However, the planting may go ahead in a different area of the property.
On Thursday, Lammermoor Station withdrew its application to the Central Otago District Council to plant 66ha of Pinus ponderosa and Pinus radiata-attenuatta hybrid for carbon sequestration and registration in the emissions trading scheme.
The application was first lodged last year and submissions closed in December.
In February, the application was suspended for further assessment.
A notified consent hearing was planned for next month but Lammermoor owner John Elliot said he had withdrawn the application.
While he believed there was a slightly better than 50-50 chance the hearing would have gone his way, he did not want to upset the public.
"We want to work with the people and the public," he said.
The 5400ha property was certified organic, was carbon-positive and had reduced stock numbers in favour of planting grain, Mr Elliot said.
"We are doing everything the world wants us to do. We farm with nature, not against it."
He was alarmed by the wilding pine spread across the Rock and Pillar range and Lammermoor’s existing pine plantations were well-managed to avoid wilding spread, he said.
"We don’t want to be blamed for that."
They had chosen the latest plantation spot as it was a dark, cold gully, out of sight and it would have been the most secluded of all their plantations. Additionally it was otherwise unproductive land.
"You couldn’t run a rabbit on it."
Mr Elliot said the trees were not to be planted on the Lammermoor Range, as some opponents had said.
"No-one has come to us to see where the trees are going to be planted."
However, given the opposition to it — 39 of the 44 submissions received were against the granting of the resource consent — he decided to withdraw the application.
It was possible they might plant the trees in a different part of their extensive property, some of which may not require a resource consent.
It could also mean they would be on potentially more productive land instead.
At a cost of more than $100,000 to plant the trees it was not a decision to be rushed, Mr Elliot said.
Central Otago wilding conifer control group chairman John Cooney said the decision was an environmental win for Central Otago and he thanked everyone who had submitted against the proposal for being protectors of Central Otago landscapes
He also praised Mr Elliot.
"We respect and welcome the decision of the owners of Lammermoor Station."
