The latest information on Mount Iron Recreation Reserve in Wānaka.
Welcome to our latest newsletter about Mount Iron Recreation Reserve in Wānaka.
Have your say on a plan to manage
Mount Iron Reserve
The draft Mount Iron Reserve Management Plan is open for public submissions🎉
What you can expect to see in the plan:
- A long-term vision for Mount Iron as a place for natural recreation
- Objectives such as enabling a safe and resilient reserve, community participation in protecting and enhancing the area, and embedding mana whenua values
- Policies grouped into eight themes which include commercial activities, community partnering, events, ecology, landscape and geology, development, recreation and natural hazards.
Head to letstalk.qldc.govt.nz to read the draft plan and share your thoughts via an online submission form by 29 November 2024.
This plan has been guided by feedback from the Upper Clutha community and discussions with mana whenua and sets out how this much-loved landscape can be enjoyed, used, maintained, preserved and enhanced.
The Parks team has worked alongside the Wānaka-Upper Clutha Community Board to incorporate feedback we received in September-November 2023 into the draft plan. It’s now time to hear if you support what we've developed, and whether it reflects your recreational and ecological aspirations.
Have a question? All are welcome to come along and chat to the Parks team and elected members about the draft plan at upcoming community drop-in events. These will be held on the Mount Iron Track near Allenby Place Carpark on Wednesday 16 October between 4.00pm-6.00pm and Saturday 19 October between 10.00am-12.00pm.
Once public consultation has closed and people have had the opportunity to speak at a public hearing, all submissions will be considered by the hearing panel and 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.
Tidy up projects
The wooden structure at the entrance to Mount Iron from the SH84 carpark has been removed to create a more accessible and spacious entrance. Old concrete fence posts have been removed from the hillside alongside SH84 and a small amount of fencing has been cleared to open up part of the reserve next to the Allenby Place Carpark.
Reminder: No bikes on summit track
A friendly reminder not to dig, prune, rake, or try to develop new trails up on Mount Iron, or to take your bike up there! It’s important the reserve remains as is until its future is agreed through an adopted Reserve Management Plan. Biking is only allowed around the bottom of Mount Iron between Anderson Road and Old Racecourse Road.
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.
