Unless Mt Dewar Station's wilding conifers are eradicated, "the war will be lost" against the pest trees, commissioners for the station's proposed subdivision was told on Wednesday.
Mt Field Ltd is seeking resource consent for a visitor facility housing up to 20 people, 14 allotments and 12 residential building platforms at the station, which sits between Coronet Peak and Skippers Canyon.
Its proposal provided for eradication and continued control of all wilding pines from the 1768ha station, for which lot owners were expected to be levied $10,000 a year each.
Wakatipu Wilding Conifer Control Group chairman Peter Wilsman said total removal of the station's wildings was "essential".
"If Mt Dewar pines continue to advance, their seed will infest and re-infest the Coronet Ski area, Shotover Saddle, the tourist based Shotover Rd . . . on to Coronet Peak Station and across the Shotover on to Ben Lomond station." Mr Wilsman said the control group could not finance the control, and without action, Mt Dewar's "heritage New Zealand landscape" was in danger of becoming "another North American conifer covered mountain face".
In response to commissioners' questions, Doc Wakatipu ranger biodiversity threats Jamie Cowan estimated the initial Mt Dewar eradication would cost about $30,000.
Mount Field director and Queenstown developer David Bloomfield argued the cost would be closer to $200,000, because of costs such as fencing around the trees.
He said the application was about the station's "long-term future", not just gaining consent for the sites, which he estimated would start off at $400,000 to $450,000 a lot.
"Implementation of the consent will ensure that Mt Dewar Station will be kept free of wilding trees indefinitely. That in turn will preserve the potential for Mt Dewar Station to realise its potential as a recreational resource in the future."
The Greenslade family, former owners of Mt Dewar, wanted to be heard in support of their submission opposing the proposal but were prevented from travelling to the hearing due to illness. A written submission on behalf of 20 members of the family, asked that the application be declined or disallowed. It argued that Mount Dewar's Outstanding Natural Landscape zoning was "inviolable and sacrosanct".
Development would, in their view, have major adverse effects on the environment's physical appearance, and rely on "trust" that wildings would be controlled when "no promised wilding pine management plan was submitted" following previous consent approvals.
The commissioners adjourned the hearing to wait for a written reply from the applicant.
