Concerns raised about Oteake Park

While the majority of submitters welcomed the Department of Conservation's proposal for Oteake Conservation Park in Central Otago yesterday, all had concerns about how the recreational tourist attraction would be managed.

The Department of Conservation (Doc) received 57 submissions on its multimillion-dollar park, with 16 speaking at a hearing at the Otago Conservancy Office in Dunedin.

The proposed park comprises sections of the St Bathans, Hawkdun, Ida, Ewe and St Marys Ranges.

The 65,000ha park is Crown-owned and managed by the department, which plans to develop it into a conservation area open to the public for recreational use.

Forest and Bird Society Otago-Southland field officer Sue Maturin said the society supported the proposal but was disappointed about the focus on recreation rather than preservation.

She raised concerns about the department's encouragement of commercial tourist activities in the area such as heli-skiing.

"Heli-skiing is not appropriate, or anything that involves mechanical intrusion or large numbers of people . . . anything that detracts from the back-country setting of the park."

North Otago 4WD Club president Ron Sim said the club was also concerned about commercial activities because a time could come when operators wanted exclusive access to four-wheel-drive tracks, which would exclude individuals or clubs from using them.

The majority of submitters voiced concerns about access to the tracks.

At present, access was tenuous because drivers had to cross neighbouring farms to get to the park, so had to rely on the kindness of the farmers.

Farmers on land next to the park also raised concerns about the number of "ad hoc" people who would wander through their properties trying to access the park.

Several submitters suggested a public access route to the park be created from Naseby.

The issue of large tracts of land being closed up, with lots of organic matter building up, sparked fears among farmers of large-scale fires during the dry season.

Former Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board member Fred Murray believed more thought needed to go into the control of the multiple users of the area.

While tracks in the park were popular with four-wheel-drive clubs, they were also used by mountain bikers, hikers and hunters.

He told of how he was nearly run over by a four-wheel-drive vehicle once.

The hearing to determine whether it is justifiable to gazette the existing land managed by the department will continue today.

The hearings panel consists of West Coast Conservancy Community relations manager Chris Hickford, Otago conservancy solicitor Pene Williams and community relations officer Bruce Hill.