Lincoln plan creates access fears

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Lincoln University is set to take ownership of a high-country station, prompting fears public walking and cycling access will be cut.

Under a preliminary tenure review proposal, three-quarters of the 2000-hectare Mt Grand Station near Wanaka will be freeholded to Lincoln University.

The remaining quarter – mainly the top of the Grandview Range – will be taken into conservation land.

The lease for the station was bequeathed to Lincoln University by Les and Lola Struthers in the late 1980s with a wish it be used to promote research.

The Struthers also set up a trust, administered by the university, asking that its income be used for "purposes beneficial to high-country farming".

The tenure review process ends a high-country lease by putting significant areas into conservation land and freeholding the remainder to the leaseholder.

Submissions on Mt Grand's tenure review proposal closed this week, with many submitters unhappy with the limited public access proposed.

Two public access routes are planned – one a steep climb through neighbouring Lake Hawea Station to the top of the range, the second along a creek.

Central-Lakes Forest & Bird branch chairman John Turnbull said the public deserved "really good access to this remarkable area".

What was proposed was "really only suitable for experienced trampers".

"If they can't improve on this and give better public walking, biking and horse riding access, there should be no tenure deal out of this review," he said.

The Upper Clutha Tracks Trust called for easier access for bike rides and short walks. .

It said any anticipated interference could be avoided with locked gates and pedestrian stiles, with access restrictions during lambing and a ban on dogs.

Lincoln University vice-chancellor Roger Field said the Struthers trustees had entered into tenure review because they saw "some value in looking at wider issues for use of the station, including enhanced public access".

He said the station operated as a commercial farm, with some research projects conducted by Lincoln University.

"It is important that public access does not limit or interfere with these activities," he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News