A new $500,000 funding grant from the Government to fight the spread of wilding pines in the Wakatipu should hopefully also have a flow on effect to Central Otago.

The Otago Regional Council has welcomed the grant which includes 12 areas covering more than 3200ha identified around the province.

Otago was the most vulnerable region to the spread of wilding pines, with 70 per cent of its landscapes classified as highly vulnerable.

Conservation Minister Tama Potaka announced this week the Government was investing $30million from the 

International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy to fund more than a dozen projects to boost biodiversity and the tourist economy.

Of the $3.5million announced for wilding control, only Queenstown Lakes received $500,000 in the south with the balance to Canterbury and Marlborough.

The regional council said while largely focused on tourism infrastructure, the announcement noted the $3.5million was to stop the spread and remove wilding conifers from iconic landscapes, increasing the biodiversity and scenic value of those places and ensuring the land is productive.

Central Otago Wilding Conifer Control Group (COWCG) project manager Pete Oswald said while it was disappointing none of the funding came directly into the district, they did share some ‘management units’ with Wakatipu that would help them too.

Included in the Otago-specific projects was a 400ha site of wilding conifers on Lowburn Station, that also bordered Central Otago.

Funding cuts over the past two years has meant the COWCG has had to defer 34 of its maintenance projects.

Pete spoke to the regional council late last year about the group’s progress, and while they had made huge gains over the past 10 years, lack of funding was putting the whole project at risk.

This week he said Central Otago had to cover a far greater area for wilding conifer control than Wakatipu, but the group had moved ahead in “leaps and bounds” to get work done without a lot of funding.

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