Waitaki Mayor Alex Familton will have to convince enough of his councillors about the worth of setting up the Otago Wilding Trust to have the Waitaki District Council take part.
Some councillors expressed misgivings this week about participating in the trust, after a similar cautious approach by the Otago Regional Council, in contrast to Queenstown Lakes District Council, which has unanimously agreed to join.
The Waitaki council has deferred a decision until Mr Familton can put the case for the trust. Mr Familton had leave of absence from this week's meeting.
The idea of the trust has come from the Otago Mayoral Forum to oversee the issues of wilding trees throughout Otago, including raising funds for eradicating the trees in collaboration with community groups.
The Waitaki council already contributes $50,000 a year to eradication of wilding pines, but some were concerned about what it could be committed to if it approved the trust.
They were also uncertain about the area the trust would cover, when the biggest wilding pines infestation in the Waitaki district was in the Ahuriri area, controlled by Environment Canterbury.
Council chief executive Michael Ross said the area the trust would cover still needed to be clarified, but could be the province of Otago which would bring in the Ahuriri-Ohau area.
Some councillors were not comfortable with supporting the trust, including Cr Kevin Malcolm who said eradication should be the responsibility of, and paid for by, the property owner, including the Department of Conservation.
Grazing land had helped keep wilding pines down, but when that stopped on department land the problem grew, he said.
"It's a huge Doc issue, exacerbated by not grazing," Cr Malcolm said.
Eradication should be funded by central Government because it was the department that had caused the issue.
Cr Helen Stead feared the council could be pulled into something it would need to fund in the future.
On Thursday, the Clutha District Council voted 10-3 in favour of joining the Otago Wilding Trust.
