Air access to Dingle Burn

Conditional air access will be provided to the Dingle Burn Valley in the Hawea Conservation Park from October 20 until June 30, the Department of Conservation announced this week.

Air access ceased after the Dingle Burn Station tenure review was completed in 2007.

Re-establishing the access was a key concern expressed by submitters during hearings to discuss the formation of the conservation park earlier this year.

Ongoing air access will be considered again next year as part of the Otago Conservation Management Strategy 2009-10 review.

Otago conservancy relations manager Marian van der Goes said in a media release on Tuesday many submitters had supported the creation of the conservation park if access was re-established.

"As a result of those submissions we think an interim arrangement will be appropriate for the coming season. This is for a limited number of sites and landings."

Commercial operators can apply for up to 10 landing permits per term while non-commercial operators can apply for four.

Each landing requires a one-off permit from Doc's Wanaka area office.

The four landing sites are Dingle Burn Gorge, Cotters Airstrip, Yards Gully Airstrip and the Upper Dingle Burn Valley.

There will be two aircraft landing exclusion periods, between November 1 and 4 and December 24 and January 3.

Doc will conduct a survey in the Dingle Burn Valley this season to collect information on all aspects of visitor and recreation use.