The Queenstown Lakes District Council has spent about $56,000 felling trees in its parks after October's violent winds, including $41,000 alone in a section bordering the Glenorchy-Queenstown Rd.
QLDC parks manager Gordon Bailey yesterday told the Otago Daily Times logging the dangerous section of pines had cost the council a net sum of $26,000 after selling the timber.
Up to 20 large wilding pines were uprooted on the Sunshine Bay walking track with as many as 100 trees either blocking the track or listed as unstable.
Following the Labour Day winds, which caused widespread damage across the resort, the track near Queenstown was closed until logging was completed last month.
Mr Bailey said the $15,000 from sale of the logs for firewood was not as much as the council had thought it would get due to a decrease in prices over the last month.
The area, which stretches about 150m east, towards Queenstown, will be replanted with native trees in the autumn.
In addition to the Sunshine Bay track logging, he said about an extra $15,000 from the QLDC forestry budget had been spent cleaning up around the resort.
While council expected further revenue from logging early in the new year, the unexpected costs meant only urgent request for service jobs would be completed for the rest of the financial year.
"Especially if there was another storm - which is always a possibility you have to take into account," Mr Bailey said.
The costs came in addition to up to $50,000 worth of damage and resulting work on Queenstown's roading network during and following the gale-force winds.
Among the damage was a street light knocked over by an airborne trampoline in Arthur's Point and safety guardrails and bridge approaches hit by falling trees.
QLDC network operations manager Michael Wardill put the cost at $45,000 to $50,000, and said the council would seek emergency reinstatement funds from the New Zealand Transport Agency.
Included in those costs were arborist and traffic management subcontractors dealing with the aftermath in the Arthurs Point area for about a week afterwards.
The council has been working towards a "preventive management" programme of tree felling on private land bordering the district's roads, which will start in the new year.
