Associate Environment Minister Nanaia Mahuta has advised Fish and Game Otago that a special tribunal is to be appointed to hear and report on its application for an amendment to the Water Conservation (Kawarau River) Order 1997 in respect of the Nevis River.
Fish and Game Otago chief executive Niall Watson said the minister could have declined its application, so the decision to refer the matter to a hearing was really encouraging.
"That will allow all the new information to be presented and give the community and interest groups an opportunity to have a say".
At this stage, Fish and Game had not heard from Ms Mahuta on tribunal appointees or a timetable for hearings.
The main thrust of the amendment, applied for in 2006, was to tighten conditions to recognise the river's diverse outstanding values and to prohibit damming, he said.
There was conditional prohibition on damming in the present order but the conditions did not make sense given the improved understanding of the fishery values, he said.
"A dam or dams around the Nevis crossing area would cut the heart out of the river, and flood a large portion of the historic goldfields".
The original order protected a range of waters in the Kawarau, including the Nevis' wild and scenic characteristics and recreational values, but limited information available at the time meant important values were omitted, Mr Watson said.
Since then, a mass of research and survey work had been completed. If it had been available at the original tribunal a different decision would have been expected, he said.
"The available information indicates the environment is much more sensitive than thought in 1997".
Historical values, not recognised at the time, had now been identified with the area from Nevis township downstream to Nevis Crossing recognised as a site of national importance because of the diversity of alluvial gold mining sites, their lack of modification and their visibility
and accessibility.
Recent fishery survey work had confirmed the river's ability to produce trophy trout as well as identifying populations of non-migratory galaxiids with biogeographical importance.
It was not Fish and Game's intention to affect existing water uses within the catchment in any significant way by this application, he said.
