Peter Willsman has been helping bring wildings under control since 2009. Photo / RNZ
By Katie Todd of RNZ
A wilding pine control group warns Queenstown’s beautiful vistas could be decimated in a decade if the Government does not stump up more funding to stop the spread of invasive trees.
Whakatipu Wilding Control Group volunteers have been working to remove young Douglas fir seedlings from a previously heavily-infested area on Ben Lomond saddle, which they describe as a hard-won success story.
The group is publicly-funded and receives private donations - but volunteers said it was not enough money to stop the pines’ spread, and their gains were being tarnished by the vast scale of the problem elsewhere in the Whakatipu Basin.
Executive member Graeme Watson said he was worried about what the basin could look like in 10 to 15 years without more funding.
“It would be completely covered, and it would look like Queenstown Hill,” he said.
“We want to save the beautiful beech forest down here and the alpine tussock.”
Founder Peter Willsman said last year’s budget of about $1.3 million was only enough to hold the line in areas already cleared.
“If we had $5 million every year here, we could get on top of it,” he said.
“Until Government come and allocate millions to the problem, it’s just going to get out of control.”
The control group carried out volunteer events in accessible areas such as Queenstown Hill, Coronet Peak and Ben Lomond, and backcountry operations with helicopters, machinery and control crews.
Volunteer co-ordinator Padraic Prendergast said the group could not reach new areas as quickly as it would like.
“We did quite well with the Jobs for Nature money, but unfortunately, that has dried up and as a result of that, we have been having to defer work,” he said.
Skyline director Grant Hensman, who also chaired the group, said wilding pines were a major threat to local tourism, threatening to replace open vistas with a closed canopy.
Beyond scenery, he said they drained hydro resources, curtailed productive land use, and could threaten snow-making water supplies at ski fields.
The trees also posed a serious fire risk, he said.
“I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the red zone around Queenstown also happens to be the same place that the wilding trees have taken over,” he said.
When the fire risk became too high, the council sometimes asked Skyline to close, he said.
“Your inbound tour operators have booked you six, eight, 12 months out,” he said.
“You might have 700 or 800 people booked for an evening meal and all of a sudden you’re closed.”
An analysis prepared for the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) in 2022 found New Zealanders received about $34 in economic and environmental benefits for every dollar spent on wilding pine control.
The findings in Otago were more acute, with research group Sapere telling Otago Regional Council the region would receive about $96 in benefits for every dollar spent on wilding control.
Hensman said the Government was contributing about $15m a year to the problem, down from about $25m in the 2023/24 financial year.
“Why would you bail a boat for 100 years if you could fix the leak?” he said.
In a statement, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka said he was aware of concerns about the funding for the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme, and acknowledged the tough decisions being made to prioritise one area of control over another.
MPI had distributed $200m since 2016 to tackle wilding conifers across 75% of the known infestation, and that included $13.5m from the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy, and over $30m from programme partners, he said.
“This Government is taking the threat of wilding conifers seriously and is looking very closely at how we can improve the success of the MPI-led national programme,” he said.
Back on Ben Lomond saddle, Prendergast said the control group was grateful for volunteers who donated “countless hours and hard work and sweat” so natives around the basin had a chance to thrive.
More people were coming to understand the seriousness of the issue, he said.
“We work a lot with kids in classrooms, things like that,” he said.
“It’s always really impressive to see more and more knowledge around the issue.”
First-time volunteer Sylvia Kurniawan said she had recently moved to New Zealand from Indonesia and was keen to learn more about wilding pines.
“It’s very interesting for me because this is my first time doing this kind of event, being out in nature and in the wild,” she said.
Ten-year volunteer Peter De La Mare said he kept coming back because he knew what was at stake.
“I know what would happen if we didn’t cut these,” he said.
“I like coming up to the basin here. It’s a beautiful place, and it will be good to keep it that way.”
- RNZ