Welcome to our latest newsletter about Mount Iron Recreation Reserve in Wānaka.

It's a wrap!

Here's a Christmas round up of news since the draft Mount Iron Reserve Management Plan consultation closed on 29 November😊

We were delighted to see the submission tally hit 446, showing just how many in the Upper Clutha community share a vision for how this landscape should be enjoyed, managed, preserved and enhanced. 

We had 20 submitters speak to their submissions at a public hearing on 10 December with deliberations being held on 11 December.  Listen to a recording here

We asked: ‘What's your position on the draft Mount Iron RMP?’ 

Results across the 446 submissions showed: 

• 379 supported 
• 22 neutral 
• 45 opposed 

Key themes were:

• Biking – Both support and opposition. There was support for a network of well-designed biking tracks separated from walkers. As well as concern that allowing bike tracks will disturb the tranquility and ecology of Mount Iron and create a management challenge. There was also concern that biking was singled out in an objective, when other recreation types were not. 

• Access – Both support and opposition. There was support for maximising access to Mount Iron, including the access located at point 9 on the Recreation Reserve map. As well as concern that public access will cause safety issues near access point 9 (head to Lets Talk to view map). 

• Commercial activities – This had a broad range of responses from supporting community and sporting events, to objecting to private events such as weddings, to opposing any commercial or community organised event use entirely.   

• Ecology – There was generally strong support for ecological enhancement of Mount Iron. 

• Climbing – Support for current and future expansion of the climbing routes on Mount Iron. 

• Vision – Support for the long-term aspiration set out for Mount Iron. 

To view the online and written submissions head to the document library at letstalk.qldc.govt.nz 

What's next? 
All submissions have now been considered by the hearing panel and will be used to make final changes to the Reserve Management Plan for Mount Iron Recreation Reserve. This plan will then be presented to the Wānaka Upper Clutha Community Board and Full Council for adoption in early 2025.

Managing wildfire risk 

Mount Iron is a wonderful place to visit and enjoy over summer, but there may be days where elevated fire danger means the reserve may be unsafe.

This could result in occasional closures. Closing access means we can reduce the potential for a fire to happen and ensure people are out of harm’s way if it does.

How we’ll let you know if a reserve is closed

The fastest way to find out about a reserve closure is to sign up for our 'etxt' service. We'll message you when a reserve needs to close. Sign up at Community Text Alerts - QLDC

We’ll also:
•             put up signage;
•             share the message with local news outlets;
•             update the webpage below and publish an alert on our homepage; and
•             share on social media.

Please be aware that we won’t be staffing entrance points to reserves during the closure periods; entering a reserve while it’s closed will be at people’s own risk.

To find out more and see the current status of each reserve head to www.qldc.govt.nz

Map of reserve area to be closed when fire indices reach unsafe levels

Have a question or keen to find out more?

We’re happy to answer questions you may have about the draft Mount Iron Reserve Management Plan, and we’ve got an online Q&A portal available on our Let's Talk page. Check out the questions others have submitted and the answers, or ask your own question here. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can! 

For more details on this project, head to Let's Talk or the QLDC webpage.