The Department of Conservation's 105,000ha Hawea Conservation Park concerns land already controlled by Doc and is in line with the Government's policy of creating a South Island network of conservation parks.
The area has been earmarked as a potential route for the Te Araroa Trail linking Omarama with Lake Hawea, although further negotiations are required between the Te Araroa Trail Trust and landowners before that specific route can be confirmed.
The public is being asked for its views on the new conservation park, with submissions closing on May 28.
Otago Conservator Jeff Connell said he hoped the process of hearing submissions and reporting to the Minister of Conservation Steve Chadwick would be reasonably straightforward, depending on the number of submissions and whether there was any controversy.
‘‘I would hope we could rattle through it in three to four months,'' Mr Connell said yesterday.
The existing conservation areas forming the new park are the Hawea Conservation Area, the Hunter Conservation Area and the McKerrow Conservation Area.
The park will also include land that has come into the Doc estate through recent tenure reviews on Makarora, Longslip and Dingleburn Stations.
Land recently surrendered by Hunter Valley Station to Land Information New Zealand under a historical agreement has also been included in the park.
The park provides two links to the Ahuriri Conservation park; one through Longslip Creek to Timaru River and the other through the Dingle Burn.
A third link is possible, depending on the outcome of the Te Araroa Trail Trust negotiations.
‘‘The Te Araroa Trail Trust would like a different route but that has yet to be negotiated with the land owners. So they [the trust] have, in the meantime, accepted the Timaru Creek track as part of the Te Araroa Trail to give continuity,'' Mr Connell said.
The proposal evolved from the Otago Conservation Management Strategy, which called for consolidation of protected areas in the Hawea valley.
It fell into place once the Station tenure review and the Hunter Valley Station surrender were finalised, he said.
