A team of passionate volunteers battling the scourge of sycamores in North East Valley have had their efforts boosted with an injection of Otago Regional Council funding.

The ongoing, multi-year campaign, led by The Valley Project’s Open Valley Urban Ecosanctuary (Open Vue) project aims to remove the invasive weed species from both riparian areas of Lindsay Creek and reserve areas of North East Valley. 

Leading the charge on the ground are the volunteer Sycamore Removal Squad kaitiakitaka,  who head out regularly to do battle with sycamores in bush areas along the banks of Lindsay Creek.

Open Vue manager Jennie Wagner  is delighted the project recently received a grant of $53,200 through ORC’s 2026 Eco Fund, enabling it to expand the scope of sycamore removal to include reserves such as Chingford Park. 

This is alongside ongoing work on the Open Vue Lindsay Creek riparian (water-side) sycamore removal project, with funding through the ORC site-led fund and the Otago Catchment Community.

“We are very pleased to have this support for our multi-year project to remove as many sycamores as we can, and importantly, prevent them from growing back,” Ms Wagner said.

The Valley Project Open Valley Urban Ecosanctuary (Open Vue) manager Jennie Wagner (right) and Sycamore Removal Squad volunteers Emily Peterson (left) and Ben Nicholls are flanked by the substantial trunk of a sycamore in bush along the trails of Chingford Park, North East Valley. Photo: Brenda Harwood

Sycamore Removal Squad volunteers for the past five years,  Ben Nicholls and Emily Peterson, are passionate about the need to keep sycamores under control in North East Valley.

Mr Nicholls said members of the 29-strong group had pulled out and cut off many hundreds of stems and seedlings, with a focus on the Lindsay Creek area.

“It’s so important to keep on top of the small ones, their thousands of helicopter seeds can travel 3km and seedlings pop up everywhere,” he said.

It was good to be part of an organised group, which headed out monthly in the winter and more often in the warmer months to tackle the sycamores, Mr Nicholls said.

“It’s helpful to take a co-ordinated approach — it’s a very big job.”

Ms Peterson said it was hard to see sycamores growing everywhere and taking over public areas, so being part of the Sycamore Removal Squad was a good way to do something about it.

“There is also a really positive social aspect to it — getting out into the local environment and doing something positive is transformative,” she said.

There are many thousands of rapid-growing, invasive sycamore seedlings and trees of varying sizes throughout North East Valley, crowding out slower-growing native trees leading to fewer food sources for native birds.

This growing problem is duplicated across Dunedin and is of great concern to many residents of North East Valley.

Ms Wagner said  the issue of sycamores had been raised at regular meetings with community members over the years, leading to the Lindsay Creek riparian removal project.

Standing with a row of sycamore stumps along the bank of the Lindsay Creek in Chingford Park are (from left) Sycamore Removal Squad volunteer Ben Nicholls, Open Vue manager Jennie Wagner, and volunteer Emily Peterson. Photo: Brenda Harwood

A recent survey of the Lindsay Creek riparian area, covering 3.7km from Bethune’s Gully car park to North East Valley Bowling Club, showed that sycamores were largely continuous with only a few gaps of less than 100m.

Ms Wagner said, due to the urbanisation of the waterway and its proximity to infrastructure, control methods for larger trees were limited to felling by contractors and poisoning the stumps to prevent regrowth.

Smaller sycamores could be removed by hand — either through pulling or cutting them out, which was where the Sycamore Removal Squad came in, she said.

The survey also showed significant populations of sycamores in both private properties and within reserves, which had led to the Eco Fund grant for reserves work.

“Mapping out the trees in the valley, particularly along Lindsay Creek, helped us to come up with a plan and prioritise where the most urgent work needs to be done,” Ms Wagner said.

“The removal of sycamores from riparian and reserve areas of North East Valley will need to be a multi-year, multi-stage project,” Ms Wagner said.

“Many people have already stepped up to battle sycamores, but we are going to need all the help we can get as the project continues.”

For more information, or to get involved in the Sycamore Removal Squad, visit The Valley Project website northeastvalley.org, or email openVUE@northeastvalley.org

brenda.harwood@thestar.co.nz