The latest information on Council's acquisition of Mount Iron land in Wānaka.
Welcome to the second edition of Queenstown Lakes District Council's newsletter on its purchase of nearly 100 hectares of land around Mount Iron and Little Mount Iron in Wānaka.
An update on the acquisition
As we’ve previously shared, before acquiring this land we need to gain resource consent for vegetation clearance, then approval to classify the land as ‘recreation reserve’. After that, we’re aiming to achieve final settlement by mid-2023.
We’ve received an approved survey plan of the area from Land Information New Zealand, and a fencing tender is underway for a small section of land that borders private property.
Public access - please stick to the track
While we finalise the purchase of this land, large parts of Mount Iron and Little Mount Iron remain privately owned.
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 the private property.
There are signs in place showing where private property begins.
Spotlight on: Te Kākano
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.
We recently met with Te Kākano Aotearoa Trust and as you can probably imagine, they’re interested in determining what plants would be suitable for the area, and hopefully, helping with the restoration of this native habitat and involving the community in the process.
Keen to help Te Kākano on some of their other projects? They host nursery sessions every Tuesday and Wednesday from 1.00pm to 4.00pm at
their community-based native plant nursery, and community planting sessions every fortnight on Saturday mornings from 10.00am to 12.00pm. No experience is needed, and anyone can join these sessions to lend a hand.
Find out more at https://www.tekakano.org.nz/.
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 a proposed Significant Natural Area at Mount Iron in Wānaka detailed the area's flora and fauna, and we're hoping to share some details in the next edition of our Mount Iron Acquisition newsletter.
You might be surprised at some of the findings!
