Mountain Scene
Still standing: The plug s been pulled, for now, on the eradication of this swathe of wilding trees
AFTER objections, a stop’s been put to a government-funded programme to eliminate wilding pines from a 35-hectare swathe bordering Queenstown’s Arthurs Point.
Wakatipu Wilding Conifer Control Group (WCG), supported by the Department of Conservation, wants to take out invasive pines from 25ha of DoC land above the Shotover River, along to Big Beach, and two 5ha parcels of private land.
It has government funding from a post-Covid fund that needs to be used by June 30.
Specifically, it planned the operation to happen over two to three weeks over last month and this.