Otago chief executive Niall Watson said the tenure review proposal was ‘‘woefully inadequate''.
The station bordered the Pomahaka River, an ‘‘important'' brown trout fishery and spawning ground.
The river bank was difficult to access on foot and the Queen's chain along the river did not provide practical access.
The review was near completion and involved retaining 1696ha of the 7177ha station for conservation purposes. The rest would be freeholded.
The council had agreed to write to Land Information Minister Louise Upston urging her to refrain from funding the review until the provisions were improved.
The proposal was for an easement to allow foot and non-motorised access up a road running parallel to the river, but only on weekends and public holidays between December and May - a part of the fishing season.
A long-term solution to public access was needed along the river.
‘‘We need to look 50 or 100 years into the future and to get something certain, practical and enduring, but that is looking increasingly unlikely.''
A key concern was commercial tourism in back-country New Zealand and the possibility that future landowners could favour commercial use of the public fishery resource ahead of ‘‘ordinary anglers''.
The station offered accommodation and guided fishing trips.
‘‘Our concern about commercial capture is anything but fanciful. Tenure review is the process that should look after both the public and private interest.''
The development of public access had to account for farm management, which posed some challenges at the station, but there were alternatives that would improve public access without imposing on farming, he said.
A spokesman for the minister said she could not comment on the review because it was a statutory process undertaken by the commissioner of crown lands.
‘‘The commissioner is by law independent of ministers and as such, the minister is unable to be involved or comment on the process.''
