John Elliot, of Lammermoor Station, has applied to the Central Otago District Council and told the council's hearing panel yesterday the trees would be planted in a "secluded valley".
During the six-year battle over whether Meridian Energy's $2 billion Project Hayes wind farm on the range should proceed, the Environment Court ruled the Lammermoor Range was an "outstanding landscape". In January, Meridian said it was shelving the project for commercial reasons.
The 176-turbine wind farm would have covered 92sq km on the upland part of five high country stations, including part of Lammermoor Station.
Council planning consultant David Whitney said establishing a woodlot, forestry or shelter belts on an outstanding natural landscape was a discretionary activity.
Land-use consent was granted by the council last year for a separate block of 40ha of Douglas fir to be planted on Lammermoor Station.
Mr Elliot told the panel the forestry block would be planted under the afforestation grant scheme, for timber and carbon credits under the emissions trading scheme. The block would be grown for at least 50 years.
Consulting forester George Platts, of P.F. Olsen Ltd, said there was potential for the stand to generate wilding spread and that was covered under a wilding management plan.
Two rows of ponderosa pines would be planted around the perimeter of the block to act as a seed trap, and a wilding removal operation would be carried out every five years after the plantation started seeding and would continue until 10 years after harvest.
Mr Platts said the plantation was in a remote valley which was mostly hidden from areas where the public could view and the effect on the landscape was "fairly minor".
The block was about 12km from Te Papanui Conservation Park, Mr Elliot said.
The new forestry block would be visible from elevated vantage points on conservation land in the Rock and Pillar Range, but the view might also include cultivated land on Lammermoor Station, closer to the Loganburn Reservoir, Mr Whitney said.
"Our overall conclusion is that the visual effects on the landscape would not be significant, given the topographical characteristics of the site and environs and given the substantial distance at which the plantation will be viewed."
He recommended consent be granted, subject to 10 conditions. The panel reserved its decision.
