WAIMAKARIRI ECOLOGICAL AND LANDSCAPE RESTORATION ALLIANCE

Wilding pine trees spreading across the upper Waimakariri basin are threatening the unique landscape and native flora & fauna of the area. The front of this spread has been brought back over 4km by the concerted efforts of many enthusiastic volunteers. An opportunity exists over the next 3 to 5 years for all parties to work together to get on top of the wilding issue. WELRA has been formed by the Canterbury Community to provide leadership and co-ordination of wilding control work before reseeding over wide areas makes the elimination of wilding pine trees from the Waimakariri Basin unaffordable.

This website was created to keep you up to date on our progress towards eliminating wilding trees from the Waimakariri basin, and to let you know how you can be involved in wilding tree control activities.

!!Latest News!!

Autumn 2010 has seen one of the most successful rounds of volunteer days to date. This year more than 200 volunteers, organised by Environment Canterbury’s resource care team, carried out wilding conifer control Read More ...>>

Wilding Tree Control Days 2010 Our annual volunteer days are a valuable part of the effort and after around 12 years of these the front of wilding spread has been kept back kilometres closer to the source trees than it would be if volunteers hadn't been doing their bit Read more ...>>

Notification of Annual General Meeting of the Waimakariri Ecological & Landscape Restoration Alliance (WELRA) – to be held at Environment Canterbury, 58 Kilmore Street, Opihi Room, Wednesday 26th August, 10am. Read more ...>>

Flock Hill Wilding Control Reports June-Dec 2008 (PDF 352kb). Read More ...>>

Herbicide Wilding Control Trial
Herbicides are an obvious tool to control dense areas of wildings.  However past spraying has given variable and often disappointing results. Read more ...>>

Ancient Grasshopper Habitat to be protected
The WWF – Habitat Protection Fund has granted WELRA $10,000 towards developing a management plan and undertaking control in the Broad Stream catchment. Read more ...>>

$136,000 for Flock Hill Management Plan wilding control
Success with recent funding applications has seen WELRA receive $136,000 to undertake priority control works outlined in the Flock Hill Management Plan. Read more ...>>

Thank you for three successful wilding tree volunteer days
All three days for this autumn over and everyone still in one piece. We had a total of 171 people over the days (about 20 more than last year) and cleared a lot of trees. Read more ... >>