Fierce battle rages on Mt Isobel - 17,600 felled
Date: 04 April 2008
Seventeen Department of Conservation (DOC) staff along with four contractors have just cleared the northern face of Mt Isobel of wilding pines.
Over eight intensive days, staff cleared 640 ha of native alpine shrub and tussock grasslands of widely scattered Douglas fir, larch, Corsican, ponderosa and radiata pines, ranging in size from small seedlings to established trees with trunks up to 800mm in diameter.
It is believed the pines established a foothold in this valley when seeds from surrounding forestry plantations were blown over the ridgeline by the great southerly storm of 1968. These 40-year-old trees were widely scattered over the mountain face, with each surrounded by its own "mini forest" of smaller trees and seedlings.
Biodiversity manager Mike Ambrose says that if these trees were left any longer it would only be a matter of years before they got to a state similar to the escaped wilding pine populations around Craigieburn.
"They would turn this open tussock landscape into a dense carpet of scraggly trees, which nothing else can grow under and would be difficult if not impossible to move through. The valueless timber would effectively shut the whole area off from any other use or natural value."
Armed with chainsaws and loppers, teams were ferried between stands via helicopter which proved to be the most effective means to tackle such a wide area - enabling 17,600 trees and seedlings to be felled, lopped or pulled out over this time.