Otago Regional Council councillor Gerry Eckhoff is backing an initiative launched by the council this week to boost public awareness of the wilding conifer threat to Otago landscapes.
Early this week on its internet site, the council added extensive wilding conifer information and a map showing their spread, and also launched an online survey seeking information about wilding conifers.
The survey asks participants how concerned they are about the spread of wilding conifers in Otago, and how important they think it is that the work of community groups controlling wilding spread is supported by the council.
Another question raises awareness about the damage caused by wilding conifers, including reduced water availability in rivers, loss of scenic landscapes, reduced productivity in pastoral farming land, and ''damage to environmentally sensitive areas''.
Cr Eckhoff has previously taken issue with the council over wilding conifers and has urged the council to take a more active approach to the issue.
In June, Cr Eckhoff, who lives near Alexandra, said it was ''regrettable'' the council had not earmarked funding in its amended long-term plan to support community groups, including those in Central Otago, battling to remove wilding trees.
Cr Eckhoff said he strongly supported the council's latest initiative, and said it was also important to ensure adequate funding was made available through the council to help remove wilding conifers.
He empathised with some people who had made repeated submissions to the council seeking funding to fight wilding conifer spread, and who had previously felt discouraged by an earlier lack of action by the council.
But he was pleased the ORC was now taking a more positive approach.
ORC chairman Stephen Woodhead said the online survey was available at www.orc.govt.nz and it would continue until early next year.
And he noted that recent reports had identified that more than 300,000ha of Otago had some wilding infestation.
This figure was likely to triple to 900,000ha in the next 20 years if nothing further was done.
Wilding conifers took up significant amounts of soil moisture and degraded landscape and scenic values important to many people in Otago.
They could survive from coastal Otago areas to the inland high country, and their seeds were easily spread, he warned.
''If nothing further is done, large areas of scenic open tussock landscape will be lost, along with productive pastoral areas,'' he said.
Mr Woodhead said a co-ordinated regional and national management approach to the issue was needed while it was still possible to win the battle and contain the spread of wildings.
The council was considering whether it would propose funding for for community-based wilding control projects in the draft 2016-17 annual plan and ''we want to hear the public sentiment'', Mr Woodhead said.
