Huge milestone for wilding conifer control

It has taken 16 years of diligent work, but all the seeding conifer trees have now been removed from a massive stretch of backcountry near Queenstown.

The Shotover management area consists of about 66,700 hectares in the Mt Aurum, Skippers and Macetown area.

The first introduced conifer species were planted near the Skippers cemetery around 1880 with small plantings around buildings soon after.

By the mid-20th century, the spread was becoming apparent, with increasing concerns this iconic landscape, which hosts tens of thousands of visitors annually, would be irreparably changed.

Control work began back in 2008 and now that operation has moved into a 'maintenance-only' phase, thanks to the combined efforts of Whakatipu Wilding Control Group, the Department of Conservation, Queenstown Lakes District Council, Otago Regional Council, LINZ, the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme, contractors, community volunteers, landowners, managers and other funding supporters.

And remnant native beech forest is recovering in the valleys now that wildings have been removed.

WCG Chairman Grant Hensman says: "No one organisation or person can claim the gold medal for this, but rather we need to mint a truck load of bronzes.

"The start of the maintenance-only phase in this area is due to the removal of all known seeding trees and comes after 16 years of consistent effort. Repeat visits each year, diminishing in intensity, are programmed to mop up residual infestation. This is not without threats to success, chief amongst them budget cuts by government.

"Future generations should be grateful to the many people involved, but the irony is that when we do our job well, they won’t know what they almost lost and will rightly take as normal un-infested, native flora and fauna, never realising the cost and effort that went into preserving it for them."

The control programme has overcome significant challenges, such as access points along the 17.4 km historic Skippers Road, hand carved by miners over 140 years ago with sheer cliff faces and steep drops.

ORC Chair Gretchen Robertson says this is further proof that landscape scale control is achievable, but funding for the work has to be maintained.

“Adequate funding is still needed to control seedling regrowth and to control wildings on neighbouring management areas so that wind-blown seed doesn’t re-infest the Shotover management area,” she says.

All the partners remain committed to protecting these iconic sites into the future.