That comment came from West Harbour Community Board chairman Steve Walker last night, after a board meeting at which Dunedin City Council biodiversity officer Aalbert Rebergen reported on recent pest control progress.
Mr Rebergen said he was liaising with community groups who were also involved in pest control, including the Landscape Connections Trust.
This trust has co-ordinated the development of a community-led project, Beyond Orokonui, which stretches from North Dunedin to Waikouaiti, and involves planned extensive predator control beyond the Orokonui Ecosanctuary.
Ospri, a collaborative government and industry bovine Tb control body, is also undertaking extensive possum control work, including in the Mt Cargill area, north of Dunedin.
Mr Rebergen told the meeting, at the Port Chalmers Town Hall, that ''massive benefit'' could be derived from the work other groups were already doing, and from collaborating with them.
In terms of the council's own efforts, he favoured a more planned, focused and concentrated approach, and doing a ''good job somewhere'' rather than adopting a more piecemeal approach, which could amount to doing a ''bad job'' everywhere.
The pests he was dealing with ranged widely, from possums to wilding sycamore trees, he indicated.
Mr Walker said that wilding sycamore was a big threat to biodiversity in the area.
Mr Rebergen and the council deserved a ''pat on the back'' for their efforts to overcome what had been ''decades of neglect'' in the area.
The community board had long been keen to promote active pest management, and the approach being adopted was ''logical'' and laudable, he said.
