The Department of Conservation has told the owners of signs along the trail the advertising must be removed by the end of April.
‘‘The rail trail is as much a commercial enterprise as it is a special part of the landscape,'' Dr Macpherson said.
‘‘Commercial enterprise needs advertising to survive, and visitors need to know where services are and what their options are. We need to be very careful we don't ruin what has been established.
‘‘Those businesses have been built on that level of exposure on the trail and they have developed very successful operations. Anyone who changes the rules after the business patterns have been established needs to be careful of the consequences of that,'' he said.
Under the district plan, commercial operators are allowed to put up advertising signs in rural resource areas as long as the sign is on the property to which it relates.
Doc reiterated its view that the rail trail is no place for commercial advertising signs.
Doc area manager Mike Tubbs said operators were told in January they had to remove the signs by the end of April and all but one or two had complied.
People could apply to have signs on reserve areas but it was not likely any commercial signs would be approved in public spaces, and the Otago Central Rail Trust agreed, Mr Tubbs said.
The advertising sign on the overbridge at Waipiata would be discussed with Transit, which has easements over parts of the trail for bridges and roading.
