Boulder blockades are unlikely to be put back in place to deter freedom campers at Lake Hawea, with local residents pursuing more constructive solutions to address an ongoing messy problem.
Hawea Community Association president Rachel Brown said the association wanted to secure funding to have a composting toilet installed at Craigburn and information signs erected at lakeside vantage points.
A council budgeted fund of $25,000 is up for discussion at a meeting of the Wanaka Community Board on Tuesday and the association wants to see if some of the money can be allocated towards their proposals.
The council funds were budgeted to install a public campervan waste facility within the Lake Hawea township, but it has been a struggle to find a suitable location.
A report from Queenstown Lakes District Council community services general manager Paul Wilson, to be discussed by Wanaka Community Board members on Tuesday, says a location for the waste disposal facility "cannot be found without considerable opposition from adjoining interests at each site proposed".
Mr Wilson's report recommends an option for board members to consider re-allocating up to $10,000 of the funds towards "other capital works initiatives associated with the management of freedom camping".
The rest of the budgeted fund will be used to upgrade an existing public campervan waste disposal facility in Wanaka.
A privately operated waste depot exists at the Lake Hawea camping ground.
Ms Brown said she will ask community board members to assign the funds towards installing facilities at problematic areas alongside Lake Hawea, where freedom campers continue to leave human waste and litter.
The association has not ruled out "having to put boulders back in place", but it was unlikely to happen should more proactive alternatives be found, she said.
"It's not our prerogative to close those areas. People want to use them because they are beautiful places. We want to keep on and see some positive action from the council rather than us closing those areas off," Ms Brown said.
Information signs, with maps pinpointing camping grounds and toilets, could be installed at a highway lookout at the Neck, where travellers from the West Coast usually stopped at the sight of Lake Hawea.
Signs could also be put up at Craigburn, Deep Creek, and the Lake Hawea lookout, so travellers knew where facilities and toilets were, she said.
The areas were cleaned up by volunteers about three months ago, when barricades preventing vehicle access were removed. Since then, the three locations have been spoiled by human waste, toilet paper, and litter.
