Budget for wilding pines could double

THE Otago Regional Council is likely to double, to $200,000, its annual spend on removing wilding conifers, amid growing community concerns about adverse environmental effects.

A council hearing panel, chaired by Cr Doug Brown, yesterday completed hearing Dunedinbased verbal submissions on the council’s 201718 draft annual plan, and then discussed its recommendations.

Council chairman and panel member Stephen Woodhead suggested the council earmark $200,000 for the spending, in the next financial year, and the panel backed that view.

Many annual plan submitters supported wilding conifer spending, but there has also been strong backing for funding to be increased.

Mr Woodhead warned last year about several threats emerging from the growth of wilding conifers, including damage to upland landscape views, a threat to overall biodiversity and a potential reduction in water availability, particularly in dry areas.

The proposed funding boost should be seen in a wider context, in which a collaborative national plan, including government, had been developed to guide overall wilding conifer removal, Mr Woodhead said.

The Government had earmarked $16 million over four years to help remove conifers, and the council was currently administering payments amounting to about $1.2 million — more than a quarter of the annual funding provided throughout the country, he said in an interview. And ‘‘there appears to be wide community support’’ for removing wilding conifers, he said.

The council’s finance and corporate committee will further consider the panel’s recommendations, and the plan would be formally approved at a later full council meeting.