This included spreading aerial 1080 over 680,000ha of beech forest across the South Island.
''[The government] funding option is not available to Doc this year ... so we urgently need the Government to allocate emergency funding for pest control ... so [Doc] can begin the planning of a comprehensive response.''
Conservation Minister Maggie Barry said Doc would be ready for a ''potential plague of rats and stoats''.
''We will not know for certain if the mast will happen until early next year. We will continue to monitor the situation.''
Ms Barry said 1080 remained the most effective tool for protecting native species and she had been discussing funding options.
