The society, founded in the early 1970s in response to growing pollution problems in Lake Hayes, will meet tomorrow evening with a view to assigning a liquidator.
"That will be the motion presented anyway," WESI spokeswoman Karen Swaine told the Queenstown Times.
She believed it was likely to happen unless the society received a written waiver of costs from Arrowtown Emporium developer Gary Mullings before tomorrow.
Having previously said he might close down the society over the outstanding costs, this week Mr Mullings told the Queenstown Times he would waive the costs granted to him after WESI backed out of an Environment Court appeal last year because the society could not afford it.
"We have had emails to that effect . . . but if it doesn't appear in writing by Thursday [tomorrow] then I don't know," Ms Swaine said.
"It is a legal issue."
Judge Jon Jackson awarded costs of $6434 to the Mullings Family Trust in November after the society failed in an Environment Court appeal to save the original building.
There is still about $4000 outstanding.
"We have spent all of our money responding to all his [Mr Mullings] applications to vary his consent," Ms Swaine said.
Despite WESI's original focus on the environment and ecological issues, the past "three or four years" have seen the group shift its focus to heritage protection.
"The historical society had its own issues and we took on some of their responsibilities," she said.
The Emporium battle still "bothers" Ms Swaine.
"In effect we have been involved in helping construct a replica building," she said.
"That's just depressing to me, but council allowed it."
Even if the society survives tomorrow's meeting or re-emerges in the future, Ms Swaine - a forthright spokeswoman for the group since joining WESI eight years ago - is unsure what her involvement may be.
"I would rather take a break . . . we need more people willing to stick their necks out," she said.
"It can be daunting at times, but there is safety in numbers and when you are doing what you believe is right and have that on your side then it is easier," she said.
At the end of the day it was up to Wakatipu residents to decide if the society - which has been involved in battles and legal challenges which have since formed a body of case law - was needed.
• Looking back at the Wakatipu Environmental Society.
Over the years the society has waged some hard-fought battles on behalf of Wakatipu's landscape and heritage.
Formed in the early 1970s to halt the pollution of Lake Hayes, during the 1970s and 1980s the society held an environmental writing competition for local school children and other community members.
With the introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 the society began campaigning for the preservation of Wakatipu's "arcadian" landscapes and was instrumental in the Environment Court decision which has defined the outstanding natural landscape status of Wakatipu.
"The society is known around New Zealand for establishing case law," Ms Swaine said.
