Mark Price

The potential to use more Central Otago and Lakes District trees for heating needs to be explored in greater depth according to Queenstown Lakes District Council forester Briana Pringle.

Six Kiwis, including Wanaka helicopter pilot Peter Garden, are battling the elements in the Falkland Islands and South Georgia as they kill rats in an aerial poisoning operation. As Mark Price writes, they are also keeping a wary eye on the simmering tensions between Argentina and Britain over the disputed islands.

A group of Wanaka curlers are rubbing their hands with glee as the frosts begin to bite.

They may be volunteers, and they may have had to fly and drive equipment from as far away as Invercargill, but the firefighters who attended yesterday's Shotover St blaze earned high praise from Fire Service Central and North Otago area manager

The owners of more than 50 lifestyle blocks at Queensberry, near Wanaka, have agreed to work with the Otago Regional Council to deal with their rabbit problem.

The idea of turning Central Otago's wilding conifer problem into an energy solution appears to be uneconomic.

The engine from a Royal New Zealand Air Force Harvard that crashed in Mt Aspiring National Park 60 years ago, killing one of the two men on board, has been discovered.

New irrigation schemes for the Upper Clutha could mean $15 million of investment in the region's electricity network.

The invitations have gone out to air forces around the world and now Warbirds Over Wanaka is awaiting the replies.

Time is running out for hunters who want to pursue game animals by helicopter on the South Island's conservation estate. Planned legislation is likely to end the practice known as ''heli-hunting'' by February. Mark Price reports.