The venue is the Wanaka Department of Conservation office, where Doc officials will hear public submissions next week on the proposed 105,000ha Hawea Conservation park.
One of the biggest demands made by submitters is for improved private vehicle access into the Hunter Valley.
However, the pastoral lessees of Hunter Valley Station, Taff and Penny Cochrane, have warned in their own submission that public access through their farm yard is "not on the agenda".
The second major issue revisits a long-running debate between recreational and commercial angling activities in the Hunter and Dingle Rivers. This time the argument is over aircraft access issues.
Previously, the two groups clashed over jet-boat access in the Hunter.
Doc has proposed to end recreational aircraft access to the Hunter and Dingle rivers and Dingleburn Station owner Guy Mead is among many who do not want to see that happen.
The conservation park proposal would combine three DOC-controlled conservation areas between the Ahuriri Conservation Park and the Mt Aspiring National Park near Lake Hawea.
It contains one of New Zealand's most isolated and renowned trout and salmon fisheries and keenly-sought recreation opportunities.
Doc has received 67 written public submissions for its hearing in Wanaka this Monday and Tuesday, with 31 choosing to present submissions in person.
Hunter Valley Station, through consultant Ray McLeod, has filed a 17-page submission detailing many concerns held by Mr and Mrs Cochrane.
They say the conservation park concept is a good management platform but they criticise Doc's process, including a perceived lack of consultation, lack of reliable visitor data and a social-impact analysis.
They believe Doc has wider, undisclosed plans aimed at securing commercial advantages and they suggest one of those undisclosed plans is a round-the-lake mountain-biking track.
The Upper Clutha branch of the Forest and Bird Society and the Otago Tramping and Mountaineering Club are among submitters who are positive about the park but have acknowledged it relies on secure access through Hunter Valley Station.
The society is not keen on four-wheel-drive access beyond Ferguson Hut or on to riverbeds during bird-nesting times.
The tramping club wants vehicle access beyond Terrace Creek, on the Hunter Valley side, to the end of the usable two-wheel-drive road.
On the Dingleburn side, it seeks vehicle access as far as the homestead.
The Cochranes say access to a car park at Terrace Creek across the existing farm road is not available.
Instead, they have offered to move the existing legal road alignment closer to the lake shore, but still on pastoral lease, to permit pedestrian and mountain bike access from Kidds Bush to Terrace Creek.
The Cochranes have also signalled in their submission they reserve their right to withdraw from an arrangement with Doc to permit the public on to the Sawyer Burn walk and their right to remove Sawyer Burn Hut from the land.
Meanwhile, pilots and commercial aviation operators are concerned the Dingleburn airstrips will be closed to recreational pilots, yet commercial pilots with concessions will be able to continue to fly clients into the park.
"Aircraft access to this area has a long history of over 50 years. Surely this must be recognised," Wanaka pilot Andy Woods said.
Fishing guide and recreational angler Ian Cole describes the conflicts between recreational and commercial angling as a "lack of angler etiquette" and says concessionaires have no greater right to the fishery than others.
"Understandably, walk-in anglers are more than a little disgruntled when a helicopter drops down and puts anglers just ahead of them. There is no excuse for this, but sadly it has happened on many instances in both the Dingle and the Hunter, probably more so than any other waters in Otago," Mr Cole said.
The Otago Fish and Game Council is among submitters concerned the area is already under pressure and must not become "an exercise in repackaging of conservation land for the tourism sector".
The Wanaka hearings panel comprises Doc community relations manager Marian van der Goes, conservancy solicitor Pene Williams, community relations officer Katrina Roos and Wanaka area manager Paul Hellebrekers.
A further day's hearing is also planned in Dunedin next week.
The panel will then report to Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick, who will decide whether the park is justified.
What they say . . .
A sample of submissions to the Hawea Conservation Park.
"There has been a lack of direct consultation with affected landowners, neighbours and community groups such as the [Lake] Hawea Community Association and the Wanaka Community Board. As a result, there is uncertainty, apprehension and suspicion as to what will be the effects of this proposal"
- Wanaka Community Board chairman Lyal Cocks
"Fish and Game has some misgivings . . . the creation of a conservation park doesn't really create anything at all. At best it will deliver the [identified benefits] without the costs in terms of capacity and displacement. At worst, it could be a misguided marketing exercise"
- Otago Fish and Game Council environmental officer John Hollows
"The management intentions pertaining to air access. . . are in conflict with the over-riding existing Otago Conservancy Management Strategy document . . . The [proposal] contains no detail on policy, processes or criteria in regard to aircraft users maintaining their existing use of these airstrips"
- Wanaka Airport User Group secretary Graeme Lloyd
"From what we understand, there is already legal access on [the] western side made up of sections of legal roads and easements on farm tracks. It is essential to the whole proposal that this mixture of access on the Hunter Valley Station side of the park be fully secure before the park be operational and gazetted"
- Forest and Bird Upper Clutha branch chairman John Turnbul
"Cutting these [aircraft] landing sites out is a discriminatory action. Ninety percent of the visitors to this valley are fishermen of an older age who could walk into this valley. This proposal only caters for the small number of young fit people who walk in - the exclusive minority"
- Dingleburn Station owner Guy Mead
"I agree that mountain-biking is likely to be increasingly popular, particularly along the eastern shore of Lake Hawea. The popularity of the Round-The-Lake event already seems assured . . . [and] is likely to stimulate widespread recreational interest in the proposed park"
- Dr Mike Floate, Tarras
"I ask the board to consider what has happened at Mavora Lakes. The flexibility accorded to four-wheel-drivers was a mistake that has been difficult to reverse. The wheel marks of vehicles have left a trail of destruction"
- Christopher Horan, Lake Hawea
"We believe the discussion document could be misleading to the public as to the real opportunities that exist within the park boundary . . . This submission is therefore critical of the process as undertaken by Doc . . . Access across [Hunter Valley Station] to accommodate the department's apparent recreational objectives is not on the agenda and we would ask that the department make this clear to the public"
- Landward Appraisal Ltd consultant Ray McLeod, on behalf of Hunter Valley Station
