Biking advocacy

In 1906 an Act of Parliament awarded blocks of land to 4,000 South Island Māori. But before this could happen the Act of Parliament was repealed.

One of these blocks of land was the Hawea-Wanaka block. Part of the Ngāi Tahu treaty negotiations in 1998 saw the Crown acknowledge this failure to allocate the blocks.

The original block of land was near the Neck , the land between where Lake Hawea and Lake Wanaka almost meet. In 1998 this land was not available to be given back so a Substitute block of land was awarded – this was Sticky Forest. Sticky was much smaller in size than the original block but, in 1998, was assessed to be of similar value. Sticky is about 50 hectares or 125 acres. It is covered in fir and pine trees and these are due for harvest between 2034 and 2044.

In 2011 this block of land was valued at $6m.

The ownership of Sticky Forest is still held by the Crown and the forest is administered by Te Arawhiti (Office of Treaty Settlements). The process of transferring legal ownership to the families has been in motion for a number of years.

As you would imagine, families have grown in size since 1906. There are now over 1000 descendants, all being owners of Sticky. However about 100 families own 75% of the shares, with Mike Beresford and his family being one of the largest shareholders.

Every ten years the District Plan is reviewed. In the last review period (2017), Mike Beresford opposed the current zoning of Sticky Forest as Rural. The rezoning of Sticky was publicly notified along with c300 other areas throughout the district. Bike Wānaka was not aware of the proposed change in zoning and no one else one put in a counter submission at that time.