The Department of Conservation (Doc) plans to open a small section of a reserve near Balclutha as a stock thoroughfare for its neighbours at Telford Rural Polytechnic.
It has publicly notified plans to create the bypass through the Otanomomo scientific reserve.
Doc's Otago coastal area manager, Robin Thomas, recently confirmed the agency had been approached by Telford about the possibility of opening up a small corridor of land on its boundary with Telford-owned farmland.
The two parties have agreed on the move, which first has to be publicly notified to allow for public feedback.
The area, which he described as "a small sliver" of low-value land, would allow Telford stock to pass through the corridor from one part of the property to another.
Doc staff had talked to Telford management about where the access could be created, and options had been identified, Mr Thomas said.
The Doc notice, which appeared in a recent newspaper advertisement, said Conservation Minister Tim Groser wanted to grant a 30-year concession for a right of way through the reserve.
This would allow Telford to create a farm-access track on the outer edge of the reserve, which borders the Owaka Highway.
The proposed lane would be about 75m long and 6m wide and would be screened from the highway by native plants.
In its application, Telford said its only access for staff, students' vehicles and stock was by the Owaka Highway and main Kaka Point road, which are main tourist routes.
Regulations for the movement of farm livestock and machinery on public roads were becoming more rigorous and the volume of high-speed traffic on those roads was rising, it said.
The reserve's location - in the centre of the Telford farming operation - was increasingly restricting the polytechnic's farming operation.
"The access way would allow us to move stock and machinery when required to better utilise our farm area and pasture production.
The improved access will prevent areas where, in the future, severe limitations may be placed upon our farming operation due to areas being cut off by the public highway."
The 37ha scientific reserve, 5km south of Balclutha on the Balclutha-Owaka Highway, is an important remnant of coastal podocarp forest, a forest type rare throughout the country.