Rules for film companies and dog owners wanting to use Otago Peninsula's Okia Reserve are among those to be tightened in a draft management plan aimed at protecting wildlife and vegetation in the area.
The draft management plan, which will be released for public consultation shortly, places greater emphasis on the management of visitors using the reserve to protect wildlife, including the reserve's yellow-eyed penguins.
The reserve is jointly-owned by the Dunedin City Council and the Yellow Eyed Penguin Trust and managed by a committee including representatives from both, along with the Department of Conservation and Te Runanga o Otakou.
This week, Cr Fliss Butcher - the council's representative on the committee - said the new plan would update the reserve's original plan, which was 10 years old, to better reflect growing visitor numbers and other challenges.
Film companies wanting to use the reserve - like the recent German production of Out of Ashes - would have to abide by more specific regulations aimed at protecting the reserve, such as a no-smoking policy for crew to protect against fires, she said.
"We are starting to get more people wanting to film down there. That's one of the things we have had to look at.
"We want to be able to encourage people to do some filming, particularly if it's nature or wildlife filming, but we have got to be able to manage the process."
At the same time, dog owners wandering into the reserve with their pets would come under increasing pressure, following instances where owners ignored signs advertising that dogs were prohibited, she said.
Yellow Eyed Penguin Trust staff were working closely with the council's animal control team, but it was hoped more education would help dog owners change their ways, Cr Butcher said.
