A total of 409 hours of clearing work was carried out over three weeks at the end of last year.
It was Upper Clutha Wilding Tree Group’s first major wilding pine control operation, funded by the landowner, the Otago Regional Council and the Queenstown Lakes District Council, according to a statement issued in December.
"As a landowner I could not afford to achieve control on this scale.
"It is hugely satisfying to be part of the collaboration of public/private funding to clear Stevensons Peninsula of wilding pines in one operation," Mr Burdon said.
Staff from Central Wilding Tree Control and Landcare Services, Aspiring Helicopters, and Wānaka Water Taxis were involved in the project.
Ground crews used chainsaws to fell the coning trees in sometimes very challenging terrain.
Where wilding pines were sparse, ground crews were dropped in and out by helicopter.
The pines got on the peninsula through wind-spread seeds from other, inappropriately located pine plantations or existing wildings.
While pine plantings were done with the best of intentions in the past, they spread easily in the Upper Clutha’s windy, dry local climate, according to the ORC project delivery specialist Gavin Udy.
If left uncontrolled, the peninsula would become cloaked in an exotic pine forest.
It was in "everyone’s interest" to protect outstanding landscapes and native biodiversity, Mr Udy said.
— APL
