Revellers in the great outdoors are being urged to take care with their use of fire and to visit the Queenstown Visitor Centre for hunting permits and advice on where to drive off-road.
The Department of Conservation Wakatipu area office reminded residents and visitors last week that all open air fires, other than a gas barbecue, must have a permit from Doc or the Queenstown Lakes District Council.
Permits are free, usually last a month and in most cases involve a fire site inspection.
The inspection would look at the risk of a fire spreading, the threat to life and property and what was to be burned.
Permits normally take a week to process.
Although rain had reduced the risk to moderate, from four days of "extreme" risk in November, Doc would not issue any permits until January 10.
Last summer was the first in seven years during the festive period when fire was not prohibited.
Nor would the council issue permits in that period, Doc Wakatipu rural fire officer Jamie Cowan said.
"That time of year, your risk increases with the increase in trampers and campers and our resources can be quite stretched.
It's far easier for us if we do see smoke at Christmas - there's a greater probability it's a wild fire."
Fire risks ranged from low to moderate, high, very high and extreme.
Levels were determined by intricate weather indices from the weather station at Queenstown Airport.
When the Queenstown Times visited, the forest fire danger was moderate, the grass fire danger high and the scrub fire danger extreme.
Permits for hunting game animals are available from the Queenstown Regional Visitor Centre, on Shotover St, which is open every day except Christmas Day.
Permits are free, valid for a year and usually issued while the applicant waits, as long as name, address, firearms' licence and vehicle registration details are given.
Doc warned it would monitor key sites for any illegal off-road activity.
Some of the operations would be in conjunction with Queenstown police and the department would prosecute users caught damaging public lands.
Community relations ranger Anna Humphries said there were more opportunities for legal off-road driving trips in Central Otago.
However, "the Macetown road and the road to Skippers' homestead are two of the most popular and recognised 4WD [trips].
People should stay to recognised tracks because there could be anything underneath, especially in historic places like Macetown and Skippers.
As soon as that surface is broken, they are open to erosion and the damage gets worse."
