Government considers restricting public access to Hira Forest in Nelson after safety concerns from iwi

The Ministry of Finance is asking residents to give their views on restricting public access to Hira Forest in Nelson, an area popular with local mountain bikers.

In 2020, the Crown transferred the forest to the Hira Ngāti Koata Trust as part of a treaty settlement with Ngāti Koata. The forest is now owned by Koata Limited, which is wholly owned by Ngāti Koata Trust, but forestry operations are managed by a separate company, Tasman Pine Forests Limited, which is Japanese-owned.

Public access easements in Hira Forest were issued in 1994, before the forest was transferred to the iwi. These easements require the landowner to allow the public to move “over and through access areas”, although the forest owner can close access at night and at certain times for safety reasons.

Once Crown forests are returned to Māori, the new owners can ask the government to review existing access rights with a view to changing them, which is what Koata Limited has done. The company wants to see public access rights to the forest partially removed, albeit only in areas that are not currently well-travelled.

Ngāti Koata did not respond to a request for comment. Reasons for restricting access include the fact that there are active forestry operations in the forest which could pose a risk to the public. Foresters also intend to change the type of forestry on the site, moving to smaller crop sizes with annual harvests, which poses a greater risk to the public. Applicants said some members of the public were accessing parts of the land they were already prohibited from using, which posed a safety risk.