Arrowtown guardianship

Predator Free Arrowtown’s trapping programme aims to get rid of pests like weasels, stoats, possums and rats which are harmful to our native birdlife. The group has traplines high into the mountains to create a sanctuary for native creatures in and around Arrowtown. The traplines pose no danger to people walking in the area. Locals also help with the trapping programme by ‘adopting’ a trapline and making sure it is baited and cleared often.

Arrowtown is working towards SUC-free status, meaning eventually we’ll send no single-use cups (SUC) to landfill. Coffee drinkers are encouraged to stay at cafés to drink their coffee or takeaway in a reusable cup. The town also has water refill stations for reusable water bottles. Several eateries also have their food waste collected by local resident Michael Sly who turns it into “Arrowtown Gold” compost. This compost is donated to volunteer groups for community planting days, and available for locals to purchase along with mulch made from wilding conifers and leftover coffee grains.

Each year in spring and autumn, the Whakatipu Reforestation Trust calls for community volunteers to help with its native planting days. They plant native trees using seedlings from the Trust’s nursery at Kelvin Heights at several locations around Arrowtown – Feehly Hill, Whitechapel, Bush Creek and Lake Hayes. The aim is to create wildlife corridors that attract native birds and insects, significantly enhancing biodiversity.

The Arrowtown Choppers and the Arrowtown Wilding Group have been working hard to remove wilding pines which were taking over the hillsides around Arrowtown. To retain the magnificent autumnal colours that Arrowtown is famous for, the groups plant non-invasive exotics as well as native plants along the hillside which cope well in an alpine climate.