A $100,000 cash injection has created 16 jobs in Queenstown, removing wilding pines that pose wildfire and irrigation threats.
Many Kiwis have traditionally turned their back on the work, Central Wilding Control manager Amon Saunders said, but are grateful for the job opportunities post-Covid-19.
The funding is expected to be the first tranche of money spent in Queenstown on wilding control by the Government in the coming weeks, as it looks to address unemployment in the trouble-hit area.
Biosecurity Minister Damien O'Connor visited the site at Skipper's Canyon last Friday and said great work had been done in the past 15 years by the Queenstown Lake District Council and community groups.
"Government has committed $100 million to boost the whole programme [across the country] and first and foremost to use the talents and capability of people in Queenstown to get jobs, [and] moving from tourism into wilding pine control would be a positive outcome for the environment.