Work began this week on logging wilding trees in Quailburn Rd, near Omarama, and could proceed into next year.
The Waitaki District Council has been under pressure for some years to tackle the spread of wilding trees in the Omarama Basin, particularly along Quailburn Rd, where there has been a major problem.
Forestry consultant Jim Childerstone said there could be about 3500 tonnes of logs, or even more, from the work.
The market was volatile, with prices "going up and down like yo-yos" and the council, purely on the commercial grades of logs pulled out, should break even and might have a surplus, he said. It would depend on the grades of logs.
It was hoped to get as much A-grade as possible, which would give the council "a few dollars" per tonne, Mr Childerstone said.
There would be at least 4000 to 5000 tonnes of residue, including off-cuts and reject logs, stacked along the roadside. If mulched, one option was to sell the chips as dairy bedding or garden mulch.
In 2006, it was estimated wilding pines covered nearly 70,000ha of South Island high country.
Jim Ward, the manager of Molesworth Station in Marlborough and a member of the South Island Wilding Pine Management Group, said 6000ha of Otago and 62,000ha of Canterbury had a weed issue with wilding pines.
Mr Ward said no solution to the problem at Molesworth Station had been found and it was unlikely a universal cure would be discovered.
