Two Department of Conservation staff have been fined $3,000 for chopping dead limbs from two protected rata trees on Pigeon Island in Lake Wakatipu.
They have also paid for the cost of the investigation and apologised to the Queenstown Lakes District Council and the department.
Parks manager Gordon Bailey says the pair gathered the wood, not for personal gain, but for the owner of a hut on the island where they stayed while observing birds there.
