About $250,000 will be returned to the Waikouaiti Forest Reserve Fund after 9ha of beachfront pine is harvested.
The Dunedin City Council made the decision, at its full meeting, to harvest the trees, with the profit returned to the fund and the land to be replanted in accordance with a landscape management plan approved by council staff.
The pine trees were planted in 1973 after the then-Waikouaiti County Council was granted a lease by the Department of Lands and Survey for a portion of the land known as the Waikouaiti Beachfront Reserve.
The lease allowed forestry, with the profit from the trees to be applied to domain development.
Harvesting the forest began in 2014 with a section of the reserve used by the council's water and waste services as a wastewater disposal field.
The other area required council approval to harvest after legal advice was received.
The remaining pine trees needed to be harvested as the crop was reaching the end of its "prime harvest window'' and a portion of the trees were beginning to fall under high wind conditions, presenting a risk to users of the reserve, a report tabled by the council said.
It was estimated the remaining trees would net about $250,000 for the fund, and the first harvest provided the fund a surplus of $125,853.54.
The proposal received council support and council staff will tender for the tree removal and work with the Waikouaiti Coast community board to establish and implement a landscape management plan for the area.
