Putting paid to wilding pines

Wakatipu Wilding Conifer Control Group (WCG) chairman Peter Willsman (left), Environment Select Committee member Maggie Barry MP, Central Lakes Trust chief executive Paul Allison (second right) and Sir Eion Edgar, chairman of the Central Lakes Trust and WCG patron, after finishing off one of the tens of thousands of introduced wilding pines which suffocate native biodiversity in the Wakatipu Basin.

They gathered on Loch Linnhe Station, overlooking the southern arm of Lake Wakatipu, on July 26 to celebrate the grant of $1.7 million from the trust to the WCG.

The major cash boost will be put to use in controlling the spread of wilding pines from October.

The WCG committee meets this week to schedule a series of community drop-in sessions and workshops this spring to explain why and how wilding pines need to be tackled.