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Tenure Review

Recently attention has been focussed on pastoral leases bordering on South Island High Country lakes: Government has decided that they be excluded from the tenure review process and that other means should be used to protect their landscape, biodiversity, access and other values, unless it is clear now or in the future that tenure review would not significantly impact on those values and would demonstrably be in the public interest.

In this connection it is interesting to note that Government, through Land Information New Zealand and the Department of Conservation, is satisfied that the process can proceed and that the landscape and other values can be protected; as preliminary proposals have been publicly advertised for two properties in this category; these are Greenvale and Allendale on the south west shore of Lake Wakatipu, near Kingson. Our branch is preparing submissions on these proposals.

These two properties will be a valuable addition to the Eyre Mountains Conservation Area.

End of Year Report

On Friday Evening October 5th in the Community Centre at Lake Hawea the branch held a public meeting with Nick Ledgard and Anne Steven in attendance, to discuss the wilding tree problem, not only in Upper Clutha but throughout the South Island. This meeting was well attended. Nick who works for ENSIS (formally the Forest Research Institute) was able to bring us up to date on what has been done in connection with this problem and also on what has still to be done. He was supported by Anne Steven (landscape architect) Altogether an interesting and constructive Friday evening.

On the next day, Saturday, Upper Clutha branch members together with the Dunedin branch chain saw working group were able to do some practical wilding control work on Glen Dene, the property of Mr Richard Burdon. Quite a clearance was made of a patch of larch. A very satisfactory conclusion to the week-end.

The branch executive is now investigating what methods we can best use to ensure the eradication, or, at least the bringing under control, of, the wildings in our area.


On Saturday November 3rd as part of our advertised program some branch members and others (34 people in all) had an enjoyable walk from Waterfall Creek to Glendhu Bay. This walk around the southern foreshore of Lake Wanaka is going to become a classic, and when fully developed will be on every bodies must do list. It is in part the result of a tenure review and is vested in the QLDC as a recreation reserve under the Reserves Act.

On Friday Evening 30th November in the Cromwell Golf Club rooms the last in our series of public meetings was held, at which we listened to Dr Peter Johnson - well known Dunedin botanist - describe, first the geology, the history and then the climate of Central Otago that enables a rich and diverse variety of flora to survive on the mountain tops of our district.



On the Saturday 18 people under the leadership of John Douglas travelled up the track to Leaning Rock on the South Dunstan mountains stopping at several places to examine and photograph the various plant life on the way. Again Peter was able to describe each plant’s characteristics and why it was at that particular site. The lunch stop was held just short of the Leaning rock and after that we travelled to the highest point of the range for the all around view of Central Otago before returning down to Lake Dunstan - those who attended being keen to re-visit the area again to see the plants that flower later in the season.