The landscape where the planned gold mine would be situated was debated by experts yesterday.
It is the first of seven one-day hearings to be held over the next 10 days around various parts of the proposed large-scale gold mine at Bendigo.
The proposal is going through the fast-track approvals process with discussions around heritage due to take place today.
Yesterday’s hearing was held in Wellington consisting of panel members: chairman Matthew Muir, Gina Sweetman, Philip Barry, Peter Kensington and Roger MacGibbon.
Six landscape experts had produced a refined joint witness statement to the panel yesterday but there were still some wide divisions among the experts.
Landscape consultant Rhys Girvan, appearing for the applicant, said the site was part of an outstanding natural landscape under the Central Otago District Council plan.
It was situated centre-west of the Dunstan Mountains and if it was changed then it might no longer be seen as an outstanding natural landscape.
However, he said it was not the entire range and much of the mining site was hidden in valleys and was only part of the Dunstan Mountains.
He said some mining practices evolved into becoming part of the landscape, using the Blue Lake at St Bathans as an example.
The mountains sat at the back of the skyline and that would not change with the mine proposal.
The site of the mine would not overwhelm the entire Dunstan Mountains and their outstanding natural landscape, he said.
From the north and south the range would not be seen as one entity.
Environmental Defence Society landscape consultant Anne Steven said she took the Dunstan Mountains as a whole which included the mine site. The whole range was continuous and all features went together.
Of the five ranges in Central Otago, the Dunstan Mountains was the only one that did not have a man-made operation within it.
The landscape had high values around cultural impact, ecology, heritage and recreation.
Central Otago District Council landscape consultant Stephen Brown said the mountains and outstanding landscape value could not be considered in isolation. It was part of the broader area including the Clutha River and the Pisa Range.
He said the changes to the mining site would change the mountains.
Otago Regional Council landscape consultant Nigel Parker compared the mine site and its impact to a medical operation.
‘‘Some of us see it as the heart of the range. Take out the heart and the patient is dead. But to me it is more like the kidney. The patient has a chance to live on,’’ he said.
The outstanding natural landscape was still evolving, he said.
Mr Girvan outlined the rehabilitation plans for the mine and admitted it would never go back to what it looked like now. Regeneration would start as the mine was operating. A Sustainable Tarras landscape consultant Bridget Gilbert said she understood the aspirations of the applicant in rehabilitating the site but to her they seemed misguided and wondered if they could be achieved in this type of site with its climate and topology.
There were many uncertainties, she said.
Ms Steven said she was familiar with this issue and the mitigation was on a large scale, deeply reliant on the land form reforming about the same as it was.
She said it was really important it was done properly.
‘‘There is very little dry land left. It is all we have. It is missing quite a few of the species that probably would have been there.’’
They were valuable, she said
‘‘Looking at it, it does not look like any particular landscape. That is what you get with the drylands ... they do not look nice, they are not green, they are not bush.
‘‘They are incredible landscapes. You just have to take the time in there to appreciate them — ‘there is none so blind [as] those that cannot see’.’’
She said there were weeds there but they had a role there also.
Nurseries in Central Otago were coming under pressure as more developments came on line and wanted native plants.
Kā Rūnaka landscape consultant Dr Alayna Rā said there were doubts over the availability of the plants and how they would grow on the site.
She had earlier talked about the cultural impact of the development on the site.
Dr Rā said there was no mitigation available which could replace the historic paths and landscapes, used for 1000 years, which would be lost if the mine was developed.
