A rallying cry has been issued to residents of Queenstown and surrounding areas to attend a public meeting in the resort on Sunday, organised by the Stop the Tunnel group.
It follows a public meeting in Te Anau on Monday, after which the Save Fiordland group formally became an incorporated society, ratified its constitution, elected an executive committee and voted to elect scientist and former Save Manapouri champion Prof Alan Mark as its patron.
Both groups have resulted from controversial proposals for commercial developments in the Fiordland and Mt Aspiring national parks after Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson signalled her intention late last year to grant concessions to Milford Dart Ltd and Riverstone Holdings Ltd for their respective Dart Passage Tunnel and Fiordland Link monorail proposals.
Stop the Tunnel spokeswoman Amanda Hasselman, of Glenorchy, said the aim of the meeting was to "engage Queenstown people in the fight against the tunnel".
"This could be in the form of supporting existing groups such as Stop the Tunnel and Save Fiordland or by forming a specific Queenstown Against the Tunnel group that would add another voice to the campaign.
"We really need Queenstown's help."
The two groups believed they were gaining the numbers to "make the Government think twice" about granting either or both of the concessions.
Ms Hasselman said if Queenstown joined the campaign, the likelihood of the Government saying "no" to the proposals would increase.
The Queenstown Stop the Tunnel public meeting will begin at 5pm on Sunday in the Queenstown Memorial Hall.
