Reserves to be closed for pine felling

About 12ha of mature pine trees on the Glen Eden and Glen Warren reserves in Oamaru will be harvested by the Waitaki District Council, as the council cashes in on rising timber prices.

The reserve will be closed to public access, for safety reasons, when machinery moves in from Monday.

Logs will be taken up the hill and out by Reservoir Rd and Stoke St.

Income from the sale of the timber has to go back into council reserves under an 1872 Act of Parliament which established the town's reserves.

It says all money received from management of the reserves shall be spent improving them.

Council property manager Dougall McIntyre said yesterday the council decided to harvest the trees after substantial increases in timber prices since December.

The profit the council expected from the trees was about 45% higher than in December, although the actual return would not be known until the timber was disposed of.

Timber prices were predicted to keep rising until April.

Laurie Forestry Ltd, of Waimate, has been contracted to harvest the forest that sits on the reserves between Reservoir Rd, Eden and Warren Sts.

Mr McIntyre said the council was considering a number of options to replant the reserve and wanted to hear the community's views.

Possible options included creating a native forest in the gully, replanting in radiata pine or exploring other specialist species such as cypress, eucalyptus, redwood and giant sequoia.

The replanting would mix replacement pine, areas of amenity planting and treescaping (landscaping for forests).

"This is a new method for reserves management," he said.

One issue contractors faced was avoiding damage to a water main which passed through the reserve.

The council would identify the main, which would be cordoned off to avoid damage from machinery.

Some mountain bike tracks, created unofficially through the reserves, would be damaged by the harvesting.

Once the trees had been harvested, the site would be cleaned up, including sweeping the walking track which is part of the Oamaru skyline walkway.

The council is advertising the closure of the reserves and will have signs erected at main entry points.

david.bruce@odt.co.nz