The Forest Owners Association is dismayed at a suggestion by Otago University's Emeritus Professor of Ecology that a group of activists could rip out fir-tree seedlings on a farm near Dunedin.
Sir Alan Mark says the forest on Landcorp's Waipori station is a mistake, and an insult to the volunteers who have removed 200,000 wilding trees from the region.
He says a group is ready to remove the young fir trees planted next to two protected high-country parks.
Peter Weir, who chairs the association's environment committee, says encouraging people to trespass onto private property and pull out someone else's crop is not good advice.
He says the landowner has implemented a variety of good management practices that will reduce the potential for wilding Douglas firs to spread.
Mr Weir says that can include planting a species which produces very heavy seeds that aren't wind distributed around the perimeter of the more spread-prone tree.
He says Landcorp is in the best position to manage this issue because it can intensively mob stock and intensively graze the perimeter of such plantings.
Mr Weir says it would also be good practice for any forest owner to go around the perimeter once every five years looking for any juveniles that have escaped because it takes 10 years for them to produce fertile seed.
He says if escapee wilding trees are knocked over every five years, spread won't be possible.
