Omarama Residents' and Ratepayers' Association chairwoman Ann Patterson yesterday took issue with the $548,000 announced on Wednesday for the Mackenzie and Waitaki Basins Responsible Camping Strategy Working Group to address visitor impacts in the area ahead of summer.
"The sum is pathetic given the area has been identified as a hot spot," she said.
In July about 120 people attended a public meeting at Omarama where Mrs Patterson asked for direct community representation on the working group, and some asked for the Doc site to be closed until new infrastructure at the over-used site was installed.
However, Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher said he was "really pleased" with the Government funding for the short term "with the understanding that this is funding to help us through the next season while we continue to develop the long-term solutions to the responsible camping issue".
He said a broader national strategy would still be required to address the issues that were felt across the region, and solutions would require multiple agencies - like those represented by the Mackenzie and Waitaki basins working group - sharing responsibility.
Nevertheless, steps needed to be taken immediately so communities did not feel they were being over-run at the expense of a continuing tourism boom.
This funding would allow those steps to be taken.
"It's a step towards keeping the social licence, you've definitely got some people that just see the negative as being overwhelming in comparison to the positives - that's when you've lost the social licence with those ones - but overall I think there's a great awareness that we need to make sure that the impact of tourism isn't something that's objectionable to the community, and getting the right infrastructure in place is a big part of that," he said.
"We're behind the game on freedom camping and we need to make sure that we regain some of that ground."
The $548,000 awarded to the Mackenzie and Waitaki basins working group - comprising representatives from the Mackenzie District Council, Waitaki District Council, Doc, Land Information New Zealand and the NZ Transport Agency - was just shy of the $568,000 the group had applied for, Mackenzie District Council community facilities group manager Garth Nixon said.
Monitoring staff, toilets, signs, vehicle counters, and fencing at sites along State Highway 8 at about eight sites, including Ahuriri Bridge, Lake Poaka, and Pattersons Ponds, plus three portable toilets for the Waitaki district, were all part of the proposal that secured funding.
Doc Twizel operations manager Sally Jones said of the funding, $31,000 had been allocated to Ahuriri Bridge where an additional toilet and fencing will be installed before Labour weekend.
Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean said "any major legislative changes" would be two years away, "which will seem like an eternity to this region as it struggles to cope with the demands of increasing tourism numbers".
"The $548,000 to be shared between the Waitaki and Mackenzie Districts for this summer is a drop in the bucket."
