Nelson Host Lions Club members have planted about 285 trees at a Marsden Valley Cemetery site since 2017 to mark the international volunteer organisation’s centenary.
Club member and the project’s convener, Sally Mason, says the vision was creating an inviting space for the residential area, but recently the site has had uninvited guests.
She says wild deer have dodged an existing protective fence and stock fence and have made entry to the site where they’ve wrecked 15 of their trees in the past month, and similar incidents have occurred in previous years.
“Over the years we have had huge deer problems, they come down from the hills and roam up the roads, and they’re getting very, very bold now, they come out in daylight,” she says.
“We had a couple of years ago a lot of discussion with the council about putting a deer fence around and for pigs as well… they were also attacking graves in the cemetery. But the council in their wisdom has put a deer fence around half of the cemetery, so these intelligent deer walk up the road to the back paddock and they come in and do the damage.”
Sally says, while Lions members had not personally seen wild animals at their tree planting site, locals have told them they’ve spotted the deer at night and they exit at the cemetery’s main entry.
When Nelson Weekly visited the site on 17 April, Nelson Host Lions Club president Paul Milne showed how suspected young stags had marked their territory by grating the trunk, which the animals perform during the roar season between late March and mid-April. The grating had caused trunks to split.
Sally says she had resurrected some of the damaged trees, which the club had been donated for the project, but to have them destroyed again was “very distressing”.
She says the club was not informed by Nelson City Council of animal activity at the site before the first tree was planted in 2017. The council completed construction of a 1.8m high and 1000m long protective fence around Marsden Valley Cemetery in January 2022, following reports of wild pigs damaging gravesites and deer grazing at the cemetery.
It had also conducted wild goat, pig, and deer culls in the hills above Marsden Valley for several years, and another cull is set for 1 May to 18 May this year.
Sally says that fencing the entire cemetery boundary was the answer to the tree site’s longevity.
“Council has put that investment in so far, so it would be great to see them continue that investment and actually totally fence the cemetery,” she says.
Sally says that she had contacted the council about the recent damage to their trees and it had offered to replace some, but communication had been slow regarding fence action.
“I haven’t heard anything back yet. It’s very frustrating,” she says.
Council’s group manager community services, Andrew White, says there were no current plans to extend the protective fence line.
“Any further extension of the fence would likely cost in excess of $100,000 (which we don’t have), and would require consultation and agreement with neighbouring residents that share the cemetery property boundary,” he says.
“We appreciate the hard work, care and goodwill the Nelson Host Lions Club have provided to Woodland Park at Marsden Valley Cemetery, and we share their frustration at seeing their trees damaged by deer. Sally from the Lions Club contacted us at the end of March to discuss the issues they were having, and we’ve offered to provide replacement trees and deer repellant for the group to use.”
Andrew added that the council continues to work with the club to find other suitable and cost-effective solutions to deter deer from the area.
