After three years of planning and the gathering of a $1.1million war chest, a community-led project to eradicate wilding conifers from more than 400ha of hillside around the township has begun.
Arrowtown Wilding Group spokesman Ben Teele said contractors began the work six weeks ago after the last pieces of fundraising fell into place.
The work had begun on Brow Peak and was progressing down towards the township through Bush Creek and Sawpit Gully.
The crew would also complete the eradication of trees on Tobins Face — from the Crown Range Rd zig-zag back towards the township — that it started during a two-month trial in 2018.
More than 8000 trees had been felled by the end of last month, and the work would continue until it was completed — some time between spring and the end of the year.
"The speed at which these guys are moving would suggest that will be very achievable."
The work was being done by an eight-strong crew from Alexandra-based company Central Wilding Tree Control.
Mr Teele said the felling was the first phase of a long-term strategy the group developed after consulting the community in 2017.
After earlier grants from the Central Lakes Trust, the Community Trust of Southland and the Lottery Grants Board, the group received the "final icing on the cake" in January in the form of $150,000 from the Wakatipu Wilding Conifer Control Group and $175,000 from the Ministry for Primary Industries.
The eradication work had begun just in time, he said.
"We were at the point where had we not been able to do the work this year, it would have been exponentially more expensive.
"The trees up there are just starting to seed, and that would’ve been going everywhere ... it would’ve been a nightmare.
"Unfortunately for us, we’ve got seven-year-old trees that are seeding, which is remarkably fast."
The harvesting of the nearby Coronet Forest, which had also been under way since January, was a huge boost to the group’s efforts.
The Douglas fir plantation, part-owned by the Queenstown Lakes District Council, was a "massive" source of wind-blown seeds.
"There would’ve been no point in us spending any of this money if Coronet Forest had just been sitting there."
Part of the Arrowtown Village Association, the group would now turn its attention to the second, longer-term phase of the project, which was to replant felled areas with non-invasive native and exotic species that would enhance the area’s renowned autumn colours.
A replanting trial on Tobins Face about six months ago was showing promising results.
"Based on what we’ve already done, the landscape heals itself pretty quickly, and we can supplement that by putting in some colour trees to fill those holes."
