Three thousand native seedlings are taking root at Jardine Park, planted by more than 150 volunteers on ground cleared of wilding pines just months before.

This October, people from Queenstown’s tourism industry and wider business community stepped away from their usual work to dig, compost and plant at the Love Queenstown Industry Planting Day. Their efforts are helping restore a patch of Kelvin Heights where, in years to come, native forest will provide shade for walkers and food and shelter for wildlife.

It’s the third year of a restoration partnership between Love Queenstown, the Whakatipu Reforestation Trust, Skyline Queenstown and Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC). Together, the partners and their volunteers have now planted more than 7,000 natives at the site.

A forest grown from local seed

The work starts long before volunteers arrive with spades. At the neighbouring community nursery, Whakatipu Reforestation Trust volunteers grow native plants from seed collected locally, ready for a future on the surrounding hills and lake margins.

At Jardine Park, that future includes mountain beech, podocarps and broadleaf species that once would have grown here. Whakatipu Reforestation Trust Operations Manager Sararose Brown says the partnership has made it possible to restore the site at a scale the trust could not readily achieve alone.

“This patch was still covered in wilding pines in June. Getting those trees down, preparing the ground and having everyone here planting just a few months later is a wonderful result. Working together means we can do so much more.

“We’re planting mountain beech, podocarps and broadleaf species that once would have grown here on the lake margins, providing food and habitat forwildlife. In 20 years, people will be walking beneath these trees with birds above them. That's a lovely thing to help create.”

Some wildlife is already making itself at home. Cryptic skinks have recently been found among earlier plantings, with Southern Lakes Sanctuary and Whakatipu Wildlife Trust helping to map and support wildlife in restoration areas.

Benefits beyond the park

Replacing the pines with natives also helps tackle a problem that reaches across Lake Whakatipu.

Whakatipu Wilding Control Group and QLDC led the removal of the mature pines, which were spreading seed beyond the park, including towards The Remarkables and Cecil Peak.

Padraic Prendergast, Skyline Queenstown Sustainability Coordinator and Wilding Control Group Volunteer Coordinator, says thousands of wildings are still removed from Cecil Peak despite there being no cone-producing wilding there since 2015. Removing seed sources at places like Jardine Park helps reduce that ongoing work.

Usable logs from the site were recovered, while leftover material was mulched or buried to help support the new plants.

A community effort that keeps growing

For Love Queenstown Community Fund Coordinator Ash Bickley, the planting days are also a chance to see a growing connection between local businesses and the places they help care for.

“We've been working alongside the Whakatipu Reforestation Trust for a number of years now, so it's pretty special to see how far this work has come. More businesses are getting involved, wildlife is already being found among the young trees, and you can see what everyone's efforts are adding up to.

“These days take months of preparation, and seeing so many people arrive ready to get their hands in the soil makes it all worthwhile.”

This planting completes the partners’ initial three-year programme, but work at Jardine Park will continue. Further planting and care for naturally regenerating natives will help the young forest establish, building on the efforts of everyone who has had a hand in its beginnings.

Get involved in future planting days or support local environmental projects here.