The district council also opposes a similar plan for the historic Old Dunstan Rd gold-miners' route.
The New Zealand Historic Places Trust's proposal to register the Nevis area attracted 21 submissions.
The valley has been in the public eye recently because of an application to amend the water conservation order on the Nevis River, aimed at preventing the river from being dammed or diverted.
Pioneer Generation has plans for a hydro-electricity scheme on the river.
Registering the area as a historic place was an information and advocacy tool rather than giving protection, trust Otago Southland manager Owen Graham said.
The upper Nevis was gazetted as an archaeological site in 2007 to help protect 20th century gold-mining sites.
Gazetting offers more protection than registering an area as a historic place.
"Our registration process is different to a resource consent process in that no hearing is held," Mr Graham said.
"We'll go back now to the submitters and talk through the issues with them and see if we can get any resolution and then provide an analysis of the submissions to our board, which will either confirm or reject the proposal to register the area as a historic place."
Submissions had been received from a mixture of individuals and organisations.
The Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust, Public Access New Zealand and Otago Fish and Game were among those who supported the proposal, while Federated Farmers made one of the 10 opposing submissions.
Central Otago District Council chief executive Phil Melhopt said the council opposed the proposal and a similar one for the Old Dunstan Rd on the basis there was already existing provision in the district plan to provide a high level of protection.
"We'd rather engage with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust on a case-by-case basis on specific sites rather than having a blanket ban on certain areas."
A proposal to list Old Dunstan Rd as a historic place drew 16 submissions.
The road, from Clarks Junction near Middlemarch, to Galloway Flat, near Alexandra, was the primary route from the Taieri Plain to the Dunstan goldfields near Clyde.
"The trust met with four farmers about the proposal and they told us that much was made about the importance of the road for gold-mining but it was just as important for pastoralism and we need to include that in our report - and that was a fair comment," Mr Graham said.
Preserving history:
Lower Nevis proposal:
Submissions 21
Neutral 2
Opposing 10
Supporting 9
Old Dunstan Rd proposal:
Submissions 16
Neutral 2
Opposing 7
Supporting 7
