Contorta to native – a super initiative in Central Otago
Date: 22nd May 2025
The Central Otago Wilding Group has recently received a funding boost totaling $150K from the Otago Regional Council for the project of transitioning contorta shelterbelts to native plants shelter in the Styx valley (upper Taieri). Congratulations to COWG and thanks to the foresight of ORC and an excellent collaboration with Tiaki Maniapoto and landowners.
Tiaki Maniototo is a freshwater conservation group set up to improve water quality in the Taiari/Taieri River https://www.tiakimaniototo.co.nz/. They assist landowners to fence and plant wetland and riparian areas. and also protect native fish habitat, enhance recreation areas and undertake weed control. Have a look on their website – its impressive, practical and inspiring.
Many places where these contorta shelterbelts are, are up high where seed can easily move in the wind – once established contorts seedlings rapidly grow into seed producing trees that destroy these iconic tussock landscapes and farmland Central Otago is legendary for.
Wouldn’t you prefer this, even though the little dots are contorta…
To this…
The collaboration and extra funding will result in more of this proactive approach of hitting the seed source by removal of adult trees and replacing it with native shelter belts that provide shelter for stock as well as creating biodiversity corridors. It’s a win-win.
To really get a perspective of this iconic landscape and the commitment of the people involved check out Bill Morris from Tiaki Maniatoto’s excellent video https://youtu.be/Z2to2HjRtt4 from which most of these photos come from. If you want to support this project, get in touch with Tiaki Maniototo through their website or the Central Otago Wilding Group https://www.centralwildingconifers.co.nz/. More funding and support means more work can get done.
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