The contract with a view

VIEW FROM THE TOP: A view of a pine plantation and track from the Mt Dick lookout. PHOTO/FILE

Pine logging on Mount Dick near Carterton has transformed its flanks over past weeks.

Chris Lester, Department of Conservation Wairarapa area manager, said PF Olsen held the logging contract for DoC-owned pine plantations on the sides of Mount Dick, which had been the site of ongoing pine harvesting for years.

"We do have some established pine forest there that Olsens are logging on our behalf. There has been a progressive operation there to log the pine trees and allow reversion to native forest," he said.

"It is part of an organised harvesting contract that we have with that company."

Mount Dick stands west of Carterton, near Kaipaitangata Stream, and is part of the Tararua Forest Park.

The mountain also has a lookout site about 520m above sea level - 400m above the Wairarapa valley floor.

The lookout, which is reached via an almost four kilometre-long vehicle track, provides "a fabulous, elevated, accessible vantage point which enables a terrific view of the entire Wairarapa plain, and beyond".

There is a small shelter near the lookout and above the flat parking and turning area, and a 26km Carterton cycle route also comprises an almost 500m leg that ascends the side of mountain.