Submitters to the Mt Aspiring National Park management plan should receive a response to the points they raised within the next few weeks, Department of Conservation Otago conservancy community relations manager Ken Stewart said yesterday.
There were 436 public submissions to the management plan and 70 individuals or groups also attended public hearings in Dunedin, Wanaka and Queenstown.
Mr Stewart said the large number of submissions showed how important the park was to a wide range of people.
Meanwhile, the Otago Conservation Board considered the department's draft management plan at its meeting in Tarras last month and has referred several matters back to the department for more work.
The department expects it will be several months before the draft plan is authorised by the New Zealand Conservation Authority.
Issues that had generated the most interest were aircraft use, how best to preserve natural values and the special character of the park, hunting, proposals for additions to the park, zoning of some areas, concessionaire use and air access to Bevan Col.
Mr Stewart said there were some instances where views were polarised but the department had carefully considered all views.
It had been a major task for the department to work through the various views and make its decisions, Mr Stewart said.
