A heritage avenue of trees planted by Wanaka's early settlers is on the endangered list, after a recommendation from council contractors called for seven of the old English ash specimens to be felled.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council lodged a resource consent application this month to remove the "diseased" trees beside Mt Aspiring Rd on the outskirts of Wanaka.
However, QLDC contractors may be allowed to remove the heritage trees without any need for resource consent, because of uncertainty about whether they are protected under the council's district plan.
Wanaka Residents' Association and Upper Clutha Historical Records Society president Graeme Dickson greeted news of the council's proposed tree cull with a pragmatic acceptance.
"Trees have a limited lifespan. They get old and you can't expect them to last forever," he said.
He declined to comment more "without knowing the full details proposed".
QLDC parks manager Gordon Bailey said qualified arborists identified seven diseased trees which need to be removed from among about 40 mature ash specimens.
"We may not need consent. There is some doubt about whether the trees are protected, because they are not on private property... They're located on road reserve, which, at the moment, we think is not contemplated by the district plan," he said.
The QLDC has carried out a health inventory of mature trees around the district during the past year, prompted by the death of Queenstown man Russell Liggett in 2009, when a poplar tree was blown on to his car on Shotover Rd.
An aborist's report subsequently found the 80 to 100-year-old tree was diseased.
"We've focused on looking at tree health and safety concerns," Mr Bailey said.
A lot of trees around the Queenstown Lakes district were planted about the same time and many were now coming to end of their lifespan, he said.
The ash trees on Mt Aspiring Rd had "huge dead limbs and if we pruned them back, you would be left with one-limb trees".
Several of the other heritage trees were also in an unhealthy state, but they could possible be revived or mended with appropriate pruning methods, he said.
