The latest information on Council's purchase of Mount Iron land in Wānaka.
Welcome to the fourth edition of Queenstown Lakes District Council's newsletter on our purchase of nearly 100 hectares of land around Mount Iron and Little Mount Iron in Wānaka.
Application to administer DOC land on Mount Iron given green light
Councillors agreed to QLDC making an application for management of the Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai’s (DOC) Mount Iron Scenic Reserve at the Full Council meeting on Thursday 11 August 2022.
A successful application would mean Council becoming guardian of the remaining section of Mount Iron currently governed by DOC. This includes 52.8ha of reserve land adjacent to our recently purchased 100ha of land on Mount Iron and Little Mount Iron.
We’ll now formally request to be the administering body of the remaining section of Mount Iron overseen by DOC, which includes management of the public carpark off the Wānaka-Luggate Highway.
We’d like to thank DOC for raising this opportunity which could see the benefit and practicality of one joined parcel of land, and Council taking over the protection and enhancement of this much-loved public space.
The application may take up to 24 months to complete. We'll provide updates on its progress in future editions of this newsletter.
Spotlight on: Wanaka Backyard Trapping
While we work to gain resource consent, our Parks & Reserves team has been checking in with organisations and associations around the Upper Clutha, discussing their feedback on the purchase and working to understand if and how they’d like to be involved in the future.
Wanaka Backyard Trapping already undertakes trapping on Mount Iron land with the support of DOC and the Otago Regional Council (ORC) Eco Fund. They have 35 DOC200 traps in place and five possum traps, and have caught over 260 rats, hedgehogs, stoats, mice, and ferrets up there to date.
They hope to continue working to exclude predators from the area, which would see the regeneration of flora and fauna in a way that hasn’t been seen elsewhere in Central Otago. Wanaka Backyard Trapping has volunteer traplines on QLDC and DOC land, and continues work to extend trapping on public land.
Keen to give our local native wildlife a hand? Find out more about Wanaka Backyard Trapping at https://www.facebook.com/wanakabackyardtrapping/.
Neil, Janet and Tim with traps overlooking Albert Town.
A trapping kit used on Mount Iron.
Public access - please stick to the track
A friendly reminder that large parts of Mount Iron and Little Mount Iron remain privately owned while we finalise the purchase of this land.
If you're using the public walking track from either side of Mount Iron to scale the summit, please stick to the track and respect private property.
There are signs in place showing where private property begins, and new signage reminding those using the public tracks to stick to them!
Your feedback
As we get closer to purchasing the Mount Iron and Little Mount Iron land, we’ll be asking for community feedback on what you would like to see in the new recreation reserve. We’re hoping to engage on plans for the Mount Iron Recreation Reserve next year, provided resource consent is granted in November.
Make sure you’re subscribed to this newsletter and we’ll let you know when it’s time to put your thinking caps to work!
Biodiversity and Mount Iron
A report on Mount Iron in Wānaka detailing the area’s flora and fauna found four ‘threatened’ and four ‘at risk’ plant species on site, two ‘at risk-declining’ lizards and a diverse range of indigenous invertebrates hanging out up there!
Sadly, pest animals have also made a home up there. Signs of possum, rabbit, hedgehog and even cat were found, with rats and mice also likely. Did we mention we’re chatting to Wanaka Backyard Trapping on how they’d like to be involved in the future of Mount Iron?
Future newsletter dates
As our purchase of Mount Iron and Little Mount Iron progresses, our newsletter will now be delivered every two months.
