The wrong tree in the right place is an ongoing conundrum for Central Otago District Council with a long-awaited compromise plan seemingly decided yesterday stalled at the 11th hour
Ken Churchill has been turning up at council meetings in Alexandra with regular monotony for the past 17 months in a bid to save trees on a local reserve from the chop.
Churchill says a meeting yesterday where a decision made by the local community board to stage the tree felling was stymied by council staff was an “undemocratic shemozzle”.
In five-minute meeting slots for the public to have their say Churchill has politely ear-bashed the Vincent Community Board and Central Otago District Council urging them to not clear fell the pines that for decades have shaded walkers and bikers at the southern reaches of Alexandra.
It’s been a tough argument for him and fellow residents opposing the felling as the trees are considered to be wilding pines - giant weeds known to be spreading fast and seriously threatening Central’s iconic open landscapes.
Over time a general acceptance surfaced that the pines would eventually have to go, but a staged removal was strongly favoured.
The 14ha site - bone-dry and baking-hot in summer - was vested in the council in 1973 as a reserve. Early photos show the area bare of trees in 1956.
The pinus radiata were later planted as shelter and some have since self-seeded on site.
When the Central Otago Wilding Conifer Control Group recently noted the now decades-old stand as a wilding pine seed source, the council felt obligated to do its bit and remove them.
The project got off to a spectacularly bad start after residents only learnt of the plan through the media just weeks before a contractor was due to arrive. There was nothing in the budget to develop the cleared site and residents were devastated at the thought of losing what they consider a park.
The council’s plan was to leave stumps and wood chip and sell the logs, leaving what residents predicted would be an exposed eyesore.
Churchill told Newsroom at the time that he doubted the pines were solely responsible for wilding spread across the Clutha River onto farm land.
“It is an easy option for council to wave a flag about wilding pines. It is such a fabulous place, undeveloped and there are lots of trails. There are so many sides to it and it’s shocking there was no consultation.”
The work was paused following local protest and a landscape plan created with walking tracks and native plantings. The council felt a more natural landscape making features of rock formations would enhance the area and many agreed.
Residents were invited to view the plan but some were not convinced the new plantings would thrive on the exposed, dry hillsides. With Churchill and neighbour Chris Winter leading the way, the group of residents compiled a 10-page report noting that the pines were home to native birdlife and geckos.
They sheltered homes from the wind, buffered noise from the highway below and formed an attractive green belt at the southern entrance to the town. For decades kids and adults alike had scooted around the bike trails, collected cones and walked dogs, the group said.
The community board held off from approving all the Half Mile trees be felled, asking staff for public consultation.
A resulting survey of 154 residents found just over half supported the removal of the trees but within sub-set of nearest neighbours just over half supported keeping the pines.
Wildings fund dwindling fast
In 2020 the government allocated $100 million over four years to accelerate the removal of wilding conifers throughout New Zealand, distributed through such groups as the Central Otago one.
If the council does not remove the Half Mile Recreation Reserve conifers this financial year using about $65,000 from the group, the whole $109,000 spend will fall on ratepayers if the work later goes ahead.
In July last year the council strengthened its resolve to do its part by developing a wilding conifer control policy, tightening its guidelines for dealing with the many pines on council land.
Yesterday the community board heard the current plan for post-felling development of the Half Mile site will cost $138,000, with some funds now available from Alexandra general reserves.
A local native reforestation group, Haehaeata Natural Heritage Trust, has given the council its support to remove the conifers, supplying a list of suitable dryland plants for the site.
Council staff yesterday recommended the VCB agree to clear-fell the site.
However, council budgets do not detail any irrigation instalments, which board members expressed concern about at the meeting. Replacing one amenity area with another of good standard is desirable, they say.
They rejected the plan to clear-fell and voted for a staged approach to removing the trees.
After the vote, in which only two of the seven members voted for clear felling, council chief executive Sanchia Jacobs told the meeting the council would first have to be asked if a staged approach was in breach of the new policy on wildings.
The decision on how to deal with the trees will lie on the table until that answer comes.
Jacobs says it’s unusual such an issue is even being discussed by the board as tree removal is normally an operational matter.
Mayor Tim Cadogan told the meeting that how the site is dealt with might affect other sites where the council plans to remove pines.
Board chair Tamah Alley, however, is hopeful a staged approach is possible.
“If it takes a bit longer and costs a bit more then that is still a satisfactory outcome.”
Made with the support of the Public Interest Journalism Fund
