Campaign for a new National Park

The ODT reports:

High country land near Queenstown, including the Remarkables, needs to be made into a national park, Federated Mountain Clubs (FMC) says.

The organisation today launched its Remarkable Outdoors campaign headlined by a proposed new national park – ‘The Remarkables National Park’ in the Otago Southland high-country near Queenstown.

FMC President Peter Wilson said the proposed park was a long-held dream of conservationists and recreationalists, notably Sir Alan Mark, who was one of the first to see the beauty and the botanical richness in our high-country tussock landscapes.

The proposed park would span a vast area of Otago Southland including the watersheds of the Wye, Nevis, Waikaia and Pomahaka rivers, the iconic Remarkables Mountain Range, along with the Hector / Tapuae o Uenuku, Garvie, Old Man / Kopuwai and Old Woman ranges.

It is an incredibly beautiful area.

He said it was the third time conservationists had tried to get the area classified as a national park. “Tramping as a core sport is booming for Kiwis, so is hunting, so is fishing,” he said. “So what we are seeing is a huge re-emergence of New Zealanders’ interest in the outdoors. So we think now is the time to put that centre stage and ask politicians to establish a new national park.”

If it has been turned down twice before, I wonder why? What is the argument against?