The New Zealand Historic Places Trust (NZHPT) wants to register the lower Nevis as a historic place and has suggested further protection by way of gazetting the area as an archaeological site.
The valley is already in the spotlight because of an application to amend the water conservation order on the Nevis River, and also because of tenure review proposals of the Craigroy and Ben Nevis pastoral leases.
Otago Southland NZHPT manager Owen Graham said yesterday the trust had long been interested in the Nevis valley.
The upper Nevis had been gazetted as an archaeological site in 2007 to help protect 20th-century gold-mining sites. Sites dating before 1900 are automatically protected.
The lower Nevis was equally valuable as a heritage place as it was "virtually a gold-mining museum in Central Otago".
"When you visit the lower Nevis, a history lesson unfolds before you, with the remains of buildings, gold-mining equipment, the cemetery that includes the final resting place of a First World War veteran, and water races marking the landscape."
The lower Nevis, 32km from Cromwell, was notable for its use by early Maori, high-country pastoral farming, and gold mining that had left an indelible imprint on the landscape.
Gazetting the area as an archaeological site was an option and would give it more protection, Mr Graham said.
Submissions on the NZHPT registration proposal close on October 23. A recommendation will then go to the national board for endorsement.
The Otago and New Zealand Fish and Game Councils have asked for an amendment to the water conservation order on the Nevis River so it cannot be diverted or dammed.
A tribunal hearing the application will meet in February to hear more evidence.
Pioneer Generation plans a hydro-electricity scheme on the river and it leases the Craigroy and Ben Nevis properties, which adjoin the river.
Pioneer wants to freehold the land it needs for a dam in exchange for some of the high-country land to be used as a conservation reserve.
Pioneer chief executive Peter Dowling said the company was likely to make a submission.
Most of the land affected was leased by Pioneer.
RECOMMENDATIONS
> The Central Otago District Council should add the lower Nevis to its register of heritage buildings and places.
> The NZHPT should gazette the sites within the lower Nevis as an archaeological site, to give more protection.
> Land Information New Zealand (Linz) should be informed about the proposal, as it is reviewing the Craigroy and Ben Nevis pastoral leases.
> The Central Otago District Council should be informed, as it is considering district plan changes relating to rural land.
> Linz and the Department of Conservation should support inclusion of the lower Nevis land into the Remarkables and/or Kopuwai conservation areas.
> The CODC and Otago Regional Council should have regard to the recommendations and look at ways to assist in the conservation and protection of the area.
Classifying heritage places
> RegistrationThe register of historic places is the national schedule of heritage places, and it informs owners, the public, agencies and local authorities about significant places.
> Registration is an information and advocacy tool, rather than being protection for a place.
Gazettal
> This is when a place has been gazetted with the NZHPT as an archaeological site.
> It is unlawful for anyone to destroy, damage or modify any archaeological site without authority.
> Sites dating before 1900 are automatically protected but sites post-1900 can be gazetted.
