A giant smoke cloud rose from a controlled burn of felled wilding pines by Lake Wardell, near Twizel, on Tuesday and could be spotted from a great distance.

The burn-off was organised by a local landowner.

Wilding Free Mackenzie praised those involved in this week’s burn in a social media post, saying when prepared and executed properly, fire was an “incredibly useful and cost effective way of eliminating wilding pines”.

Around $109 million of government funding is being invested over the next three years to ramp up control of wilding conifers.

A further $1m was announced by the previous government in August to back grassroots wilding pine control.

An estimated 2 million hectares of New Zealand are affected by wilding infestations, and untreated areas expand by about 5% every year.