An elm tree on Centennial Ave in Arrowtown which was sawn in half and nailed back together, then died as a result, has added to the spate of trees being pruned without Queenstown Lakes District Council consent.
The 3m-high elm tree has since been removed.
In August, a letter "outlining the council's displeasure" was delivered to residents in Wanaka after at least 10 trees were pruned by residents.
Last week, the council advertised in council publications that residents should "leave pruning to the experts and respect our trees".
The council's parks manager, Gordon Bailey, said "there's been a bit of a spate over the last while so we just thought we would remind people".
He said the trees were mostly on street verges and if people had a problem, their first action should be to alert the council.
"We do get lots of requests so we need to balance that out with the budget we have. We can't guarantee something will happen but we will certainly look at it and put it on the list."
