Sue MaturinNZSKI has published a video showing the Remarkables skifield manager vacuuming seeds from its slopes - as the firm waits for a decision on its replacement chairlift. It wants Department of Conservation approval to replace the Sugar Basin chairlift and develop new ski trails at the Queenstown skifield, but it will need to move sensitive vegetation. Last week, NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson said it had ''tentative approval'' from Doc as the 75-page ''decision support document'' looked favourable. That surprised Forest and Bird's Otago-Southland regional manager Sue Maturin, who spoke at the hearing on the replacement lift. The application, she said, covers ''some of the best remaining relatively undeveloped alpine grasslands left within the skifield''.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 13, 2019 15:31 UTC