A string of native tree thefts has left the Whakatipu Reforestation Trust dismayed and disappointed.
During a site visit to Peace Park in Frankton with volunteers late last month, trust ops manager Karen O’Donahoo discovered about 10
native trees, planted last spring, have been pinched.
‘‘People are actually digging trees out,’’ she says.
It’s the latest in a series of pilferages from the trust’s planting sites, with numerous plants recently dug out from their Bush Creek site in Arrowtown, and about six beech trees stolen from Wye Creek last year.
O’Donahoo says it’s extremely disappointing, given how much time and effort goes into growing their native plants.
‘‘We have volunteers who actually go out and collect the seeds all over town — not just Queenstown, but all the way to Glenorchy and Gibbston.
‘‘And then each plant is looked after for between two and three years at our nursery.
‘‘Volunteers are involved in cleaning, germinating, and planting the seeds … transplanting [them] into bigger pots, [they are] weeded and watered — so much effort goes into every plant.’’
While she says the thefts probably come down to a lack of education and understanding about the trust’s reforestation mission, they show a
‘‘real lack of respect’’ for community work.
‘‘All theft is bad — there’s no degree of good or bad for theft … if you take something that’s been bought from a commercial nursery it’s one thing, but [here] you’re not just stealing a plant, you’re stealing the time of all the volunteers who have gone into making that happen.
‘‘It is such a low thing to do.’’
The natives are planted by volunteers on public land for the benefit of the entire community and to help restore the Whakatipu’s biodiversity, O’Donahoo says.
‘‘You’ve stolen somebody’s volunteering hours — it’s just poor juju.’’
She encourages those responsible for the thefts to volunteer at planting days, to get an appreciation for the work, and possibly a free
plant.
‘‘If somebody was really hard up, we would for sure say, ‘come and volunteer for us and take a plant home’.’’
